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 anybody help me out ?

Go into your red alert 2 directory, in there you will find game.exe, right click->properties->compatibility-> Enable reduced Color mode, 16bit Do the same for gamemd.exe if you like to play yuris revenge too

@trymerland @Sotumney They're the files that show a text file icon and have "configuration file" as type. If you don't see the .ini part of the name you simply don't have file extensions enabled in Windows. I strongly advice you to enable extensions; it makes all kinds of tech support and tweaking a hundred times easier. If you don't know how to enable them.. google it. If you don't know how to find your game folder... follow this image guide. I don't advise removing the .ini files though. They're the files you need to tweak things in.

@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 8/10Solution: 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 scalingSolution: 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 supportedSolution: You can change your resolution via ra2.ini and ra2md.ini - try 1280*720[Video]ScreenWidth=1280ScreenHeight=720The .ini files don't exist? Download templates here:https://downloads.cncnet.org/Games/RedAlert2/RA2.INIhttps://downloads.cncnet.org/Games/RedAlert2/RA2MD.INI

Thank you for your help but unfortunately it doesn't work out. It still show the same error ☹️

TQ.. it work.but why is the game became slow..even the my mouse pointer also the same .its happen only when i played the game.

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

27 Replies

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
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.
acd9vihl669z
2 years ago
thankx man
acd9vihl669z
2 years ago
@FunkyFr3shCnCNet thanks man
gewoonmeneer
10 months ago
After the update video is screwed.
Editting ini files does not help.
Install CCnet (google for it)
You can set all kinds of video settings. I use mine on 1920x1200 full screen.
After that you can use CCnet with seperate launcher or the EA version with correct set video.
Nyerguds
Hero+
10 months ago
@gewoonmeneer wrote:

Editting ini files does not help.

It does, actually, but there's a new DDrawCompat.ini that also needs to be edited. You can just add the option "native" to the end of the supported resolutions line to make it support all your natively available resolutions.

@Prayayom You can get around that in two ways:

Look up Notepad in the start menu, and launch it as Administrator. Then go to File -> Open and open the file from there. (drag & drop from Windows Explorer won't work though, since you can't drag stuff between windows with different user rights)

Move your games library to a different location where it's not under the write-protected "Program Files" folder.
AZ_GUNNERS
8 months ago
Thank you FunkyFreshCNCNET, the 32 bit color depth fix really fixed my problem. Thank you from the bottom of my heart man!

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

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