****This article was recommended by Talthos, a Nod's Revenge Beta Tester.****
After 10 years of Red Alert 2 and Red Alert 2 - Yuri's Revenge I still could not find an application which will set the current screen resolution and save it in ra2.ini and ra2md.ini. The existing apps (google for them) either provided a list of incompatible display resolutions or just didn't work.
Problem solved. I created the app myself:
Installing and using the app
- Extract the archive contents;
- Find the directory where Red Alert 2 is installed and move "YuriScreenResolution.exe" in there;
- Right click "YuriScreenResolution.exe" and choose "Send to -> Desktop (create shortcut)";
- Rename the shortcut on Desktop to your liking, for example to "Red Alert 2";
- Now everytime you want to play, just double click the shortcut, and choose between Red Alert 2 and Red Alert 2 - Yuri's Revenge.
Playing over TCP/UDP
Along with the launch of Windows Vista in 2007, in order to play on the network, users had to install the IPX/SPX networking support manually. Following the launch of Windows 7 in 2010, IPX/SPX could no longer be installed, therefor Red Alert 2 could no longer be played on a network.
The problem can easily be fixed using "Scorpio9a's winsock.dll IPX over UDP wrapper". Just download the DLL (extract it from archive if in a zip) and place it in the game directory. Do the same for all the computers on the network who wish to play, and you'll have yourself a nice LAN party.
Scorpio9a's winsock.dll will also allow for over internet LAN play, through services like Tunngle or you very own VPN server.
I didn't include Scorpio9a's winsock.dll because of possible copyright infringement (I hope the author will allow it, until then...).
Fix game stuttering and slowdown
Using the latest game patches, after a while during network play, Red Alert 2 would start stuttering and slowdown. The problem can easily be fixed by setting VideoBackBuffer=no in ra2.ini and ra2md.ini.
Or, you can apply this fix automatically by using the "Resolution Fixer" app included in this post.
"***FATAL*** String Manager Failed to Initialize Properly"
This error can occur on Windows XP if you don't set the compatibility mode for YURI.exe to "Windows 98/Me" in the "Properties/Compatibility" tab.
If you don't how to do it (or the tab is missing), don't worry, this app will set the compatibility to "Windows 98/Me" automatically when launching the game.
"**FROZEN MENU SCREEN - FIX** (issues with Intel HD Graphics)"
"Go into your Intel Graphics options, in power management, select maximum performance! It's that simple, was pulling my hair out for a long time over that one!" (thanks to "Deanage" for leaving this comment)
"**FROZEN MENU SCREEN - FIX** (Windows 8 ddraw issues)"
Place ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg from bitpatch.com/ddwrapper.html into the game folder. Change aqrit.cfg to: RealDDrawPath = AUTO BltMirror = 1 BltNoTearing = 1 ColorFix = 1 DisableHighDpiScaling = 1 FakeVsync = 1 FakeVsyncInterval = 0 ForceBltNoTearing = 1 ForceDirectDrawEmulation = 1 NoVideoMemory = 1 SingleProcAffinity = 1 ShowFPS = 1
If this fix didn't work, delete the created ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg files.
See how the game looks like at widescreen resolution - 1680x1050 (see? no stretching!):