With the onset of corona virus, one of the unintended consequences of Working from Home is that all of us now have a lot of time on our hands. People who have consoles at home like PS4, XBOX One, Nintendo Switch or upgraded PC’s have started logging a lot of hours on them.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 (aka C&C:RA2) is a video game published in 2000 on Windows by Electronic Arts, Inc. It's a strategy game, set in a real-time, sci-fi / futuristic, war, asia, europe, north america and psychic powers themes. Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge Full iSO Game Downloaded Red Alert 2 Yuri's Revenge Full Crack + Patch - I have also included Final Alert - the official map editor from Westwood, as well as ten map-packs I have collected from various internet sources.
However, most of us of the gamers of the 90’s and 2000’s which have also turned to the old school games and bringing them back from the dead. One such popular game of the early 2000’s is second installment, which some consider to be the best one, in the Red Alert series of RTS games from Command & Conquer. Red Alert 2 and its expansion pack Red Alert 2 – Yuri’s Revenge. Further with the imminent launch of the remaster version of the original command and conquer series by EA and demands for remaster of this game has never been greater.
It was released in 2000 by Westwood studios in collaboration with EA games and is one of the defining games of the RTS genre. We also got a third installment to the Red Alert games in 2008, along with its own expansion, but we will cover that in a different post.
The Story
Red Alert 2 is set in an alternate world where the cold war turns into a full blown tactical war and follows on from the Allied campaign of the Original Command & Conquer: Red Alert. It contains 2 playing factions in the single player mode and a number of sub factions, each with their own special powers and capabilities. The objective of the game is make and control your army to defeat your opponent which includes Aircraft carriers, Submarines, Enhanced Dolphins, Giant Squids, Apocalypse Tanks and the Iconic Kirov Airships.
How to Get Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge?
Back in 2015, EA released the game along with its predecessor for free, however with the launch of Origin’s Ultimate Collection, Red Alert 2 & its expansion Yuri’s Revenge became paid again. Currently the only way to legally play the game is to own a CD of the original game or Buy the Ultimate Collection from Origin or Other Online Stores. The price is quite reasonable for the number of games which are included.
There are other ways to get the game, however I am not going to mention them here as they aren’t strictly legal. If you only want to play it on multiplayer then you can get them on CnCnet or XWIS which they give for free but you can only use it to play multiplayer not the single player campaign.
I have the original Game, but how do I play it?
Even if you have the original Game, either the original CD or you bought the pack from Origin, you still will have difficulty in actually running the game if you are running an up to date version of Windows (or Mac). This is because legacy games use a feature which was retired from the newer versions due to a security risk, leaving old games as unplayable.
So I can’t play the single player game at all except for Illegal No CD Cracks?
That’s where this blog comes in, I will detail the steps needed to play this game.
The Method for Running it on Windows 10 by copying files from Original Game
This is the recommended method that I would suggest and it is by this method that I got my own version of working. You will be able to play the Single player game almost flawlessly and play on multiplayer version. However, I will outline how to play multiplayer on CNCnet which (for me at-least) is incompatible for running the single player campaign. So the solution I came up with is having multiple installations of the game, one to play the single player campaign and one to play online.
