Command & Conquer: Red Alert (Released for Free By EA)

[Koheba]

Problem Installing

I am using Windows Vista (64 Bit) and when i try to install CD1 it is telling me that this is not compatible and i need to check with publisher about x86 or x64 (32bit or 64bit)

Am i just going to be unable to play this or is there a way around this?

Thanks is advance and thanks for the post!

 

[Dark Scyth]

i am using windows vista (64 bit) and when i try to install cd1 it is telling me that this is not compatible and i need to check with publisher about x86 or x64 (32bit or 64bit)

am i just going to be unable to play this or is there a way around this?

Thanks is advance and thanks for the post!

very nice post assassin this was the first game i played in the command and conquer series and is still my favourite today.

If you have trouble installing on vista try the following:

• open the cd, go to the setup95 folder then right click on install.exe
• set compatibility mode on install.exe to windows 98/me
• install the red alert 1.08 patch (this is a 16bit application so i’m not sure how you can patch yet if you’re running a 64bit os)
• go to where you installed the game and set the compatibility on ra95.exe as follows:
  
  Mode: Windows 98/me
  run in 640x480 screen resolution
  disable visual themes
  disable desktop composition
  disable display scaling on high dpi setting

 

[Koheba]

Sorry should have mentioned...

[/list]

I should have mentioned that I enabled all of those settings prior to loading the Setup. I was not even able to get to the point of installing the patch.

As soon as I attempted to run the install it tells me it is not compatible with 64 bit OS even after I set compatibility to Windows ME.

Also, I am unable to complete ImgBurn for CD2. I burn the first part of the ISO and then once the tray pops open and tells u to push it back in and hit okay... it starts burning for like 10% and then it has an error with like Memory Sector 3011 then u hit continue and it says error sector 3012 or something like that and it says the related file is Main.mix...

I have tried using different discs... re-downloading file, re-burning and the same thing happens...

Does any of this sound familiar or do u need me to be more specific? Thanks!

 

[Dark Scyth]

I should of noticed that you were using 64-bit instead of 32. I don't think there is much you can do. I'm not sure why IMGburn says that. I thought it would only say that when creating an ISO and not burning one.

 

[Nyerguds]

It's possible, by copying the files from the INSTALL folder on the CD to a new folder you make, and then using the 3.03 beta-patch to get it running. That way you'll be missing some registry stuff though.
The patch can be found here. There's some more fixes there too, and my popular "small infantry mod" (which resizes the ugly stretched infantry to their normal size) can be found here

You'll have to remove RA95.LCF and replace it by the included _RA95.LCF before you can run the game though. That file is a textfile that determines what to launch, and the original one launches some patch-related stuff to install the internet components (which won't work without the registry stuff)

I'm not sure how much the registry stuff matters for the rest though, unless you want to install the expansion packs. Then you need 2 registry entries for the game, and tbh, I have no idea what the 64-bit equivalent for HKLM\Software\ is in 64-bit systems. The keys on my 32-bit XP are

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Westwood\Red Alert Windows 95 Edition]
"InstallPath"="E:\\westwood\\Redalert\\RA95.exe"
"Name"="Red Alert Windows 95 Edition"
"SKU"=dword:000003ed
"Version"=dword:00007533
"AftermathInstalled"=dword:00000001
"CStrikeInstalled"=dword:00000001

InstallPath should of course be changed to wherever you put your RA. Note that the double backslashes are only in the .reg dumps; the actual registry has the path stored as "E:\westwood\Redalert\RA95.exe"

These last 2 are for enabling the expansion packs. These isos can be found on the internet too... I know I personally uploaded them for CnCWorld.
On RA v3.03, the expansions normally shouldn't require any additional installation. Just those registry keys. You'll get 2 new menus ingame (Counterstrike Missions and Aftermath Missions), and the game will ask the corresponding CD at the moment you click one of these buttons.

 

[DUNDER]

Okay, I am praying that this distress message will be picked up by one of you guys because the last post here hasn't been active since last year so here goes nothing:

The only thing that is stopping me from installing this game is the fact that it's not compatible with Vista. Now the problem is that the Red Alert 1.08 patch will not work for my 64bit OS since the program is clearly made for 16bit, so my question is, is there anyway, ANYWAY, to get around this road block? I've turned Google upside down looking for a Vista patch but nada.

