C&C Labs News Wire

In case you missed it: yesterday's release of Command & Conquer The Ultimate Collection on Steam includes a new v2.0 version of the map editors for Tiberian Sun (FinalSun) and Red Alert 2 (FinalAlert 2). The v2.0 editors come with the purchase of Tiberian Sun and/or Red Alert 2 as part of The Ultimate Collection on Steam or on the EA app.

Here's what's new and improved in v2.0:

• Fixed a few code issues to allow the application to run on modern operating systems.
• Updated the application icons with new 256x256 graphics.
• You can now zoom in & out with the middle mouse button or wheel.
• You don't need administrator access anymore if the program is installed in the program folder, as all user data and settings are now stored in your AppData folder.
• Tunnel tube editing completely reimplemented:
  • Tunnel tilesets available.
  • You can edit existing tubes by using the tool on the end of an existing tube.
  • You can now create curved tubes.
  • You can now create unidirectional tubes.
• LAT support for Crystal and Swamp terrain in Tiberian Sun temperate maps.
• House colors are now read from map or rules.ini.
• Units and buildings are now shaded in the house colors correctly.
• Voxel units now have shading applied.
• Minimap can now be resized.
• Undo steps increased to 64.
• Map rendering performance improved.
• Several fixes for crashes.
• Fixed addon turrets display.
• SHP turrets and Voxel turrets + barrels have their positioning fixed.
• Maps up to 400x112 (or 112x400) are now allowed.
• Fixed minimap for non-quadratic maps.

The C++ source code has also been released for the first time, under the open source GNU General Public License v3. It too comes with the purchase of The Ultimate Collection, but is also now available for download here on C&C Labs: Tiberian Sun & Red Alert 2 Mission Editor v2.0 - Source Code Download. Happy coding!

Today, EA released Command & Conquer The Ultimate Collection on Steam for the first time. The collection includes the original Command & Conquer, Tiberian Sun, Red Alert 2, Renegade, Generals, C&C 3 Tiberium Wars, Red Alert 3, and Command & Conquer 4, plus all expansions.

Notably, the games have been updated since previous releases of The Ultimate Collection to work on modern Windows versions "out of the box," including Windows 11. Map editors are included too for the first time -- thanks in part to amazing contributions by C&C community members.

The bundle is on sale in the United States for under $10 through March 21, 2024. If you already own C&C games on Steam such as C&C 3 Tiberium Wars or Red Alert 3, the bundle price is pro-rated.

This is the first time that C&C Generals (2003), Red Alert 2 (2000), and Tiberian Sun (1999) are available on Steam.

Jim Vessella, Senior Producer at EA, posted this announcement on the Command & Conquer Reddit, including this backstory:

How did this come to happen? Well, a while back I heard some team members at EA had the desire to launch some of our classic titles on Steam. After hearing about this initiative, several of us proposed we include the C&C Ultimate Collection. We knew this has been a request of the C&C community for over a decade, and has been an equal goal of us passionate C&C folks around the company. As such, a dedicated strike team here at EA has been pushing to make this a reality - but we knew we couldn't do it alone. So in the spirit of our community collaboration from the Remastered Collection, we reached out to a small group of the C&C Community to understand how we could best deliver the Ultimate Collection on Steam.

The feedback and collaboration has once again been invaluable. With improvements like better compatibility for modern operating systems and additional supported languages for both the Steam and EA App versions, we believe this is the best release of the Ultimate Collection to date.

Alongside the launch of the Ultimate Collection on Steam, we are also excited to announce the release of the beloved map editors FinalSun and FinalAlert 2 under the GPL version 3.0 license, which can also be launched directly from the Steam version of Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2. Now over 20 years since their initial release, original creator Matthias Wagner has generously repackaged these classic editors into a more compatible version for 2024. This was achievable thanks to the technical collaboration with Luke "CCHyper" Feenan, and the kindness of Olaf van der Spek, who has graciously released his XCC Library under the GPL 3.0 license as part of this effort. We cannot thank Matthias, Luke, and Olaf enough for making this a reality for the C&C community, and are eager to see where the tools and content creation go from here.

A huge thank you to the community playtesters who helped provide feedback on this version of the Ultimate Collection, and the organizations of CnCNet, W3DHub, and C&C Online for continuing to support these classic titles. We hope you all enjoy these improvements to the C&C Ultimate Collection - available today on Steam.

Until next time.

Cheers,
Jim Vessella
Jimtern

If you're a Steam user, the simple ability to play the games without worrying about operating system capability glitches makes it worth considering picking them up again.

The Ultimate Collection bundle is part of a broader release of classic EA games on Steam. So while you're at it, why not grab Populous: The Beginning — another RTS classic — and Sim City 3000?