How to play full screen in campaign mode?

[RC1985]

I just bought RA2 from EA Origin and with cncnet's installer, it auto-fixed the black screen problem I at first had. However in campaign mode, the game doesn't occupy the entire screen, there are two black stripes on the left and right. How do I fix this? (It works perfectly fine when launched from cncnet)

[ChallengerX_Pro]

rename renderer name file to ddraw.dll 
ex. ddwrapper.dll or ddrawcompat.dll

Edited March 2, 2019 by dkeeton
Correct some false information

[dkeeton]

4 hours ago, RC1985 said:

I just bought RA2 from EA Origin and with cncnet's installer, it auto-fixed the black screen problem I at first had. However in campaign mode, the game doesn't occupy the entire screen, there are two black stripes on the left and right. How do I fix this? (It works perfectly fine when launched from cncnet)

In the cncnet client, choose TS-DDRAW or CNC-DDRAW and Change the compatibility options of ra2.exe, yuri.exe, game.exe and gamemd.exe to remove "Run as Windows 95" (Uncheck the box)

[RC1985]

 

6 hours ago, dkeeton said:

In the cncnet client, choose TS-DDRAW or CNC-DDRAW and Change the compatibility options of ra2.exe, yuri.exe, game.exe and gamemd.exe to remove "Run as Windows 95" (Uncheck the box)

It looks like upon installation the names of the renderer files are already changed to what Challenger said. Anyway after disabling compatibility modes for all four .exes, here's what happened: first, I tried TS-DDRAW, it still had those large black stripes, then I changed to CNC-DDRAW, it had those black stripes BUT no sound, then I switched back to TS-DDRAW and it's now on full screen BUT still no sound. What should I do now? (I'm using Bibber's launchers)

Edited March 3, 2019 by dkeeton

[dkeeton]

1 hour ago, RC1985 said:

 

It looks like upon installation the names of the renderer files are already changed to what Challenger said. Anyway after disabling compatibility modes for all four .exes, here's what happened: first, I tried TS-DDRAW, it still had those large black stripes, then I changed to CNC-DDRAW, it had those black stripes BUT no sound, then I switched back to TS-DDRAW and it's now on full screen BUT still no sound. What should I do now? (I'm using Bibber's launchers)

In Yuri's Revenge, the menus will always be 800x600, it's something built into the game. When you play a game, does it go fullscreen? Are you having the same problem with Red Alert 2?

[RC1985]

2 hours ago, dkeeton said:

In Yuri's Revenge, the menus will always be 800x600, it's something built into the game. When you play a game, does it go fullscreen? Are you having the same problem with Red Alert 2?

I only tried RA2 so far so those scenarios I mentioned are for RA2. After going TS, CNC then back to TS I get it fullscreen but I have no sound. How do I get the sound back?

Edited March 3, 2019 by RC1985

[dkeeton]

Can you try follow the solution found here: https://forums.cncnet.org/topic/9293-no-sound-effects-ra2yr/

[RC1985]

1 hour ago, dkeeton said:

Can you try follow the solution found here: https://forums.cncnet.org/topic/9293-no-sound-effects-ra2yr/

That solution asks to configure speakers to use stereo, which my configuration is already using. I suspect it has something to do with the renderer settings than speakers though since I can get sound if I run the game the normal way (without the renderer/compatibility modifications you suggested).

[RC1985]

On top of the previous post I'll further add that after trying out different resolutions, only 1920 x 1080 would occupy the full screen. All other resolutions still had those two black bars on the left and right. And after a second round of testing, I got the same result: black bars with sound when first using TS-DDRAW, then black bars with no sound when switched to CNC-DDRAW, then full screen with no sound when switched back to TS-DDRAW. Please can someone help me this is really frustrating. This problem is only in the campaign mode, on cncnet it works perfectly fine.

[Ezer_2000]

On 3/2/2019 at 11:40 PM, ChallengerX_Pro said:

rename renderer name file to ddraw.dll 
ex. ddwrapper.dll or ddrawcompat.dll

You have to replace file aswell, not just rename it.

