Running CnC in windowed mode

[jfb]

How do you run the games in windowed mode?

[Revolutionary]

you cant run CnC or RA in windows mode (or unless you are using some sort of eulator ie CnC DOS in DOS Box or Wine, etc)

 

It is possible to run TS and RA2 (and up) in a window.

For RA2 and TS you need to run the game with the "-win" argument and have your screen properties set up for 16bit colour.

 

[smg id=606]

[Ferret]

You can simply download this file, then put it into your C&C directory (works with Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert).

 

It is still being worked on I believe, but it still works very well! ^^

[Nyerguds]

It triggers most virus scanners though, since it contains some rather dirty code that overwrites some mouse-related functions in the game itself (to make sure the mouse position and such work correctly when the window is moved away from the normal X=0,Y=0 spot in the upper left corner). But it's not a virus, just code that's similar to what some viruses use.

 

Still highly experimental though, and since hifi keeps experimenting with it you never know if the latest version uploaded at that address is optimized for C&C95, RA95, or simply is some debug test version that locks your mouse cursor in the middle of the screen or something like that. For more info, join the IRC channel of cncnet and you can follow the development as it goes on

 

A far as I know, the current version only works correctly on RA... he didn't get C&C1 to run in a moving window yet; it just doesn't switch to fullscreen mode now, and stays in the upper left corner.

[jfb]

Reason I asked is b/c I'm trying to record a couple in-game movies and I'm having trouble recording it. (I use atubecatcher)

[Nyerguds]

C&C95 runs in a rather odd full-screen 256-colour DirectX mode. A lot of apps have problems with it because it actually sets your desktop's colour depth to 256 colours.

[MrFlibble]

You can easily run both C&C and RA1 in windowed mode, given that you use the DOS versions and DOSBox

 

And you can as easily record in-game movies if you use the DOS versions and DOSBox.

 

See how easy everything is with DOSBox!

[Nyerguds]

...so how do you propose to play on CnCNet with DOS C&C? Not even counting the fact it won't be compatible with C&C95 v1.06

[Ferret]

You could try Fraps to record stuff if you haven't heard about it already.

[MrFlibble]

...so how do you propose to play on CnCNet with DOS C&C? Not even counting the fact it won't be compatible with C&C95 v1.06

I don't play online, so that is kind of non-issue to me. Besides, I thought the problem was to play in windowed mode and to make in-game videos? None of that is directly related to playing on C&CNet against someone with C&C95 v1.06.

 

The OP did not specify that he wanted to run C&C95 in windowed mode, so the solution with DOSBox is perfectly justified IMO.

 

Oh BTW, Revolutionary already had mentioned the DOSBox variant above, although in a somewhat negative light, implying that the DOS versions of either C&C or RA1 are somehow "inferior" to their Windows counterparts, which is debatable at best.

[Revolutionary]

i didnt mean to imply the DOS versions were inferior, but unless you do some vodo the only way you can play CnC 1 in a window is threw emulators, either DOS box and the dos version OR Wine on linux and the win 95 (or DOS?) version

[Nyerguds]

Well, sorry to have to break this to you MrFlibble, but with the C&C95 v1.06 patch and the RA v3.03 patch, they kinda ARE. Neither of them were offered for the DOS version

 

(though I did post some DOS C&C hacks like the skirmish one on the cncnz forum)

[MrFlibble]

i didnt mean to imply the DOS versions were inferior, but unless you do some vodo the only way you can play CnC 1 in a window is threw emulators, either DOS box and the dos version OR Wine on linux and the win 95 (or DOS?) version

Oh, I'm sorry, I must have projected a negative attitude towards DOS games some people have into your post while it wasn't really there. Sorry for the misunderstanding! (I'm a quite a DOS fan, you know ).

 

Well, sorry to have to break this to you MrFlibble, but with the C&C95 v1.06 patch and the RA v3.03 patch, they kinda ARE.

Ehh... and you say this even though the DOS version of C&C is the original thing..?

[Nyerguds]

Yes. Updated versions are usually superior to the original thing. It's kinda what updates are for

And for RA this doesn't even apply anyway, since DOS RA was just added as "DOS support" when they switched to the Win95 engine.

 

Anyway, hifi got windowed mode working for C&C95

[MrFlibble]

Yes. Updated versions are usually superior to the original thing. It's kinda what updates are for

And for RA this doesn't even apply anyway, since DOS RA was just added as "DOS support" when they switched to the Win95 engine.

Never did I state the opposite, yet demoting the DOS version of RA to some kind of secondary "support" is a bit far fetched, seeing as how not everyone in 1996 switched to Win95 yet. The DOS version has the same functionality as the Win95 one up to v2.00, plus there's no ugly "hi-res" infantry by default, and the videos aren't interlaced.

