Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2

english version 1.006

company: Westwood Entertainment (www.westwood.com) /
         Electronic Arts (www.ea.com)

homesite: unknown

Changes in V. 1.005  / 1.006
 

GENERAL CHANGES 

- Chrono IFV no longer loses its target when selecting a target 
further than his firing range. Now it moves within attack range and 
fires without losing focus at any moment. 
- Modified official maps are not transferred over Internet games. 
- If a player disconnects 3 times in one game for durations more 
than 25 seconds each, the game will finish and be awarded to the 
non-disconnector at the 3rd time.  
- If walls or other buildings block the Soviet Barracks exit, no 
unit is built even if the user has a Cloning Vat. The cost is 
refunded to the player.  
- No other infantry units other than those with explosives can blow 
up buildings when joining to a Tanya command waypoint. 


WESTWOOD ONLINE CHANGES OR FEATURE ADDITIONS

New Features:

- NAT (Network Address Translation) and Firewall support (Notice: 
See Firewall & NAT Support later on this document) 

Fixes:

- In 4 player Internet games, Red Alert 2TM now behaves correctly 
and continues the match with the remaining players when the host 
loses connection. 
- The game now behaves correctly by continuing 4 player Internet 
games when the host gets disconnected from his ISP but is able to 
reconnect in time. 
- In-game chat, whenever the user types a message longer than a 
screen width the text is transmitted and displayed properly. 

FIREWALL AND NAT SUPPORT 

-Red Alert 2TM now automatically supports firewalls and network 
address translating (NAT) while playing on Westwood Online. 

Note: in this document the term "firewall" is used to refer to both 
firewall and "network address translation" products. 

The following hardware/software was used in testing: 

Hardware: 

 Linksys BEFSR11 / BEFSR14 
 Netgear RT311 / RT314 
 DLink DI-701 / DI-702 
 SonicWall Tele / Soho2 

Software:

 Windows 98 ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) 
 Sygate Home Networking 4.0 
 NAT32 Plus 1.4 (build 1-16-01) 

Even if your firewall was not listed, it is likely that it will work 
with this patch. Many firewalls have the same behavior. 


Automatic Firewall/NAT support

- Red Alert 2 now automatically supports the above firewalls out of 
the box, with no need to configure esoteric settings on the 
firewalls, such as port forwarding, triggers, static mapping or any 
of the other complicated settings that might otherwise be needed. 

Support is complete and transparent, including the following features: 

- Supports hosting or joining any game when behind a firewall. 
- Supports multiple players behind the same firewall; if you have 
more than one system on a home LAN sharing a cable modem, DSL or 
other connection you can now play against each other or against 
other players on the Internet. 

Now when a game is launched on Westwood Online, you will see a 
"Connecting To Other Players" dialogue box. Here you will be able to 
see your connectivity to the other players in the game. If any 
player cannot establish a connection with another, the game will not 
launch. A message will appear explaining who is having difficulty 
connecting. 

It is necessary on some firewalls to wait for packets to be received 
from other players before trying to connect. If your firewall has 
this behavior, you will need to enable "Send Delay" in the network 
options. From the main menu, select "Options" then "Network". Using 
this setting may cause connection problems with other players if 
used unnecessarily. Please refer to your firewall documentation to 
see how your firewall operates. (note: Netgear firewalls model 
numbers RT311 & RT314 were found to require this setting during our 
testing)


Manual Firewall/NAT support

- In addition to the automatic firewall support features listed 
above, we have included an advanced setting for advanced users that 
can be used if all else fails. From the main menu, select "Options" 
then "Network". Under the "Internet Firewall Settings" section 
you'll see a "port number" option, which can be used to instruct Red 
Alert 2TMto always use the port specified here. You should use a 
port number between 1024 and 65535. Every computer that you want to 
play the game on should be given a different port number if they are 
all behind the same firewall.

To return to the automatic mode, remove the port number from the 
"port number" edit box.

