Frequently Asked Questions

[Grant]

Frequently Asked Questions
 

Game Specific

Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge

• My game is slow, shows a black screen, or gameplay is choppy
• Unable to set Video Mode
• The updater launcher will not exit
• .NET Framework 3.5 and 2.0 are required, but windows 10 won't download it.

 

Tiberian Dawn/Red Alert 1/ Tiberian Sun

• My game is slow, shows a black screen, or gameplay is choppy
   

All games

• How do I add custom maps?
• I just downloaded CnCNet, or updated and my anti-virus flagged it as a virus
• CnCNet has been blocked by my anti-virus or is showing as a virus
• Your IP address has been listed at DroneBL

 

[Grant]

My game is slow, has a black screen, or the gameplay is choppy. 

If you are experiencing slow or choppy gameplay whilst playing on CnCNet, there are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot the problem.

 

Game Installation - Patch with CnCNet:

1. Install the CnCNet client 
2. This will look for your existing game directory.
3. Once installed run CnCNetYRLauncher.exe or the shortcut supplied.
4. Click "Options"
5. Select "Display" and under the render options, select a new renderer. Commonly, "Automatic", "CNC-DRRAW" or "TS-DDRAW" works best.
6. Click Save, and launch Skirmish. 
7. Play a game with the AI. If the gameplay is fast then this renderer will likely be the best for you.
8. If it hasn't worked, repeat from step 5 until you find a renderer that works best with your system.

Failing the above, ensure your video drivers are up-to-date. You are running a suitable resolution the game can handle.

 

How can I tell if I'm lagging online?

Network connection speed 

If your solo skirmish does not lag, it could point to a problem with your network. Run a speedtest at https://www.speedtest.net/. If your speed is anything below 2Mbps download, it's likely that your network is may struggle and be too slow.  

The solution is to use a wired connection, or try and improve your Internet speed. 

 

My network connection is fast but I still lag online

Make sure you have patched your game installation with CnCNet and followed the above steps with renderer selections.

When playing online, choose tunnel servers closest to your location. E.g. when hosting a game the client will automatically highlight a tunnel server closest to your location. If you pick a tunnel in Australia, and you're based in the UK London, this will cause lag/slow gameplay. 

 

[Grant]

How do I add custom maps?

1. Go to your CnCNet directory
2. Look for the folder called "Maps"
3. Inside the Maps folder, look for the "Custom" folder.
4. Place any custom maps in there. Note for Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge, the file extension must be a ".map".

Gotchas:

1. If you have the CnCNet client open whilst doing this, restart it for it to appear in your client.
2. Take note of the Game mode in the map file and select the "Game mode" in the dropdown in the client.

[Grant]

CnCNet has been blocked by my anti-virus or is showing as a virus. 

If CnCNet has been blocked or flagged by your anti-virus there are a few things to note. 

• Firstly, this warning is often nothing to worry about. Anti-virus software often flag new files as a false positive, mainly because they have discovered a new file on your system they haven't seen before. This is very common in software development, especially for small scale developers such as ourselves. 
• Other ways a file could be flagged as a false positive is the way we protect the software from being decompiled. Some of our software is protected for reasons to keep CnCNet services safe and secure.

Important steps you can take:

• You can remove this block by allowing it as an exception to your Antivirus firewall.
• Submit the file in question to a site such as Virus Total, where it will scan the file against other anti-virus definitions. You will probably find your anti-virus will be listed, among some of the others, but as a rule the ratio should be low, and this is fine.
• To help us stop these alerts, you can submit a report to your antivirus software company, they will scan the file in question that has been flagged, it will be reviewed and will come back as a false positive.

[Grant]

Unable to set Video Mode. 

