Virtual Machine, need server space/seeds

[marnick 0]

Hello

 

let me introduce myself quick... I have been an avid fan of the CnC series for a long time, but everything after YR didn't really click with me. Seems like EA kinda destroyed the whole franchise. That being said, the TFD package has been a lot of fun for 2 reasons:

- It has all classics

- it sucks, which forced me into hacking away at some games I truly loved

 

Since I don't have internet this month, I wanted to play these games. They hardly work at all under win7, and I imagine it won't get better with win8 and whatever follows. So I started building a virtual machine to host all games (and only those games). Since a friend and fellow cnc-fan's birthday is imminent this project got into higher gear and is almost done:

 

Implemented:

- All games (except generals because it's not cnc), fully tested and functional

- stand alone virtual machine based on portable vmware

- home made intro movie (it sucks but it's basically a birthday wish)

- achievement system (excel file with a gamerscore progress bar. fill in mission number to feel good)

- oldskool windows skins (allies, nod, soviet, gdi)

- tfd launcher works as a sort-of shell

- no cdkeys, mine are included (who cares, not that anyone checks them online I guess...)

- command and patch 1.03 rev 4 installed

- based on winxp with some under the hood improvements

- wrote own manual cnc style, again based on the birthday boy

 

to do:

- make cnc style installer with pretty pictures

- design box art for collector's edition

- get some swag for collector's edition

- put installer on a 16 gb usb stick

 

since I've made this, I might as well put it online. But the VM is about 10gb in size so I need someone to host it one way or another

[Plok 321]

since I've made this, I might as well put it online. But the VM is about 10gb in size so I need someone to host it one way or another

We can't distribute a full pack that includes TFD itself. It'd be piracy. Sorry.

[Doctor Destiny 41]

This can be done for TD, RA and TS but not anything after. Though, I dunno why anyone would need this. I have the TFD games running fine under W7.

[Sonarpulse 1]

RA and TD work pretty well in Wine too. The only real problem on newer windows versions are pallete errors and neworrking. CnCnet and CnC-ddraw fixes that. The rest should basically work without serious modification.

 

But hey, you put in the work, and WINE is a pain and doesn't work for everbody, so there might be some use elsewhere.

[marnick 0]

This can be done for TD, RA and TS but not anything after. Though, I dunno why anyone would need this. I have the TFD games running fine under W7.

 

I'm glad you got it running, but with all due respect... please do a google search for win7 tfd problems. Most people simply give up after a few minutes because on most systems, not a single game runs without serious modifications. On some boards TFD is known as a scam that simply does not operate under win7. Command and Patch fixes some, but not all. Most people are not hackers like you and me. I do support for beckhoff automation (windows based plc's) and even to me, getting this to work under win7 was a hell. Given that I solve bsod's and other windows problems on a daily basis, that should say something.

 

In my opinion, I dunno why anyone would NOT need this. Most people are not able to make TFD run under win7. That is a fact. Pity that it's illegal...

[Nmenth 290]

I'm not a hacker and I was able to get TFD running on Windows 7 with very little difficulty.

 

Pity that it's illegal...

Perhaps they will release RA2/YR as freeware after Generals 2 comes out.

[Plok 321]

Most people are not able to make TFD run under win7

That "most" is an overstatement. You see two or three such comments and you say it's everyone. Search a bit on our forums, we've helped quite a lot of people, whose problems were merely with drivers, forgetting to set compatibility modes for RA/TS/YR etc. So, those weren't errors on EA's part, but on theirs.

 

Perhaps they will release RA2/YR as freeware after Generals 2 comes out.

This still leaves the issue of Gens1/ZH.

[Nmenth 290]

This still leaves the issue of Gens1/ZH.

Implemented:

- All games (except generals because it's not cnc), fully tested and functional

[Sonarpulse 1]

Another issue is that it can be tough to get multiplayer working from a virtual machine.

[Tore 33]

Getting TFD working:

 

- Install the unofficial 1.03 rev4 patch

- Install the unofficial C&C 1.06c rev2 patch

- Get cnc-ddraw and drop it in your RA folder

 

Done....works on Win7 64-bit

[Doctor Destiny 41]

Tore is the man.

[marnick 0]

It's been a while, but I'd like to post a quick update. I got everything working in time. I made a bound manual describing my friend's exploits in the cnc universe, and a credit list full of in-jokes about our group of friends. Intro movie, install movie etc were made. Collector's edition includes the game on usb stick, slavik's combat knife (cheese knife), tanya's shirt (xxs cammo top) and cabal's core (electronic garbage from my company). Also a "double high density storage device" as in, a 2HD 1.44mb diskette. All nicely packaged in shrink wrap with box art => his face on tibsuns box style, with the box being duct-tape silver (as in, lined with duct tape).

 

Took me a month of free time, and I've had as much fun making it as he had unboxing it. Yes a month might sound like too much but without internet these kinds of things tend to become a bit more elaborate.

 

 

As for the win7 thing. To be honest, I'm not "everyone". Quite the contrary, getting TFD to work in win7 x64 is pretty much my job description, and if I can't do it, 99% of gamers can't. I'm glad for those who manage to get it to work though, most people just give up after 5 minutes. I'm not "most people" and neither are those on this forum. I only started the VM after several weeks fruitlessly trying to fix TFD under win7, only to realize it'd never work. Once I got it to work, it was only natural to gift it to a friend.

 

Online through a VM is easy btw, at least it's easier than getting TFD to work in win7

Edited June 19, 2012 by marnick

[Nyerguds 100]

Well, as the guy who cobbled together the 1.06c patch for C&C95, I can safely say that my full game installer is simply install and play, without needing anything special, no matter whether you're on XP or Win7. The CnC-DDraw video enhancement (which removes any need for compatibility mode), coupled with CnCNet and its UDP LAN capability, make the game function 100% on any modern system.

 

(I really need to release those video packs though...)