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LASER351's avatar
8 years ago

"Windows cannot find error" with certain CNC games

When I try to launch c&c 3 TW and KW, Red alert 3 and c&c generals and zero hour it just brings me back to Origin (Red alert 3 uprising actually runs and all the other games in the c&c ultimate collection run perfectly).

When I try to run these games using there exe i get a "Windows cannot find 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Command and Conquer 3 TW and KW\Command Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars\CNC3.exe'. Make sure you typed the name correctly, and then try again." error.

The games that don't work are the ones I've download before and played for a little bit and the games that do work I have never touched. I have talked to 4 different EA help people and have tried everything they said to do and none of it has worked. I have tried compatibility mode, revo uninstaller, CCleaner, re installing Origin, repairing the game and what is in the picture. The exe is clearly there but apparently windows cannot find it.

I found on steam a Red Alert 3 demo and that works perfectly. EA help told me that they basically have run out of ideas and to post my issue on the forum....

4 Replies

  • Odd. The path is only 108 characters long, so I don't think this would be a path overflow error.

    First of all I'd try manually (re)installing the DirectX components:

    • Download the DirectX Redistributables package from June 2010. Be sure to uncheck any other junk they want to add to it. It should be a file called "directx_Jun2010_redist.exe".
    • Run the downloaded file. It'll ask for a folder to unpack in. Make a new folder somewhere on your disk and unpack it there. It doesn't matter where you unpack it; it can be deleted afterwards anyway.
    • Go to the folder where you told it to extract.
    • Find "DXSETUP.exe", and run that to install the missing components.
    • After the installation finished, delete the folder you unpacked everything in.

    If that doesn't help... the actual exe file is the cnc3game.dat file in the core\1.9\ folder. Try renaming it from .dat to .exe and see if you can run it directly. As was already advised to you through the EA help, set the game exe to run as admin by opening its properties and marking the "Run this Program as an administrator" checkbox on the "Compatibility" tab.

  • Reinstalling DirectX components didn't work. There was no .bat file in core\1.9\ folder but it was in RetailExe\1.9\ folder, I changed it to a exe and it does the same thing. Opens up the launcher, I click on CNC3 TW then it closes and brings me back to Origin. When I change KW .bat file to a exe I actually get the same windows error as the regular exe. When I run the RetailExe\1.0\cnc3game.exe it brings up ea activation to activate the game, but when I sign in with my EA account it says I cant activate with the account provided. When I use the wrong password it says "Could not connect to server, please try again in a few minutes" which is weird cause that would mean it knows my email and password is correct but I'm pretty sure this doesn't work anymore. 

  • Nyerguds's avatar
    Nyerguds
    Hero+
    8 years ago

    @LASER351

    This may be a long shot, but... if it says it can't connect... maybe it's a firewall issue?

  • It cant connect when i use the wrong email and password but the correct email and password gives me the "unable to activate your game" error. This is also on the 1.0 patch so its probably a non issue because 1.9 gets me to launcher. Origin likes to think I'm running the game after nothing happens because I now have 45 hrs played on game I never played (CNC Generals). The only thing not allowed through my firewall was the acitvationui.exe and that changed nothing.

    By changing the "CNC3.exe/par/SKuDef" files to "CNC31.exe", "CNC31.par", "CNC31_english_1.9.SkuDef" I've gotten the "windows cannot find" error to go away. Now when i run CNC31.exe it brings me to the launcher but clicking on either game still brings me back to Origin and still doesn't run the game. Red Alert 3 Uprising still works even tho Red Alert 3 does not even with the rename. Renaming stops giving me the error on Generals but the launcher exe still gives me it and once its been renamed Origin tells me the game doesn't appear to be installed. The launcher doesn't even have a icon unless I change the name.

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