cncnet installer is not a valid win32 application [Windows XP]

[Ptuin]

I tried to run the installer on Windows XP SP3

It says ‘CnCNet5_YR_Installer.exe is not a valid win32 application’. (also I tried to patch it with XomPie, it didn’t work either) 

 

Is there anyway to get it run?

[Sam-I-am]

Try this one:
CnCNet5_YR_Installer.exe

Make sure you update it.

[Ptuin]

On 6/3/2022 at 6:46 AM, Sam-I-am said:

Try this one:
CnCNet5_YR_Installer.exe

Make sure you update it.

Thanks, at least the installer has launched

but I’ve got another error. What could it be?

[Devo1929]

1 hour ago, Ptuin said:

Thanks, at least the installer has launched

but I’ve got another error. What could it be?

I'm not sure what the issue is as I've never seen it before, but two things:

1. I do not recommend using a legacy installer 
2. Window XP will not be supported for the client at all in the very near future. 

 

 

 

 

[Sam-I-am]

10 hours ago, Ptuin said:

Thanks, at least the installer has launched

but I’ve got another error. What could it be?

You're so welcome. Glad it did.

If you haven't already installed these two, install them and try again:
xnafx40_redist.msi (This is the one that's mentioned in the image above).
VC_redist.x86_2.exe

9 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

I'm not sure what the issue is as I've never seen it before

The first error message tells us that the updated version of the installer doesn't support Windows XP.

9 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

1. I do not recommend using a legacy installer 
2. Window XP will not be supported for the client at all in the very near future.

1. If it can be updated to the latest version, why not?

That legacy installer is the same installer people were downloading for a very long time (probably years) until you replaced it with an updated one just about a month ago, and since both installers are fully updatable, there should be no problem in using either of them, because they're practically the same once they're updated.

2. To improve the client for some users, you cut support for others?
If that's really necessary, It's better to provide a "vanilla" version of the installer (with the basic features only) to XP users, rather than to deny them the chance to play at all.

I myself was calling for small improvements, because who doesn't like improvements? but I didn't expect that drastic measure.
The ability to play and having more players are more important than any potential improvements.

It's funny that XP users won't be able to play a game that was originally made for them.

By the way, the numbers don't reflect reality. I think the majority of XP users didn't vote for some reason. Maybe because they didn't know about the whole thing, or maybe they couldn't, because major browsers no longer support XP and some websites don't function properly with old browsers, which makes it impossible to vote or even comment using some of them.

If applied, I think that would exclude a considerable amount of players, which isn't good for anyone. Multiplayer games need more players, not less, and it already takes a while to have a full house.

 

Anyway, I wanna help this gentleman use the client even if it's just for a day. ?

Edited June 5, 2022 by Sam-I-am

[Ptuin]

19 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

I'm not sure what the issue is as I've never seen it before, but two things:

1. I do not recommend using a legacy installer 
2. Window XP will not be supported for the client at all in the very near future. 

 

 

 

 

Is there a way to install the client manually? 

and what is the technical reason for dropping XP?

I understand the developers who want migrante on the modern fancy frameworks but will it make the game better? What fitures do they have, that old opengl, dotNET, etc don't have? The RA2 is good because it works on old hardware and it's my favourite game. but I don't have a reason to buy modern windows PC just for gaming. (for work I use mac) 

[Devo1929]

Quote

If it can be updated to the latest version, why not?

I'm not saying it shouldn't be done necessarily. I'm just saying I don't recommend it. I don't know when the installer referenced was built. The older it is, the more that needs to be updated during the download process and while I wish the updater was error proof, that's not always been the case. 

Quote

To improve the client for some users, you cut support for others?

If that's really necessary, It's better to provide a "vanilla" version of the installer (with the basic features only) to XP users, rather than to deny them the chance to play at all.

We can't support legacy OS's or software indefinitely. I wouldn't consider dropping support for an OS that was dropped 8 years ago "drastic" either.

We could leave around an instance of the client before XP drop, but those players would likely only be able to play with each other...

Quote

The ability to play and having more players are more important than any potential improvements.

No improvements or very very slow improvements can also create a stale experience. In which case you'll lose more players, too.

Quote

By the way, the numbers don't reflect reality. I think the majority of XP users didn't vote for some reason. Maybe because they didn't know about the whole thing, or maybe they couldn't, because major browsers no longer support XP and some websites don't function properly with old browsers, which makes it impossible to vote or even comment using some of them.

