Common problems, look here first

[Klandri]

Taken from this thread Last updated 30/12 '11 All credit goes to Frankaz unless specifically stated within each section
This is meant for people with the The First Decade version but some of it applies to the original version as well.

Note: Vista/7 Users should install the game in Admin mode, to do this run Windows Explorer then browse to your DVD drive,
right click on Setup.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility > Tick "Run This Program as an Administrator". Also please install DrectX 9c for Windows Vista (32bit & 64bit)/Windows 7 (32bit) from the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/e...displaylang=en

For Windows 7 64bit download & install the DirectX SDK from March 2008:
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en...ng=en&id=10568
Load up both the 32bit and 64bit DirectX Control Panels and enable Hardware Acceleration:
Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft DirectX SDK (March 2008) -> DirectX Utilities -> DirectX Control Panel -> DirectDraw -> Tick "Hardware Acceleration" -> Click OK
Start -> All Programs -> Microsoft DirectX SDK (March 2008) -> DirectX Utilities (64-Bit) -> DirectX Control Panel -> DirectDraw -> Tick "Hardware Acceleration" -> Click OK

This will mean that all the older versions of DirectX are correctly installed and should avoid problems (mainly with Renegade) of games loading and not showing anything but a black screen.


The methods and tools in this text are intended to fix problems and get the games running properly.
Note that most of the fixes on this page are files you need to put in your game folder. The default TFD installation folder is:
"C:\Program Files\EA Games\Command & Conquer The First Decade\"

If it's not there, simply right-click on the TFD launcher link on your desktop, go to Properties and see which directory it launches from. That should be the sub-folder "Launcher"
of the main TFD install folder. There should be a "Find Target" button to go right to that location. If you go one directory up from there you end up in the main install folder.
In there you will find a folder for each of the games, and a few more for the TFD launcher, patches and internet files.

Unofficial 1.03 Patch [for The First Decade, not for the original version]
This patch contains all the fixes listed in this thread, get it here:
http://cnp.cncnz.com/tfd/
or alternatively here:
http://www.cncforums.com/new/local_l...atid=4&lpage=1
Note: This patch includes files which cause problems with Internet play in TS, RA2 & YR, please check those sections after installing for the solutions to these problems.

Nyerguds' guide to installing & patching TFD: [Only for The First Decade version]
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/...lling_tfd.html
(note that this is mostly just the manual way of applying all fixes that are in patch 1.03)

General fixes: [Most of these problems are TFD only]

Games won't run in Vista/7: Vista/7 users should take ownership of the TFD main folder. To do this, right click on the "Command & Conquer The First Decade" folder,
go to Properties -> Security -> Advanced -> Owner -> Edit -> Select your username -> Tick "Replace Owner" box -> Apply.

Vista/7 users should also disable User Account Control:
Start -> Control Panel -> User Accounts -> Turn User Account Control On Or Off -> Untick "Use User Account Control" -> OK -> Restart
Business & Ultimate users:
Start -> Control Panel -> Classic View -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy -> Local Polices -> Security Options ->
User Account Control: Behaviour of the elevation prompt for administrators in Admin Approval Mode -> Change to: Elevate without prompting
User Account Control: Run all administrators in Admin Approval Mode. Change to: Disable
-> Restart

Games won't install:
Check that your DVD-ROM supports dual-layered disc's - to do this, go to
Control Panel > System > Device Manager (Vista/7)
Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager (XP)
copy the model name of the DVD-ROM into Google (or any other search engine) and look for a site that lists its specifications.

"Autorun.exe is not a valid Win32 Application" errors can be fixed by removing InCd - it seems to cause conflicts with the security part of the DVD-ROM.

Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) errors can be solved by booting into safe mode and installing the game from there (log on as the administrator account).
You could also copy the entire disc contents to a folder on your HD and see if it'll install from there.
If you are having trouble with other CDs/DVDs then it could be this:
Change the transfer mode to PIO:
http://support.ea.com/app/answers/de...56/kw/#piomode
If you have 2 DVD-ROMs on the same Data cable that can be the problem, Put one of the DVD-ROMs onto the same data cable as you Hard Drive.
This only applies to IDE (PATA) devices where there is only one hard drive and two DVD-ROMS.

If you get An Error {-5004 : 0x80070002} has occurred or similar error then reinstall the InstallShield software:
Hold the windows key on your keyboard and press the r button > The Run dialogue should appear > Type C:\Program Files\Common Files into the text box and click OK
Right-click the InstallShield folder, and select Rename > Change the name to InstallShieldOld > Start the game installation again to reinstall the InstallShield components with the newest version.
If the install succeeds after this then delete the InstallShieldOld folder.

