Vista - How to play old(er) games on Vista

**Dunkelseele** · 02-17-2009

Hey all,

I recently had trouble installing and playing some old games, that formerly run good on XP (although a little tweaking could be necessary). I feel that some people might have trouble playing their old favorites on Vista for on or another reason, and I will try to do my best to list solutions for games in this thread. I encourage you all to list your workarounds for certain problems here. Maybe we get this thread sticky one day if it has grown enough... ; )

**Dunkelseele** · 02-17-2009

Hi! I'll start this list of tutorials how to get old games running on Vista again with one of my favorites:

C&C: Red Alert 2

Symptom: The game will install normally on most machines. But after starting it via the shortcut or ra2.exe (in the games install folder) the following error shows up: "***FATAL*** String manager failed to initialized properly".

Solution: You will need to open the games install folder and open the properties of ra2.exe, mhd.exe and game.exe. Change to "compatability" and check "run as administrator" as well as set the compatability mode to "Windows 98 / Windows ME".

If User Account Control is activated on your account, do the following:
Start game.exe,mhd.exe and then ra2.exe (in that particular order!), select "Allow" each time you are asked.

If User Account Control is deactivated for you, you can simply start the ra2.exe
(or your desktop shortcut to the game).

If the game still not runs (giving you the same error) you will need to start the ra2.exe via rightlick "run as administrator". Everything should be fine now. You should also be able to run the game normally via your shortcuts after doing this whole procedure one time. Please let me know if there are still issues.

Best regards,
Noël

02-17-2009	#1 (permalink)
Dunkelseele Vista Ultimate x32 16 posts	How to play old(er) games on Vista Hey all, I recently had trouble installing and playing some old games, that formerly run good on XP (although a little tweaking could be necessary). I feel that some people might have trouble playing their old favorites on Vista for on or another reason, and I will try to do my best to list solutions for games in this thread. I encourage you all to list your workarounds for certain problems here. Maybe we get this thread sticky one day if it has grown enough... ; )
My System Specs

02-17-2009	#2 (permalink)
Dunkelseele Vista Ultimate x32 16 posts	Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 Hi! I'll start this list of tutorials how to get old games running on Vista again with one of my favorites: C&C: Red Alert 2 Symptom: The game will install normally on most machines. But after starting it via the shortcut or ra2.exe (in the games install folder) the following error shows up: "FATAL* String manager failed to initialized properly".* Solution: You will need to open the games install folder and open the properties of ra2.exe, mhd.exe and game.exe. Change to "compatability" and check "run as administrator" as well as set the compatability mode to "Windows 98 / Windows ME". If User Account Control is activated on your account, do the following: Start game.exe,mhd.exe and then ra2.exe (in that particular order!), select "Allow" each time you are asked. If User Account Control is deactivated for you, you can simply start the ra2.exe (or your desktop shortcut to the game). If the game still not runs (giving you the same error) you will need to start the ra2.exe via rightlick "run as administrator". Everything should be fine now. You should also be able to run the game normally via your shortcuts after doing this whole procedure one time. Please let me know if there are still issues. Best regards, Noël Last edited by Dunkelseele; 02-17-2009 at 05:32 AM.. Reason: minor typo
My System Specs

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