Red Alert 2 on Windows 8 64Bit (a few tips).

[MTM1977]

Hi,

 

Ever since i got the Ultimate Collection, i have been going through the games starting from the oldest (CnC95).

Now it is time for Red Alert 2.

 

I already got it running perfectly, but as with all of these games, it was not as simple as just "plug and play"

 

I basically had two problems with the game.

 

1. Game was running with poor frame rate (lagging) and mouse cursor was not moving smoothly either (not good on a game like this).

This was fixed simply by ini edit -> RA2.ini:

[Video]

VideoBackBuffer=no

 

On the same ini section you can also specify custom resolution.

There is also tool for doing both (fixes both RA2 + Yuri's Revenge):

http://blog.obelisk.ro/2010/09/resolution-fix-for-red-alert-2-yuris.html

 

Once this was sorted, game was running smoothly. On to problem 2.

 

2. Game was running too fast.

As you probably know, this game has hard coded speed setting on the campaign and it worked nicely with old PC's.

However, with new hardware, game runs too fast for my taste at least (about 2x speed compared to real time).

Unlike the older ones, this game does not have speed slider for solo campaign, but it is possible to get there.

 

If you use origin version like i do, here is the process:

1. Download fixed launcher (Origin launcher does not allow custom launch options) -> http://www.commandandconquer.com/forums/showthread.php?8350-Fixed-Launchers-for-The-Ultimate-Collection

2. Extract the RA2Launcher.exe to your game folder

3. Create a shortcut to the RA2Launcher

4. edit the shortcut by adding -SPEEDCONTROL option -> "D:\Origin\Command and Conquer Red Alert II\RA2Launcher.exe" -SPEEDCONTROL

 

This works also with non-Origin version, but then you don't need the fixed launcher.

This will bring the speed control bar to campaign play. Note that you can only change the speed during mission (via options), not from main menu. Also, you have to set it every time you start new mission or load your game.

 

That should be it. C&C RA2 + Yuri playable with custom resolution + speed control on Windows 8

[Igfra]

Hi. Im having problems running c&c red alert 2 in Windows 8. the program starts well, the speed is fine but im not having it on widescreen and after some time the program stops working and freeze. if theres any thing i can do to fix it i will appreciate the help.

 

thank you

[benhwa]

Having similar problems. The game will play for about 5-20 minutes then crashes where you cannot move cursor and alt/ctrl/delete will not work. I am running Windows 8 64-bit with Nvidia Geforce 660 graphics card (updated) and have used compatibility screen to change to windows xp SP 2 and 3 (tried both) without success. Any other hints would be appreciated.

[Pumpkin]

I've got the same problem with the game running too fast on Campaign Mode, with no speed control option.

 

I'm playing a copy of RA2 from the Command & Conquer Collection (2003) and I'm using Windows XP.

 

I've been trying to get that -SPEEDCONTROL option to work, but it just doesn't seem to be working at all. Is there anything I can do about this version of the game on Windows XP?

[bullelinf]

I have the same problem.

did you manage to fix it?

 

[Iran]

You can enable the gamespeed slider in campaign by opening game.exe with a hex editor and at offset 0x115439 changing bytes "74 07" to "90 90"

[goleme]

You can enable the gamespeed slider in campaign by opening game.exe with a hex editor and at offset 0x115439 changing bytes "74 07" to "90 90"

 

I was stuck with this problem: Games work fine but too fast! After an hour of reading the first post and multiple others i found that all you need to do is when you go into a skirmish or campaign you can only change the game speed AFTER YOU START THE MATCH. And you need to do it everytime. But other than that all i needed to do was to run compatibility mode set to win98 after I got the fetal error. Running Win 7 Enterprise 64bit,