 

As for C&C95, technically it's not an "update" but a re-release, or a different edition of the game. And even ignoring that, it is not uncommon for the updates to lack certain features that were found in previous releases, and not all such changes seem justified (e.g. building animation frames and Mentat database entries that were cut in Dune 2 v1.07 for no apparent reason).

 

The DOS versions have pros anyway. First off, the original C&C was meant to be played in 320x200 resolution, and already in 640x480 of C&C95 everything is a bit small, no? Secondly, there's this little thing that the original game lore presented C&C as military software, the E.V.A., which the player uses to remotely command actual military units on the battlefield. To this end, the installer/setup programme and the game interface were designed in the same style, including the same font used for

• the installation and setup menu
  
• in-game menus
  
• mission briefings
  
• score screen
  
• map selection screen
  
• some of the briefings that are actually VQA movies.

In the C&C95 edition, this uniformity was largely ruined because

• the installation and setup programmes were replaced with boring standard Windows menus
  
• the in-game interface got a "facelift", making it look different from the original, more minimalistic design
  
• the font used in the options menu no longer looks the same as the one used in the score screen and the map selection screen
  
• the video briefings that show E.V.A. interface obviously stand out because they are interlaced in hi-res, and the font there is still the old DOS version font, so they no longer feel like a part of the same system as the rest of the game.

This is, of course, not some major issue, and the notion of E.V.A. as conceived in C&C was mostly dropped in RA1 (to come back in TS though), but still an aesthetic aspect of the game was lost.

 

Additionally, the animation for the sidebar logo morphing into the radar map screen plays too fast in the C&C95 version to be visible (that is, unless you fixed that in one of the recent releases I am not yet aware of). Oh, and DOS C&C has remapable sidebar icons.

[pichorra]

Want DOS style in C&C95? so, look at http://forums.cncnz.com/index.php?showtopic=14165

[hifi]

I kinda works now for both games.

 

Project page with more details: http://hifi.iki.fi/cnc-ddraw/

 

Small issues persist, but overall should be very playable.

[Nyerguds]

Never did I state the opposite, yet demoting the DOS version of RA to some kind of secondary "support" is a bit far fetched, seeing as how not everyone in 1996 switched to Win95 yet. The DOS version has the same functionality as the Win95 one up to v2.00, plus there's no ugly "hi-res" infantry by default, and the videos aren't interlaced.

Not quite. It doesn't have internet play. And the 3.03 patch doesn't update DOS C&C, probably because the main updated feature was internet play. But that does mean that with 3.03, the DOS version is also missing all the other improvements it did.

 

As for C&C95, technically it's not an "update" but a re-release, or a different edition of the game.

I was referring to the C&C95 v1.06 patch I made. Which I didn' tmake for DOS C&C since 32-bit DOS is a mess to hack into.

 

And even ignoring that, it is not uncommon for the updates to lack certain features that were found in previous releases, and not all such changes seem justified (e.g. building animation frames and Mentat database entries that were cut in Dune 2 v1.07 for no apparent reason).

Eh... none of the C&C or RA patches had stuff like that though.

 

The DOS versions have pros anyway. First off, the original C&C was meant to be played in 320x200 resolution, and already in 640x480 of C&C95 everything is a bit small, no?

That's debatable... monitors have gotten quite a lot bigger since 1995 too.

 

Secondly, there's this little thing that the original game lore presented C&C as military software, the E.V.A., which the player uses to remotely command actual military units on the battlefield. To this end, the installer/setup programme and the game interface were designed in the same style, including the same font used for

• the installation and setup menu
  
• in-game menus
  
• mission briefings
  
• score screen
  
• map selection screen
  
• some of the briefings that are actually VQA movies.

In the C&C95 edition, this uniformity was largely ruined because

• the installation and setup programmes were replaced with boring standard Windows menus
  
• the in-game interface got a "facelift", making it look different from the original, more minimalistic design
  
• the font used in the options menu no longer looks the same as the one used in the score screen and the map selection screen
  
• the video briefings that show E.V.A. interface obviously stand out because they are interlaced in hi-res, and the font there is still the old DOS version font, so they no longer feel like a part of the same system as the rest of the game.

This is, of course, not some major issue, and the notion of E.V.A. as conceived in C&C was mostly dropped in RA1 (to come back in TS though), but still an aesthetic aspect of the game was lost.

