[OUTDATED! PLEASE READ FULL DESCRIPTION] Fixed launchers for the games in Origin's Command and Conquer: The Ultimate Collection. Re-enables command-line parameters for the games, adds in some missing registry keys, and adds in some community patches automatically.
These launchers ARE NOT the same as Bibber's; made with an entirely different programming language, and the functions used in the source are not related to those used in Bibber's. I made my own launchers for the community to use based on how I think they originally should have worked since Bibber doesn't want his up anywhere public anymore (his decision, of which I respect).
License file included with download. Permissions about redistribution detailed in there. Have fun :D
Fixed Launchers for Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection
Author: Medstar
Discord: @Medstar#1550
Description
This installer includes my custom fixed launchers for Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection. These fixed launchers re-enable command-line parameters to pass through to your games; and this installer will also add in some missing registry keys that re-enable the ability to use custom maps. These launchers also make it to where you can launch directly from the games’ respectful game exe’s (e.g. CNC3.exe)--completely bypassing the launchers entirely.
Hope y'all enjoy :D
Disclaimer
These launchers aim to emulate the now-publicly-unavailable fixed launchers from Bibber. I have re-created the launchers from scratch using AutoIT--they ARE NOT the same launchers that Bibber made. The source code used to compile these launchers and the installer ARE NOT the same as Bibber’s; therefore, NOTHING IN THIS INSTALLER IS COPYRIGHTED BY BIBBER--I made sure of that as to avoid any possible copyright stuff with him. I don't want to mess with any of that crap; I respect him for his work, and I respect his decision in taking down his launchers. I just want to make my stuff work how I want it to work, I want my games to work how I want them to work (in that I want them to work as they should have from the get-go), and I want to share my stuff with the community since it all works great for me.
TLDR: The launchers themselves are of my own work (as you can see in the details of the exes’ properties); everything else is owned by their respectful owners (e.g. the No-CD patched exe’s, any community patches included in this installer, any artwork used in the installer wizard, the games themselves, etc). Bibber is the OG that inspired me to make my own launchers for the community to try out. These launchers are similar to Bibber's--they are NOT direct copies of his, since that would infringe on his copyright (of which I respect).
Finally, use these launchers at your own risk; and I hope they help you out as much as they've helped me out.
IMPORTANT NOTES
PLEASE disable "Origin In Game" and the "Cloud Saves" feature for each game prior to using the installer. Doing so will save you a lot of headaches and incompatibilities. The "Origin In Game" feature most notably will overwrite the fixed launchers for your games when you try to launch them--it's like a pre-launch check of the game files. You can disable them by right clicking your game in your Game Library in the Origin desktop app, selecting Game Properties, then unchecking the boxes for each feature.
Features
The installer features a game selection page where one selects the game they want to add the new launchers to. The installer then replaces the following:
- The original game launcher exe with one that I've made with AutoIT
- Any necessary game exe's with No-CD patched versions (only applies to games prior to C&C3; those exe's are directly patched to not have command line functionality at all)
- All associated .par files with ones patched to not require Origin to launch when launching a game
If you want any other features included in this installer, feel free to add an issue and label it with the "feature request" label.
For C&C95
The 1.06c patch made by Nyerguds is also installed as a necessary feature. Permission has been granted to me to use this patch by Nyerguds within my installer. The patch includes bugfixes and other features to enhance the overall gameplay of C&C95 along with making the game properly compatible on most modern machines. More info available here concerning the 1.06c patch:
Nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com
Thank you again, Nyerguds, for allowing me to include your patch in this launcher.
For Generals/Zero Hour
Since this is a recurring issue with both games, the installer automatically removes "dbghelp.dll" from both game directories as to avoid the on-launch-crash that occurs (Technical Difficulties, Serious Error, etc).
For TW/KW, RA3/Uprising, and Generals/Zero Hour
Another recurring issue is the fact that one can't use custom maps right on download with these five games. The installer adds in the needed registry key for these games to recognize custom maps.
Command-Line Parameters Exclusive to The Launchers
This applies only to “Generals.exe”, “CNC3Launcher.exe”, “RA2Launcher.exe”, and “RA3Launcher.exe”.