If you specify a port for Red Alert 2TM to use then you will have 
to manually configure your firewall with static IP and port 
forwarding to route packets to the correct computer. Each firewalls 
configuration method is different so consult your firewalls 
documentation for instructions on how to do this. You will probably 
have to assign a static IP to each computer connecting to the 
firewall otherwise the static forwarding rules may not work after 
restarting a computer or firewall.


Dual Network Cards in Windows 98

- A Windows 98 client can only have one gateway at a time. This means 
that if you are running Red Alert 2 in a Windows 98 machine that has 
2 or more network cards you will need to get sure that the traffic 
is going through the right one. The best way to do this is disabling 
all network cards except the one who gives you the connectivity to 
the Internet/LAN. Otherwise you can have connectivity problems when 
running Red Alert 2. 


FINALALERT 2 SUPORT AND TIPS

- FinalAlert 2 beta is a mission editor for Red Alert 2. It can be 
downloaded from www.westwood.com free of charge. Westwood Studios 
and the original FinalAlert developer have been hard at work adding 
and improving functionality. Here are some of the items we've been 
working on.

- Framework mode is now included. 
- Allows raising and lowering of tile placement heights. 
- Randomizes land tiles within the editor to improve open area 
aesthetics in the map.  
- Fixes bugs for raising/lowering terrain. FinalAlert 2™ used to 
create map holes that are very difficult to detect and fix. 
Framework mode helps with this a great deal also.  
- Includes an indication of current terrain height. 
- Includes an indication of current ore/gem count on map. 
- Includes Uninstall. 
- Increased time allowed on Westwood Online to transfer maps between 
players. Now up to 3 minutes.  
- Only allows FinalAlert 2 ™ map sharing in non-tourney games. 
- Allows sharing of map names. 
- Includes random tree placement tool. 
- Optimizes the FinalAlert 2 ™ map load times, especially when there 
are lots of custom maps in the game folder. 
- Red Alert 2 will not add starting spots to a FinalAlert 2 ™ map if 
it has 2 or more predefined starting spots. 
- Red Alert 2 now can now use maps created with FinalAlert 2 ™ in 
all game modes. 
- Allows map names to appear when using FinalAlert 2 ™ (User 
created) maps. 

Please note: When a custom made map is transferred to a guest 
player, it will not become available in the map listing until Red 
Alert 2TM is restarted. Therefore, if more than one game is going to 
be set on a custom map, it is recommended that the guest(s) quit the 
game after the first match (once the map has been transferred). 
Otherwise the map will be transferred every time a new game is 
started.


Note: v1.004 changes/fixes

- RA2 now allows you to play "Free for All" in Skirmish  mode. Now 
the AI can attack each other and not just the  player. 

- Hotkeys and Interface changes added

- Observer Mode: RA2 now has an Observer Mode that allows 1 player to 
watch other player's games.  Particularly useful for Korean 
television shows and tournaments.

- There is a new checkbox at the top of the bunkers that players can 
check to observe games. 

- Dreadnaughts can now break bridges with missiles.		

- Now players can destroy a unit flying over an Iron Curtained 
building. 					       

- If the player has a Cloning Vat, an Engineer, 2 infantry  units, 
and a Tech Hospital he will no longer get a  complimentary unit out 
of his Cloning Vat for every unit healed. 

- The edges of the Radar Screen are now visible.  

- Enabled the Microsoft Sidewinder Strategic  Commander(TM) to work 
properly. We've also included the   Westwood endorsed configuration.  

- The Desolator will no longer continue to shoot the ground over and 
over and keep building up radiation.

- Parts of buildings will no longer disappear on occasion.

- Structures no longer flash a frame of animation during placement.

- Fixed the "Place Structure Anywhere" cheat.

- Super Weapon tab flashes when ready.

- Crazy Ivan and Tanya bombs now work on all bridges.

- Fixed a Terror Drone + Unpacking MCV problem that made games never 
end.