I guess you got some valid points there, yes. I really don't like their decision to make the videos interlaced, and the installer was indeed really boring compared to the DOS one. But the game misses a lot of lore that is supposed to go with the EVA interface anyway. A lot of that can only find in the official strategy guide. The prime example being the static screen after [start New Game]. Nothing in the manual or game indicates that you are using an official GDI program but get the static screen with the choice of campaigns because it's been hacked by Nod.

 

I don't really mind the font though. The original was lacking a case sensitive font, and with the higher res it actually became plausible. If only they'd given C&C95 hi-res videos with the text remade... ah well.

 

Additionally, the animation for the sidebar logo morphing into the radar map screen plays too fast in the C&C95 version to be visible (that is, unless you fixed that in one of the recent releases I am not yet aware of).

That's a bug though. In the original C&C95 on Win95 machines it ran OK. It's just with newer machines with faster CPUs that the speed problem occurs.

 

Oh, and DOS C&C has remapable sidebar icons.

Meh. They were pretty much just screenshots from the game anyway. I like the fact they went to actual pictures of the units; it's like the big images in Dune II. And the fact they don't have remap is just so they could increase the number of colours used in these icons.

 

Also, The DOS RA1 icons don't remap.

[MrFlibble]

Well, in any case, I did not mean to say that the DOS version is necessarily better than the Win95 one - just that both have some pros, and that there are notable differences between the two. After all, it was the enormous success of the original DOS C&C that had prompted the release of the updated Win95 edition of the game two years later.

 

Never did I state the opposite, yet demoting the DOS version of RA to some kind of secondary "support" is a bit far fetched, seeing as how not everyone in 1996 switched to Win95 yet. The DOS version has the same functionality as the Win95 one up to v2.00, plus there's no ugly "hi-res" infantry by default, and the videos aren't interlaced.

Not quite. It doesn't have internet play. And the 3.03 patch doesn't update DOS C&C, probably because the main updated feature was internet play. But that does mean that with 3.03, the DOS version is also missing all the other improvements it did.

Hm, I assume you're right, but that is not relevant to those who don't play online. RA1 was developed in the era when the singleplayer element of the game was still central to a game, while the multiplayer aspect was optional at best. Internet was only becoming widespread back in mid-nineties, so just like with Win95, many people did not have it in the first place.

 

And even ignoring that, it is not uncommon for the updates to lack certain features that were found in previous releases, and not all such changes seem justified (e.g. building animation frames and Mentat database entries that were cut in Dune 2 v1.07 for no apparent reason).

Eh... none of the C&C or RA patches had stuff like that though.

Oh, that was just a preamble for the part about the E.V.A. as presented in the installer and the game itself in the DOS version.

 

The DOS versions have pros anyway. First off, the original C&C was meant to be played in 320x200 resolution, and already in 640x480 of C&C95 everything is a bit small, no?

That's debatable... monitors have gotten quite a lot bigger since 1995 too.

What I wonder is why, in the case of RA1, the developers did not make a DOS version with higher resolution, like it was done with Warcraft 2, The Settlers 2 and many other titles. It's almost like they started the development using the original DOS settings left over from C&C (as you can see from the early screenshots that Siberian_GRemlin posted), then switched to Win95 and did not bother updating the DOS version to higher resolution.

 

But the game misses a lot of lore that is supposed to go with the EVA interface anyway. A lot of that can only find in the official strategy guide. The prime example being the static screen after [start New Game]. Nothing in the manual or game indicates that you are using an official GDI program but get the static screen with the choice of campaigns because it's been hacked by Nod.

Interesting, I've always interpreted the game intro as the two sides trying to "break through" the TV programmes you're watching, then you get the static and the choice to pick up the side you like. However, I think that it is said in the game manual that the E.V.A. used by Nod commanders is a hacked, illegally pirated copy. BTW, the Nod E.V.A. in the video briefings for mission 4 uses red font, and I think they could have used red colours for the options menu for Nod to make it more consistent (although this would probably turn out to be an eyesore ).

 

Oh, and DOS C&C has remapable sidebar icons.

Meh. They were pretty much just screenshots from the game anyway. I like the fact they went to actual pictures of the units; it's like the big images in Dune II. And the fact they don't have remap is just so they could increase the number of colours used in these icons.

The unit icons are not screenshots, and some of the building icons aren't either. I'm not saying that large icons made from concept renders are not as good as the DOS icons, but the sidebar design in the Win95 version is altogether different, the DOS variant is more technical/symbolic, which is, in my opinion, more consistent with the original idea that the whole programme is actual military software. Besides, the C&C DOS sidebar has a certain resemblance to the Dune II sidebar, while the Win95 version looks completely unrelated.

 

BTW, I suppose that the C&C concept renders were, in fact, analogous to the Dune II large pics, only the "Database" option was not implemented in C&C after all (which is a pity).