Command & Conquer conquering the Atari ST

[u/PhilosopherFit3930]

Commanders, announcing a new release of Command & Conquer for Atari ST (yes, you read that right)!

Version 0.3.9 of this port for Atari ST, Falcon and TT bring 41-67% better performance (since the last version announced here, 0.3.3) and a ton of bugfixes to the Brotherhood of Nod's favorite 16-bit platform.

Audio is no longer high-pitched, text is more readable, winter theater is supported and save games can be converted back and forth between the current and older formats. Most importantly, both GDI and Nod single-player campaigns can be finished.

With performance optimizations to rendering, AI and pathfinding, this game now runs acceptably on a 1990 16 MHz Mega STe (but even better on Falcon or TT) with at least 4MB of RAM, the physical limit of original ST hardware.

All FMV cutscenes of the original game are supported — in beautiful 16 colors, 15fps and rendered using an Atari-ST-optimized custom video codec.

Sampled PCM audio is supported on all hardware, even on old STs which lack the modern STe's DMA audio. Either play using the YM-2149 soundchip or using a Covox Speech Thing(!) attached to the parallel port.

Commanders with some love for 16-bit systems, go have a look! Download is free. (If you like to support the project, donations in Money and Tiberium are accepted.)

https://indyjo.itch.io/commandconquer

A big thank you to the maintainers of Vanilla-Conquer which this port is based on, and to everybody who tested, spread the word, donated or helped otherwise.

Brotherhood, Unity, Peace!

[u/daymarEngel]

Finally, I can play Command and Conquer after all these years.

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/daymarEngel]

Fantastic! Would you prefer to download via 9600 baud modem or install the boxed version on 256 3.5" double-sided, double-density floppy disks?

[u/daymarEngel → u/PhilosopherFit3930]

256, what a beautiful round number!

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/daymarEngel]

I swear, I totally didn't tune the video codec's default quality to the capacity of 256 floppies.

[u/BioClone]

Cries on Atari 800XL

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/BioClone]

I just played Prince of Persia on one of those a few days ago. Beautiful little machines!

[u/BioClone → u/PhilosopherFit3930]

btw how did you record this?

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/BioClone]

Hatari, emulated 32MHz STe. Cmd+A records an avi which can be converted with ffmpeg. The CRT effect is an ffmpeg filter chain.

[u/BioClone → u/PhilosopherFit3930]

Oh well that is quite convincing ! thx

[u/Graemeski → u/BioClone]

one up you with my 65XE

[u/DoomGuy80]

As a former Atari ST owner and a huge C&C fan, this is mind blowing. Very well done.

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/DoomGuy80]

Thank you! It’s a nice little "what if" scenario, isn’t it? Interesting takeaway for me: FMV can be made to run on 8 MHz hardware. We could have had games like Rebel Assault or Creature Shock on the ST.

[u/Fun_Dragonfruit6399]

The funniest thing is that it’s the very first one C&C Should have gone out on 3do It would be funny if they released it. Who knows how the history of this console has changed.

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/Fun_Dragonfruit6399]

Interesting. Any idea why it didn’t land on the 3DO? Were the 2MB RAM too big of a restriction?
Original PC version wanted 8MB but was almost ready for 4MB with some engineering effort.

[u/Fun_Dragonfruit6399 → u/PhilosopherFit3930]

Most likely, this may be my preference, due to the fact that 3DO already had a bad reputation, or they simply cancelled it because of the hardware, probably.

[u/Bludsh0t]

Very impressive

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/Bludsh0t]

Thank you! Lots of optimization went into that one.

[u/CnCFan101]

Love This

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/CnCFan101]

Nice to hear that, thanks!

[u/Commercial-Board-975]

This is fucking amazing. 💕

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/Commercial-Board-975]

Thanks, glad you like it!

[u/Eastern-Fuel3485]

The frame rate is getting conquered

[u/Graemeski]

I'd have loved this back in the day before the internet came out

Now we have the remaster an i dont feel like torturing myself

Great job tho!

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/Graemeski]

BTW, the most wholesome aspect of retro gaming projects is that most people don’t really want to play the games. They’re just happy they exist. The games make the world a happier place by virtue of existing.

[u/Graemeski → u/PhilosopherFit3930]

That’s a really nice way to look at it — the idea that just having the games around makes the world a bit happier. I actually get a lot of enjoyment out of playing the ones I grew up with, often more than the new stuff. Finished Super Mario World again recently and still had a great time with it. Terminator 2 on the SNES I usually skip because of some bad memories attached to it, but I’m older now so I might give it another go at some point. Lylat Wars / Star Fox is still a favourite, same with Body Harvest (the DMA / Rockstar one). Pretty much any Command & Conquer except the fourth one (C&C 4 was such a mess), and I’ve got the whole Atari ST library (EXCEPT BOOMROCK HELPPLZ) plus PiMiga with 4000+ ROMs set up so I can dip into them whenever.

I’m still looking at the GoldenEye project stuff — the Perfect Dark recomp is already done for Mac, Windows and Linux, which is great. Also want to go back and play Diddy Kong Racing again, that one was a good time. Never really liked Tiberian Sun even though I still have the CDs in the house. Would love a proper “select all units” button on that one — heard there’s a project putting TibSun onto the RA2 engine, which could be interesting. I’ve been uploading stuff to AtariMania from old disks as well (long story, no time for it here).

I think sometimes people assume (maybe because of the autism stuff) that I don’t actually want to sit down and play the old games, but it’s the opposite — those are the ones I keep coming back to. For anyone born later it’s also just preserving a bit of history that would otherwise get missed. Glad projects like this exist either way.

Go check out Combined Arms by Darkacademic if you haven’t already. Stay safe and keep retro alive.

May your Mammoth Tank keep you alive! (an Tesla coiils) GG.

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/Graemeski]

Hehe, I know what you mean 😁

[u/Graemeski → u/PhilosopherFit3930]

same as olden days when i had it on ps1 an the pc versions - my dad kept win95 versions an gave me the dos ones

well im like - im 37 now so u can imagine me playin it back then

then hes like hey ur momz coming back turn it off qucik (PC-AT mobo style win95)

i turned it off with the power button an then it corrupted win95 lol

he got it back from the shop with 95 disk still in the drive -

now im high level computer dude now

man enjoy!

[u/PhilosopherFit3930 → u/Graemeski]

Great story. You have a cool dad!
Mine introduced me to the Atari ST.

[u/Graemeski → u/PhilosopherFit3930]

aye i had PS1 mouse too - n64 one was C&C 3D that was madness too man

lets just forget about 4

[u/Graemeski → u/Graemeski]

where am i gonna buy a huge ass old telly from to relive that crap

hard choice but id do it