Playing the Single Player Campaign for Red Alert 2:
What you will need:
1. Original CD/Game ISO for Red Alert 2 (Allied and Soviet Both) buy it from Origin here
2. XWIS multiplayer files which will allow you to play without CD. This is the official no cd version for the game. You can get it from here
3. A fix for the game for running it on Windows 8/Windows 10. You can find it here
4. A ddwrapper. There are multiple versions available on the internet. The one that worked for me can be downloaded from bitpatch here
5. ISO reader. I didn’t need it and used the builtin feature of windows, however a couple of my friends had problems and had to install a reader. Some used Daemon tools, some used Magic ISO
Steps for Installation:
1. Download and Install XWIS multiplayer version
2. Next download ddwrapper and extract the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg to where you installed the game
3. Using the text editor such as notepad, open the aqrit.cfg file and set ForceDirectDrawEmulation = 1
4. Download the fix for windows 8/10 and install the database by opening its folder and running the file “Double Click Me”
5. Copy the game files from the folder “game files” into the folder that you installed the game in
6. Mount your Original Ra2 Allied and Soviet Cds and copy/replace the following files from the CD to your installation folder
a. Maps01.mix (Allied disk)
b. Movies.01.mix (Allied disk)
c. Maps02.mix (Soviet disk)
d. Movies.02.mix (Soviet disk)
e. Theme.mix (any)
7. Run the game using the “Game.exe”
Following the above steps should run the game using the Game.exe file and enjoy the awesome single player campaign and skirmish games.
One small thing, you wont be able to use the ALT+TAB function. This can be fixed using a different ddraw.dll file however I wont recommend others as there may be viruses.
Further this installation might not be compatible with Mental Omega as it overwrites the aqrit.cfg and ddraw files with its own. Play around with the settings to get it to work.
Also for some, you will have to manually set the game.exe to compatibility even though you have run the windows 8/10 fix. If you need to then simply set the compatibility settings as follows:
– Windows 7
– Run As Administrator
– 16bit Colors
Installing Yuri’s Revenge to play its campaign:
What you will need:
1. Original CD/Game ISO for Yuri’s Revenge Origin here
2. XWIS multiplayer files which will allow you to play without CD (this is the official no cd version for the game. You can get it from here
3. A fix for the game for running it on Windows 8/Windows 10. You can find it here
4. ISO reader. I didn’t need it and used the builtin feature of windows, however a couple of my friends had problems and had to install a reader. Some used Daemon tools, some used Magic ISO
Steps for Installation:
1. Download and Install XWIS multiplayer version in the same directory with you installed Red Alert 2
2. Download the fix for windows 8/10 and install the database by opening its folder and running the file “Double Click Me”
3. Copy the game files from the folder “game files” into the folder that you installed the game in
4. Mount your Original Yuri’s Revenge CD and copy/replace the following files from the CD to your installation folder
a. Mapsmd03.mix
b. Moviesmd03.mix
c. Thememd.mix
5. Run the game using the “Gamemd.exe”
Following the above steps should run the game using the Game.exe file and enjoy the awesome single player campaign and skirmish games.
One small thing, you wont be able to use the ALT+TAB function. This can be fixed using a different ddraw.dll file however I wont recommend other as there may be viruses.
Further this installation might not be compatible with Mental Omega as it overwrites the aqrit.cfg and ddraw files with its own. Play around with the settings to get it to work.
Also for some, you will have to manually set the game.exe to compatibility even though you have run the windows 8/10 fix. If you need to then simply set the compatibility settings as follows:
– Windows 7
– Run As Administrator
– 16bit Colors
Playing the Game on CNCnet for multiplayer:
The instructions above will help you in running the original game and playing the single player campaign. However, if you are anything like me, you would want to test your game against other players. For this the best server available at the time of writing is CNCnet. It is a service for playing Command and conquer games online and also expand on the basic game.
To play online, your installation above may not work with CNCnet as it is built for playing on XWIS. So to play it on CNCnet, I recommend installing the game again a second time so as to enable you to play single player and online as per your liking.
Also CNCnet only works with Yuri’s Revenge. To play red alert 2, there is a special option in CNCnet to run the game in “Red Alert 2” mode, however it still runs the Yuri’s revenge game, just with Red Alert 2 units.
