- Installing New Horizons For Dummies -
INSTRUCTIONS: save the folder, i.e. click the download button on the mod.
Once downloaded, Extract all files to your Red Alert 2 game folder (also known as 'directory'). You may want to make a duplicate copy of your original directory, that way you would still have the original version of your game (with all your original save games) left untouched. In order to extract the mod, you may need to download some sort of File Extractor from the internet (of which there are multiple for free).
After you extract the downloaded mod files to your chosen game directory, sort files by 'type', then select all 'applications' files one by one, right click, go to properties, go to compatibility, and set to run compatibility mode for Windows XP service pack 3, or preferably Windows 7 (But Not higher than 7 for technical issues related to Windows). Also set 'Run As Administrator'. Do this for all file type 'application', as well as 'Syringe'. Now Launch the game using 'RunAres' (you may want to create a shortcut on your desktop).
Essentially that's it, however your computer/firewall/antivirus software may not recognise the game files, so you may need to allow/make exceptions on any security software you may have. In order to do this, simply go into your antivirus program, and find out where you can specify exceptions, then list all application-type files from the directory there. For example for windows firewall simply type windows firewall exceptions into your start menu search bar.
Important Screen Customisation options;
*CnC ddraw custom screen: This allows for making the appearance of the game vastly different in terms of resolution and scaling display. Personally, I prefer the traditional 4:3 ratio screen scale based on the original 800x600 resolution (from back in the days of square, box screens!), which offers a zoom level that shows a good amount of detail, however on a modern wide screen/monitor this left two black borders; one to either side. All menus are displayed in the same unified way if set to 800x600.
- To set this option, open 'RA2MD.ini' with Notepad (or your preferred word processor);
Under the section [Video], set;
ScreenWidth=800
ScreenHeight=600
Then open 'ddraw.ini', and set the exact same ScreenWidth and ScreenHeight.
Using the correct settings via CnC ddraw can change this, and the settings may be adjusted as per the user's preferences. I have set the resolution now as standard to scale the original 4:3 to a resolution of 1066x601, meaning the game, as well as loading screens, and all cutscenes now display in Full Screen with No black border either side :) However; by choosing this, the main menu and pause screens are reverted to a smaller size, and positioned toward the top left of the monitor. This is a small issue to do with CnC ddraw, and is nothing to do with me or the mod, and may be fixed in the future by it's developers. A small price to pay in my opinion for the full-screen glory enjoyed in-game. -I have set 1066x601 by default, so if you wish to set a custom resolution without messing with the screen, then open 'ddraw.ini' and set;
ScreenWidth=0
ScreenHeight=0
This tells CnC ddraw to set the resolution to a standard option selectable in-game, and should therefore leave the game's menus alone.
After this you should run the game a couple of times, it is normal for the game to be closed by your computer with an annoying 1st-time notice asking you to allow the game permissions etc., in which case you obviously need to check the tickboxes and click 'OK'. Once that is done, you should never be asked to do so again.
I have made a soundless video tutorial mimicking the steps above (minus the bit about customising your screen resolution, as that part is unique to you and the screen you are using); Moddb.com
Have Friends And/Or Family?
If you have more than one device (desktop or laptop), and you have firends and/or family then you can play with them via wi-fi!
Instructions:
LAN is functional (and awesome!), this has been tested on Windows systems as high as Windows 7 and 10! You need; more than 1 device, Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge on both devices, wi-fi, and a friend/family member to play with. Got the ingredients? Now make sure both devices have the game, and have downloaded and setup the mod.
It may be necessary to change the serial number in the Regedit (computer's registry), and depending on the computer it may be necessary as a failsafe to install the original disk. The registry can be found usually by typing 'Regedit' into your start menu search bar, and then finding the game and simply changing the registry number (as trying to do LAN with the same number on both devices will confuse the game, and it will tell you that you both have the same number). There are simple videos online about this.
Sometimes the registry doesn't exist (due to your system), to create that registry, though it may also just be a case of saving the folder in the game's original preferred folder (this would need to be google'd), but provided you have installed the original game in it's default folder, this shouldn't be an issue.
Want to play Online?
Now you can, via CNCNet. Once you have installed New Horizons, you will find 2 folders in the directory; one which says in Capital letters for Online, and the other for Offline. Just read the readme files, to switch between launch modes.
1 final note: There is One 3rd party application I have found that causes compatibility issues. Those of you who may happen to have Iobit's Advanced System Care, I would recommend uninstalling it, as I've found it causes issues with running the game. Other Iobit applications I have tested seem to cause no problems, but beware of using that particular one.
Enjoy!
Thank you.
thx
Okay then...this thing is cant be played on server? Mean, I want to play with friend, he lived SOOOOO FAR...so, can you(author) make something with your mod for playing in multiplayer?
Greetings @Harugawa, so can you clarify about 'played on server'? At the moment I'm unaware of a server where multiplayer via the Internet would allow for this game to be hosted. If you can tell me the place I'm willing to look into it. Long distance multiplayer games sounds good, at the moment I've tested Lan games which work great.
