gurkoz
01-10-2011, 10:42 AM
First, Don't be alarmed by the size of this post, it's pretty easy stuff. I just wanted to compile a list of all the needed info and explain it so everyone would understand it. I am doing this just because i love the game and i hope this will bring a few more needed players. Credits where credits are due to all the people in this forum who contributed to various solutions.
If you like me, played back in the days and had a great time, please do come back, the game is actually still alive! Or if you are tired of all the constant brainless first person railshooters being pumped out, please give this one a shot!
There is something special about this game that makes me come back to it again and again. It is accurate, challenging and really rewarding. Skill pays a big part and teamwork and planning goes a long way. Noways 98% of the players have turned to some braindead Call of Duty title but i really think they owe themselves to return to a game like Ravenshield.
This Christmas steam sale i bought quite a few new, expensive and exciting games on steam. The last day of the sales i also bought Rainbow Six Ravenshield for a modest sum of 4€. I have barely touched all the new fancy games and i constantly find myself coming back to this title! To my great surprise, the game actually works on a modern OS as Windows 7 and there are still even people playing this online!
So get moving, stop wasting more time! Here is your checklist to success.
NOTE: I can confirm that all these steps are working using Windows 7 - 64bit, other setups may differ and produce various errors unknown to me.
* INSTALL: Rainbow Six Ravenshield Gold on steam [REQUIRED]
This is the base game. Install it to complete yourself as a gamer and a human beeing.
* INSTALL: Athena Sword on Steam [OPTIONAL]
This is the first official expansion for the game. It features eight new missions, five new multiplayer missions, three new multiplayer gamemodes, and seven new weapons. Sadly, this is rarely played online any more. Although, the singleplayer experience can still be fully enjoyed.
* INSTALL: Iron Wrath [OPTIONAL]
This is the second official expansion for the game. It was released exclusively (i think) as a free update to fileplanet subscribers. I've read on a few places that you will need a code/cdkey to download/install this but i personally had no problems with this. It features a 7-mission campaign, 3 classic missions, 8 new multiplayer maps, 6 new weapons, as well as 5 new multiplayer game modes. Sadly, this is rarely played online any more. Although, the singleplayer experience can still be fully enjoyed. This expansion, not available on Steam requires a different install procedure. (Credits go to irishbear for the solution - http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1049634)
Download the expansion from "http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/ironwrath/"
With credits to Phileosophos, copy the following code.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AF131494-F5D8-45C5-938C-D5F020CF1B0D}]
"DisplayVersion"="1.60.412"
"InstallLocation"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\rainbow six 3 gold"
"ModifyPath"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\rainbow six 3 gold"
"Version"=dword:01000000
Create a new textfile on your desktop calling it "rvs.txt".
Edit the file and place the code. Note: Check to see if the path to the game is correct. This example using (Windows 7 - 64bit)
Save and close.
Rename the file to "rvs.reg".
Doubbleclick the file and import it to the registry.
Note: reason for this, acordingly to irishbear:
"the Iron Wrath installer doesn't check the Red Storm Entertainment reg keys to make sure a valid Raven Shield product is installed, it goes to the Uninstall section of the registry and checks there instead. The Steam version of Raven Shield doesn't create any Uninstall keys, so the installer fails"
* INSTALL: PunkBuster [OPTIONAL]
This is the Anti-cheat protection used and is maintained by www.evenbalance.com. Although, looking at their site it seems like they dropped support for this game a while back. (Im guessing this is due to UbiSoft!) Also, servers online rarely have this feature enabled these days. Please note: This can not be installed without the Iron Wrath Fix above.
Download PunkBuster from "ftp://ftp.ubisoft.com/games/ravenshield/patches/RVSPunkBuster.exe".
Install the software.
Start the game and go to Option->Multiplayer and enable PunkBuster.
* FIX: Missing sounds in Athena Sword and Iron Wrath
For some reason, when installing any of the two expansions, some of the sounds go missing in action. These are the new weapons, environment sounds and various voice overs. To fix this, follow these steps to copy over the required files to the correct folder.
Navigate to the sound folder of Athena Sword, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Mods\AthenaSword\Sounds"
Copy all the files in this folder.
Navigate to the sound folder of Ravenshield, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\sounds"
Paste the files.
Navigate to the sound folder of Iron Wrath, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Mods\IronWrath\Sounds"
Copy all the files in this folder.
Navigate to the sound folder of Ravenshield, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\sounds"
Paste the files.
* FIX: Enabling EAX for Creative X-Fi users
When using Windows Vista or Windows 7 the feature to enable EAX sound will be disabled. To be able to enable this you have to download a software called "Alchemy" from Creative.
Open a browser and go to "http://www.creative.com".
Navigate to your hardware and look for "Alchemy" in the support/driver/download section.
Download and install the application.
Start the Application and select "Ravenshield" in the left hand side list.
Click the arrow pointing to the right and that should bring the game over to the enabled side.
Quit the application and start the game.
Go to Options->Sound and enable EAX.