What you will need:
1. Original CD/Game ISO for both RedAlert 2 (Allied and Soviet both) & Yuri’s Revenge Origin here
2. XWIS multiplayer files which will allow you to play without CD (this is the official no cd version for the game. You can get it from here for both the games
3. Archive extracting Software such as Winrar or 7zip, which can read multipart archives
4. Window Registry files and editor for Ra2 and Yuris Revenge
5. Update patches for Ra2 and Yuri’s revenge
6. ISO reader. I didn’t need it and used the builtin feature of windows, however a couple of my friends had problems and had to install a reader. Some used Daemon tools, some used Magic ISO
Steps for Installation:
Installing Red Alert 2:
1. Create a new Directory on your PC
2. Mount your Red Alert 2 CDs and copy the following files into the new Directory
a. Maps01.mix (Allied disk)
b. Movies.01.mix (Allied disk)
c. Maps02.mix (Soviet disk)
d. Movies.02.mix (Soviet disk)
e. Theme.mix (any)
f. Multi.mix (any)
g. WDT.mix (any)
3. From the Install folder from the CD copy the following files/folders to your new directory
a. RMcache (full folder)
b. Taunts (full folder)
c. Binkw32.dll
d. Blowfish.dll
e. Blowfish.tlb
f. Game.exe
g. Mph.exe
h. Ra2.exe
i. Ra2.tlb
4. Extract the following files from the Game1.CAB archive in the install folder
a. Language.mix
b. Ra2.mix
5. Install Windows registry entries. You can download the registry files from here
a. On the link above, enter your windows version, your serial number/cd key without dashes (you can enter any random 22 numbers) and the full directory path where you are installing the game
b. Download the registry files and run them to install the registry entries
6. Download and install the Ra2 1.006 patch from here
7. Download and install the XWIS multiplayer files in a SEPARATE DIRECTORY. Not your current directory but a separate directory and copy & replace the following files to your current installation (You can also use an archive extractor to get the files without installing):
a. Game.exe
b. Ra2.exe
c. XWIS.dll
Installing Yuri’s Revenge:
1. Mount your Yuri’s Revenge CD and copy the following files into the same directory are Red Alert 2
a. Mapsmd03.mix
b. Movmd03.mix
c. Thememd.mix
d. Multimd.mix
2. From the Install folder from the CD copy the following files to your directory
a. Gamemd.exe
b. Mphmd.exe
c. Ra2md.exe
d. Yuri.exe
3. Extract the following files from the Game1.CAB multipart archive in the install folder (note you need a multipart archive manager otherwise the files will not work)
a. Languagemd.mix
b. Ra2md.mix
c. The following taunt files from the “__” folder and paste them in the taunts folder
i. TAUYU01.WAV
ii. TAUYU02.WAV
iii. TAUYU03.WAV
iv. TAUYU04.WAV
v. TAUYU05.WAV
vi. TAUYU06.WAV
vii. TAUYU07.WAV
viii. TAUYU08.WAV
4. Install Windows registry entries. You can download the registry files from here
a. On the link above, enter your windows version, your serial number/cd key without dashes (you can enter any random 22 numbers) and the full directory path where you are installing the game
b. Download the registry files and run them to install the registry entries
5. Download and install the YR 1.001 patch from here
6. Download and install the XWIS multiplayer files in a SEPARATE DIRECTORY. Not your current directory but a separate directory and copy & replace the following files to your current installation (You can also use an archive extractor to get the files without installing):
a. Yuri’s Revenge.exe 3 times and rename it as follows:
i. Gamemd.exe
ii. Ra2md.exe
iii. Yuri.exe
b. XYR.dll
Install CNCnet
1. Download and install the CNCnet YR client from here in the same folder as you installed the game above
2. Done!!!
3. Some people have trouble ingame, set the ddraw settings to TS-
DDraw in the cnc settings or play around with them according to your own PC.
To play with CNCnet run the file CNCNETCLIENTYR.EXE or use the new shortcut on the desktop.
If you’ve followed the above steps properly, you should be able to play the game on CNCnet flawlessly and without the Alt+tab issue present in XWIS. I tried playing the single player campaign on this installation and it didn’t work for me that’s why I recommend to install the games twice, once using the xwis method and once using the CNCnet method.
