Red Alert Scroll Patch

Scroll down to the “Handling Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge on Windows 8 / 8.1 / 10” section at the bottom of this page and follow the instructions. Run the game. Download Unofficial TFD patch 1.03 revision 4 (164 MB). Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3. Now I can finally play Generals on a dual monitor setup and scroll right without losing my cursor! Nov 23, 2017 @ 8:51am Bumping this since I just discovered this and it still works great! Using it for Generals and Zero Hour.

See also:

Woohoo! The original Command & Conquer: Red Alert —one of the greatest RTS video games of all time— has been released as freeware! Thank you very much EA! Although I wish I'd known you were going to do this before I went out and purchased the compilation pack, Command & Conquer: The First Decade as one of the main reasons I bought it was to get Red Alert again. (grrrr!... Oh by the way, I'll need some cheese to go with my whine here... heh heh...)

  1. This patch for Command & Conquer Red Alert 3 fixes several exploits and bugs, improves balance, adds two free maps from Red Alert 3: Uprising, and more.
  2. Red Alert 1 - Scrolls to fast. Discussion in 'PC Games. Already tried slowing down the mouse pointer in windows and setting the scroll rate to slow in the settings of RA, but it didn't help much. I had it working fine with a dualcore and a fairly sensitive mouse using the lowest slider setting in Red Alert with the 3.03 XP patch.

Anywho, this page will walk you through the process of getting this classic PC game up and running on your Windows XP machine without having to burn anything to a CD.

Here's an overview of what you're going to do:

  1. Download the necessary files
  2. Install a RAR extracting program (if you don't have one)
  3. Unpack the Red Alert .rar file using the RAR extractor
  4. Install MagicISO
  5. Mount the Red Alert ISO file
  6. Install Red Alert
  7. Install the XP patch and make some minor tweaks
  8. Play the game!

Okay let's start off with getting all our goodies. Here's where to...

Download the Necessary Files

Download the Red Alert game files here:
Download complete Red Alert Allied game files here
Download complete Red Alert Soviet game files here

These are File Shack downloads and will require you to sign up for a free account to execute the download. I checked it out and it's no problem. (And thanks to Dr. Watson for finding these new links.)

Download the trial version of WinRAR here:
http://www.rarlab.com/download.htm

The WinRAR program will allow you to unpack the Red Alert game files. Download WinRAR 3.80 (Trial version).

Download MagicISO here:
http://www.magiciso.com/download.htm

MagicISO will allow you to run Red Alert directly from the Red Alert ISO file on your computer instead of having to burn the game to a CD and then using the CD to run the game.

Okay now that you've got all your goodies, let's get on with how to...

Install WinRAR and unpack Red Alert game files

  1. Install WinRAR by double clicking on your downloaded wrar380.exe installation file (go with all the default settings).
  2. After installing WinRAR, use Windows to browse to where you saved your downloaded Red Alert game files. We'll use the Allied disc in this tutorial. Double click on ra95_allied.rar to open it in WinRAR.
  3. In the WinRAR program, drag-and-drop the ra95_allied.iso file to your desktop.
  4. Close WinRAR.

Install MagicISO and mount the Red Alert .ISO file

Don't worry. This is not nearly as complicated as it sounds.

Here's how to proceed...

  1. Install MagicISO by double clicking on your downloaded setup_magicdisc.exe file (go with all the default settings). This will automatically create a virtual DVD/CD drive on your computer with its own drive letter (the letter assigned to your virtual drive will depend on how many hard drives, partitions and DVD drives you have). You'll also have a little MagicISO icon in your system tray:
  2. Right click on the MagicISO icon in your system tray and click on Virtual CD/DVD >> [DRIVE LETTER]: No Media >> Mount...

  3. Use the 'Mount CD/DVD image' dialog to browse to your extracted ra95_allied.iso file, click to select it and then click OPEN.
  4. The Command & Conquer: Red Alert menu will appear...

    DO NOT DO ANYTHING IN THIS MENU. Do NOT click Proceed, do not pass Go, do not collect $200, etc, nada, bumpkiss. Instead simply click Exit to close this menu immediately.

Now, having done all of the above, here's how to...