[RC1985]

Does the file come with the cncnet installer? Because upon installing CncNet the file is already ddraw.dll

[ChallengerX_Pro]

U must re-download driver from official website and reinstall again

Edited March 4, 2019 by ChallengerX_Pro

[dkeeton]

10 hours ago, RC1985 said:

Does the file come with the cncnet installer? Because upon installing CncNet the file is already ddraw.dll

This probably doesn't have anything to do with your renderer. Can you make a screenshot of the problem?

[RC1985]

On 3/5/2019 at 3:03 AM, dkeeton said:

This probably doesn't have anything to do with your renderer. Can you make a screenshot of the problem?

Here are my screenshots:

 

[dkeeton]

I don't see any black bars in those screenshots.

1 hour ago, RC1985 said:

 

Is this ra2md.ini? Or actual ra2.ini....

[RC1985]

2 hours ago, dkeeton said:

I don't see any black bars in those screenshots.

Is this ra2md.ini? Or actual ra2.ini....

It's ra2.ini. And yup these are my settings in full screen, however, this is on the third attempt. To refresh, the first attempt was on TS-DDRAW - black bars with sound, 2nd attempt - CNC DRAW (black bars, no sound) and then back to TS-DDRAW (full screen, no sound). So with these settings I get full screen and no sound.

[CmdrWeakness]

I see lots of RA2 and RA2YR speedruns in my future - love your content.

Doesn't look like CNCNET runs SP, at least I couldn't figure it out.

Here's what I did (after a bunch of... accidents; I don't know if I can link yet so just follow the brackets):
1. fresh install of Origin RA2+YR (completely shift+delete the game folder)
2. run and patch both RA2 and YR with CnCgraphicspatch (from the german stuff host site)
3. get the latest version of cnc-draw from GitHub
4. unpatch the CnCgraphicspatch
5. completely remove compatibility modes from both Ra2.exe and YURI.exe (right click, properties, compatibility, change settings for all users, untick, ok)

[Steps 2 and 4 might not be necessary, I was half a bottle into bourbon by this time.]

6. modify the .ini files for the correct modern screen size of your deepest desire...
7. launch using Origin

Obviously you won't be able to run CNCNET using this method, maybe having the SP in a separate folder will do the trick? Unknown how Origin is enforced as copy protection.

Waiting for those dank speedruns my dude.

[dkeeton]

7 hours ago, RC1985 said:

It's ra2.ini. And yup these are my settings in full screen, however, this is on the third attempt. To refresh, the first attempt was on TS-DDRAW - black bars with sound, 2nd attempt - CNC DRAW (black bars, no sound) and then back to TS-DDRAW (full screen, no sound). So with these settings I get full screen and no sound.

Did you check to see if there was WIN95 compat set for game.exe and gamemd.exe?

[RC1985]

Thanks Cmdr and dkeeton for your suggestions and I'm really sorry this came late, I was out of town so I couldn't test it out. Cmdr - I appreciate your encouragement too and it's surely my plan to smash RA2 once I get this damn problem sorted out heh.

I haven't downloaded the stuff that Cmdr suggested yet, will do soon, in the meantime I'll answer dkeeton first that yes, I've checked many times that compatibility is completely disabled for all 4 executables, game.exe and gamemd.exe included.

I also observed something new: after completely uninstalling everything (with not a single file left) and reinstalling, merely copying and pasting the [Video] settings which dkeeton said does not produce black bars, does not remove the black bars when the game is run. The black bars only go away when I run the CncNet client and select TS-DDRAW, but doing that removes the sound from the game. What I'm saying is, changes to the game renderer can only be done by running CncNet instead of modifying the .ini files. Might this be a clue to solving the problem somehow?

[dkeeton]

I've never heard of any of this before. Can you edit Resources/cnc-ddraw.ini and set fullscreen=yes and set adjmouse=yes (or no depending on what you like), set renderer to cnc-ddraw.

run a skirmish game from cncnet, then run red alert 2 from origin.

Or else, can you make a video of the problem?

