Screen Resolution issues with C&C Collection

[LordLevithan]

Hey all

I am having several technical issues with Command & Conquer Collection, particularly with Screen Resolution.

I just bought a new Acer Helios Predator 300 with a very healthy configuration which seems to continuously want tor remain in 1920x1080 resolution. This is causing several issues with the first games of the collection. Issues like:

- as soon as the game is launched, I receive a pop-up about optimal screen resolution and if I dare to click anywhere, it stops the game and returns to my desktop

- if I don't click, sometimes the game will start normally. However, if I have to do another task and use the Windows button, when I return to the game, the menu's do not appear correctly anymore which means I cannot save or restart a mission, as I simply cannot see the menu bars.

Does anyone have a solution or a workaround for this problem? I have experienced it with C&C 1, C&C Red Alert 1, C&C Red Alert 2. I also had some slowing down aspects with C&C Renegade.

Many thanks in advance

[Nyerguds]

@LordLevithan

Command & Conquer 1, Red Alert 1 and Tiberian Sun have all been upgraded with community-created unofficial patches that fix a lot of their bugs and compatibility problems. A lot of these include enhanced resolution controls and graphics handling, so I suggest you try them out.

Command & Conquer 1:

• Nyerguds' C&C95 v1.06c revision 3 patch (which also adds bonus missions originally exclusive to the Playstation and Nintendo 64 versions of the game)
  Note that this patch fixes two quite common and completely fatal game crashes (top-of-map reconnaissance crash, stealth crash), so installing it is strongly advised.

Red Alert 1:

• Funkyfr3sh's automatic Red Alert 1 patcher/installer (The thread also has briefing videos for the expansion missions, converted from the Playstation version of the game)
• Nyerguds' main.mix cleanup for TFD/TUC (Not really needed, but cleans up about a gigabyte of unnecessary files in the RA1 folder. Unpack in the game folder, run "patch_main.bat", let it finish, and then delete the files you extracted.)

Tiberian Sun:

• Funkyfr3sh's Tiberian Sun patch

Red Alert 2:

• The graphics system patch DDWrapper is known to solve a multitude of graphics problems, including the "black screen" issue.
  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 try running the game again.
• If you still have problems with RA2 even after this, I advise installing 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 which offers more choices in graphics fixes than just DDWrapper, so if one doesn't work you can just try if some of the other options do the trick.

Note that setting a higher resolution on these games is often not advised, though, since it just makes the visible playing field larger, meaning everything you see becomes smaller in comparison. It may not be ideal to have to click on a five-pixel high soldier in C&C1 in modern resolutions. However, the C&C1 and RA1 graphics update system (cnc-ddraw) has specific stretching controls that should allow you to stretch and center the game in your native resolution.