Likewise, I'm sure there are many people that don't need XP that also didn't vote. I think there's also a percentage of those that did vote for continued support of XP are either trolling or just unwilling to make any sort of change even if they already have the means to do so. We can only go by the numbers. It's interesting that a reason mentioned for some possibly not voting is that the website may not function their older browsers. That basically makes my point. Older OS's, browsers, frameworks, etc... simply lack the ability to handle features or other libraries that we have access to. We can't continue to support legacy software indefinitely.

Quote

and what is the technical reason for dropping XP?

Technically, it's not that we're dropping XP support. It's that we're dropping .NET 4 support and Windows XP is limited to .NET 4. It's not that we can't build anything additional on .NET 4. It's that we're severely limited in the speed and efficiency of building most things on it, because we would need to implement things completely manually that are otherwise available "out of the box" in newer versions of .NET. Simply, there are features and capabilities of newer versions of .NET that we're unable to take advantage of. There are third party libraries that allow us to build things better or more efficiently that we're unable to take advantage of because they have cut .NET 4 support.

1 hour ago, Ptuin said:

Is there a way to install the client manually? 

I'm going to try to spin up a virtual instance of Windows XP on SP3 and attempt to install it to reproduce your issue. I'll reply here if I can find a resolution.

[Ptuin]

22 hours ago, Sam-I-am said:

You're so welcome. Glad it did.

If you haven't already installed these two, install them and try again:
xnafx40_redist.msi (This is the one that's mentioned in the image above).
VC_redist.x86_2.exe

The first error message tells us that the updated version of the installer doesn't support Windows XP.

1. If it can be updated to the latest version, why not?

That legacy installer is the same installer people were downloading for a very long time (probably years) until you replaced it with an updated one just about a month ago, and since both installers are fully updatable, there should be no problem in using either of them, because they're practically the same once they're updated.

2. To improve the client for some users, you cut support for others?
If that's really necessary, It's better to provide a "vanilla" version of the installer (with the basic features only) to XP users, rather than to deny them the chance to play at all.

I myself was calling for small improvements, because who doesn't like improvements? but I didn't expect that drastic measure.
The ability to play and having more players are more important than any potential improvements.

It's funny that XP users won't be able to play a game that was originally made for them.

By the way, the numbers don't reflect reality. I think the majority of XP users didn't vote for some reason. Maybe because they didn't know about the whole thing, or maybe they couldn't, because major browsers no longer support XP and some websites don't function properly with old browsers, which makes it impossible to vote or even comment using some of them.

If applied, I think that would exclude a considerable amount of players, which isn't good for anyone. Multiplayer games need more players, not less, and it already takes a while to have a full house.

 

Anyway, I wanna help this gentleman use the client even if it's just for a day. ?

Thanks for your help. The strange thing is that I have xnafx40_redist.msi and VC_redist.x86_2.exe installed, and it still shows me the error. I guess it’s game over for me

[Devo1929]

6 minutes ago, Ptuin said:

Thanks for your help. The strange thing is that I have xnafx40_redist.msi and VC_redist.x86_2.exe installed, and it still shows me the error. I guess it’s game over for me

I was able to get WinXP SP3 up on a virtual machine and test the latest installer. It does launch, but attempting to download those files also fails for me. I also installed those two things manually, but it still prevents me from moving forward. I'm not sure what the issue is there. Let me see if I can do something to the installer to get you around that issue.

Downloads: 

latest installer: https://downloads.cncnet.org/CnCNet5_YR_Installer.exe
.net 4: http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/5/A/95A9616B-7A37-4AF6-BC36-D6EA96C8DAAE/dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe
xnafx redist: http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/C/2/AC2C903B-E6E8-42C2-9FD7-BEBAC362A930/xnafx40_redist.msi

Those last two are the exact files that the installer attempts to download.

[Devo1929]

Please try installing using the following installer:
https://downloads.cncnet.org/CnCNet5_YR_Installer_noxna.exe

This installer should skip attempting to download the xna redistributable listed previously.

[Devo1929]

5 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

Please try installing using the following installer:
https://downloads.cncnet.org/CnCNet5_YR_Installer_noxna.exe

This installer should skip attempting to download the xna redistributable listed previously.

Fwiw...