• Go into your Red Alert 2 folder, in there you will find "game.exe", "gamemd.exe" "ra2.exe", "gamemd-spawn.exe" and "ra2md.exe", right click -> properties -> compatibility, Enable "Reduced Color Mode: 16bit"
• Enable the "Disable Display Scaling on High DPI Settings" compatibility mode for all executables (see above)
• Set your game resolution to the same resolution as your desktop. Navigate to Client Options -> Display, and select the resolution and save.
• Ensure your video drivers are up to date.

[Grant]

I just downloaded CnCNet, or updated and my anti-virus flagged it as a virus.

If CnCNet has been blocked or flagged by your anti-virus there are a few things to note. 

• Firstly, this warning is often nothing to worry about. Anti-virus software often flag new files as a false positive, mainly because they have discovered a new file on your system they haven't seen before. This is very common in software development, especially for small scale developers such as ourselves. 
• Other ways a file could be flagged as a false positive is the way we protect the software from being decompiled. Some of our software is protected for reasons to keep CnCNet services safe and secure.

Important steps you can take:

• You can remove this block by allowing it as an exception to your Antivirus firewall.
• Submit the file in question to a site such as Virus Total, where it will scan the file against other anti-virus definitions. You will probably find your anti-virus will be listed, among some of the others, but as a rule the ratio should be low, and this is fine.
• To help us stop these alerts, you can submit a report to your antivirus software company, they will scan the file in question that has been flagged, and it will be reviewed and will come back as a false positive.

[Grant]

Finding your client.log file for developers

1. Navigate to your Red Alert 2 folder. This is where CnCNet is installed.
2. Look for the folder called "Client"
3. Inside this folder, there will be a file called client.log
4. Upload to your support topic

[Grant]

.NET Framework 3.5 and 2 is required but Windows 10 won't download it. (Error code: 0x800F081F )

Note: Check Windows updates by going to the Windows logo and searching windows updates. Click "Check Windows Updates".
If updates are downloading, or are pending restarts, wait for these to install before trying again.

To check if the.NET Framework 3.5 is available in Control Panel and to enable it, please follow these steps:

• Press “Windows Logo” + “R” keys on the keyboard.
• Type “appwiz.cpl” in the “Run” command box and press “ENTER”.
• In the “Programs and Features” window, click on the link “Turn Windows features on or off”.
• Check if the “.NET Framework 3.5 (includes .NET 2.0 and 3.0)” option is available in it.
• If yes, then enable it and then click on “OK”.

[Grant]

The update will not complete because it gets stuck on "waiting for client to exit" 

1. Open up Windows Task Manager
2. Look for DTA Client / clientdx.exe or clientxna.exe
3. End the client task
4. The Updater window should now complete its task. 

[Grant]

Your IP address has been listed at DroneBL

You will need to follow DroneBL's process to get your IP address removed from their database: http://dronebl.org/lookup . Once your IP is no longer listed in DroneBL, you'll be able to connect to GameSurge

If it says "This IP is part of a CIDR listing and can only be removed by contacting the maintainer", you need to e-mail [email protected] 

[Grant]

My game is slow, has a black screen, or the gameplay is choppy. 

If you are experiencing slow or choppy gameplay whilst playing on CnCNet, there are a few steps you can take to troubleshoot the problem.

Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, Tiberian Sun:

1. Install the Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, or Tiberian Sun client.
2. Click Settings and select the game appropriate to change the settings for.
3. A menu like this will then appear:
   
4. Under "Renderer, select "Automatic"
5. Click "OK" and launch a skirmish game against the AI to test.
6. If it hasn't worked, repeat steps 4-5 by selecting a different renderer that works best for your system.

[Grant]

Use the CnCNet Fix. Click this link for a full tutorial on how to play the campaign

[Grant]

A simple fix is unchecking "Windowed Mode". If you wish to use Windowed mode, the recommended renderer to use is TS DDRAW (non GDI).
You can change your renderer by going into CnCNet's Display settings as shown here attachments.

If this does not work, try different renderers and see which fixes the issue. If issue still persists, feel free to post in support for help.