- -game gen|genep1|cnc3|cnc3ep1|ra2|ra2ep1|ra3|ra3ep1
- Launches the game directly instead of popping up the window for choosing.
- cnc3 = C&C 3: Tiberium Wars
- cnc3ep1 = C&C 3: Kane's Wrath
- gen = C&C: Generals
- genep1 = C&C: Generals: Zero Hour
- ra2 = C&C: Red Alert 2
- ra2ep1 = C&C: Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge
- ra3 = C&C: Red Alert 3
- ra3ep1 = C&C: Red Alert 3: Uprising
Example:
-
To launch Kane’s Wrath directly, and to launch the Game Browser interface for it, I would use this in either the Target field in a shortcut or as a command in the Command Prompt:
- “C:\Users\Medstar\Origin Games\Command and Conquer 3 TW and KW\CNC3Launcher.exe” -game cnc3ep1 -ui
-
In the Origin desktop app, I would put this in Game Properties > Advanced Launch Options for Tiberium Wars/Kane’s Wath:
Uninstall
In the Origin desktop app, right-click your games’ portraits and select the “Repair” option.
Small note for those who use this for C&C:Renegade; your antivirus may flag "RenegadeLauncher.exe" as unsafe and may quarantine the file. I assure you that this is a false positive. Apparently the name "RenegadeLauncher" is labeled as an unsafe file for whatever reason. One antivirus in particular that may do this is Webroot SecureAnywhere.
Again, this is a FALSE-POSITIVE; the source used to compile the exe's are almost exactly the same as the ones I used for the other games. Just tell your antivirus that the file is safe and to whitelist it, as to prevent it from being deleted over and over.
Sorry for any confusion this may pose; I'll look into it, but it will be noted as a low-priority issue for now as this is not game-breaking and is more of a mild inconvenience.
Hey there. OWA here from the Renegade modding community.
We typically recommend Renegade players to install the latest version of the Renegade custom scripts (currently version 4.6), which pretty much completely bypasses the Origin launcher anyway, so it would be better to send players towards that if they wish to play Renegade.
You can get the latest version of scripts here: Tiberiantechnologies.org
If you want to grab me or any of the script devs about anything Renegade-related, head over to our Discord at: Discord.gg
Cheers!
OWA
Ah, thank you for the information :D
The primary purpose for the first version of these launchers is to allow players to regain the basic functionality for their games; i.e. to allow their games to have CLI parameters be usable again, much like with Bibber's fixed launchers. An exception to this, which is already stated in the description, is C&C95; which would not work with my fixed launchers alone--they needed the 1.06c patch in order to fully work; however, this necessity turned into a convenience since players wouldn't have to install that patch themselves. Funny enough, the original fixed launchers for C&C95; used an incomplete version of the 1.06b patch; "incomplete", in that it only added in the 1.06b exe for the game and nothing else--so this is more or less an upgrade compared to that.
Including community patches, when/if possible, is another goal for this project. As I have never really played Renegade before, I most likely would never have known about those scripts until far later on.
With that said, I do not plan on adding those scripts in *as of right now*; I will formally give a request to add in those scripts in the server you've provided, seeing as that seems to be the main hub for its development. I say this as to dismiss any allusions of me going ahead and adding them in without permission, with me talking about adding in community patches in the previous paragraph. Plus, I like keeping things documented with stuff like this as to avoid any *possible* complications in the future (e.g. the 1.06c patch) :D
Thank you again for informing me of this, and I will gladly take a look at your server when I get to that point in development.
Have a good one!
P.S. Sorry this is a long message XD I tend to get really wordy when discussing this stuff.
That's all good man! Sounds perfect to me, cheers! If you have any questions let us know. :)
Small note for those having issues on non-Global versions of TUC: If your game starts saying that you need to register your game through your EA account, that is a bug on my end, of which I am currently addressing.
