EA Releases Full Source Code For Multiple Command & Conquer Titles

The Command & Conquer community is in for a treat, as EA has released the source code for four classic C&C games, as well as adding Steam Workshop support and releasing further modding tools for other titles in the franchise.

In collaboration with community creator Luke "CCHyper" Feenan, EA has released the fully recovered source code for the original Command & Conquer (aka Tiberian Dawn), C&C Red Alert, C&C Renegade, and C&C Generals--along with its expansion pack, Zero Hour. The source code for the games is available on EA's GitHub page under a GPL license, which grants users the right to run, study, share, or modify the software.

"Over the past year I have been working alongside the amazing C&C stakeholders here at EA to restore the Perforce source code archives for the C&C games back to buildable states, which now provides us with the ability to patch these classic games in a deeper way going forward," CCHyper said of his collaboration with the C&C team at EA. "As a long time modder, it was amazing to finally get a chance to deep dive into the source code for these games and see how they work!"

With the first Command & Conquer now over 30 years old, CCHyper celebrates the release of its recovered source code as a win for video game preservation, saying the decision will help fan communities to "continue to support these games and keep them playable for future generations to come."

Alongside the release of the source code, EA is also releasing further tools for modders, as well as Steam Workshop support for multiple C&C titles including: C&C Renegade, C&C Generals & Zero Hour, C&C 3 Tiberium Wars and Kane’s Wrath, C&C Red Alert 3 & Uprising, and C&C 4 Tiberian Twilight. Fans will also be able to publish maps directly to Steam Workshop through the Mission Editor and World Builder tools.

Modders will also be able to take advantage of a C&C Modding Support Pack, which contains the source Xml, Schema, Script, Shader and Map files for all C&C titles using the SAGE engine.

As one last gift to C&C historians, EA has released half an hour of archive footage from the development of Renegade and Generals, including tech demos and concept videos from the classic games.