If you are having any issues in getting the above to work do hit me up and I will try my best to help you out.
If you are into old sega games, I highly recommend Phantom 2040 aswell.
With the onset of corona virus, one of the unintended consequences of Working from Home is that all of us now have a lot of time on our hands. People who have consoles at home like PS4, XBOX One, Nintendo Switch or upgraded PC’s have started logging a lot of hours on them.
However, most of us of the gamers of the 90’s and 2000’s which have also turned to the old school games and bringing them back from the dead. One such popular game of the early 2000’s is second installment, which some consider to be the best one, in the Red Alert series of RTS games from Command & Conquer. Red Alert 2 and its expansion pack Red Alert 2 – Yuri’s Revenge. Further with the imminent launch of the remaster version of the original command and conquer series by EA and demands for remaster of this game has never been greater.
It was released in 2000 by Westwood studios in collaboration with EA games and is one of the defining games of the RTS genre. We also got a third installment to the Red Alert games in 2008, along with its own expansion, but we will cover that in a different post.
The Story
Red Alert 2 is set in an alternate world where the cold war turns into a full blown tactical war and follows on from the Allied campaign of the Original Command & Conquer: Red Alert. It contains 2 playing factions in the single player mode and a number of sub factions, each with their own special powers and capabilities. The objective of the game is make and control your army to defeat your opponent which includes Aircraft carriers, Submarines, Enhanced Dolphins, Giant Squids, Apocalypse Tanks and the Iconic Kirov Airships.
How to Get Red Alert 2 and Yuri’s Revenge?
Back in 2015, EA released the game along with its predecessor for free, however with the launch of Origin’s Ultimate Collection, Red Alert 2 & its expansion Yuri’s Revenge became paid again. Currently the only way to legally play the game is to own a CD of the original game or Buy the Ultimate Collection from Origin or Other Online Stores. The price is quite reasonable for the number of games which are included.
There are other ways to get the game, however I am not going to mention them here as they aren’t strictly legal. If you only want to play it on multiplayer then you can get them on CnCnet or XWIS which they give for free but you can only use it to play multiplayer not the single player campaign.
I have the original Game, but how do I play it?
Even if you have the original Game, either the original CD or you bought the pack from Origin, you still will have difficulty in actually running the game if you are running an up to date version of Windows (or Mac). This is because legacy games use a feature which was retired from the newer versions due to a security risk, leaving old games as unplayable.
So I can’t play the single player game at all except for Illegal No CD Cracks?
That’s where this blog comes in, I will detail the steps needed to play this game.
The Method for Running it on Windows 10 by copying files from Original Game
This is the recommended method that I would suggest and it is by this method that I got my own version of working. You will be able to play the Single player game almost flawlessly and play on multiplayer version. However, I will outline how to play multiplayer on CNCnet which (for me at-least) is incompatible for running the single player campaign. So the solution I came up with is having multiple installations of the game, one to play the single player campaign and one to play online.
Playing the Single Player Campaign for Red Alert 2:
What you will need:
1. Original CD/Game ISO for Red Alert 2 (Allied and Soviet Both) buy it from Origin here
2. XWIS multiplayer files which will allow you to play without CD. This is the official no cd version for the game. You can get it from here
3. A fix for the game for running it on Windows 8/Windows 10. You can find it here
4. A ddwrapper. There are multiple versions available on the internet. The one that worked for me can be downloaded from bitpatch here
5. ISO reader. I didn’t need it and used the builtin feature of windows, however a couple of my friends had problems and had to install a reader. Some used Daemon tools, some used Magic ISO
Steps for Installation:
1. Download and Install XWIS multiplayer version
2. Next download ddwrapper and extract the ddraw.dll and aqrit.cfg to where you installed the game
3. Using the text editor such as notepad, open the aqrit.cfg file and set ForceDirectDrawEmulation = 1
4. Download the fix for windows 8/10 and install the database by opening its folder and running the file “Double Click Me”
5. Copy the game files from the folder “game files” into the folder that you installed the game in
6. Mount your Original Ra2 Allied and Soviet Cds and copy/replace the following files from the CD to your installation folder
a. Maps01.mix (Allied disk)
b. Movies.01.mix (Allied disk)
c. Maps02.mix (Soviet disk)
d. Movies.02.mix (Soviet disk)
e. Theme.mix (any)
7. Run the game using the “Game.exe”
Following the above steps should run the game using the Game.exe file and enjoy the awesome single player campaign and skirmish games.
