I'm also having an issue when it comes to playing on LAN. My friend has a retail copy of the game (version 1.02) and I'm running a steam copy (which is also version 1.02). When he makes a game I can see it but when I try to connect to it I get a timed out message (after only like 3-5 seconds). When I make a game he can't see it.

Well, me and my brother are using the steam version, so I don't think its got anything to do with different versions.

Try downloading hamachii, it a virtual network adapter and yeah make sure you have same versions. Thats how me and my brothers do it

Hamachi causes my laptop to unable to connect to the internet EVEN if I move it to the bottom of the list of drivers it uses to connect to the internet.

Little late for the party, but did you tried using Tunngle ?

You're not too late, I'll look that up when I have the time to.

check firewall settings imo

Originally posted by =Snappy=:

check firewall settings imo

Disabled both our firewalls, still doesn't work (tried this before I made this topic)

Just for posterity, even LAN games require Game Spy. Since Game Spy died in 2014-2Q, there is no LAN game. There's a third party DLL wrapper that allows you to do on-line off of their community supported servers, but that's it. This is part of EA's design to force you to buy new games when their on-line services are no longer profitable. Basically, a LAN game was not really a LAN game, but a Game-Spy game for only people on the local network.

Thanks Josh, dang it EA..

you heard of gameranger?..if for any reason you cant get on cnconline use gameranger

I did some more testing, and it's the magic of Windows Firewall. I have 2 other machines, and LAN play works fine on them with the steam and non-steam versions of the game.

I didn't try GameRanger, but CNConline works fine when "hook" mode is used. The first run errors and aborts, but it works great after that.

how to make a account?what should i do?

I found how to make the LAN Multiplayer work.
It's a bit easier on windows than on linux since you also need to deal de-sync issues.
I got it working on linux.
There are 3 obstacles to overcome:
1. Detecting other players on the LAN
2. Duplicate CD-Key issues
3. Game de-sync issues. (linux only as far as I know)

Windows solution:
1. On each of the places where you installed you need to find the options.ini file for your profile and add a new line item to the file: IPAddress = xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Where xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx is the IP address that you want the game to use.
2. Use registry editor and change the following key to any unique value: HKLM\Software\Wow6432Node\Electronic Arts\ Command and Conquer 3\ergc\(Default) It may be in a different location, so you can also search the registry for the ergc key.

Linux solution:
Before you start:
Install the game in steam.
Install proton tricks.
Starte the game one time create a profile and then quit.
1. Start proton tricks and select the game. Then select default wineprefix. Next run explorer. Find the options.ini file and follow step 1 from the Windows solution
2. Use proton tricks to start the registry editor and follow step 2 from the windows solution. I had to launch C&C3 from the proton tricks explorer for this to work. Using Steam launcher did not work for this.
3. Use protron tricks "Install a windows DLL or component" function to install:
vcrun2005
vcrun2008
vcrun2010
vcrun2012
vcrun2013
vcrun2019
I suspect you only need one of these but I did not have the patience to try them one by one. Thanks to this post for guiding me: https://gist.github.com/Medstar117/c9b17dcd8d8427b7cced25c072bc6f8e
I used "Method 2 (Manual)"