The way I had the launchers set up was to simply replace the .par files with ones already patched to not need Origin on startup--I did this as to speed up the patching process; HOWEVER, I failed to realized that localized versions of TUC (e.g. the German localized version) have different ContentID's that define what version of TUC you have. I will release a new version with a tool that simply patches the .par files on-the-fly.
TL;DR: I set my launchers' installer to overwrite the .par files of ALL of the different TUC versions with patched ones from the Global edition, resulting in "broken" copies of the games. I know the fix, and the fix will be released in v1.01 once it is complete.
If your game has been affected by this, just repair it through the Origin desktop app and either wait for the new release or hunt down a copy of Bibber's v1.20 fixed launchers for now.
Sorry for the inconvenience; but hey, this is v1.00 after all--bugs are bound to be found.
So no more bibble launchers is need anymore
Yep, no need for them if you get mine; these aim to serve as an enhanced replacement to Bibber's, since he doesn't want his up on any public link anymore. They work just about the same as his, and will be updated further with extra features and community patches. :)
Of course, as stated with my previous message, there is one slight bug in patching the games' .par files if you own a German or other localized version of TUC (anything other than the Global version of TUC)--of which i am addressing and of which I know the solution for. Other than that, they work and install pretty much the same as Bibber's.
Edit: Rephrased my response.
Why do cloud saves have to be disabled?
From my experience, Origin will keep complaining that it can't fetch the last cloud save made or something along the lines of that. I'm assuming it has to do with how I patch the games to work with my launchers.
If you're just downright dependent on saving your game data to the cloud, just make a backup of your profile or set it to be in a Dropbox folder so that it auto-updates the file each time you log into the game.
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Hey man.
Thanks for this patch, took me time to find to this patch, i did all you wrote, i clicked on Repair throu properties for RA3 and downloaded patch from your link above and installed for RA3, so now game starts again, however, i am not able to go online, i want to play with my son online but i am stuck on that i can't use the online function, how do i proceed to fix this issue after i install your version of fix?
What i have done so far:
-Installed RA3 from Ultimate collection
-Installed patch 1.12 from C&C site
-Got into this problem with registration code/key
-Uninstalled C&C Launcher and then RA3 game.
-Installed RA3 from Ultimate colletion
-Installed again Patch 1-12 from C&C SIte
-Installed C&C Launcher
-Got into this problem again with registration code/key
-Searched more spesific for "Registration code" and found to this page.
-Followed your instructions on repairing the game and then downloaded your patch from this site and patched up.
-Still back to same problem, not able to go online so i can play with my son.
So i hope you have some solution to this problem i have had for some time now?
Ah! The Ultimate Collection already has RA3 patched up to 1.12--that's most likely the issue here.
When you apply the 1.12 patch to RA3, you're actually overwriting the old game.dat file with one that expects you to have a disk copy of the game (which explains why it wants your license key prior to launching).
This is what you need to do:
1. Repair your RA3 installation
2. Ensure that Origin In Game and Cloud saves are turned off for RA3 and any other game you plan on playing in the future--this prevents Origin from overwriting my launchers with the old ones. (You can do this by right clicking RA3 in Origin's Game Library >> Game Properties >> then unchecking the boxes for the two options mentioned above)
3. Install my fixed launchers
You do not need the 1.12 patch. After step 3, you should be good for LAN based skirmishes.
If you want to actually go "online", you can do one of two things:
1. Use C&C:Online from Revora Cnc-online.net
2. Use a service like Hamachi/GameRanger/etc to make a virtual LAN connection to someone over the internet
I hope this helps you out :)
If you're still having issues, feel free to contact me via Discord:
Medstar#1550
Hello
This launcher work without Origin?
Hello there!
These fixed launchers replace the ones that Origin installs. Origin is still required to be installed on your PC, as the games won't start without it. My launchers simply don't require Origin to be running alongside the game while it is running.
Please also expand the entire description, as there is a link to the most up-to-date version of this installer! This is an older file version!
so, would the game still run as v1.012 or would it be reset bk to v1.00?
The game's version will remain the same; but be sure to get the latest version of these launchers! v1.01 is available, so check this file's description! :D
Thx mate! Great job
No prob :D