The reason why the installer wasn't working was because it was built with a newer version of InnoSetup, a version no longer compatible with XP.

When attempting to reproduce the issue on a virtual instance of XP, I was having a hard time even getting a browser capable of being installed on XP and IE simply wasn't working to access any sites. I had to download Firefox v52 to get to cncnet.org to download the installer where the latest of Firefox is v101.

Like I said, it's definitely not a "drastic" decision to promote the upgrade. It's simply becoming increasingly difficult to remain compatible with XP when not much else is anymore...

[Sam-I-am]

21 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

We can't continue to support legacy software indefinitely.

Actually you can, but you don't want to. ?
You want to move along. It's your choice. Fine. ?

21 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

I wouldn't consider dropping support for an OS that was dropped 8 years ago "drastic" either.

It's not about dropping support for an old OS. It's about the users that would be affected by that decision.

21 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

No improvements or very very slow improvements can also create a stale experience. In which case you'll lose more players, too.

I doubt that anyone would abandon the client for such reason. Loyal fans who used to play this game on 56k modems won't be put off by minor hiccups.
I mean the situation was much worse back then, so nothing would compare to what they've already experienced.
You can make the client better, but it's already good as it is.

21 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

It's interesting that a reason mentioned for some possibly not voting is that the website may not function their older browsers. That basically makes my point.

I was aware of that. It seems like it supports your argument but it's actually irrelevant.
We all agree that XP is old and inefficient in some cases, but it's not totally obsolete.
Yes, they may not be able to vote on that particular platform, but they still can play the game (which is more important) and that's the issue. They can and want to play on XP, but they can't say it, and so their votes won't count, their opinion won't be considered, for technical issues; Because "the voting machine" wasn't working properly.

Sorry to say, but, the poll was neither well advertised nor well conducted. It should've been advertised with a message within the client, open for discussion in the forum, and put to vote on a platform that works on old browsers, for fairness. It only makes sense!

8 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

I was having a hard time even getting a browser capable of being installed on XP and IE simply wasn't working to access any sites. I had to download Firefox v52 to get to cncnet.org to download the installer where the latest of Firefox is v101.

Major companies dropped supported for XP, but there are developers around the world still keeping it alive by providing unofficial updates and alternatives like these:
Chromium-based browsers that still support XP in 2022
 

8 hours ago, Devo1929 said:

Like I said, it's definitely not a "drastic" decision to promote the upgrade.

It's definitely good to upgrade, if that's an option! but unfortunately, as you know, in many cases, it's not.
XP users will be thrown under the bus.

14 hours ago, Ptuin said:

Thanks for your help.

Happy to do it.

14 hours ago, Ptuin said:

I guess it’s game over for me

No, no, no. We're gonna continue this fight to the last minute! ?

Whenever I have an issue downloading something, I try using a VPN, and that usually solves it.
If the issue persists, try again with your favorite VPN and see what happens. ?

Edited June 6, 2022 by Sam-I-am

[Ptuin]

On 6/5/2022 at 10:39 PM, Devo1929 said:

Please try installing using the following installer:
https://downloads.cncnet.org/CnCNet5_YR_Installer_noxna.exe

This installer should skip attempting to download the xna redistributable listed previously.

This one is working. ?? at least the installer. I managed to install the client.

 

but now I have an error in the client itself

 

[Sam-I-am]

It's almost certainly a driver issue.
In that case, all you need to do is to update the graphics card driver.
I've had that issue before. Totally solvable.
It's not game over! and hopefully soon it will be mission accomplished.

There are several good, free, XP-compatible software that can help you update your drivers easily, like:
Snappy Driver Installer
DriverMax
Driver Booster
3DP Chip
DriverIdentifier

This is an arsenal of driver-updating software. You must be able to use the client very soon. No excuse! ?

If you need any help, let me know. ?

[OwenWyatt]

On 5/28/2022 at 2:37 PM, Ptuin said:

I tried to run the installer on Windows XP SP3

It says ‘CnCNet5_YR_Installer.exe is not a valid win32 application’. (also I tried to patch it with XomPie, it didn’t work either) 

 

Is there anyway to get it run?

1. Download files. If you downloaded a file and verified it is complete and compatible, delete it and try downloading it again. 
2. Installing a program from a CD or other disk. 
3. Running a program from the computer.
4. A long file name issue. 
5. Bad file.