Please if there's anyone that can help. I love Red Alert like it's my own beating heart. Please!

 

[InsaneNutter]

The only thing you can really do is install the game on a 32bit os, patch it then just copy the installed files back over.
I think thats what i did ages ago anyway as I remember having the same problem.

 

[DUNDER]

First off, thanks for replying to my SOS Nutter. Desperate times call for desperate measures and unfortunately Vista does not play nice. I guess this is another one of Microsoft's arrogant booboos.
As a result, I don't think I can downgrade the 64bit Vista to a 32bit unless if I were to jump through a tremendous amount of hoops. Looks like it's the end of the road here.
But as the entertainment biz says, "the show must go on." XP and RA will forever be missed.

Thanks again.

 

[delhanh]

First off, thanks for replying to my SOS Nutter. Desperate times call for desperate measures and unfortunately Vista does not play nice. I guess this is another one of Microsoft's arrogant booboos.
As a result, I don't think I can downgrade the 64bit Vista to a 32bit unless if I were to jump through a tremendous amount of hoops. Looks like it's the end of the road here.
But as the entertainment biz says, "the show must go on." XP and RA will forever be missed.

Thanks again.

The other way you can play this is by using a Virtual Machine running Windows 98SE

 

[DUNDER]

Sounds interesting, delhanh, I'll look into it. Although, I have another concern that I forgot to address to you guys:

I understand there are plenty 1.08 patches out there for Red Alert and most likely capable of allowing it's expansion: Counterstrike to work on XP as well.
However, it's second expansion: Aftermath seems to be left out of the spotlight. I don't understand why the programmers never bothered to include it, but do you guys know if there any patches out there that will work for Red Alert: Aftermath?

EDIT: On the lighter side, I dug out my old, old HP laptop that had XP installed on it, and I got the games (RA:1 and RA:Counterstrike) running nicely on there. However once I installed Aftermath and tried playing it,
the only that shows is a blank screen before the intro even starts. The only way out of it is by restart(of course) or ctrl+alt+dlt showing that RA is not responding.

Any way to troubleshoot this?

 

[dragon070809]

Great upload thanks, but I have ran into a little problem, The game seems to stop ever couple seconds or so but runs to fast when it aint paused, if sombody can help me with this, It will be greatly appresiated

 

[Rincewind32]

I am having problems installing this on Vista 32bit. I have tried what you suggested earlier but doesn't do anything. The patch says I already have the the patch when a dos prompt pops up(I downloaded the original C&C a while back and had to do similar things to get it to work) I click install when it auto runs and nothing happens. Can you help please?

 

[Rincewind32]

It might have something to do with having C&C95 that I downloaded recently. I shall have to wipe it all off and start again. Please if anyone can help that would be great.

It says i'm running windows and and that RA is a windows 95 product only.

 

[Rincewind32]

Got it sorted now. If people are still having trouble getting this to run I used red-alert_manager_0.98 and it works fine, just move the patch into the directory after it's been installed.

 

[Nyerguds]

Hm, looks like I never posted that here, but I made a custom installer for the 3.03 patch, and wrote a 3-step guide to install the game on 64-bit systems.

Instructions:

1. Create a folder on your hard disk where you want to install the game.
2. Copy the complete contents of the INSTALL folder of the game's CD (Allied or Soviet, doesn't matter which one) to that folder you made on your hard disk.
3. Download and run the Red Alert v3.03 installer. When it asks for a folder to install in, point it to the folder in which you copied the CD files.

That's all? Yep, that's all. Don't forget to use RA95.exe to start the game, not RA.exe or RUNGAME.exe.

If you get the "unable to set video mode" error, this can be fixed by setting the game to 640x480 mode in RASETUP.exe. For more tech support, see the Common Problems thread in the First Decade forum.


Some notes on the installer:

• Don't check the options to install Counterstrike or The Aftermath unless you have the CDs. Once you install The Aftermath, the game will refuse to let you play Skirmish games with any other CD than the Aftermath one.
• You can't uninstall the game this way, since nothing really installed it. To remove the game, simply delete the folder.
• The internet components are not needed if you already have more recent ones, from Tiberian Sun or Red Alert 2.
• I have not updated or tested these internet components; they're just the internet components that were included in the original RA 3.03 patch, so it's very possible they are outdated anyway.