Black screen when launching RA2/YR

[jump_offa_house]

Good afternoon all

I recently bought the Ultimate Collection, mainly for a digital version of RA2 and YR as I loved them as a kid. 

Having installed the game, I have tried to play it.  However, when I try to run the game I get a blank screen.  I can hear the music and sound effects of the intros and menu fx, as well as seeing the cursor on the menu screen.  I cannot see anything else however.  I have not tried any of the other games as of yet, due to me eagerness to get RA2 installed. 

I am running Windows 8.1, and attempted the Youtube video fix mentioned in the "common problems" thread first, as well as other fixes from around the internet, with no success.

In case this impacts upon advice, I'm not after multiplayer fixes, just looking to play the campaign and skirmish mode like the good old days!

Any help will be gratefully received, as I will be most disappointed if I cannot play!

Kind regards

Tom Forsyth

[jump_offa_house · Accepted solution]

I think I managed to repair the issue, somewhat accidentally!

In the RA2/YR file in Origin Games, I changed the compatability settings of the four files which are often mentioned.  Then I changed a lot more as well, "Yuri.exe", "game.exe" etc and generally tinkered with those.  The settings I put were XP SP3 and run as admin.  I'd read about this and some of the other file changes, but nowhere I had seen recommended changing the Yuri.exe file (RA2MD.exe with the Yuri 'Y' yeah, but not the Yuri.exe file itself).

Its possible that some of the recommended fixes worked in tandem with this, but I'm not so sure.  Either way, I now can access RA2 and YR on Windows 8.1, so anyone in a similar position try it out

[jump_offa_house · Accepted solution]

I think I managed to repair the issue, somewhat accidentally!

In the RA2/YR file in Origin Games, I changed the compatability settings of the four files which are often mentioned.  Then I changed a lot more as well, "Yuri.exe", "game.exe" etc and generally tinkered with those.  The settings I put were XP SP3 and run as admin.  I'd read about this and some of the other file changes, but nowhere I had seen recommended changing the Yuri.exe file (RA2MD.exe with the Yuri 'Y' yeah, but not the Yuri.exe file itself).

Its possible that some of the recommended fixes worked in tandem with this, but I'm not so sure.  Either way, I now can access RA2 and YR on Windows 8.1, so anyone in a similar position try it out

[jkessler48]

I'm having difficulty with the same 2 games.  Instead of blacking out, after running the game for a short period of time, the game starts to stutter and become unresponsive.  Any suggestions?  I'm running Windows 7.

[surgeon84]

Hello,

I see you have managed it with a different method. I don't understand what do because there are no good explanations of how you did it. Can you write this down pls?

Thanks.

[Nyerguds]

@surgeon84

The graphics system patch DDWrapper is known to solve the "black screen" issue for many people.

Download the zip file and extract "ddraw.dll" and "aqrit.cfg" into your game folder. Then, open the configuration file "aqrit.cfg" in Notepad, change the "ForceDirectDrawEmulation" option to 1, save the file, and the game should work.

[edit]

This system has been included in, and improved on, in the CnCNet online play installer for RA2/YR. Even if you're not interested in online play, it comes with a bunch of automatic fixes, and has a configuration tool that allows further tweaking of the game's settings.

[crank722]

I'm getting a "Dangerous Website Blocked" from my Norton web security for http://www.bitpatch.com/ddwrapper.html

Threat Report

Viruses

Threats found: 4  

Here is a complete list: (for more information about a specific threat, click on the Threat Name below)

Threat Name:

Trojan.Gen.2

Location:

http://bitpatch.c_om/downloads/aa_drawfix.zip

Threat Name:

Trojan.Gen.2

Location:

__htt_p://www.bitpatch.c_om/downloads/aa_drawfix.zip

Threat Name:

Direct Link To Trojan.Gen.2

Location:

__ht_tp://bitpatch.c_om/aa.html

Threat Name:

Direct Link To Trojan.Gen.2

Location:

__htt_p://www.bitpatch.c_om/aa.html

Anyone have any info on this please?

[plokite95]

@crank722

The files are safe and used by thousands of people. Symantec is known for paranoia.

[parkershonnard]

That Configuration file Fixed the blank screen problem.  Nice work.

[TCLeonard_99]

I have found this to be the best fix for my Windows 10 machine with NVIDIA graphics.  Make sure you restart your computer after the changes or your mouse may stop working after you close the game after playing.

[pete_bilson]

I’m getting the same, it is stuttering and it takes ages for animation of characters, buildings etc. I was playing as America and it is that slow that when you put infantry soldier in his sandbag position you can count the sandbags being loaded in the animation. I own the original game which I was having problems playing on windows 10. I purchased the Red Alert remastered on Steam but it is not as good as I remember Red Alert 2 being. I then brought the Ultimate collection as I expected it to work as it was a download from EA without patches fixes no-cd patches etc. What a disappointment it runs but is unplayable as it stutters and things happen so slow. I can’t change the screen size in the settings as it goes all green and stops working. It is on a Windows 10 Pro 64 bit machine 16GB of ram a 1060 6gb graphic card and a AMD processor AM2 at about 3.4ghz. I haven’t tried any of the other games yet. What windows is it best to try and set it to in the compatibility?