# C&C Red Alert on XP



## Minga (Oct 23, 2002)

Hi
I have Command&Conquer: Red Alert, not the new one. I have installed it once before, but couldn't get it to work (Win XP Pro), even when trying every combination in the compatibility settings.
Has anyone managed to get this game to play on XP? I can only find one patch on the net, and that says nothing about XP, I know the game is old.
I also noticed that the new Red Alert 2 is not certified to work on XP.
Probably never going to work, but thanks anyway.


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## ComputerFix (May 27, 2002)

I have not tried the old C&C, but I did play the new one (Red Alert 2, as well as Yuri's Revenge) on my XP home system without needing to perform any special settings or download any patches.


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## Minga (Oct 23, 2002)

Sorry, I forgot to mention this. I tried to re-install the game (I re-installed XP sometime after the first attempt to play C&C: RA) recently and I couldn't even do that! I checked the driver thing called Direct-X and it said I had a number lower than that needed for the game. I always find they have the correct Direct-X driver on the CD but it wanted to direct me to a site from Microsoft (presumably to download), but nevermind that, because: I am sure my version of Direct-X is a LATER version, as would have come with either Tropico or RCT-2, the latter of which I still have installed.
Ta,


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## AtreideS (Aug 20, 2001)

Ok, I had problems with Ye Olde Red Alert 1 when I tried it on XP. First off, I couldn't install the game as it was telling me I had Windows Version 5.1 and I needed at least 95 to run the game. Lol. But I sorted that out by installing RA on another computer on my network and copying it across. This allowed it to be played with no problems. EXCEPT, you can't play LAN games on RA on WinXP. Which defeats the whole purpose of the network i have at home 
So just recapping, I got RA to work fine under WinXP, but no LAN games were possible. If you can, I suggest you try installing it on another machine and transferring it across. 
Let me know what happens. Bye


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## Minga (Oct 23, 2002)

Well, I managed to find a link on this site to the manufacturer's site, by searching for 'command conquer red alert'. It said RA was not supported on 2000/NT/XP but provided a patch which I downloaded. However, it also says no LAN play.

Mine came with two CDs, not sure what difference it makes, but CD1 got me nowhere so I installed using CD2. Before restarting the PC I placed the patch file in the RA directory, then restarted. Played the game using CD1 and it was ok. I haven't tried playing the game using CD2 yet.

Not sure why you had to install on a different PC.


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## cp_quest (Aug 1, 2004)

I got the same Windows Version 5.1 error upon attempting install. Then I explored the cd and ran the main setup option in windows 95 compatibility mode. It installed fine. Then it gave a missing file in the Kernel32 error when I tried running RA95 in windows 95 compatibility mode. The dos exe worked fine, but no sound (of course). I then looked for a patch, which I found on the westwood site: 'RA108USP.EXE'. its a self extracting application, so after extraction I copied the proper files to the RA install dir and ran the update. After that the RA95 played fine in windows 95 compatibility mode. Haven't found a way to make it play over a lan yet...a null modem and a corresponding 9-pin serial or 25-pin parallel cable, given the proper settings in BIOS would probably still work, but I don't have any of that old junk lying around anymore, so I'm still looking for a patch...or some program that runs in the background redirecting specific com port traffic over the network. I'd appreciate if someone pointed me in the right direction on that one.


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## cp_quest (Aug 1, 2004)

I downloaded a 1 day trial version of vspdnet from: http://www.eltima.com/download/vspdnet/ . It emulates comports and can send com port data over a lan using TCP/IP. I installed Red Alert (using my previous method) on a protable system running XP home. I chose the 'null modem' option on both systems and set the com port settings corresponding with the virtual comports I created using VSPDnet. I left the speed set to 19200 baud. Aside from having to click the null modem buttons pretty close to the same time to establish a game, it worked fine. I remember when i played the game over dialup on my dad's old p2 233mmx that I had to have my friend wait till just before I dialed in order for the game to answer and establish a connection. I think its just how that part of the game is written. The point is that it played fine over a lan and that was what I wanted, along with a few other people who don't want to let old games like that just die and be forgotten.


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