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Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
9 years ago

Red Alert 2 - Error unable to set video mode - need help

Hi Guys, I want to play Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 on my Laptop. Every time when I start the game I always receive the error - unable to set video mode. I have Windows 10 on my laptop. Can anybo...
Anonymous's avatar
Anonymous
8 years ago

@Trym_Erland

@Sonyium

There are only 3 reasons for this error:


1. Your windows runs in 32 bit color depth, which is usally the case since it is forced in win 8/10

Solution: Go into your Red Alert 2 folder, in there you will find "game.exe" and "gamemd.exe", right click -> properties -> compatibility, Enable "Reduced Color Mode: 16bit"


2. High dpi scaling

Solution: Go into your Red Alert 2 folder, in there you will find "game.exe" and "gamemd.exe", right click -> properties -> compatibility, Enable "Disable Display Scaling on High DPI Settings"


3. You chose a resolution that is not supported

Solution: You can change your resolution via ra2.ini and ra2md.ini - try 1280*720

[Video]
ScreenWidth=1280
ScreenHeight=720


The .ini files don't exist? Download templates here:

https://downloads.cncnet.org/Games/RedAlert2/RA2.INI

https://downloads.cncnet.org/Games/RedAlert2/RA2MD.INI

Prayayom's avatar
Prayayom
3 years ago
@FunkyFr3shCnCNet Thanks for these. Now with the new EA app, it doesn't seem to allow me to save these .ini files when I edit them. I have used the video resolution =0 to fix the lagging problem before by editing here, but now after reloading the game it is lagging again and it won't let me save these files in the folder since I operate it out of the EA app. What to do?
  • Prayayom's avatar
    Prayayom
    3 years ago
    @Prayayom I kept searching and was able to fix it. Here were my steps:
    Also, with the new EA app it was not allowing me to save the notepad file -- it said I didn't have permission to edit the files.

    I right-clicked on the RAII main folder>properties>security tab, then for ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES, ALL RESTRICTED APPLICATION PACKAGES, SYSTEM, and then I also did for the users, clicked the Allow button under "full control".

    I applied the changes, then okay, then opened the configuration file, added the 'VideoBackBuffer=no' and then clicked File>Save and it didn't bring up the same alert saying I didn't have permission. Now, the game runs fast again running it through the EA App.

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