Tiberian Sun Windows 8 fix (at high resolution) tutorial

Tiberian Sun Windows 8 Fix

(at high resolution)

Well, after a long time of trying and actually being close to the status of losing my mind (including scream attacks and headdesks), I finally, FINALLY managed to get Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun to PROPERLY work on Windows 8 at (Pseudo) Fullscreen. Yes, this is right, no more lags, no more crashes (so far). Now the game actually plays like a charm.

TL;DR? Just skip the text part and switch over to the list of things to do. That list won't contain any explanations, though.

Let me show you the steps I took in order to get the entire thing done:

The first issue you might notice in Windows 8 is the one of missing menus. As in, you can enter the main menu, but as soon as you try to either start the skirmish menu or the campaign selection, nothing happens. The only thing left to do is to press escape in order to cancel the program without having to shut it down.

Issue number 1 can be easily resolved. You need to download the Tiberian Sun Windows 8 Fix package. To do so, simply search for "TS_Win8fix.zip", and you will find the download link to get it. Or simply get it by following this link.Once you've downloaded the file, extract all files and copy / paste them into your Tiberian Sun directory.

As soon as this is done, you can easily start the game. By doing so, you will encounter issue number 2.The resolution is crappy like hell. Since you've (most probably) got a high definition screen that can handle resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 (such as mine), you might want your game in the same big resolution, right?

For this, you need to open the "SUN.ini" file in your Tiberian Sun directory. Simple Notepad.exe will do the trick. There, scroll down until you encounter the section [Video]. Set the "ScreenWidth" and "ScreenHeight" to your desired value. In my case, it is "ScreenWidth=1920" and "ScreenHeight=1080".

Done. Now, you can enjoy Tiberian Sun at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 ... NOT. Well, you might be satisfied with the result, but fact is - the game lags intensively at this point. When moving the cursor or scrolling on the map, the game almost becomes unbearable to play.

Issue number 3 that is. And that one was hell of a thing to resolve. It's actually pretty simple (if you don't have to search for it all yourself, and if there is someone to tell you exactly how to fix it).

I don't know if there are any other ways how to resolve this. Fact is, though, at smaller resolutions, there is no lag at all. But, as you want to have the big resolution, I'll show you a way how to have a huge resolution AND play the game smoothly.

To fix the tremendous lag, simply create a shortcut to the main Tiberian Sun program which is "game.exe". Once done, right click the shortcut and select "properties". There, you have to add "- win" at the end of the target line.

In my case, it is:
"C:\Program Files (x86)\EA Games\Command & Conquer Die ersten 10 Jahre\Command & Conquer(tm) Tiberian Sun(tm)\SUN\Game.exe" -win

This enables windowed mode. You might not really like a windowed mode as I can guess. Don't worry, it will be like fullscreen at the end of my explanation.

If you start the game via that shortcut now, you will notice that the game will crash. Well, that is because the Windowed mode does not support 32 bit colors. To resolve issue number 4, simply open the shortcuts properties again, then switch to the tab "compability".
There, check the box "Reduced Color Mode" and select "16 Bit Colors". Then, the game should start properly. And, you can actually play the game smoothly - until you move your cursor at the edge to scroll on the map. Because then the game crashes.

Issue number 5. At this resolution (1920 x 1080), the game will crash once you try to scroll around the map. Solution is simple - change the resolution again in the "SUN.ini" file, to something like 1920 x 1000. That will prevent the game from crashing, and you can play it. More or less. There are still a few issues to resolve.

Issue number 6. You might have noticed that the background of your desktop is constantly interfering with your gameplay - and once you order your units to move at the lowest part of your screen, you accidentially hit the taskbar of the desktop and you're out of the game or have a lot of flickering going on.

Resolving this issue is pretty much impossible, but there is a workaround for it. Download the program "Cursor Lock" and follow the instructions (use Cursor Lock with "User Mode", cause it didn't work out for me to create a shortcut that includes the windowed and compability mode for TS).

Once done, you should be able to lock your cursor in the game itself. Now, it is almost perfect. Why almost? Cause, if you got a 1920 x 1000 resolution, you might notice that the game is a bit too much on the right side of the screen.

This last issue number 7 can be resolved very easily by setting the resolution of TS in the "SUN.ini" to 1900 x 1000. Then it is perfectly aligned, you got smooth gameplay and actually the best resolution available!

TL;DR version:

• Issue Nr. 1 (missing menu): Get "TS_Win8fix.zip" and extract files into your TS directory
• Issue Nr. 2 (low resolution): Set resolution manually to the desired value in "SUN.ini"
• Issue Nr. 3 (heavy lag): Create shortcut to "Game.exe", set on windowed mode (enter "- win" after target line)
• Issue Nr. 4 (windowed mode crash): Set compability to 16 bit color mode
• Issue Nr. 5 (crash during gameplay): Change ScreenHeight to a slight lower value (e. g.: 1000 instead of 1080)
• Issue Nr. 6 (flickering screen): Get "Cursor Lock" and lock the cursor within the interior window
• Issue Nr. 7 (screen too far at the right): Change ScreenWidth to a slight lower value (e. g.: 1900 instead of 1920)

In case these solutions / workarounds DID NOT work for you, please contact me and tell which of the issues are still remaining. I will then do the best in order to help you getting your TS to work.

Following these steps granted me a very well playable and enjoyable Tiberian Sun, so I think this should work for you as well. ;)