Service Depot: Fully Updating The Ultimate Collection

Command & Conquer: The Ultimate Collection came with a few problems of its own, and some games have problems with running on modern operating systems, much like their retail predecessors. This guide will show you how to make the most of your Ultimate Collection installation.

Although the games contained within The Ultimate Collection are separated, enabling you to select the games you wish to install, this guide assumes that you intend to install all of them. You can skip the steps related to the games which you do not wish to install.

 

Installation

  1. Make sure you have installed DirectX 9.0c by these guidelines before proceeding.
  2. Install the games from within the Origin client as you normally would, one by one.
  3. After the installation is complete, right-click on each game’s cover in your Origin library, click “Game Properties” and disable Origin In-Game/cloud saves. This will prevent Origin from overwriting any manual edits to the game.
  4. Download and install Medstar’s fixed TUC launchers as administrator.
  5. Patch C&C Gold with the latest version of Nyerguds’ unofficial 1.06 patch.
  6. Patch C&C: Red Alert with the latest version of FunkyFr3sh’s setup. Choose the following option: “Patch existing installation”.
  7. Patch C&C: Tiberian Sun with the latest version of FunkyFr3sh’s setup.
  8. Patch C&C: Renegade with the latest version of Tiberian Technologies scripts. Optionally, for multiplayer, download the latest version of RenList or the W3D Hub Launcher.
  9. Patch C&C: Generals/Zero Hour with GenPatcher (what this does is fix most currently known issues, including the DirectX 8.1 warning, restoring the missing registry entries, removing some loose files that may cause desyncs and more).
  10. Apply GenTool for C&C: Generals and Zero Hour (optional, but highly recommended).
  11. Download and apply the Red Alert 3 quicklauncher (this removes the check for the RA3 news server that is now offline and adds a few tweaks).
  12. If you are not running Windows XP, set all games’ executables to run as administrator.

Download GenTool v8.6 (8.0 MB)

 

 

Handling Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge on Windows 8 / 8.1 / 10 / 11

Updated 29 April 2019

Windows 8, 8.1, 10 and 11 require additional steps to get C&C: Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge running. The latest procedure involves simply installing the latest version of the CnCNet YR client which will even patch the regular Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge gameplay even if you are not using the client itself. If needed, you can use the client’s options menu to change the renderer if you face any further graphical issues.

Legacy solution

One option is to move ts-ddraw or DDrawCompat to the Red Alert 2 directory OR place ddwrapper there and apply the C&C Graphics Patcher to executables of both Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge. Should that fail, the other option is to apply XWIS’ fix for Red Alert 2 and fix for Yuri’s Revenge – however, this will make the games incompatible with Ares-powered mods (like Mental Omega APYR) and probably CnCNet.

 

Finishing touches and notes

Apply your desired settings (resolution, graphics levels…) from the following executables that you now have in the games’ directories:

  • Command & Conquer Gold: CCConfig.exe
  • C&C: Red Alert: RedAlertConfigFull.exe
  • C&C: Tiberian Sun: TSConfig.exe
  • C&C: Renegade: WWConfig.exe

For games up to and including Tiberian Sun and Firestorm, you will be required to choose a graphics renderer in these configuration tools. There is no one solution, as different renderers work better in different computer configurations. Experiment with this until you find the one that works best for you. Alternatively, you can use DDrawCompat instead of the usual renderers for Tiberian Sun. Also, these games will require you to enable no-CD mode if it is not already ticked.

Resolutions for Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge can be changed manually by opening ra2.ini and ra2md.ini, respectively, in Notepad or a similar text editor and changing the ScreenWidth and ScreenHeight values under the [Video] section (may require a first launch if they are not present).

C&C: Generals and Zero Hour require limiting the framerate to 30 FPS (Frames Per Second) to avoid game speed issues – this is done by calling the GenTool menu by hitting the Insert key while in the games’ main menus. GenTool also enables a wider range of resolutions in the games’ option menus.

Technical Support & Help Guides Index