Install Red Alert

  1. Go to your desktop, double click on My Computer, right click on your new virtual drive with the label CD1 (J:) and click on Open.
  2. Right click on setup.exe, click on Properties >> Compatibility and then click to CHECK 'Run this program in compatibility mode for: (Windows 95 should be selected by default. Leave it as such.)
  3. Click OK
  4. Now double click on setup.exe to install Red Alert. During the installation process, when you get to the screen prompting you to install DirectX 3 audio and video drivers, click to CLEAR the box beside DirectX audio and video drivers. You don't need these drivers.
  5. A few steps later in the installation process, you'll be prompted to install Westwood Chat. If you wish to play Red Alert multiplayer online, install Westwood Chat. If not, click Cancel to skip installing Westwood Chat.
  6. When the installation finishes, you'll be prompted to restart your computer. Do this.

If you try playing Red Alert now, you'll probably get an error message reading 'The procedure entry point SMapLS_IP_EBP_12 could not be located in the dynamic link library KERNEL32.DLL'.
To avoid getting this error message, you'll have to...

Install the Windows XP Patch

  1. After installing Red Alert and restarting your computer, click here to download the XP patch and save the XP patch (RA108USP.EXE) to your Red Alert installation folder. (By default, this is C:WESTWOODREDALERT).
  2. Then double click on the RA108USP.EXE file to open the patch. This will create 3 files in your Red Alert folder named Patch.exe, Patch.rtp and Patch.txt.
  3. Double-click on Patch.exe to apply the patch.

Now if you try to play Red Alert, you'll probably get a black screen of nothingness and/or a strange error message saying 'A privileged instruction was executed at address' blah etc.
To avoid getting this error, you'll have to...

Set the RA95.EXE Compatibility Mode

  1. Go to your Red Alert installation folder (typically C:WESTWOODREDALERT)
  2. Right click on RA95.EXE and click on Properties >> Compatibility
  3. Click to CHECK 'Run this program in compatibility mode for:' (Windows 95 should be selected by default. Leave it as such.)
  4. Click OK to apply the setting.

ALL DONE. :o)

Now you can play Red Alert. (Woohoo!...)

To do this:

  1. Right click on the MagicISO icon in your system tray and click on Virtual CD/DVD >> [DRIVE LETTER]: No Media >> Mount...

  2. Use the 'Mount CD/DVD image' dialog to browse to your extracted ra95_allied.iso file, click to select it and then click OPEN.

Play the Game

Patch

After mounting the ra95_allied.iso file (as per above), you can play the game by simply clicking on Start >> Programs >> Westwood >> Red Alert >> Red Alert Windows 95 Edition. (You can drag-and-drop this start menu button to your desktop to make a handy shortcut.)

The installation process above will permit you to play all the Allied missions, the first Soviet Mission and Skirmish. To play the rest of the Soviet missions, you'll have to extract the Soviet disc ISO file and mount it using MagicISO (see above).

The Scroll Rate is Too Fast in Red Alert!

If you've got a blazingly fast state-of-the-art gaming computer meant to run the likes of Crysis or Bioshock, the scroll rate in Red Alert will probably be way too fast (i.e., scrolling will consist of zipping instantly from one side of the battlefield to the other).

You can remedy this by doing one of two things:

Tweak your REDALERT.INI file

Here's how to do this:

  1. Go to your Red Alert installation directory (typically C:WESTWOODREDALERT)
  2. Locate the REDALERT.INI file and open it in Windows Notepad. Then find the following line:

    ScrollRate=6

    and change it to:

    ScrollRate=7

  3. Save the file.
  4. Now to prevent Red Alert from overwriting this setting when you run the game, right-click on REDALERT.INI, click on Properties and click to CHECK 'Read Only' beside Attributes.
  5. Click OK to apply and you're all set.

This should slow down the scroll rate enough to make Red Alert playable. However, if you find the scroll rate is still too fast, you may want to...

Get Mo' Slo

Mo' Slo is a great little program that will allow you to run certain classic PC games and applications at their proper speed by slowing down your computer. It will cost you a few bucks but it'll be worth it if you're a serious classic PC gamer. This will handle all your old PC games that run in Windows (like Red Alert) and can't be run through DOSBox. The version you'll need is Mo'Slo 4BIZ.

On my Athlon 64 X2 4800+ (no video card), I put 20000 in the Mo'Slo 4BIZ 'Slow to' setting and then I ran Red Alert and set the in-game Scroll Rate setting to the lowest. This ran the game beautifully with the game speed running smoothly and the scroll rate perfect (for my tastes anyway).


Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Developers
Publishers
Release dates
WindowsOctober 23, 2000
Command & Conquer
Command & Conquer1995
Command & Conquer: Red Alert1996
Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun1999
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 22000
Command & Conquer: Renegade2002
Command & Conquer: Generals2003
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars2007
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 32008
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising2009
Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight2010
Command & Conquer: RemasteredTBA

Key points

Multiplayer community is officially maintained by XWIS, with instructions on their website.[1]
Small but dedicated community.

General information

Community maintained multiplayer support by CnCNet (only Yuris Revenge expansion)[2]
Command & Conquer Wiki - A wiki for everything Command & Conquer-related
  • 1Availability
  • 2Essential improvements
  • 3Game data
  • 4Video settings
  • 6Audio settings
  • 7Network
  • 8Issues fixed
  • 9Other information

Availability[edit]

SourceDRMNotesKeysOS
RetailSafeDiscDRM[Note 1].
Origin Bundled with other games in the franchise up to Tiberian Twilight.
Included with Origin Access Basic.
SafeDisc retail DRM no longer functions properly on Windows Vista and later (see above for affected versions).

Downloadable content (DLC) and expansions

NameNotes
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge Bundled with the The First Decade and Ultimate Collection compilations.

Essential improvements[edit]

Patches[edit]

Patch 1.006 for Red Alert 2 fixes general bugs, network and exploit issues.
Patch 1.001 for Yuri's Revenge fixes bugs, crashes and a problem when multiple CD drives are plugged in.

LAN patch (fan made)[edit]

The LAN patch lets you play LAN on Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 (and their expansion packs) in Windows 2000 and later by changing IPX protocol to UDP.

Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection Fixed Launchers (Origin)[edit]

An unofficial patch that provides a slight enhancement to the default launchers provided with the Origin release (fixes registry entries and allows command line arguments to function properly).

It can be downloaded from the developer's site.

Game data[edit]

Configuration file(s) location[edit]

SystemLocation
Windows <path-to-game>*.ini[Note 2]

Save game data location[edit]

Red Alert Scroll Patch
SystemLocation
Windows <path-to-game>*.sav[Note 2]

Save game cloud syncing[edit]

Video settings[edit]

In-game options screen.
Graphics featureStateWSGFNotes
Widescreen resolution See Widescreen resolution.
Multi-monitor See Widescreen resolution.
Ultra-widescreen See Widescreen resolution.
4K Ultra HD
Field of view (FOV)Isometric.
WindowedAdd -win to the shortcut target.
Borderless fullscreen windowedSee the glossary page for potential workarounds.
Anisotropic filtering (AF)
Anti-aliasing (AA)
Vertical sync (Vsync)See the glossary page for potential workarounds.
60 FPS and 120+ FPS

Widescreen resolution[edit]

For changing resolution open files RA2.ini and RA2md.ini with any text editor and type your resolution there:

Where ScreenHeight and ScreenWidth are your desired resolution.

Input settings[edit]

In-game key map settings.
Keyboard and mouseStateNotes
Remapping
Mouse accelerationCan only change scroll speed
Mouse sensitivityFor scroll speed.
Mouse input in menus
Mouse Y-axis inversion
Controller
Controller supportSee the glossary page for potential workarounds.

Audio settings[edit]

Audio featureStateNotes
Separate volume controls
Surround sound
SubtitlesSome non-English languages might have forced subtitles enabled.[5]
Closed captions
Mute on focus lost

Localizations

LanguageUIAudioSubNotes
English
Traditional Chinese
French
German
Korean

Network[edit]

In-game network settings.

Multiplayer types

TypeNativePlayersNotes
LAN play8 Requires LAN patch to function on modern Windows.
Online play8

Connection types

TypeNativeNotes
Matchmaking
Peer-to-peer
Dedicated
Self-hosting
Direct IP

Ports

ProtocolPort(s) and/or port range(s)
TCP3840, 4005, 4808, 4810, 4995, 7000-7002
UDP1234-1237
Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) support status is unknown.

Issues fixed[edit]

Game does not start (Origin)[edit]

Disable Origin In Game[citation needed]
  1. Select the My Games tab in Origin.
  2. Right-click Red Alert 2/Yuri's Revenge and select 'Game Properties'.
  3. Check the 'Disable Origin in Game for this game' option.
  4. Click OK and launch the game.
Scroll

'player already have the same serial' error[edit]

This issue may occur when using the Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection version from Origin.
Add missing registry value[citation needed]
  1. Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREWow6432NodeWestwoodYuri's Revenge
  2. Make a new string called Serial
  3. Enter anything as the string text (each player must have a unique entry).

