Download Red Alert Alternative Here
Download the briefings for the campaign here
Optional Tiberium graphics can be downloaded here
Download the Red Alert Alternative manual here
Download the original Red Alert (it's free and legal!) here
Fabled sarcastic Brit Youtuber Artega Omega has a Let's Play of Red Alert Alternative here. It's amazing, check it out!
I (Dr.J) was mildly "Internet famous" back in the late 1990s for making quality custom campaigns for the game Command & Conquer: Red Alert. In the late 2010s, in a fit of nostalgia -- and as something to do while supervising VR experiments while getting my Ph.D -- I made another custom Red Alert campaign for the first time in nearly two decades, drawing on all my growth in game design in the intervening 15-20 years to create the best Red Alert campaign ever. That's Red Alert Alternative.
Red Alert Alternative is a massive campaign spanning 37 missions: 18 Allied, 17 Soviet, and a final mission that can be played as either faction, with 2 completely different scenarios depending on your choice. The premise of RA Alternative is that it serves as a "bridge" between the stories of the original Red Alert and C&C: Tiberian Dawn. The original Red Alert story suggested it might serve as a prequel to Tiberian Dawn by dropping hints such as the creation of a proto-GDI and the appearance of Kane, but as the franchise evolved, this connection was dropped.
RA Alternative resurrects and twists this original idea and explores how the universe of Red Alert could evolve into that of Tiberian Dawn -- but a sort of dark mirror image of Tiberian Dawn where GDI are not the good guys. The story takes place after the Soviet victory path of the original Red Alert. Despite the Soviet victory, the peoples of Europe are still hungry for freedom. Resistance factions rise up across the continent, garnering support and the assistance of a mysteriously well-connected arms dealer. The story eventually delves into the evolution of Nod and GDI out of the original Red Alert factions, albeit not in the way you might expect; and features the arrival of Tiberium, the appearance of Kane, and other such pivotal events of Command & Conquer lore.
Note: The Allied and Soviet campaigns occur chronologically one after the other, so they are meant to be played sequentially: Allied first, then Soviet.
Red Alert Alternative's features include:
First, you'll need a copy of the original Red Alert and its expansions, Counterstrike and Aftermath. This campaign was made before the Remaster came out, and as far as I know, won't work with the remaster, as the remaster uses a completely new mission format. As much as I'd love to convert these missions to work with the Remaster, I don't have the time for that. If anyone else wants to undertake that effort, however, please get in touch with me, and I'll post your conversion and give you co-author credit for it. Search the Internet and you should be able to find free and legal downloads of the game, as it is considered abandonware.
I have confirmed that the mod works with the version of Red Alert downloadable from this page.
Once you have a copy of the original Red Alert with the expansions, download the custom campaign and unzip its contents in your Red Alert directory. This is the directory that has the file (among others) ra95.exe. Then start the game, and choose the Allied or Soviet campaign to play!
There is an optional download for Tiberium graphics -- without this download, Tiberium is just rendered using Red Alert's native gem sprites. However, these graphics come with a seemingly unavoidable bug which is why they are included as a separate, optional download. The bug is, you can only load one saved game per game session. If you try to load a saved game a second time, Red Alert crashes. So you have to restart the game if you want to load a second save. It's only a minor inconvenience unless you're save-scumming, then it's really annoying. Should you decide to use the Tiberium graphics, just add the file SC-ALTGEMS.MIX to your Red Alert folder along with all the others.
The mission briefings are included as a separate application. Download the briefings (Windows, Linux) and unzip the file contents. Then enter the RAAlternativeBriefings folder and run RAAlternativeBriefings.exe. Simply select the briefing (or ending) you want to view and press the Play button.
If you want to remove the campaign and return Red Alert to its default state, delete the following files from your Red Alert directory: