Last updated: 3 July 2026
The project, plainly
Red Ace Squadron: Definitive Edition is an independent community restoration of Red Ace Squadron (Small Rockets, 2001), distributed with the permission of one of the original developers. It is not an official Small Rockets product, and it is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by Criterion Software, Electronic Arts, or Epic Games. Red Ace Squadron is © 2001–2008 Small Software Ltd. / Small Rockets; all rights remain with their owners.
Using this website
- The site's original text and design are © the Red Ace Squadron restoration project. Game artwork and trademarks belong to their respective owners.
- Press and creators are welcome to use the screenshots, key art, and facts on the press page for coverage of the game.
- The only official download source for the Definitive Edition is this domain. Files obtained elsewhere are not ours and we cannot vouch for them.
- The site is provided as-is, without warranties; we work hard on accuracy but make no guarantees.
Installing and playing the game
- The Definitive Edition is licensed for personal play. Don't redistribute modified installers or pass builds off as official.
- The installer ships with a license agreement covering the same points; the installer's text is authoritative for the software itself.
- The game embeds runtime components from Epic Online Services. Epic provides those materials without warranties of any kind, and all representations, warranties, conditions, and liabilities related to the Epic materials are disclaimed.
- Online play depends on Epic Online Services being available; we can't promise uninterrupted service.
Third-party software notices
These notices ship with the game as THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt and are mirrored
here. They exist because the restoration stands on other people's good work.
================================================================ RED ACE SQUADRON: DEFINITIVE EDITION - THIRD-PARTY NOTICES ================================================================ Red Ace Squadron (c) 2001-2008 Small Software Ltd. / Small Rockets. All rights reserved. Distributed with the permission of one of the original developers as a community restoration project. "Red Ace Squadron" and "Small Rockets" are marks of their respective owner. This product includes third-party software components, listed below. 1. RenderWare(R) Graphics (runtime, embedded in game executables) The original 2001 game executables contain an embedded runtime of the RenderWare 3 graphics engine, (c) 1993-2004 Criterion Software Ltd. RenderWare is a trademark of Criterion Software Ltd., an Electronic Arts company. The runtime is present solely as shipped in the original licensed game. This project is not affiliated with, sponsored, or endorsed by Criterion Software or Electronic Arts, and does not distribute the RenderWare SDK. 2. DDrawCompat v0.7.1 (ddraw.dll) https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat Licensed under the BSD Zero Clause License: Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any purpose with or without fee is hereby granted. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE. 3. zlib 1.1.3 (embedded) - (c) 1995-1998 Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler. Provided 'as-is' without warranty; permission granted to use for any purpose including commercial, subject to: 1. origin must not be misrepresented; 2. altered versions must be plainly marked and not misrepresented as the original; 3. this notice may not be removed from any source distribution. 4. libpng 1.0.8 (embedded) - (c) 1995-1996 Guy Eric Schalnat, Group 42, Inc.; (c) 1996-1997 Andreas Dilger; (c) 1998-2000 Glenn Randers-Pehrson. Distributed under the libpng (zlib-style) license; supplied "AS IS". See http://www.libpng.org/pub/png/ 5. Independent JPEG Group library (embedded) This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group. (c) 1991-1998, Thomas G. Lane. 6. Epic Online Services SDK - (c) Epic Games, Inc. Used under the Epic Online Services Developer Agreement. Epic, Epic Games, and Epic Online Services are trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. Additional third-party notices for EOS SDK components are reproduced in the accompanying EOS third-party notices files. 7. Historical GameSpy SDK code (server executable, non-functional) Dormant matchmaking code from the GameSpy SDK ((c) GameSpy Industries), licensed to the original developer in 2001. The GameSpy service was discontinued in 2014; this code is inactive and retained only for binary authenticity. 8. Texture restoration - High-resolution textures in this edition are restorations of the original Small Rockets artwork, processed with Real-ESRGAN ((c) 2021 Xintao Wang, BSD 3-Clause License, https://github.com/xinntao/Real-ESRGAN). Real-ESRGAN itself is not distributed with this product. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Microsoft, Windows, DirectX, DirectDraw, DirectInput and DirectSound are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies; no Microsoft components are redistributed with this product.
Website fonts
The site's typefaces are self-hosted under the SIL Open Font License 1.1: Alfa Slab One (© 2016 The Alfa Slab One Project Authors, Reserved Font Name "Alfa Slab"), Cinzel (© 2020 The Cinzel Project Authors), and Alegreya Sans (© 2011 The Alegreya Project Authors).
Takedown contact
Rights holder with a concern? Write to contact@redacesquadron.com and we will respond promptly. Our policy is to comply first and discuss second.