One small thing, you wont be able to use the ALT+TAB function. This can be fixed using a different ddraw.dll file however I wont recommend others as there may be viruses.
Further this installation might not be compatible with Mental Omega as it overwrites the aqrit.cfg and ddraw files with its own. Play around with the settings to get it to work.
Also for some, you will have to manually set the game.exe to compatibility even though you have run the windows 8/10 fix. If you need to then simply set the compatibility settings as follows:
– Windows 7
– Run As Administrator
– 16bit Colors
Installing Yuri’s Revenge to play its campaign:
What you will need:
1. Original CD/Game ISO for Yuri’s Revenge Origin here
2. XWIS multiplayer files which will allow you to play without CD (this is the official no cd version for the game. You can get it from here
3. A fix for the game for running it on Windows 8/Windows 10. You can find it here
4. ISO reader. I didn’t need it and used the builtin feature of windows, however a couple of my friends had problems and had to install a reader. Some used Daemon tools, some used Magic ISO
Steps for Installation:
1. Download and Install XWIS multiplayer version in the same directory with you installed Red Alert 2
2. Download the fix for windows 8/10 and install the database by opening its folder and running the file “Double Click Me”
3. Copy the game files from the folder “game files” into the folder that you installed the game in
4. Mount your Original Yuri’s Revenge CD and copy/replace the following files from the CD to your installation folder
a. Mapsmd03.mix
b. Moviesmd03.mix
c. Thememd.mix
5. Run the game using the “Gamemd.exe”
Following the above steps should run the game using the Game.exe file and enjoy the awesome single player campaign and skirmish games.
One small thing, you wont be able to use the ALT+TAB function. This can be fixed using a different ddraw.dll file however I wont recommend other as there may be viruses.
Further this installation might not be compatible with Mental Omega as it overwrites the aqrit.cfg and ddraw files with its own. Play around with the settings to get it to work.
Also for some, you will have to manually set the game.exe to compatibility even though you have run the windows 8/10 fix. If you need to then simply set the compatibility settings as follows:
– Windows 7
– Run As Administrator
– 16bit Colors
Playing the Game on CNCnet for multiplayer:
The instructions above will help you in running the original game and playing the single player campaign. However, if you are anything like me, you would want to test your game against other players. For this the best server available at the time of writing is CNCnet. It is a service for playing Command and conquer games online and also expand on the basic game.
To play online, your installation above may not work with CNCnet as it is built for playing on XWIS. So to play it on CNCnet, I recommend installing the game again a second time so as to enable you to play single player and online as per your liking.
Also CNCnet only works with Yuri’s Revenge. To play red alert 2, there is a special option in CNCnet to run the game in “Red Alert 2” mode, however it still runs the Yuri’s revenge game, just with Red Alert 2 units.
