====================================================================== RA-HD Installer 2.1 for Red Alert [ENGLISH/GERMAN/FRENCH] and Counterstrike [ENGLISH/GERMAN/FRENCH] and The Aftermath [ENGLISH/GERMAN] Copyright (C) 1997,98,99 by Moritz Mertinkat (MoehrchenSoft) eMail: ramixer@gmx.net WWW 1: http://come.to/tesla (THE TESLA COIL) WWW 2: http://members.xoom.com/tesla (THE TESLA COIL) WWW 3: http://home.t-online.de/home/moehrchen (Turbo Pascal) ====================================================================== Documentation [ENGLISH] ======================= CHAPTER 1: About RA-HD Installer [1.1] Important notices [1.2] Official RA-MIXer Sites 97 & 98 (updated!) [1.3] History CHAPTER 2: How to use this program [2.1] vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER 1.0 (updated!) [2.2] RA95 Starter / RA-HD Control Center (new!) [2.3] Trouble shooting ==================================================================== CHAPTER 1: About RA-HD Installer -------------------------------- I wrote this program to install Red Alert onto your HD, so that you can run it without using the CD! With this cheat you are able to play both sides: Allies and Soviets! The only thing is, that you don't have any videos between the missions. But the game speed is a lot better, especially on slow machines. Support for the Counterstrike Mission Disk and The Aftermath was added to RA-HD 2.0, but only for the DOS version. These special game ADD-ONs are only supported if you start Red Alert with the new program "vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER" (section [2.1]). RA-HD Installer 2.1 now also works with ALL Red Alert for Windows 95; even the mission add-ons Counterstrike and Aftermath are supported! Therefore RA95.EXE must be started with RA95 Starter or with RA-HD Control Center - please read section [2.2]! [1.1] Important notices ----------------------- "Command & Conquer" and "Red Alert" are trademarks of Westwood Studios Inc., Copyright (C) Westwood Studios 1995,96,97 RA-HD Installer and vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER are Copyright (C) 1997,98 by Moritz Mertinkat (MoehrchenSoft). All rights reserved. RA-HD Installer is Public Domain, that means you can freely distribute this program as long as all files aren't modified in any way! If you want to include this program on a CD or on a disk of a computer- magazine, please get the authors permission: moehrchen@bigfoot.com BTW: If you would like to have the Pascal sourcecode of RA-HD, please email me (ramixer@gmx.net)! [1.2] Official RA-MIXer Sites 97 & 98 ------------------------------------- I've updated this section and all links should work now! Official RA-MIXer sites http://come.to/tesla (THE TESLA COIL) http://www.hn.pl.net/seager/ra/index.html (Red Alert Zone) http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Castle/3993 http://www.torget.se/users/a/alwi/linus/redalert.htm http://fly.to/realm http://members.tripod.com/~sun80 http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/6176 http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Realm/5408 http://website.lineone.net/~computer/index.html http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/8131 http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~alpat/red.htm http://www.gopherbroke.com http://www.gametemple.com/ra http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/5611 http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/7241/index.html http://www.torget.se/users/a/alwi/linus/redalert.htm http://members.aol.com/cc2ra/index.htm http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Pines/7845 (RED ALERT MAPS!) http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/2066/ra.html http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Alley/9290 http://www.matthew-b.demon.co.uk/games/ra http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/4837 http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dungeon/8862 http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Arcade/7328 http://www.idoyle.force9.co.uk http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Battlefield/7587 http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Peaks/6823 New RA-MIXer Sites at http://come.to/tesla [1.3] History ------------- [= Version 1.0 == 20.Mar.1997 =] First release to the public domain with the RA-MIXer 3.0 package. The latest version of RA-MIXer is available at: http://come.to/tesla [= Version 1.1 == 24.Mar.1997 =] Fixed bug with filesize of RUSSIAN.MIX. The extracted file was 1 byte too small - the same bug is in RAMIX.OFS 3.00 (RA-MIXer) Fixed in RAMIX.OFS 3.01 - Thanks to Ben Abbott (beabbott@vt.edu)! [= Version 1.2 == 26.Mar.1997 =] Added offset for SCORES.MIX - this file contains the soundtracks (64 MB) [= Version 1.3 (BETA) == 30.Mar.1997 =] This is a BETA-version of RA-HD 2.0 - called "Easter-Edition" There are probably some bugs with the RED ALERT Win95-Edition! [= Version 1.4 == 1.Nov.1997 =] Now works with GERMAN/ENGLISH and FRENCH version of Red Alert. Does NOT support Counterstrike and Aftermath. [= Version 2.0 == 20.Mar.1998 =] - Optimized a lot! - Support for Red Alert, Counterstrike and The Aftermath (only DOS!) - A new program "vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER" was added to run Red Alert (for DOS) without using a CD. [= Version 2.1 == 10.May.1998 =] - Added support for all Red Alert 95 (Windows) versions. - Fixed some minor bugs (Counterstrike SCORES.MIX offset). CHAPTER 2: How to use this program ---------------------------------- The best way to avoid errors during the game is to reInstall Red Alert (with the Installation program from CD1) before using RA-HD Installer 2.1! --- It's quite easy to use RA-HD 2.1! Simply unzip all files from this archive to your Red Alert directory, start RA-HD Installer by typing in "RA-HD.EXE" at the DOS prompt and follow the instructions on the screen. (1) Type in the letter of your CD-ROM drive (e.g. "J") (2) Enter the directory where you have installed Red Alert (e.g. "C:\WESTWOOD\REDALERT") and press Enter. (3) Now you can choose between the Disks you wish to install on your hard drive. If you install Counterstrike or The Aftermath, you should also install Red Alert Disk 1 (or 2), if you have enough free space! Whenever you want to play Red Alert now WITHOUT using a CD, you have to type (after having installed your CDs with RA-HD): - for the DOS version (type:) rastart.exe (SEE SECTION [2.1]!!!!!!) - for the Win95 Direct-X version (type:) ra95strt.exe To use the internet game under Win95, simply copy the directory "INTERNET" from CD1 onto your HD to [drive:][\ra-directory]\CDROM\INTERNET Example (RA installed in C:\REDALERT): Copy the directory INTERNET to C:\REDALERT\CDROM\INTERNET [2.1] vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER 1.0 ------------------------------- What is it? vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER is a program that allows you to simulate the Disks that are required to run Westwood's Red Alert (including the "Counterstrike Mission Disk" and "The Aftermath"). This will also work if don't have a CD-ROM drive installed in your system or if your CD-ROM driver (like MSCDEX) isn't loaded. How to use it? First of all: vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER only works with the DOS version of Red Alert (that is because it changes some Interrupts). If you want to run Red Alert using vdc 1.0 you have to start the game with "rastart.exe". When you're are asked by Red Alert (during the game) to insert the "Counterstrike Disk" (or "Aftermath Disk") for example, just press the hotkey => CTRL + RIGHT SHIFT <= and use the mouse to select the requested disk. This version should now also work with computers that have a PS2 mouse installed (hopefully). If not, please email me. Additional Copyright notes vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER 1.0 is Copyright (C) 1998,99 by Moritz Mertinkat Please note that this program was NOT made to copy the games (Red Alert) created by Westwood Studios/Virgin Interactive. THIS PROGRAM WAS DEVELOPED FOR USERS WHO OWN THE ORIGINAL RED ALERT DISKS!! [2.2] RA95 Starter / RA-HD Control Center ----------------------------------------- What is it? RA95 Starter is a program like vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER to simulate the compact disks used by Red Alert for Windows 95. This program does not patch anything in RA95.EXE, so it's totally legal to use it. RA95 Starter just starts the Direct-X Red Alert version, so that the game runs without the CDs - from your harddisk! There's a similar program called "RA-HD Control Center" which does exactly the same, but it is more comfortable and adds some usefull options. With RA-HD Control Center you are also able to start the DOS version (however vIRTUAL dISk cHANGER is required for this feature). RA-HD Control Center is Copyright (C) 1998 by Moritz Mertinkat and can be downloaded from THE TESLA COIL at http://come.to/tesla How to use RA95 Starter? It's really simple! Just type in RA95STRT.EXE and press . This will automatically start Red Alert with the -CD option and enable all required CDs (no switiching like in vdc for DOS!). [2.3] Trouble shooting ---------------------- (1) Remove your current Red Alert installation, install RA again (using SETUP.EXE from CD1) and then run RA-HD Installer 2.1! (2) If the files TEMP_VTX.PAL and SNOW_VTX.PAL are missing (should be in your Red Alert directory) the game won't run. You can either copy these files from the RA-HD zip file to your RA directory or you can start RA (WITH CD!!) and then play a SNOW and a TEMPERAT mission (this will create the *.PAL files)! (3) Make sure that you have enough free disk space (at least 20 MB). (4) Make sure that your hard drive is NOT write protected. ==================================================================== If you have problems using RA-HD, please email ramixer@gmx.net