"Incorrect CD-ROM" errors - if you have emulation software like Demon Tools or Alcohol 120% then make sure you don't have more than 1 virtual drive.
You could also try removing the software too in "Add/Remove Programs" (XP) or "Programs & Features" (Vista/7) in control panel.
Note: The TFD Launcher program can be the cause of these errors (especially on Vista/7) so try making shortcuts to the games instead. The xcc shortcut installer will do this for you:
http://xhp.xwis.net/utilities/XCC_TF..._Installer.exe
If those do not work then try the solutions posted here:
http://support.ea.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/56/kw/

Games crash on dual core machines: If you have a dual core CPU, and games seem to crash for no reason, start the game
and press CTRL ALT DEL (For XP Pro select Task Manager!), right click on the game's .exe process, click "set affinity", and deselect one CPU.
ForceCore is a small program that automates this process:
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/.../forcecore.zip

Video's hang: On some systems Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, Tiberian Sun and Red Alert 2 can hang with repeating sound in the first
second of video, this often means it is impossible to get past the Westwood Studios logo. To fix this run Dxdiag and disable Sound acceleration
Start > Run > type dxdiag > OK > Sound > Hardware Sound Acceleration Level - Move slider until on 'No Acceleration'
Picture Guide: http://www.cncworld.org/?page=features/tutorials/tdhang

Specific game fixes: [Most of these fixes should work for both the original and TFD versions]

Command & Conquer 1 (TD/C&C1/C&C95):

C&C95 1.06 patch:
A number of patches were made to fix errors in C&C95. This patch is a combination of all of these plus some extra fixes by Nyerguds:
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/cnc95upd/cc95p106/

Online play:
Use CnCNet to play online, it fully supports Nyerguds 1.06 patch & allows up to 6 players:
http://cncnet.cnc-comm.com/

fast scrolling bug fix in C&C95:
Go to your C&C1 directory, run ccsetup.exe and enable Back Buffer in Video Memory.
If that doesn't work or makes the game stutter, try CPU Grabber instead:
http://nyerguds.arsaneus-design.com/...s.html#cpugrab

Display problems (e.g.: "Unable to set the video mode"):
Go to your C&C directory, run ccsetup.exe and set the screen resolution to 640x480 (or, with the 1.06 patch, 1024x768 )
Also try changing the refresh rate on your monitor to 60 Hertz:
Control Panel > Display > Settings > Advanced > Monitor (XP)
Control Panel > Personalization > Display Settings > Advanced Settings > Monitor (Vista)

If you have scrambled colours running the game on Windows 7 then try the following fix:
Download ddraw.dll from this location:
http://hifi.iki.fi/cnc-ddraw/#download
and place it in your 'Command & Conquer' folder (same folder as C&C95.exe).

Other Solutions to the scrambled colours in Windows 7:
You need to be using Nyerguds's 1.06c for this, if you're not, you'll need to update the ID field on your own. Open Notepad and paste whichever one of these corresponds to the version of Windows 7 you're running:

32-bit:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\C ompatibility\Command & Conquer Gold 1.06b r2]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"Name"="C&C95.exe"
"ID"=hex:d5,83,dd,32

64-bit:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ DirectDraw\Compatibility\Command & Conquer Gold 1.06b r2]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"Name"="C&C95.exe"
"ID"=hex:d5,83,dd,32

File -> Save, choose All Files from the save as type pulldown menu, and save it with the extension .reg. Double click on it, confirm that you want to add the key, and give C&C a try. The Westwood intro video may still have the wrong colors (this seems random, sometimes it's fine, usually it's not), but the game and the rest of the videos will be fine. If you have your wallpaper set to slideshow, you'll still get messed up colors when your wallpaper changes. This will last until the end of any video that was playing, but will only cause a brief flicker in the actual game.

If you need to update the ID for whatever reason (new version of the C&C95 patch, fix for Red Alert or another game), run the game and then check this registry key:

32-bit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\M ostRecentApplication

64-bit:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ DirectDraw\MostRecentApplication

The ID in that key is four bytes. Reverse their order, and place them between commas like in the keys above. 32dd83d5 becomes d5,83,dd,32. Use that in place of the ID in the keys I posted, change the filename to the correct one for whatever game you are trying to run, and give the key a unique name.

1. Kill explorer.exe before running RA1, below is a batch file which does this for you:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
C:\"Program Files"\"EA Games"\"Command & Conquer The First Decade"\"Command & Conquer(tm)"\"C&C95.exe"
start explorer.exe

If you're on 64-bit:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe
C:\"Program Files (x86)"\"EA Games"\"Command & Conquer The First Decade"\"Command & Conquer(tm)"\"C&C95.exe"
start explorer.exe

You may need to replace the install directory if it is not the default. To use the batch file, make a notepad document, paste in the text, and save it as a .bat file.

2. Right click on your desktop and click on "Screen Resolution" and leave it open (do not minimise). Run the TFD
launcher and start the game, or click on the shortcut for RA1.

3. Browse to your C&C1 directory, right click on C&C95.exe > Properties > Compatibility > Tick Run in 256 Colors, 640x480 Res, and use Win98/Me compat mode > OK.