Hi everyone,
I've installed Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun, which I bought on Origin, but strangely, when I try to start the game, it launches The Longest Journey instead. I searched online and found that some people also had this problem, and they say this happens because both games' executable files have the same name, "game.exe". So, to fix this issue I just have to rename The Longest Journey .exe file. I tried renaming it to "gameTLJ.exe" and it worked, I could start Tiberian Sun, and apparently, TLJ ran fine too, but I was wondering if it's OK to rename it. Is it really safe to rename "game.exe"? Could it "break" something?

If someone could help me with this, I would be really thankful.

first: i dont know how the game is written. so its only my opinion...

if renaming the game.exe would break something would mean somewere in the files is a hard-coded link back to the game.exe. i dont think they did something like that. the most programs need to know their own path to find ini files or subdirectories. but they dont need the filename to do this.
so when it starts, videos, settings, saveing games and so on works, it shouldnt be a problem to rename the file.

but you should rename it back to game.exe for updates and uninstall because some registry entries still link to the old name.

but still crazy that command & conquer is starting the longest journey, so first i would search the problem there. or double checking link and workdirectory in shortcuts.

It really is a strange issue, I've read that running TJLRegFix.exe on the Longest Journey folder could fix it too, but it didn't worked for me. The only way I could fix this problem was by renaming the executable file. Maybe I could use a batch file that temporarily renames it so I could launch C&C Tiberian Sun, and then restores the original name when I quit it? I don't know if this is possible, and I also don't know how to write batch files, but it would be very useful.

long time ago i was writing batch files. if i remember right you can do it like this (not tested, but should work):

@echo off
cd /d "d:\games\The Longest Journey"
ren "game.exe" "gameTLJ.exe"
cd /d "d:\games\Command & Conquer"
game.exe
cd /d "d:\games\The Longest Journey"
ren "gameTLJ.exe" "game.exe"

so make a new txt-file, copy the lines
of course u need to REPLACE THE 3 EXAMPLE PATHS between the quotation marks with your own
save it and
rename the txt file to "C&C.bat" or something like that.
place a shortcut to the "C&C.bat" on your desktop. done.

the meaning of the commands in the batch:
line 1: switching off unneeded lines in the batch window.
line 2: changes the current work directory to the TLJ folder
line 3: renames the "game.exe" to "gameTLJ.exe"
line 4: changes the work directory to the C&C folder
line 5: runs the "game.exe" of C&C and waits till the game is closed
line 6: back to the TLJ directory
line 7: renames gameTLJ.exe to game.exe

good luck :)

Usually it's no problem at all.
The gog offline installers (or executable rar files) are a exception, they look for .bin files with the same name pattern, which actually makes sense.

Only very few games require that the executable has a certain name.

Since I don't use game launchers, I never have that problem anyway.

Hi Cattie, thanks a lot for the help, but I had already installed the C&C Ultimate Collection Patch for Tiberian Sun when I read your reply. This patch apparently solves this issue, and both games are launching correctly now, even if both of theirs .exe files have the same name. I've downloaded this patch from this site:
https://cncnet.org/tiberian-sun

Anyway, thanks for your help!

Bought? Hadn't EA released some older C&C Titles, among them Tiberian Sun+Firestorm as Freeware???

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Tiberian_Sun]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Tiberian_Sun[/url] AFAIR those Downloads I played under Windows XP (not sure if I tried it under XP x64) - time to check 'em out under Win7 64bit.

Back to your Problem: You mean C&C installed via Origin and Dreamfall in what fashion? And which OS exactly?
Even if n-Games in different directories should all be named game.exe that wouldn't be any problem - first time I hear of such! Sounds like either a badly messed up Registry/Origin Install or some weird Windows 10 Microsoft User Convenience Magic!
Even if renaming the file is a workaround, knowing the true culprit would be a good thing, because it is something that either is easily fixable (registry edit/file path/environment variable) or should (IMHO/My 2ct) be fixed by those responsible (MS, EA or whatever third party app may be meddling here).

Edit: Tested the Tiberian Sun Download from my old Archives with XP x64 and Windows 7 X64... and at least starting 'em in Tiberian Sun or Firestorm Selection and Playing around a few minutes doesn't showed any faults... getting 'em to start required partition C and Program Files Folder [*1] (as testing on x64 I've chosen the (x86) folder and therefore edited the .lnk files in the EA Games folder to include that in target location and working directory)... Compat. Mode was set to XP SP3... Instead of using the .lnk "play tiberian*" to start the game, just executing the game.exe within the subfolder was also working fine... installing GoGs Dreamfall TLJ (64bit) in addition does not rendered C&C:TS unstartable....

(1): I am to lazy right now to investigate any further -> i am pretty sure that on my XP SP3 IBM T42+ Thinkpad (may it R.I.P.) i've played that TS Download from my Program Partition (D:) and not from the (OS) C-Partition... So that Program Path/ C Drive requirement could be circumvented without any workaround, but just editing of lnk/ini/etc files... or it just worked under older Win OS from anywhere (considering the needed changes in the *.lnk properties) and just NT~6+ OS are in dire need of the Program Files Path....

Edit 2: Ok, confirmed - just copied the EA Folder from the old Download on an USB Stick and started the game.exe from that drive within a XP-Mode VM (so it was Drive D) and it all was just fine.... So, with the proper edits in the OS settings it (the freeware version from EA) should also work fine at least up to Windows7/Server2008R2 (including 64bit) with the proper settings within OS and corresponding files... not much help to the OPs question, but i just was really curious about the "bought" statement for a formerly free title....

P.S.: If the bought includes working WAN-Multiplayer via Origin, then that would be another topic - my argument is only (LAN, I am not sure, option is there (untested)...) Single Player....

Even for 0$ one can still "buy" it. Check your emails if you get GoG-games for free.

To me it looks like as if his Origin client is looking for games on his hard disc and recognized the game.exe file of TLJ having the same signature as C&C. So it's listed as C&C in his browser while being a completely different game.

Either that or his config files are a mess.

I've heard of this being an issue with Nvidia control panel, as well. I forget what the other game was, but one of them was The Longest Journey. The issue appears to be the fact that the .exe file to launch both games is named game.exe.

Usually it takes more than just the file name, several games use "game.exe", not just these 2.
But no matter, he seems to have solved it already anyway.

I've actually bought Command & Conquer The Ultimate Collection on Origin, which includes Tiberian Sun and other C&C games. And by the way, I was having this problem with the Longest Journey, not Dreamfall.

Well, I'm really not sure if the file name was the cause of the problem, but renaming the "The Longest Journey" executable file did fixed it. Anyway, the Tiberian Sun patch that I've mentioned fixed it, even if both files are named "game.exe". Maybe the patch changed the game's signature?