Windows 10 Home and ddraw DLL's (the perfect Win10 fix?)

[YuriTD88]

So recently I got a new laptop with Windows 10 (Home). Beforehand I did some reading on what problems I could expect and I noticed there's luckily enough fixes around to get RA2/YR to work. Also, I am aware the every system is different and DLL's could react different for everyone. Though I hope to provide info for the RA2/YR community regarding the Win10 compatability and also hope that somebody might help me with some issues which I am having

I'll begin by saying that simply with the TS-DDRAW through CnCNet, the game works on Windows 10 (ingame). This is of course the most important part of playing YR, being able to play it . So thumbsup to the folks who made this possible!

 

So why am I posting? Well, in order of priority:

1. Right before the game starts (after the loading screen with every player), the screen "jumps to desktop and back to ingame" or "flickers for a while". Now this is not a very big deal, but still delays deploying the MCV / making my first move.

2. When I am ingame and want to switch to the "ally" or "settings" screen, it flickers again. A couple times for everytime I click to a new screen. I can still get done what I want, but the flicker is annoying and it takes more time to actually return back ingame, annoying especially if you want to quickly ally ingame in the beginning when you're still building and stuff.

3. Both RA2 and YR have problems starting (black screen and/or crash) when you run them (without CnCNet).

4. I cannot take screenshots ingame. (tried GreenShot, Lightshot, e.d. They give me either black screens or the YR menu instead of whats happening ingame. SHIFT+S works fine, but I'd like to save to a different location and apply date/time and use a different compression.

 

So I managed to get #3 working for YR by using the No-CD files instead of the Origin files. I still had these lying around for my CD's of RA2/YR which I had. To make installations easy I purchased it on Origin and copied these No-CD files to the RA2/YR dir. Though the menu is working properly, I still experience the same flicker for every screen that I click on. Basically the same issue #1 and #2, except I can now do campaign or anything else through the original YR menu's

I kept looking for the ultimate fix and I have tried various DDRAW files off the internet (for example https://www.dll-files.com/ddraw.dll.html) or anything I could find on CNC forums/websites, including the RA2/YR compatibility databases & exe fixes on these forums and the XWIS fix. I'll save you the trouble by not mentioning it all, but most of them just didn't work and the TS-DDRAW included with CnCNet just works the best.

 

However there is one fix which came very close into fixing BOTH RA2 and YR with all the menu's, without flickering AND ingame play.

It's the ts-yr_proxy, which I downloaded at https://ppmforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=548140&sid=803a5509c5106943ebffc5ef825426ef

Direct download link: http://www.ppmsite.com/downloads/ts-yr_proxy.zip

Also, because I noticed lots of fixes which are giving 404 errors which made me sad :roll:, I will also upload it with this post for anybody in the future who gets a 404 on the earlier link.

So this replaces the ddraw.dll in the RA2/YR dir (do make a backup of it !) and adds two more files, of which one is an INI which can be configured. Though for me the default settings worked alright.

When I start ra2.exe or ra2md.exe (these are the No-CD variants), the game starts fine and menu works fine! No more flickering and fast response in menu's.

The problem with this fix however.... is when you select units, order them to move or just scroll around the map when there's units moving around, it gets LAGGY. I was very happy to have found this fix, but the ingame lag is a dealbreaker

 

Conclusion:

- CnCNet TS-DDRAW + No-CD exe files : RA2 does not start, YR does start but flickers, YR ingame works perfect! Cannot take ingame screenshots with external tools

- TS Proxy + No-CD exe files: RA2 & YR both start fine. There is NO flickering of menu's. Ingame has lag when performing actions! Cannot take ingame screenshots with external tools

 

My question(s):

1. Who can take the best properties of these 2 DLL's and make the perfect one?

2. Is anybody else experiencing this flicker? Did you find a fix for it?

3. Or... which other fix can I try which worked perfect for other Windows 10 users? So I want to be able to start both RA2 and YR standalone, have no menu lag and most importantly no ingame lag . Optionally I would like to be able to take screenshots with a program like GreenShot.

 

And uh... it's good to be back at RA2/YR after all these years. Seeing an active online communities surprised me, but more important... makes me want to go all out RA2/YR again.

[Rampastring]

However there is one fix which came very close into fixing BOTH RA2 and YR with all the menu's, without flickering AND ingame play.

It's the ts-yr_proxy, which I downloaded at https://ppmforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=548140&sid=803a5509c5106943ebffc5ef825426ef

Direct download link: http://www.ppmsite.com/downloads/ts-yr_proxy.zip

That's already included in the CnCNet client options. It's the DxWnd renderer in display settings.

 

The only external tool that I've personally found for taking screenshots that works is Steam (launch the client / game through Steam as a non-Steam game). But generally I just stick to the game's own screenshot hotkey.

[YuriTD88]

However there is one fix which came very close into fixing BOTH RA2 and YR with all the menu's, without flickering AND ingame play.

It's the ts-yr_proxy, which I downloaded at https://ppmforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=548140&sid=803a5509c5106943ebffc5ef825426ef

Direct download link: http://www.ppmsite.com/downloads/ts-yr_proxy.zip

That's already included in the CnCNet client options. It's the DxWnd renderer in display settings.

 

The only external tool that I've personally found for taking screenshots that works is Steam (launch the client / game through Steam as a non-Steam game). But generally I just stick to the game's own screenshot hotkey.

Ah, I thought I had tried all the options in the CnCNet client already, but seem to have missed that one Yes, it seems to be the same one (with the same side effects ingame).

Are there people working on either of these DLL's for improvements? They are both close to completely fixing Windows 10 issues.

 

Awesome, Steam ingame overlay seems to do the trick! I added the CnCNet client and it works Is there a way to change which type and compression to save it as?

[Nyerguds]

I do remember changing the Steam screenshots to make them save PNGs when playing Grey Goo. Just google around a bit; it's not too hard.

 

If I remember correctly, the screenshots overview/upload window you get after playing the game only gives access to the jpeg versions though, and you have to browse your disk to find the png ones manually.

[DoDger]

well i just changed into win 10 Education recently and i had no issue at all only that annoying notification about resolution message that pop out when u go into the game but i already disabled that Ty for post Tho might be helpful in the future and btw i got my game from origin

[YuriTD88]

I do remember changing the Steam screenshots to make them save PNGs when playing Grey Goo. Just google around a bit; it's not too hard.

 

If I remember correctly, the screenshots overview/upload window you get after playing the game only gives access to the jpeg versions though, and you have to browse your disk to find the png ones manually.

The option "save uncompressed version to location..." makes these high quality PNG files and you can also choose where you want them saved.

And, when you click on the "Show on disk" button through the Steam library on the custom game YR, you get redirected to the JPG files which are lower quality in a Steam userdata directory.

 

I settled with the first option, because with Irfanview you can easily batch rename + convert them to any name and image type/quality. Would have been nice if my screenshot application just worked like on Windows 7, so I wouldn't need to repeat those steps.