Red Alert 3 Beta Activation

August 2, 2008 – Beta Release 3

It is our pleasure to invite you to participate in the first wide release of the Red Alert 3 public beta test. We will continue to grow the pool of beta participants over the course of the beta, but for now you will be one of the first people outside of the development team to have the opportunity to play Red Alert 3.

This beta program is intended to provide the Command & Conquer community with an early look at the game and give you an opportunity to submit feedback directly to the development team. We will use this feedback to help improve overall game balance, identify bugs, and ensure a smooth and stable online experience for the game's launch. This beta revision of Red Alert 3 includes online multiplayer play with full access to our three factions; the Soviets, Allies, and The Empire of the Rising Sun. You may play on two of our new maps, "Cabana Republic" and "Roundhouse Redux," in two or four player games (although note that AI opponents are disabled). Some parts of the current beta user interface may reference “ranked” and “unranked” games, but all of the beta multiplayer games are unranked.

While we are extremely excited to finally allow our fans to play Red Alert 3, the game is obviously still in development. You can expect to see bugs and balance issues, and even the occasional crash or multiplayer desync. We are counting on your feedback to help us continually improve the code over the course of the beta and for the final game. This email will provide the crucial information that you need to download and install the game, in addition to important hints about how to get the most out of your beta testing experience.

If you encounter problems, please let us know about your experience by posting your feedback to the official Red Alert 3 beta forum. We can't promise an individualized response, but our staff of community managers will be monitoring your feedback on a regular basis. You can expect that most of these issues will be corrected over the course of the beta and we will strive to update you on our progress through the beta forum.

Red Alert 3 Beta Forum
http://www.redalert3.com/betafeedback

In addition, we encourage you to use FilePlanet’s bug reporting tool to submit bug reports.

Bug Submission Tool
http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/redalert3/bugsubmit.aspx

Ok, let’s get started! Your personalized beta key is:

Do not share this key with anyone. This is your personal key and can only be bound to a single online account. Put this email in a safe place; it’s possible that you will need to refer to this key multiple times over the course of the beta.

To access the beta, navigate to:

http://www.fileplanet.com/betas/redalert3_key_auth.aspx

Save the file RedAlert3Beta2.exe file to a convenient location.  Once the download is complete, run the file to install the game.  When the installer prompts for the “CD key,” enter your beta key.

After you launch the game, you will be presented with the main menu.  The first step is to log into the Red Alert 3 online service. From the main menu, click on “Versus”, then “Online”, to proceed to the login screen.

To play online, you need to have an EA Account.  If you already have an EA Account you can go online immediately. At the online login screen enter your account name, password, and your desired Red Alert 3 beta online alias and click login.  If you do not already have an EA Account, click the “Register” button.

“Help! This link just takes me to EA.com.”
If clicking on the game’s “Register” button simply takes you to EA.com and not the EA Account login screen, this means that you already have an EA Account and your browser has cached your login credentials in a cookie. If you know your EA Account name and password, you can simply use these to login to the Red Alert 3 online service. If you cannot remember your account name or password, navigate to https://profile.ea.com/myinfo.do. This should bring up your profile page, where you can learn your account name and/or change your password.

You can now use your EA account to login to play Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 online! Enter the email address and password you used to create your EA account, choose your desired Red Alert 3 beta online alias, and click the “Login” button.

After logging in to the Red Alert 3 online service, the first thing you will see is the Community Lobby Screen.

Here you can move between lobbies and chat with other players.

Click on the “Custom Match” tab to see games that other players have created and that you may want to consider joining:

Select a game from the list that has openings for more players and click “Join Game” to join.  You can also click on the “Create Game” tab to host your own game.

If you want to be quickly matched with other players who are also looking for an opponent, choose the Auto Match tab:

Again, note that the beta doesn’t support “ranked” games; but you can choose either a “1 vs 1” or “2 vs 2” game.  You can also enter the faction you’d like to play and your preferred color.  Click “Begin” and the servers will match you to another auto-match player.

The star icon at the top right of the online screens brings up the CommLink.

Now you’re ready to play! With three full factions, there’s a tremendous amount to explore. Or maybe you’ll choose to specialize in just one of the factions. In any case we recommend that you start out slow, taking care to read all of the tooltips presented to you in the user interface.

Please enjoy the Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 beta – we look forward to seeing you online and in the forums!