Command & Conquer

Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn

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Developers
	Westwood Studios
Publishers
Original	Virgin Interactive
Current	Electronic Arts
Engines
	Westwood 2D
Release dates
DOS	August 31, 1995
Mac OS (Classic)	1995
Windows	March 10, 1997

Key points

Re-released for free in 2007.

Command & Conquer Gold: Project 1.06 fan patch is highly recommended to install and feel free to check out the all-new CnCNet lobby at CnC-Comm forums.

In order to access online play with CnCNet, start the game with cncnet.exe. To play LAN, start the game as usual.

Emulation guide is available below.

General information

Patch discussion

CNCNZ subforum

CnC-Comm.com forum

Official subforum

CnCNet IRC

Wine AppDB Page

Essential improvements

File:Cncversions sizes.png

1024x768 resolution with the Command & Conquer Gold: Project 1.06 compared to earlier versions.

Patch

Command & Conquer Gold: Project 1.06

This patch contains:

• A large amount of fixes
• Support for newer Windows systems (including 64-bit) and Mac/Linux through emulation
• Online (by CnCNet) and LAN playability up to 6 players
• Support for higher resolutions
• Missions from PSX and N64 versions and The Covert Operations expansion

Complete changelog

Compatibility mode, 256 colors and 640x480 in the compatibility tab should be turned OFF.

The site also offers Music Upgrade Pack if you installed the game through CDs/ISOs.

Support for regular installation, The First Decade and The Ultimate Collection.

Video settings

File:CCConfig.png

External video settings

File:C&C-Video.png

In-game video settings

These are video settings alongside the fan patch.

Borderless fullscreen windowed

Instructions

Vertical sync (Vsync)

Instructions

Fullscreen movies

Instructions

Audio settings

File:C&C-Audio.png

External audio settings

File:C&Ci-Audio.png

In-game audio settings

Network settings

In order to play the game online with CnCNet, you can choose two main options: peer-to-peer or tunneled mode. Generally, peer-to-peer method is faster, but may need some network configuration (especially with more players in a match). There are 2 options of doing this:

1. Automatic setup by CnCNet Tester with instructions below.
2. Manual setup (instructions here).

Instructions

Issues unresolved

If you haven't found an issue, head over to forums with links at the top of the page.

• It isn't possible to install the CDs/ISOs on a 64-bit system because the installer itself is 16-bit. It would be better to download from the fan mirrors.
• The game has some minor problems with missions that are smaller than the game resolution. This is nothing to be worried about, you can "fix" it by going to the in-game menu (Escape key).
• When playing in any resolution higher than 640x400, you can't place buildings with a placement height of only one cell on the lowest row of cells on the map.

Issues fixed

General fix

Instructions

Game speed/Map Scroll Rate issue

Instructions

Scrambled colors (without ddraw.dll)

Instructions

"Unable to set video mode" error

Instructions

Crash after overheating

Instructions

No videos after installing the patch

Instructions

Uncapturable AC Center/Helipad in NOD missions

Either the Advanced Communications Center in Nod mission 12 or a helipad with an Orca fighter in Nod mission 7 can't be captured. This happens when loading old savegames. If you load savegames from older versions of the game, these options are not saved in it, or not saved on the correct spot. You will have to restart the mission after loading the savegame to fix this.

The map is put in a small box with black around it.

• Not actually an issue; it happens because the map is smaller than the monitor resolution.

No players online

Instructions

Mac/Linux emulation

This is an emulation guide for the fan-made packs, not for the ISOs or CDs.

PlayonLinux/PlayonMac can also be set up to play with the same configuration.

1. Install Wine through repositories or through official website and run or extract the installer under Wine.
2. Inside 'winecfg' create configuration options for C&C95.exe and under the Library tab, add overrides for 'thipx32.dll' and 'ddraw.dll'.
3. Run TiberianDawnLauncher.exe under Mono. If you don't have it or it doesn't work, run the game directly (C&C95.exe or cncnet.exe).
4. Have fun!

If the configuration program doesn't work, then you have to do configure the game manually in conquer.ini or the aforementioned ddraw.ini. The settings for the internal resolution, sound and multiplayer options (not CnCNet) and languages are in conquer.ini.

Other information

File:OpenRA-CNC.png

OpenRA

Open-source implementations

There are a couple of open-source implementations of C&C existing. OpenRA is an implementation that is multiplatform and despite what it says on the title, has a C&C mod. It has a completely reimagined interface, supports high resolutions and is well-supported. However, it's multiplayer-only and music has to be put separately into its Application Data folder. Another one is C&C: Tiberian Dawn - HTML5 which uses HTML5 features to be playable in a browser. Because it is a work in progress, it's lacking in options and it runs very slowly.

There are also some total conversions of the game. There's a Tiberian Sun conversion The Dawn of the Tiberium Age which is online compatible and which has a completely different campaign than in the original game. Also, a Red Alert conversion called Red Dawn is available as well as Generals conversion called Tiberian Dawn Redux.

Mods

Unlike other games in the franchise like Tiberian Sun, Command & Conquer doesn't have a strong modding community; however there are some that are quite neat on the fan-patch site, although definitely not necessary.

• WinDOwS - Adds DOS interface
• German censoring - Brings back the German censoring
• Star Wars mod

Maps

C&C has support for external maps, both multiplayer and singleplayer. You can now download multiplayer maps automatically with Map Pack Updater as well as at the beginning of this article with singleplayer maps. There's even a map creator you can find at CnC-Comm, XCC Mixer to package the maps and this tutorial on how to get started.

Map Pack Updater

This program adds and updates custom multiplayer maps in your C&C directory.

To install the updater, put the files into the game directory.

TiberianDawnLauncher.exe is an optional game launcher included with the updater; CNCupdate.exe checks for updates every time the launcher starts.

Languages

C&C patch also supports multiple languages. They can be found lower in the Command & Conquer Gold: Project 1.06 website.

• Natively supported languages: American English, German, French
• Additional language packs: British English, Spanish, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese

System requirements

DOS

Windows

Mac OS (Classic)

Windows
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating system (OS)	MS-DOS 5.0	Windows 95
Processor (CPU)
System memory (RAM)
Hard disk drive (HDD)	800 MB free	800 MB free
Video card (GPU)	MCGA video card	1 MB DirectDraw compatible video card