Edited March 18, 2019 by dkeeton

[fir3w0rx]

I don't get why the video renderer affects your sound? Is your audio coming out of your graphics card?

Anyhow, if dkeeton's suggestions doesn't work, try these:

• In RA2'S opening menu, type 'hires'. You should then hear a beep. Now go to options and you should have more screen sizes to choose from. See if any of the new ones fix your problem.
• In Win10's Settings -> Display, make sure that 'text, apps and other items' is set to 100%.
• In ra2.exe's properties (or whatever file you use to load up the game), click 'Change high DPI settings' and play around with the settings there (don't forget your original settings incase you have to change it back!).
• In CnCNet, try Windowed Mode -> Borderless Windowed Mode
• You mentioned that using ts-ddraw, then changing to cnc-ddraw, then going back to ts-ddraw worked but disabled your sounds (which is frickin weird ); while in-game, alt-tab out to Windows then have a look at the Playback devices and try a different device (again; don't forget which device you're using before changing it!)

[dkeeton]

On 3/16/2019 at 4:45 AM, RC1985 said:

Thanks Cmdr and dkeeton for your suggestions and I'm really sorry this came late, I was out of town so I couldn't test it out. Cmdr - I appreciate your encouragement too and it's surely my plan to smash RA2 once I get this damn problem sorted out heh.

I haven't downloaded the stuff that Cmdr suggested yet, will do soon, in the meantime I'll answer dkeeton first that yes, I've checked many times that compatibility is completely disabled for all 4 executables, game.exe and gamemd.exe included.

I also observed something new: after completely uninstalling everything (with not a single file left) and reinstalling, merely copying and pasting the [Video] settings which dkeeton said does not produce black bars, does not remove the black bars when the game is run. The black bars only go away when I run the CncNet client and select TS-DDRAW, but doing that removes the sound from the game. What I'm saying is, changes to the game renderer can only be done by running CncNet instead of modifying the .ini files. Might this be a clue to solving the problem somehow?

I think I found the bug, can you try this version of ts-ddraw. Delete ddraw.ini from your game folder first.

 

 

 

ddraw.7z

Edited March 20, 2019 by dkeeton

[RC1985]

On 3/18/2019 at 11:42 AM, dkeeton said:

I've never heard of any of this before. Can you edit Resources/cnc-ddraw.ini and set fullscreen=yes and set adjmouse=yes (or no depending on what you like), set renderer to cnc-ddraw.

run a skirmish game from cncnet, then run red alert 2 from origin.

Or else, can you make a video of the problem?

Omg this worked! I mean changing the cnc-ddraw.ini method. Thanks fireworks and cmdr for the suggestions, I'm keeping them as backup plans. dkeeton: Do I still need to use the new ddraw version you showed?

Also I noticed a few things:
1. The game speed can't be changed for campaign mode?
2. There's a lot of scroll lag, in TS this can be changed with an ini file with an option 'scrolldelay' or something. How do I fix this in RA2?
3. The placebuilding hotkey, is it 'PlaceBuilding' in keyboard.ini like in TS?

[fir3w0rx]

1. The game speed isn't supposed to be adjustable in campaign mode. There is a way to do it but I'm not sure if you can do it with the Origin version because you'll need to be able to run RA2/YR directly from a shortcut on your desktop and add -speedcontrol in the target line. I don't know much about Bibber's launchers.
2. Scrolling is adjustable in the in-game options.
3. Hotkeys are also changeable in the options.

[RC1985]

On 3/22/2019 at 11:56 PM, fir3w0rx said:

1. The game speed isn't supposed to be adjustable in campaign mode. There is a way to do it but I'm not sure if you can do it with the Origin version because you'll need to be able to run RA2/YR directly from a shortcut on your desktop and add -speedcontrol in the target line. I don't know much about Bibber's launchers.
2. Scrolling is adjustable in the in-game options.
3. Hotkeys are also changeable in the options.

I mean the scroll lag not the scroll rate. When I move the cursor it's feels sluggish and not sharp, like something is pulling it back