Larian Studios Forums General Chat Chat (Anything) LED Wars

Has anyone tried this game from Larian before? I read a couple of reviews(written years ago) which stated that it creams even the most experienced RTS players. Is that really true?

I've never even heard of it, Raito, honestly.

Certainly got my attention if it's all but unbeatable, though - masochist that I am <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Well, a number of reviews/comments claim it to be. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Though it was released in 1997 and I've absolutely no idea how it fairs against the newer AI now. Oh and the resolution is like 640x480. And I don't know if it works on Windows XP.

http://www.larian.com/ledwars.php

P.S. Talking about RTS games, is Red Alert a good game for newbies? The last time I tried strategy game was quite some time ago: they were all interesting but it got soo boring staring at a bunch of sprites going "

I don't remember having ever seen it in shops.

So - I don't know.

You can still give it a go if you want: you can easily find a complete and seemingly legal download.

It's not a BAD game for newbies, but there are probably better...

I find it a bit hard to judge, as I'm an RTS junkie, so don't yell at me if I'm wrong, OK? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Huh... really, where?

Hehehehe... all right, dude. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> You're forgiven but... I'll always be watching you. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/devil.gif" alt="" />

Nothing new there then, eh? <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Pffftt... I'm the REAL Lord of Chaos. You, Elliot, are the imposter. ;D

[color:"orange"]you can easily find a complete and seemingly legal download.[/color]

I thought the most commonly available download was a hacked version, missing the intro and cutscenes? I found a couple download locations, one of which listed the file size as 19MB; AFAIR that is the same size as the download mentioned some time ago in another topic (possibly in the old forum).
Excluding DirectX, the LED Wars CD contents are 226MB and compression doesn't make a huge dent in that (224MB zip, 204MB 7z format). The full version is probably available somewhere (I bought it new off eBay a couple years ago, in a 2 CD, DVD case bundle with the FPS game Mortyr).

A quick search on eBay for L.E.D. Wars brings up a couple used copies, but searching for Mortyr gets one auction for a new copy of L.E.D. Wars / Mortyr (ends in 9 days; no bids; current price, including shipping to North America, is under $7).


As I recall, Lar said they considered releasing the game as legitimate freeware. However, they had switched compilers since creating the game, and there were too many compiler-specific idiosyncrasies to be able to track down all the errors that came up (in a reasonable amount of time) when they tried recompiling the game without the copy protection.

My signature banner says otherwise! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif" alt="" />

Heh... oh well, another time then. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> 'Cos cough cough... I just bought like 7 games within 1 month... think I gotta tone down on my spending. :P

Thank you for the link and information, though. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Ok, thanks for pointing that out Raze!

Isn't Larian able to release the game as Freeware ? Or are there legal reasons (treaties) holding them off ?

I suspect it's not legal to release the game with the copy protection intact? Hmmm... not sure.

I could be wrong, but I think they'd need the publishing rights as well as the software rights to do that. They might not have the publishing rights, as they're often held by another company.

That's my wild guess, at least <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Well, Ionos, the publisher for LED Wars is no longer around. As for the publishing rights, I've no idea who inherited them(if we suppose that Ionos held them, that is)?

If Ionos was bought, then someone has the rights.

Doing a recherche after that can be expensive, depending on huch much work is needed.

http://www.mobygames.com/game/windows/led-wars

Alrik's right <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

It may not be worth Larian's while to get the rights back again, especially if they have no real plans for it or for any sequels to it.