Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun free to download | Hacker News Reader

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun free to download

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78 pointsukdm34 comments

This is nice. I remember this game. I got interested into hacking and the web development because of this game!

I remember that for CnC games, you could just edit the .ini file and you could basically change everything in the game.

I ran a small fansite called Tiberian Sun Oracle -- back in the days, most people submit their sites to Yahoo Directories, etc. I also remember RADen, Battleground TS. I also remember using Newspro (later renamed Coranto) for the news management. Good old days.

The game was still under Westwood back then.

Yeah, CNC 3 was a pretty decent game but since it was made by EA, all the units were like the same between the 3 civilizations. Anyway for Tiberian Sun, yeah the ini editor was the best!! I remember there was this thing, SunEdit2k or something like that, where you could create your own units or modify the stats of other units

You could edit INI files for all of the 2D C&Cs and even the sorta-predecessor Dune 2 :-) For our multiplayer games we used to crank the buildings and units to produce almost instantly!

FYI, if you remember, that chatroom for RA2 was in webchat.com #ra2

People like ASFM, Mr. President, others still go to that room.

They're doing this so people have something to play until C&C 4 comes out (unless you're in the beta). Of course, this game is absolutely nothing like C&C 4. In fact, C&C 4 will probably be the worst selling game in the franchise's history. I cancelled my preorder after playing the beta. It's just not the same game anymore.

edit: Weird, I guess someone didn't like my opinion. That's fine, but at least leave me some feedback so I can make sure I don't do it again. :)

I think the same thing happened with dawn of war 2 the game got such horrible reviews from fans of the old series (which I liked) so I never purchased it.

I liked some aspects of 3, although it didn't really feel like the same game. I watched a couple of multiplayer replays and the way people mass units in this game makes Starcraft look like Warcraft 3 by comparison.

Aw this just brings back traumatic memories of the day I found out Westwood was acquired by EA.

Great game. If only they could release the game under a GPL license as well. That would be a great way for open source developers who want to learn from the code, and possibly improve the original game.

Then they won't be able to port it to new platforms and sell it again.

John Carmack did just this with Wolfenstein on the iPhone.

Are you comparing Id to EA?

Totally different corporate cultures.

No, he's not. He's saying that if id did it it can be legally done.

I'm sure it is a licensing issue. If they had agreements for the models or the sound files they'd have to pay those people. I think doom was released without the original sound files. Perhaps that was quake.

I very much doubt that. Generally, either the publisher or (sometimes) the developer owns it all. In the case of EA, those entities are the same. I can't see EA open-sourcing anything, ever, though.

It was not a licensing issue that prevented id game assets from being released. Carmack wanted to share the technology, the knowledge, so others could learn from it and improve on it. Letting people play doom/quake for free was not the purpose at all.

Since I wasn't sure what you were referring to, I looked it up. Wolfenstein 3D was ported to the iPhone and open sourced, then sometime later was put on the App Store.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/45679/John-Carmack-Release...

Are the Wolfenstein graphics and sound files freely available too?

No, the data files are copyright by Id. The game is still for sale, e.g. on the 3D Realms website.

I wish they would do this with more games. Give it something like a window after so many years (5/7/10 w/e) then just release them as free. They have made all the money they are going to from it.

I suspect that it's mostly an issue of money. Releasing a game, even for free download, costs money in the form of staff, servers, bandwidth, etc.

If there's DRM involved, the conversion from disc to bare .exe would have a minimal cost involved, I suppose. But releasing your game as a torrent would erase the cost of servers and bandwidth.

EDIT: MechCommander was released as a torrent. Microsoft (you know, that Microsoft) owns the IP.

But releasing your game as a torrent would erase the cost of servers and bandwidth.

A game via torrent? It's probably already been "released" for them...

They only get the promotional benefits if they create an official release.

or if some idiot out there finally figures out how to monetize torrent... even an included movie ad or something... or a modified game that shows a boot screen with an advert would be completely acceptable to me.

Not to mention with the advent of digital distributors such as Steam, making an ancient game available for $2 still draws in a couple buyers every now and then without any marketing or much effort.

In fact, Commander Keen, a game that was released by iD Software 20 years ago, is available on steam right now for $5.

Naturally, there should be some drop off point in sales where the PR becomes more worthwhile than the couple bucks.

I personally like Good Old Games (gog.com), a store for DRM-free and compatibility tested old games.

I bought quite some games which are running perfectly well on my notebook with integrated graphics. And since the prices are low enough and I want to encourage this behaviour (DRM-free, tested), I happily pay the publisher of these old games.

I suspect they haven't fixed the requirement of IPX (!) for LAN play in this version, which seems to be the primary stumbling block for multiplayer in older C&C games (up to RA2) on modern computers. I suppose now you can just all play via the internet instead, without having to make sure you've got enough serial numbers.

It doesn't help with these old Windows games, but DOSBox provides virtual IPX-over-IP emulation so LAN play works on old DOS games. I wonder if there's a way to do something similar for Windows games?

I never really got into the CC franchise. Was always more of a Warcraft/Starcraft guy.

now if only i hadn't switched to mac about 5 years ago...

p.s. C&C original was my intro to RTS and led to a 3 year serious addiction to starcraft.... glad those days are behind me... but secretly miss them somehow too.

wow i thought i was the only one.

yes i'm glad that my starcraft addiction is well and truly behind me, and that warcraft III "just didn't do it" for me.

i am however, secretly anticipating starcraft 2, and at the same time somewhat glad that it hasn't gone anywhere in the last god-knows-how-many years.

Install wine with macports and you should be good.

http://appdb.winehq.org/objectManager.php?sClass=application...

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