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General discussion (archive)Command and Conquer(28 posts)(28 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted September 07, 2012
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StonerMk2: *shrugs* No idea. I still have my The First Decade disks and if the community sites have links to the files and EA hasnt said anything about it in the last few years then i guess they dont care. Strangely EA is still pretty active with the C&C community so im pretty sure if it was a problem they would have said something by now.
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rampancy: That's my general feeling on the subject. I'm sure the more legal minds here would make the case that it isn't technically legal since EA pulled the download links, but it'd be naive to think that they aren't aware of the fact that the freeware ISOs are still out there.

It's my general assumption that they just don't care, and wisely believe that there are enough people there who don't want to bother going through the process of getting their existing copies to work on Vista/7. It wouldn't surprise me if GOG's model in part led them to the notion of reselling the C&C games with modern OS compatibility being a major selling point.
Yeah thats what i figured to. It really hasnt been that long since The First Decade released so im guessing its because of GoG's model. Well that and because of their desire to try and compete with Petroglyph (some of the old Westwood guys) and End of Nations with their new C&C Online only F2P "service".
Posted September 07, 2012
My, my, I guess spamming the forum requesting games works after all!
Posted September 07, 2012
I can confirm, that freeware version C&C with Nguerds patch 1.6 and Red Alert 1 are working fine on Vista 32bit.
Posted September 07, 2012
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Fuzzyfireball: So, if EA pulled their links is it technically still freeware? (Not that it matters to me :P)
No. Freeware (unlike public domain) can be reversed. Just like when Fallout 1 was sold here for free. Freeware simply means the same as buying just without the price tag. You still agree to an EULA etc...
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rampancy: It's my general assumption that they just don't care, and wisely believe that there are enough people there who don't want to bother going through the process of getting their existing copies to work on Vista/7. It wouldn't surprise me if GOG's model in part led them to the notion of reselling the C&C games with modern OS compatibility being a major selling point.
Remember "Abandonware" is an invented definition with literally no legal association. The fact that EA doesn't care about the copies being freely available doesn't mean it is still freeware.

Although this is all technical. People are doing so much illegal stuff with games without knowing it, that this hardly matters.
Post edited September 07, 2012 by SimonG
Posted September 11, 2012
thanks for all the help I hope I get it working on win7.
Posted September 11, 2012
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StonerMk2: Might be a little difficult to get them to run on modern OS's. Havent tried to play the old C&C's in a few years.
The TFD versions of Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert worked fine on my Win7. Only the colors were a bit screwed up but killing explorer exe fixed this.
Posted September 11, 2012
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SimonG: No. Freeware (unlike public domain) can be reversed. Just like when Fallout 1 was sold here for free. Freeware simply means the same as buying just without the price tag. You still agree to an EULA etc...
It is quite possible that the distribution agreement on the original website allowed uncontrolled redistribution by third parties though. It all boils down to whether EA reserved the sole rights to distribution of the ISOs or whether they simply decided to conserve their bandwidth and implicitly allow everyone else to do it.

Now that the website is down, it's a little hard to find out what it was, but reputable websites have continued to offer the files without any reaction from EA; so I assume the latter. I'll have a look around.
Posted September 11, 2012
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StonerMk2: Might be a little difficult to get them to run on modern OS's. Havent tried to play the old C&C's in a few years.
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F4LL0UT: The TFD versions of Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert worked fine on my Win7. Only the colors were a bit screwed up but killing explorer exe fixed this.
Tiberian dawn has an unofficial patch that sorts its colour problems and red alert has a cool trick to save the same problem. If you open a screen (Right click - Screen resolution for example) and keep clicking on it til the game loads, it hasn't failed me yet.

Any other problems with the I have never came across.
Posted September 11, 2012
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darthspudius: Tiberian dawn has an unofficial patch that sorts its colour problems and red alert has a cool trick to save the same problem.
Yeah, I was using that patch but for some reason it didn't do the trick for me. As for Red Alert - didn't know that trick. Thanks. But I guess that I'll just wait for the next collection that was recently announced. I guess this one should work fine without any hassle.
Posted September 11, 2012
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darthspudius: Tiberian dawn has an unofficial patch that sorts its colour problems and red alert has a cool trick to save the same problem.
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F4LL0UT: Yeah, I was using that patch but for some reason it didn't do the trick for me. As for Red Alert - didn't know that trick. Thanks. But I guess that I'll just wait for the next collection that was recently announced. I guess this one should work fine without any hassle.
Thats quite odd that it didnt work, another thing that usually works is changing your pc to 16 bit before you load the game. Quick, easy but some people might consider it abit too out the way.
Posted June 25, 2013
Necromancy because I want to let everyone know that C&C is still available for download on Gamespot:
http://www.gamespot.com/command-and-conquer-the-first-decade/downloads/command-and-conquer-free-game-6178099/

If EA didn't want it still being freeware, I'm sure they would have had this pulled. But yeah, you can't release software as freeware and then change the rights later. That's not the way it works with code.
Posted June 25, 2013
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vulchor: If EA didn't want it still being freeware, I'm sure they would have had this pulled.
True, but...

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vulchor: you can't release software as freeware and then change the rights later. That's not the way it works with code.
Yes you can, if you reserve exclusive rights of distribution and/or with revocable distribution rights for third parties.

A licensor is not generally permitted to change the terms of an end-user licence, but they can change the terms of a redistribution agreement.

Anyhow, the original download licence terms are gone, so there's no way to know. I assume in this particular case that, as you say, EA did grant redist rights as they haven't issued any takedown notices.
Posted June 25, 2013
Here is Red Alert from the EA servers:

http://na.llnet.cnc3tv.ea.com/u/f/eagames/cnc3/cnc3tv/RedAlert/RedAlert1_AlliedDisc.rar
http://na.llnet.cnc3tv.ea.com/u/f/eagames/cnc3/cnc3tv/RedAlert/RedAlert1_SovietDisc.rar
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jamyskis: Yes you can, if you reserve exclusive rights of distribution and/or with revocable distribution rights for third parties.

A licensor is not generally permitted to change the terms of an end-user licence, but they can change the terms of a redistribution agreement.

Anyhow, the original download licence terms are gone, so there's no way to know. I assume in this particular case that, as you say, EA did grant redist rights as they haven't issued any takedown notices.
Sorry, I guess I was confusing the issue with public domain.
For the sake of being complete, here is Tiberian Sun and Firestorm:

http://www.joystiq.com/game/command-conquer-tiberian-sun/download/command-and-conquer-tiberian-sun-free-full-game/
Post edited June 25, 2013 by vulchor
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)Command and Conquer(28 posts)(28 posts)
(28 posts)