 

 

[Grant]

My map previews in the "Standard" folder is black

If this happens, go to your RA2 Installation folder > Client and delete custom_map_cache. Then restart your client.

[Grant]

 Yuri's Revenge  Windows 11 - My campaign fails to start.

If your Yuri's Revenge game fails to start, try checking the "Use legacy display ICC colour management" checkbox. This is not needed for base RA2. 

Credit: Thanks to Plok from cncnz.com for this tip.

[Grant]

How do I add RA2 music to my YR gameplay?

https://www.moddb.com/mods/asm/downloads/ra2-music-for-yr

Go to this link, download & extract the files to your RA2 installation.

[Grant]

I have the original disc, but YR (RA2MD.exe) does not work for me.

 

This may not work for all, but has found to work for some.

1 - Right click on RA2MD.exe
2 - Set compatibility to Windows XP Service Pack 2
3 - Run RA2MD.exe as administrator
4 - Set the resolutions to your monitor's resolution, etc

This fix does not allow you to play on CnCNet, so you'll have to swap it back if you'd like to play on CnCNet using the original discs.

 

 

[Grant]

How do I stream/record RA2/YR?
This method works for both Streamlabs & OBS

Before you start, please note that there are 2 processes when you launch a game. 
gamemd-spawn.exe is the game itself, while clientdx.exe is the client
You wanna capture gamemd-spawn.exe, not clientdx.exe

Also bear in mind that not all systems are suited for streaming/recording & playing at the same time. If your internet is slow, you'll likely lag in game or on stream when doing both. 

- Run OBS as administrator
- Launch a game of skirmish via CnCNet
- Tab out & set up a game capture, set the Mode to Capture Specific Window and set the Window to gamemd-spawn.exe
- OBS should capture RA2YR now, and automatically switch to RA2YR from whatever you're on (if the game capture is above the other sources)

Alternatively, you can use Display Capture. Display Capture only works on borderless windowed mode w TS DDRAW renderer. It's unlikely that it will work w other renderers. 

I set mine up like this:
- I have the CnCNet client (Window Capture) below my game capture
- That way if i'm talking on stream or in lobby chat it shows the client
- & when the game launches, it'll automatically capture RA2YR above the client

From there, you can hit record, or hit the start stream button once all your accounts are linked.

Credit: @MJ_ http://twitch.tv/mj_vst

[Grant]

If you encounter a "cheater" in a game, immediately take a screenshot/start a video recording to show proof that the player is cheating.

After you've gotten sufficient evidence, you can post your findings in Discord support, or by posting in reports forum.DM me personally. The admins will launch an investigation and decide if the player is actually cheating. If found guilty, the player will be banned from CnCNet.

Some common cheats are:
Building a cloning vats & building presidents/cosmonauts
Making other faction's tech when he's another faction (i.e. building yuri tech when he is soviet)

Please note that some custom maps may have been modded to include certain units/allow certain factions to build certain tech, so please check before reporting.
Report abuse

[Grant]

Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge not found in C:\Westwood\RA2, please select the right folder.
 

• If you receive a similar error to the below, it means you need to select the folder where Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge is installed on your computer.
• If you do not own Red Alert 2 & Yuri's Revenge, please see here for more information on how to buy a copy, this is because Red Alert 2 is not freeware.

 

[Grant]

Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge Campaign not launching from EA App

If the EA app is not launching the Red Alert 2 or Yuri's Revenge campaign correctly, you can try our experimental Beta version in the CnCNet client. This beta version allows you to launch the campaign directly from CnCNet.

1. Make sure you have CnCNet installed.  Download here.
2. Once up and running, go to "Options", "Updater" and under the "Update channel" select "Beta".
3. Now click "Save", it will ask to restart the client. Click "Yes".
4. It will now ask if you wish to appl ythe "8.49" update. Click "Yes".
   
    
5. IMPORTANT: Once installed, when it prompts to say update to 8.50, click "No".
    
6. Now click "Campaign", and you will be able to select each level.