About 'played on server', I mean, I can't playing now with friend. We don't know, how to create a server, making host and connect. As for 'place'...uh...dont think, I can help with that( Maybe like Mental Omega client? Btw, your modification is perfect. But, Bradley's and Abrams looks like...gold? Its little funny, but can you make it little "desertly" camo? Or woodland and winter camo? Actually, how about making standart Marines of USA? I try to found some modern units, but nobody making normal Marines without specific things. That would be nice, ofc.
Hi Harugawa, you're referring to the multiplayer tab in the main menu; this is something I have not touched yet. It is my understanding that the original servers the game was played on via the internet are long gone, however there may be some sites that serve to host this purpose, which is something I will look into. Once I find the appropriate site I will get in touch with them about hosting the mod there.
Thanks for your kind words on the mod, and yes more improvements are planned. It's a funny coincidence you mentioned the Bradley and Abrams 'gold' colour for 2 reasons; firstly I am releasing overhauled models of both in the next release of the mod, and secondly it's funny as I deliberately aimed for these colours based on their real-life counterparts. (America's wars of occupation in the middle east have meant these vehicles have even been spotted in Europe with these colours). But yes, they are a bit over-done, and will be improved soon.
In future I intend to create a full camo set of all vehicles for different environments. ;)
And lastly about the marines, I'm not sure as the game already sort of has that covered with the S.E.A.L. units? I'm open to specific requests though, so feel free to suggest in more detail what these proposed units would bring that are unique?
Greeting Comrade. Glad to hear that, about your plans. As for units. My friend write about some type soldiers, he love playing only troopers and want actually see the UH-1 and Osprey like transport vehicle. I want actually see them too...and yeah, do you want making new fractions or country? Hope to see Japanese army, actually with standart vehicle's and troopers.I try past time making my own, create Type-74 tank, but...its not working, but I try made for instuctions...maybe, I wrong somewhere...btw, here the units. We hope, You can made something perfect :)
Marine rifleman - an excellent shooter, can fall on the ground, storm buildings, uses buildings as shelters. Cons - requires a military laboratory for crafting, shooting single (shoots less often than G.I.)
Marine Recon Sniper - a good scout, shoots far, can take a position in the building. Cons - the price and long recharge.
Marine SMAW - Firing at rifle infantry, using a grenade launcher technique (in a deployed state), can dig in and use buildings. Negative, like the shooter, costs a little slower.
Marine Javelin - Excellent destroy from long range armored vehicles and enemy aircraft when deployed. Cons - a military laboratory is required for crafting, when deployed it is vulnerable to infantry and cannot fire back at them, it is expensive, slow movement.
Marine machinegunner - armed with a machine gun, the main task of crushing the enemy, because not a lot of damage, but slows down the enemy infantry. Can deploy and conduct heavy fire, weakly effective against heavy armored vehicles.
MARSOC Rifleman - Cannot dig in, uses buildings as shelters, is very effective against infantry, is an excellent shooter, but not a large supply of health and expensive.
MARSOC AT4 - has a grenade launcher and assault rifle, must cover his comrade from enemy armored vehicles. Can not dig in, very expensive.
Greetings Harugawa,
Some interesting unit suggestions there for the future; as for adding countries/sides that is planned in the eventual future, but for now I'm focusing on other aspects, some of which I'm about to announce in upcoming version 4. Since Japan is in Red Alert 3, I think that fast-tracks it's eligibility to be added, that and it is one of my favourite countries.
Good day, comrade.
That's all sounds perfect. We glad, you enterested our suggestions, and hope see them in future update's.
Japan from RA3 have some thing, I like, but...in the Company, I didn't like the way the Pacific Alliance behaved. They wanna capture and dominate the world. My butt just fired and I close and delete this game( But, implementation like country, is cool. Like Noriko~
So, We'll be waitin updates, and I wish you good luck and success in your work.
--> Small update Harugawa; I have contacted the developers at CnCNet to see about setting up the mod to be playable online on that site. ;)
It's nice! Thank you so much.
could I get a video instruction on how to install the mod, because for some reason the AI isn't building units. its building some buildings but only some.
also the main menu for some reason shrunk and is on the left upper corner. does it have to do with the resolution?
Hi nuclearsnake, I'm currently on holiday and don't have any recording/screen capture software to do a video (yet), however I can answer this for you:
-As for the AI seemingly not building units, don't worry. There are some relatively rare instances that this can happen. 1st situation is to do with maps; there are a Huge selection of maps, and some of them are from open sources, and as a consequence I have noticed on some of these maps that some AI become stunted in their development. The somewhat good news is that (from my observations) all AI teams, even if stunted, will eventually 'wake up', and commence full development. I suggest playing against AI that are Difficult, or at least moderate difficulty; easy AI are more likely to be stunted. Besides some maps, you should find the vast majority enable the AI to behave proper. One more observation; a stunted AI may be 'woken up' sometimes by an attack on them.