'***FATAL*** String Manager Failed to Initialize Properly' error[edit]

Setting up compatibility settings[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>
  2. Right click on the Ra2.exe file and select 'Properties'.
  3. Go to the 'Compatibility' tab and enable Compatibility Mode (set it to 'Windows 98/ME') and 'Run this program as an administrator'.
    • The options in the normal Compatibility view cannot be selected. Click 'Change settings for all users' to make the modifications.
  4. Apply the changes and launch the game.

Notes

This will fix the base game only. For Yuri's Revenge, repeat these steps for RA2MD.exe

Black screen with switchable graphics[edit]

This occurs when the game engine tries to render in VRAM.

Disable the Compatibility Mode of the game's RA.exe executable then copy the files from the .zip at https://github.com/CnCNet/cnc-ddraw/releases/latest to your Red Alert II installation folder, replacing those present. This also allows higher and wide-screen resolutions than the Agrit fix below.

Another fix is to download Aqrit's ddwrapper and extract the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg files into the RA2 folder, where ra2.ini lies. Next, ensure that only these settings are set to '1' in aqrit.cfg:

Alternatively, simply download and extract the contents of this preconfigured fix into the RA2 folder. Also, consider using the performance fix as well.

Game is purple/green colored and displays only on the other half of the screen[edit]

This happens sometimes on newer versions of Windows (7, 8, 8.1 and 10). To fix this, download Aqrit's ddwrapper and extract the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg files into the RA2 folder, where ra2.ini lies.

Some Windows elements flicker from behind the game[edit]

This happens if you have downloaded Aqrit's ddwrapper and extracted the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg files into the RA2 folder and have set the ForceDirectDrawEmulation to '1'. To fix this set ForceDirectDrawEmulation to '0':

Lag/low FPS[edit]

Modify the RA2.ini file[citation needed]
  1. Go to <path-to-game>
  2. Open RA2.ini.
  3. Under the [Video] section, add VideoBackBuffer=No to a new line.
  4. Save the file and launch the game.

Notes

This will fix the base game only. For Yuri's Revenge, repeat these steps for RA2MD.ini
Use Command and Conquer Graphics Patcher[6]

Red Alert Scroll Patches

Game runs too fast[edit]

Before using this fix, make sure the in-game 'Game Speed' slider is adjusted properly
Use the -SPEEDCONTROLcommand line argument[7]
  • The launcher provided with the Ultimate Collection (Origin release) does not support custom launch options. Install the Command & Conquer Ultimate Collection Fixed Launchers before using.
  • Apply the argument to a shortcut of the RA2Launcher.exe file.

Other information[edit]

API[edit]

Technical specsSupportedNotes
DirectDraw7

Middleware[edit]

MiddlewareNotes
CutscenesBink Video
MultiplayerWestwood Online

System requirements[edit]

Windows
MinimumRecommended
Operating system (OS)9598, ME, 2000, XP
Processor (CPU)266 MHz 450 MHz
System memory (RAM)64 MB128 MB
Hard disk drive (HDD)350 MB
Video card (GPU) 2 MB of VRAM
DirectX 7.0a compatible

Notes

Red Alert Scroll Patch 1.12

  1. SafeDisc retail DRMdoes not work on Windows 10[3] and is disabled by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 8.1 when the KB3086255 update is installed.[4]
  2. 2.02.1When running this game without Administrator elevation, activity in %PROGRAMFILES%, %PROGRAMFILES(X86)%, and %WINDIR% might be redirected to %LOCALAPPDATA%VirtualStore (more details).

Red Alert Scroll Patch Windows 10

References

Red Alert Scroll Patch 3.03

  1. https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/114f1d/any_cc_red_alert_2_yuris_revenge_fans_on_reddit/
  2. http://cnc-comm.com/community/index.php?topic=4497.0
  3. Not Loading in Windows 10; this will break thousands of - Microsoft Community - last accessed on 2017-01-16
  4. Microsoft - MS15-097: Description of the security update for the graphics component in Windows: September 8, 2015 - last accessed on 2018-02-16
  5. Traditional Chinese version have forced subtitle enabled in-game
  6. http://www.stuffhost.de/files/cnc/CnCPatcher.html
  7. http://cnc-comm.com/community/index.php?topic=2132.0