What you will need:
1. Original CD/Game ISO for both RedAlert 2 (Allied and Soviet both) & Yuri’s Revenge Origin here
2. XWIS multiplayer files which will allow you to play without CD (this is the official no cd version for the game. You can get it from here for both the games
3. Archive extracting Software such as Winrar or 7zip, which can read multipart archives
4. Window Registry files and editor for Ra2 and Yuris Revenge
5. Update patches for Ra2 and Yuri’s revenge
6. ISO reader. I didn’t need it and used the builtin feature of windows, however a couple of my friends had problems and had to install a reader. Some used Daemon tools, some used Magic ISO
Steps for Installation:
Installing Red Alert 2:
1. Create a new Directory on your PC
2. Mount your Red Alert 2 CDs and copy the following files into the new Directory
a. Maps01.mix (Allied disk)
b. Movies.01.mix (Allied disk)
c. Maps02.mix (Soviet disk)
d. Movies.02.mix (Soviet disk)
e. Theme.mix (any)
f. Multi.mix (any)
g. WDT.mix (any)
3. From the Install folder from the CD copy the following files/folders to your new directory
a. RMcache (full folder)
b. Taunts (full folder)
c. Binkw32.dll
d. Blowfish.dll
e. Blowfish.tlb
f. Game.exe
g. Mph.exe
h. Ra2.exe
i. Ra2.tlb
4. Extract the following files from the Game1.CAB archive in the install folder
a. Language.mix
b. Ra2.mix
5. Install Windows registry entries. You can download the registry files from here
a. On the link above, enter your windows version, your serial number/cd key without dashes (you can enter any random 22 numbers) and the full directory path where you are installing the game
b. Download the registry files and run them to install the registry entries
6. Download and install the Ra2 1.006 patch from here
7. Download and install the XWIS multiplayer files in a SEPARATE DIRECTORY. Not your current directory but a separate directory and copy & replace the following files to your current installation (You can also use an archive extractor to get the files without installing):
a. Game.exe
b. Ra2.exe
c. XWIS.dll
Installing Yuri’s Revenge:
1. Mount your Yuri’s Revenge CD and copy the following files into the same directory are Red Alert 2
a. Mapsmd03.mix
b. Movmd03.mix
c. Thememd.mix
d. Multimd.mix
2. From the Install folder from the CD copy the following files to your directory
a. Gamemd.exe
b. Mphmd.exe
c. Ra2md.exe
d. Yuri.exe
3. Extract the following files from the Game1.CAB multipart archive in the install folder (note you need a multipart archive manager otherwise the files will not work)
a. Languagemd.mix
b. Ra2md.mix
c. The following taunt files from the “__” folder and paste them in the taunts folder
i. TAUYU01.WAV
ii. TAUYU02.WAV
iii. TAUYU03.WAV
iv. TAUYU04.WAV
v. TAUYU05.WAV
vi. TAUYU06.WAV
vii. TAUYU07.WAV
viii. TAUYU08.WAV
Red Alert 2 Full Game
4. Install Windows registry entries. You can download the registry files from here
a. On the link above, enter your windows version, your serial number/cd key without dashes (you can enter any random 22 numbers) and the full directory path where you are installing the game
b. Download the registry files and run them to install the registry entries
5. Download and install the YR 1.001 patch from here
6. Download and install the XWIS multiplayer files in a SEPARATE DIRECTORY. Not your current directory but a separate directory and copy & replace the following files to your current installation (You can also use an archive extractor to get the files without installing):
a. Yuri’s Revenge.exe 3 times and rename it as follows:
i. Gamemd.exe
ii. Ra2md.exe
iii. Yuri.exe
b. XYR.dll
Install CNCnet
1. Download and install the CNCnet YR client from here in the same folder as you installed the game above
2. Done!!!
3. Some people have trouble ingame, set the ddraw settings to TS-
DDraw in the cnc settings or play around with them according to your own PC.
To play with CNCnet run the file CNCNETCLIENTYR.EXE or use the new shortcut on the desktop.
If you’ve followed the above steps properly, you should be able to play the game on CNCnet flawlessly and without the Alt+tab issue present in XWIS. I tried playing the single player campaign on this installation and it didn’t work for me that’s why I recommend to install the games twice, once using the xwis method and once using the CNCnet method.
Red Alert 2 Full Game Free
If you are having any issues in getting the above to work do hit me up and I will try my best to help you out.
If you are into old sega games, I highly recommend Phantom 2040 aswell.