MrFlibble

Well, I guess you have the German DOS version for sure, or did someone else get you the files for the retro DOS German C&C pack?

Whoah, cool! That's not an easy linguistic exercise, you know

Ah, right. Somehow I was thinking about the non-English releases of the DOS version.

Doesn't the game require a patch for the maps of this type or something?

You replaced original installers with the one from the C&C demo CD?

BTW, I thought that the original French and German ISOs were available from somewhere, or am I making this up?

BTW, IIRC the demo version of RA has a version of h2obomb.aud that is somehow different from the full version, but maybe only in size. My memory on this is quite vague, but you could just compare the aud files in the demo and the full version and check what the exact differences are.

Here are the sounds that I believe to be related to cloaking. Their file names have not been identified as you might have guessed I'm not sure if there are other unused sounds in the German RA, these are the only ones that do not have default file name entries in XCC Mixer. RA_unused_sounds.zip

What patch are you working on? (I haven't checked these forums in a while, so I must have missed some things.) You can easily get the original German SOUNDS.MIX (SOUND.MIX?) from the German version of MiniRA (except I can't remember where I got that and if it's still available there...). [Edit] Here's a download at a German website, I'm not sure if it's the same thing (might be English): http://www.cnchq.de/index.php?content=downloads&dl_id=272

Uhh, I don't remember all of them, but there are two files that sound like they could have been intended for cloaking and decloaking of a Stealth Tank type unit (the Phase Transport in Aftermath uses the Iron Curtain sound for cloaking, and so do units in vanilla RA that pick up a stealth crate - given that you enable stealth crates in RULES.INI that is). There are also unused sounds in the English versions of both C&C and RA, as you of course know. Actually I think that the RA minigunner infantry shot sound is better than the one used in the actual game.

Hey, now I remember I also found that strange. Could be two different explanations to this really: a) The mission which is now one of the two choices for the second Soviet mission was indeed planned to be the first mission at some point (makes some sense as the first Allied mission is in the snow terrain, the temperate terrain would counter-balance it much like the temperate vs. desert terrains in the GDI and Nod campaigns in C&C). b) This has something to do with the internal game logic, in that it for some reason must have at least one starting campaign mission in the data file set. As a matter of fact, (a) seems more likely to me somehow.

This is basically what Nyer said: the forums software does not support not embedding videos [double negation] = supports embedding by default.

Apparently there are quite a few sound/speech clips that were made but never used. Some can be found in the German version of the game (the sounds that is; all speech is of course translated). As for the speech, I remember the Radio 2 Remix has the Allied Thief's line, "Time for a five-finger discount!", which is also not present in the game files. Most other RA music tracks with vocals have clips from in-game video cutscenes though. TBH though, now I distinctly remember the "Upgrade complete" line from Radio 2 Remix (it's repeated several times IIRC), but I never even paid the slightest attention to the fact that it is not actually used in the game, and in fact does not exist in the game files.

An interesting collection of videos: Shareware Oddities Obscure DOS Games

Today a guy dropped by at FED2k Forums and announced a port of Dune II: The Building of A Dynasty called Dune Dynasty. This is an enhanced Windows & Linux port of OpenDUNE, which in turn is a very faithful recreation of the Dune II engine based on reverse-engineering of the original game. Dune Dynasty offers to play in high resolution modes, adds multiple-unit selection, production queues and rally points, and also improves the AI and sound emulation. At the same time, the port stays as close to the original as possible. NOTE: You need the original files from Dune II v1.07 to play.

DOSrockz, have you seen this thread (and this one too for good measure)? Rich Nagel, the author of both, is also a huge fan of the DOS version.

The file archive at Demu.org had finally moved to the Classic PC Games collection at archive.org. It is now possible to browse games by various criteria, including year of release and developer/publisher, but thumbnail view is no longer available. The original Demu.org website is now primarily focused on game research.

FreeCommander is a nice freeware orthodox file manager that supports multiple file renaming. It's also somewhat more handy and easier to use than the command line.

NaSPA Software Library - Games A collection of downloads at the website of the National Systems Programmers Association.

Flight Sim Flypast A nice place dedicated to old school flight simulators. Classic Combat Flight Sims Exactly what it says on the tin.

Here's the cover of Goin' Down the Fast Way: http://youtu.be/2jkDR9ca9f0

BTW, will you be able to host this stuff at your site? (Well, maybe trainers aren't of much interest, although the could be useful for debugging purposes too, but editors are definitely useful.)

Interceptor Entertainment (yeah, the guys behind the Duke Nukem Reloaded project) have announced their remake of the Apogee classic FPS, Rise of the Triad: Rise of the Triad - Interceptor Entertainment website RiseoftheTriad.net - official website News article at Rock, Paper Shotgun blog. Screenshots & concept art: http://www.jeuxvideo.com/news/2012/00060367-rise-of-the-triad-de-retour.htm Official QuakeCon trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhi-7lj7osI#ws Gameplay videos: Excalibat Rise of the Triad Gameplay Video Ownage in Rise of the Triad Multiplayer Gameplay Video Fire is Hot Really Hot: Rise of the Triad Gameplay

M-m-mhhh... cake...[/homerjsimpson]

Another very interesting thing I've found is a version of SETUP.EXE that allows not only to pick a language from the official three but also select separate devices for sound effects, music and speech: DUNE2STP.ZIP The description on that CD says: Which suggests that this must have been some official release (it certainly can't be a hacked version of the US version SETUP.EXE because the strings with language names on the language selection screen are inside the EXE, not in SETUP*.DIP, and are not present in the US version of the setup programme). For some reason the files is called SETUP2.EXE and the date stamp is November 9, 1992, which makes it a very early version of the three-language edition (the dates on the files from three-language releases are from 1993 already). In fact, the date stamp on the official sound fix available from Westwood FTP is November 23, 1992.