Red alert 2 black screen with sound and mouse

[puftos]

Hi all,

When I open Red alert 2 or Yuri revenge I get a black screen. I do got music and a mouse. And when I slide over the screen I can hear i'm moving over the icons. Still black screen.

I'm running Windows 8.1 64 bit

Please help me

[Nyerguds · Accepted solution]

[EDIT: this solution works:]

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.

If you still have problems with RA2 even after this, I advise installing the CnCNet installer for RA2/YR. 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.

There are a few other things you can do to help RA2 to run better:

• Tweaking certain compatibility modes can help a lot
  
• Make sure to disable Origin In Game overlay in the Origin settings for the game
• Install Bibber's fixed game launchers
• Some people have reported this tutorial fixing issues with the menus not appearing.

[Shouladin]

I too am having this problem, have tried all the solutions listed on these forums including the fixed installs.  Nothing seems to work for me at this point, here are my computer specs:

Windows 8.1 64bit

i7 3930k @4.5GHz

2x 120Gb SSDs, 1 2Tb HDD, 1 4Tb HDD

32Gb RAM

NVidia GTX 980 SC

[Nyerguds · Accepted solution]

[EDIT: this solution works:]

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.

If you still have problems with RA2 even after this, I advise installing the CnCNet installer for RA2/YR. 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.

There are a few other things you can do to help RA2 to run better:

• Tweaking certain compatibility modes can help a lot
  
• Make sure to disable Origin In Game overlay in the Origin settings for the game
• Install Bibber's fixed game launchers
• Some people have reported this tutorial fixing issues with the menus not appearing.

[Shouladin]

Well like I said, personally I have tried all those methods and none of them have worked.  I'm out of options at this point, have reinstalled the game(s) as well to no avail.

[Shouladin]

Shameless bump for more solutions!

[FunkyFr3shCnCNet]

This problem usually happens if you have a custom install/mods or any of the original game files in the folder is missing/renamed (should not happen with the ultimate collection),  kinda strange it happens for you.

Windows detects red alert 2 and applies compat settings automatically, that fails on custom installations. You could try to apply them on your own using the application compatibility toolkit from microsoft, here are the settings you need to apply (game.exe / gamemd.exe):

EmulateSlowCPU

DXPrimaryEmulation -DisableMaxWindowedMode

8And16BitTimedPriSync

Make sure you run the tool as admin, else it won't do anything at all

-

There is also a ddraw proxy dll which can fix some of the problems, but it is in beta stage and it might not be the best to use it atm

[Shouladin]

Using that application did nothing at all sadly , and I have yet to run any mods on RA2/YR.  Why would my case scenario produce no fixes so far but most everyone else has it working?

I'm losing my mind!

[Shouladin]

Bumpin again for more solutions.

[puftos]

None of them are working...

There things verry wrong with the game.

Please fix it

[KaptinSponges]

OK so i found a temporary solution. you can play this in windowed mode and it will work. right click on the icon and select the last option "Properties". Then go to "Compatibility" tab and on "Reduced color mode" select 16bit. Now go to "Shortcut" tab and, where it says Target, add:
-win
in the end. add it AFTER the quotation marks (these: " ") and a space before it, like this: http://i.imgur.com/N5js7Bz.png