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Posted by: Goshawk4884 26 Sep 2018, 12:25

- Valid as of 26-09-2018 -

I wrote this after discovering that there does not seem to be a current guide to installing and running Rise of the Reds on the current versions of Windows 10 and Origin.
Please note that my system specs, as of writing this, are:

Origin Version: 10.5.27.11381 - 0
Windows Version: 10 Pro, 1803 - Build 17134.286
NVIDIA Drivers: 398.82
DirectX: 9, 10, 11 & 12

System Specs:
CPU: Intel i7 4770K
RAM: 16GB DDR3
Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX960, 2GB Dedicated DDR5 (EVGA Build)

I gave this information so that there is a benchmark for the last driver/OS/hardware versions that did work properly together.

The following is a step-by step guide to installing Rise of the Reds on Windows 10 and Origin. Some of it may seem copy-pasted, but that is to drive home that you need to do each step.

1) Download/Install Generals and Zero Hour using Origin

2) Manually install Direct X9.0c
a) go [your install path]\Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour\__Installer\directx\redist
b) delete everything except "DXSETUP.exe", "DSETUP.dll" and "dsetup32.dll"
c) double click "DXSETUP.exe" to run and follow instructions

3) Run Generals and Zero Hour to ensure that everything is set up properly
a) you may want to disable Origin Overlay in game by right-clicking the game in your library>Game Properties and deselecting the checkbox next to "Enable Origin In Game for Command & Conquer™ Generals and Zero Hour"

4) Download and unzip the following into separate folders:
a) ROTR 1.85
b) ROTR Patch 1.86
c) ROTR Public Build 1.87_2.0 (latest internal build from SWR - requires account)

5) Install ROTR 1.85
a) Open the extracted folder and right-click the "ROTRBeta_185.exe" file, click on "Run as Administrator"
b) (from the official SWR installation instructions):
-Follow the instructions in the installation carefully and make sure that you install the game in the Second Zero Hour folder not the main one.
-Example "C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour\Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour\"

6) Test-Run the mod
a) Make sure that your Origin client is logged in and open, does not need to be online - this is important as there are no scripts included in the mod to automatically run Origin
b) Find and run the "Rise of the Reds Launcher" - it should open with a menu that has the "Quickstart" and "Windowed" optioned greyed out.
c) Click on "Launch" - nothing will happen (this is where i missed it)
d) In the Origin Client, click on your Generals/Zero Hour game and start as normal, the normal Generals/Zero Hour Launcher should come up (sometimes it is minimized)
e) Click on "Zero Hour" and the Rise of the Reds splash screen should come up and the game starts
f) If you experience any issues at this point check your "Options.ini" file under your documents folder \Generals Zero Hour Data - the resolution should be your native resolution

7) If everything works (usually test it by playing a quick skirmish), install the ROTR Patch 1.86
a) Open the extracted folder and right-click the "ROTR_Patch_186.exe" file, click on "Run as Administrator"
b) Simply follow all instructions, ensuring that the install directory remains the second Zero Hour directory as above

8) Test-Run the mod again by following the instructions in (6)) above and ensure that you can see the changes from the relevant change log

9) If everything works, install the ROTR Public Build 1.87_2.0 which is the latest build and completely changes the game.
a) Open the extracted folder and right-click the "ROTR_187_PB_2_0.exe" file, click on "Run as Administrator"
b) Simply follow all instructions, ensuring that the install directory remains the second Zero Hour directory as above

10) Run the Public Build
You will see that there are now two ROTR Launchers: the one you used in the previous steps and a new one called "RotrInternal.exe", "Rise of the Reds Internal Launcher" or "Rise of the Reds Public Build" (the latter on the desktop).
a) Make sure that your Origin client open
b) Find and run the "Rise of the Reds Internal Launcher"
c) Click on "Launch" - nothing will happen
d) In the Origin Client, click on your Generals/Zero Hour game and start as normal, the normal Generals/Zero Hour Launcher should come up (sometimes it is minimized)
e) Click on "Zero Hour" and the Rise of the Reds splash screen should come up and the game starts
f) You will know that you were successful if the menu video is of a building with a Russian flag and Russian units defending it, reminiscent of the original Generals menu video

Posted by: WhiteMetalSesa 26 Oct 2018, 16:00

So I followed all your steps but I cant play the Public Build. It says all the time that I got an internal error, so what should I do?

Posted by: Skitt 27 Oct 2018, 3:56

probably options.ini needs doing.
https://forums.cncnz.com/topic/12319-how-to-play-generals-zero-hour-in-windows-7-x64/

Posted by: WhiteMetalSesa 27 Oct 2018, 12:09

Actually I did a reinstallation of the game and the mod. It worked, but it just kept crashing in the middle of the game. Maybe I should restart everything again.

Posted by: Ecallir 14 Jan 2019, 19:41

Can someone help me? When I press Launch button in lancher, Origin's launcher starts. There I press Zero Hour option as told but it start pure ZH without mod. What have I done wrong? Everything is installed in right folders, I checked it.

Posted by: Goshawk4884 15 Jul 2019, 10:52

Sorry for never checking here again

I'm glad it helped some of you.

@WhiteMetalSesa: The random mid-game crashing is something iv'e experienced also. It happens randomly, and usually when te CPU players have many units so i assume its a memory/CPU issue carried over from the original engine (which is nearly 2 decades old so is understandable)

Posted by: Goshawk4884 15 Jul 2019, 10:55

HI Ecallir

This happens sometimes (for unknown reasons). Usually restarting the PC or completely force-closing Origin and the ROTR launcher and re-doing the "launch" steps should fix it.

Hope it helps and sorry for the late reply.

If not, please send me exactly what you are doing.

Posted by: Escobar001 25 Aug 2019, 14:48

Where can I find 1.87?

Posted by: Maelstrom 25 Aug 2019, 21:06

Here: http://forums.swr-productions.com/index.php?showtopic=12177

Posted by: LaggiesJR 1 Mar 2020, 16:57

So I'm stuck on step 5) and 6). I've properly installed the mod where it needs to be but whenever I bring up the ROTR launcher options and click launch, the Origin pop-up for either base Generals or ZH comes up. When I click the ZH portion it just launches ZH.

Posted by: havoc1482 29 Mar 2020, 17:24

Yeah, ive done everything on here. I've been doing hours of research and trial and error. RotR has worked before for me on Origin, but after installation whenever I try to launch it from the RotR, it only launches vanilla ZH and not RotR when I click on the ZH option from the Origin splash screen. I've reinstalled both ZH and RotR, restarted my PC, messes with the compatibility settings for Generals, RotR, and enabling Run As Admin. Nothing works and it seems I'm not the only one. It seems as of late 2019 to now this mod won't launch like it previously did. Something has changed with Origin or W10.

Posted by: imh 3 Apr 2020, 15:05

Thank you for these directions! Worked like a charm.

Posted by: Md Samiur 22 Oct 2020, 11:16

I can't see and play Mission option on ROTR.