-As for the main menu that is a compromise I have talked about in-depth in a previous article (see my article on screen customisation). The small menu's are a result of using a piece of code (CnCDDraw) to enable full screen at 4:3 scale on modern widescreens during ingame, as well as cutscenes. If you read the article, you can easily change this, and have the menu screens changed back to larger, however as I explain you will have either a smaller scale ingame (quality of details will be reduced), or if using 4:3 scale you get left with black borders. I prefer having small menus.
Hello,
I have the following problem, i can´t start the new horizons mod.
I get the following message when i start it:
Syringe 0.7.2.0: Could not load executable, the system can´t find the file/ specified file.
What can I do for solving this problem?
There is another thing. I got my Red Alert 2 Version from Origin.
Thank you
Hi there, apologies for not responding earlier; I had no idea anybody commented in this section lately as I recieved no notification. I too actually have/had the Origin version, as well as a disk version. Origin is a pain in the butt, so for simplicity's sake I recommend finding the game's file in origin, and copying all the game into it's own separate, dedicated folder/directory.
From there, just follow my tutorial on installation, and it should work.
@cb1989, did you have any luck in sorting out your problem? Another user whom uses the Origin version, 'K3lt3ck', sorted it before I had a chance to look into the Origin version which I have used myself on an older laptop I have. Here is what he said he did;
"when i manually enter Syringe "gamemd.exe" in the addres bar i get: Could not load executable The system cannot find the file specifieds. I hope this might give you a lil more insight into the problem?
i figured it out. I redownloaded RA2, copied that into a dedicated game folder, followed ur install instructions. i set syringe to a different comp. mode (xp s2) then the others plus i have to manually put in the syringe "gamemd" stuff in the explorer adress field. Then it works like a charm. I love the mod mate!"
*comp. mode* is compatability mode of course, and I tend to personally go for Compatability Mode Windows 7 (last version of windows that supported disk-based games).
- btw this post was Me, I forgot to sign in! XD
a video for the tutorial would be great. For this case fraps is a good recording software.
Thanks for the suggestion, I may look into fraps at some point, and do such a tutorial. Let me know how far you get with my previous comment?
ok where is runares? it's not in your mod.
do i have to download ares launcher to play it?
Ares is included within the download. After following the installation tutorial, launch the game by creating a shortcut of the file 'Runares.bat'. It would indeed be very puzzling if you were the only lerson to not receive this file upon download, but if it's somehow the case either try redownloading (maybe yku accidentally deleted it?), or your file explorer is not set to view all file types, namely .bat file extentions. Hope this helps
I need you to make a video of how to install and fix the game, I have downloaded the game and installed it, but I can play it for a while or build it at a time when the screen does not play, hope you can fix it soon and yes. remedial videos for you to learn and fix
Hi there, can you describe the problem in more detail? Did you follow the installation tutorial? What system do you use?
After 1st initial installation, it's fairly normal for there to be at least 1 instance of the game force-stopping/exiting as the computer's firewall and/or antivirus software need to be told that the game's executables are safe, as well as setting correct compatibility mode to run all application file types in the directory. This is explained in the tutorial.
Additionally, I can make a video in the coming days to demonstrate the installation.
This comment is currently awaiting admin approval, join now to view.
can anyone give me advice? when i start new horizon mod its ok but when i change resolution to 1920x1080 i just have very small menu,and it does not want to be normal,what should i do? :)
Welcome BetaRey,
I highly recommend you read my screen customisation tutorial, which can show you your options and how to implement them. I'm not at home at the moment, and moreover away from my computer, so I can't drop the link here but just click on articles tab and you will find it.
Basically, the small menus are a payoff of getting to have all other screens (load screens, movies, as well as gameplay) in full widescreen glory. This has nothing to do with the mod as such, but a customisable 3rd-party control file (see article). The other way to play is with large menus, but not necessarily having full use of widescreen play. My personal preference is this small trade-off to enjoy fullscreen play.
Any further issues just get back to me of course.
How can I download updates?
Hi Ahmad, simple answer is when they are released. 10.B at the time of writing is the current release version. I tend to release the mod as a new version, rather than small updates; the changes between versions can differ greatly, so it is usually simpler just to replace/overrite the old files with whatever version is latest release. The current version I'm working on as the replacement will have quite considerable changes.
so can we play on win 10 ?
Yes, I've tested on multiple windows systems, 10 included. Of course, you must still follow the tutorial, including the adjustment of the compatability settings.
when i enter a game it says yuri revenge has encountered an intemal error and it is unable to continue
Hi @hung12, could you give more details? Have you followed the installation instructions/tutorial I made? Including first installing the standard game, along with the Yuri's Revenge expansion, and the necessary Official patch?
If yes, can you give detail on how you are launching the game, and what modes etc.?