Windows 7 and DSL fighting me

[Little lost bot]

Ok, so I'm trying to get back into RA2 DSL after a number of years, upgraded my systems since my last appearance here and it does not want to behave.

I reinstalled my downloaded copy, stock works and plays fine so far. Its updated to 1.3 and works where ever I place it on my win 7 system.

I installed DSL TC and then RA2 suddenly decided it was going to hate my guts, I moved it all over the place after I saw in another thread that sometimes it does not like some area's of win 7, I got the ready to go DSL download as well and that refused to work no matter what I did, I went through a number of threads to trouble shoot seeing worked for others and no luck.

I'm on a win 7 (did I mention win 7?) system
Nvidia optimus card (that's the only info I can find on it (via sticker on the laptop)) as well as a intel (no difference in game working)
duel core 2.30 processor speeds
Game opens but suddenly windows detects that error that means it needs to shut the game down before it even reaches the adds at the beginning. Before I even get to the main menu.

I've reinstalled the game
Stock works
moved game directory to desktop, my documents, program files (both x86 and none)
made sure I installed 1.3 patch (then stock works) and 1.4 but no DSL still
Gotten Sages ready to go DSL extracted it into my stock game over writing what it needs to and to its own and no luck

I'm a bit stumped on what to do next.

Edit: Almost forgot to mention I tried all the compatibility options as well.

[Trovaner]

If stock works then it is a problem with your copy of DSL TC (not your hardware or operating system). Re-download the ready to go version or install DSL manually on top of a working copy of stock RA2.

Although I don't think it matters in your case, you shouldn't be extracting the "Ready to Go" version of DSL onto your copy of stock. It may cause problems if you have modified your stock game in any way.

[Little lost bot]

I have, both over writing my stock and into its own, it refuses to work, as long as I stick to the DSL component pack the game seems more less stable, however recently (few hours after I posted this) I've discovered AI crashing my game, noticeably emergency, why would AI crash the game on win 7? Could this have something to do with the DSL issue?

[Trovaner]

I'm not sure why it isn't working for you so I'll give you a rough step-by-step:

• Download the version of DSL found here.
• After the download right-click the file open up the Properties window. It should say that the file is about 192.2 MB. If it isn't, close out of the properties window and re-download the file. Otherwise, close out of the properties window and proceed to the next step.
• Open the file using WinRAR or 7Zip and hit Ctrl+A (select all) then Ctrl+C (copy). It should have selected the DSL 2.1 folder and made a copy of it.
• Leaving the program open, go to your desktop and hit Ctrl+V to paste the folder that you copied (you can move it later). Make sure that the file is completely transferred before moving on to the next step.
• Select the folder and go into properties to make sure that it is 489.8 MB. If not, report back here. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
• Open the folder and start up RA2. If it crashes during the startup process, report back here. Otherwise, proceed to the next step.
• Make sure everything else is working and report back here regardless of whether you got an error or not.

[Little lost bot]

Ok, followed up to checking file size

Sadly it keeps telling the file size is WinRAR archive (183 MB) before even downloading it and afterwards.

extracted
size 464 MB
Size on disk 477 MB

Looks like I'm some how missing something when I download it, which does explain it not wanting to work, me and my friends call this the phantom file affect, happened with another game before...... what would be blocking the data though?

I don't know really whats different and what data is missing but what ever it is..... DSL seems to be working on my system now.

Ok but get this, I just fired it up to see what would happen..... and it opened up... proceding with tests will edit when tests are complete..... I have yet to move the files from my C drive (there not even in program files yet)

Its more stable then stock..... don't know what the change is but its working, thanks though guys.

[Trovaner]

Before downloading it, it should be 183 MB but after downloading it, it turned out to be bigger on my linux machine. For that reason, the sizes probably weren't as accurate as they could have been (I just didn't want to start up windows just to get the proper sizes).