Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2TM

LATE BREAKING NEWS FROM THE FRONT

Copyright 2000 Electronic Arts Inc. All rights reserved.
Westwood StudiosTM is an Electronic ArtsTM brand.

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Patch 1.006

June 6th, 2001

CHANGES

Minor Quickmatch client bug fix.

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Patch 1.005

May 25th, 2001

For latest news and updates visit WWW.WESTWOOD.COM


-----------------------------------TOP SECRET--------------------------------

Commander:

Thanks for your continued participation in the war effort. We have been able 
to make some modifications to your tactical display that should improve your 
experiences on the battlefield.

Good Luck.

--President Michael Dugan

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GENERAL CHANGES 
----------------

Fixes:
* 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 2TMnow 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:

1. Supports hosting or joining any game when behind a firewall.
2. 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)

Note to firewall manufacturers: if your firewall products are not among the 
tested firewalls we'd love to hear from you! Contact  
gameresearch@westwood.com in Westwood Studios   



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 2TM to 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 2TM 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 2TM. 



FINALALERT 2TM SUPPORT AND TIPS
-----------------------------

FinalAlert 2TM is a mission editor for Red Alert 2TM.  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 2TM 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 2TM map sharing in non-tourney games.
	
* Allows sharing of map names.

* Includes random tree placement tool.

* Optimizes the FinalAlert 2TM map load times, especially when there are 
  lots of custom maps in the game folder.

* Red Alert 2TM will not add starting spots to a FinalAlert 2TM map if it has 
  2 or more predefined starting spots.

* Red Alert 2TM now can now use maps created with FinalAlert 2TM in all 
  game modes.

* Allows map names to appear when using FinalAlert 2TM (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.