NOTE: if you, like me, get an "layout.bin" error when installing, do the following. Download WinRAR and open the Exe file. Extract all the content and run the setup manually.
* FIX: Can not create new user for online multiplayer
UbiSoft, being the shady people that they are, have removed and retired the website needed to register a new player. Luckily, you can still just register at their main site and it still counts as an in-game player account.
Open a browser and go to "http://www.ubi.com"
Proceed to register a user.
Use the same information to login to online multiplayer in-game.
* FIX: Crash on launch (Xfire issue)
It's pretty safe to say this is an old game and a lot of problems may occur. To my own experience i've only encountered one crash that was traced to X-Fire. The problem was the ingame overlay that Xfire uses. To fix this (rather than closing xfire every time) follow these steps to disable in-game overlay for Ravenshield.
Open Xfire and go to Options->Games and select Ravenshield.
Under advanced options, tick the checkbox for "Disable Xfire In-Game"
* FIX: Game keeps returning to desktop.
Don't know if this is an issue only i get. Sometimes the game refuses to go fullscreen and always returns me to the desktop. Found out that if you close all other applications and folders, windows forces the game to be fullscreen (Since it's really the only active item on the taskbar. Worked for me).
* TWEAK: Removing intro movies
One annoying thing in all games are the constant bombardment of video playback on startup. Luckily in this game you can disable them to get a quick game launch and ready for action in no time.
Navigate to the videos folder, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Videos"
Delete/Rename the following files. "Logos.bik" and "R6logo3a.bik".
* TWEAK: Mouse & Performance (INI Files)
Since this is an oldschool game there are a few ways to tweak it to your liking. Most importantly this is where you can make sure your mouse is dead on accurate and other settings. To get more information about INI Tweaking, read more here - http://www.tacticalgamer.com/first-person-shooters-fps/5666-tweaks-raven-shield.html
Navigate to the Save folder, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Save\Profiles"
Edit the file "user.ini" and change the following settings.
* MouseSamplingTime - This setting effects how fast/slowly your mouse moves by taking samples at more/less frequent intervals (in seconds). As this number increases from the default the slower your mouse will seem as samples of your mouse movement are taken less often. Experiment with this setting if the default sampling time doesn't seem to help your mouse speed.
Navigate to the System folder, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\system"
Edit the file "RavenShield.ini" and change the following settings.
* CacheSizeMegs - Increasing the cache size can improve overall performance, especially if you have high texture detail settings and 64MB of Video RAM or more. Try higher values such as 128 if you have a higher spec system.
* ReduceMouseLag - If you have issues with your mouse "lagging" on screen, then setting this option to True will help resolve them. Unfortunately it will also reduce your fps to some extent, so if you have no mouse lag problems set it to False for a slight increase in performance.
* UseVSync - VSync is the synchronization of your graphics card and monitors' abilities to redraw the screen a number of times each second. When set to False, your fps will improve slightly, however, you may see some image "tearing", in which case switch to True if you don't like the results. (Setting this to False cleared up any mouse lag i was experiencing.)
Note: It is good practise to backup these files (and avoiding some drama) as Ravenshield sometimes crashes and reverts to the default setup.
QUESTION: Does Ravenshield work on Windows 7 & 64bit?
ANSWER: Yes it sure does.
QUESTION: Does Ravenshield support Widescreen?
ANSWER: Yes/No. Resolutions work but various items get stretched to some point, but really not a big problem.
That's all folks! Hope this helps somebody and see you ingame! :cool:
If you like me, played back in the days and had a great time, please do come back, the game is actually still alive! Or if you are tired of all the constant brainless first person railshooters being pumped out, please give this one a shot!
There is something special about this game that makes me come back to it again and again. It is accurate, challenging and really rewarding. Skill pays a big part and teamwork and planning goes a long way. Noways 98% of the players have turned to some braindead Call of Duty title but i really think they owe themselves to return to a game like Ravenshield.
This Christmas steam sale i bought quite a few new, expensive and exciting games on steam. The last day of the sales i also bought Rainbow Six Ravenshield for a modest sum of 4€. I have barely touched all the new fancy games and i constantly find myself coming back to this title! To my great surprise, the game actually works on a modern OS as Windows 7 and there are still even people playing this online!
So get moving, stop wasting more time! Here is your checklist to success.
NOTE: I can confirm that all these steps are working using Windows 7 - 64bit, other setups may differ and produce various errors unknown to me.
* INSTALL: Rainbow Six Ravenshield Gold on steam [REQUIRED]
This is the base game. Install it to complete yourself as a gamer and a human beeing.
* INSTALL: Athena Sword on Steam [OPTIONAL]
This is the first official expansion for the game. It features eight new missions, five new multiplayer missions, three new multiplayer gamemodes, and seven new weapons. Sadly, this is rarely played online any more. Although, the singleplayer experience can still be fully enjoyed.
* INSTALL: Iron Wrath [OPTIONAL]
This is the second official expansion for the game. It was released exclusively (i think) as a free update to fileplanet subscribers. I've read on a few places that you will need a code/cdkey to download/install this but i personally had no problems with this. It features a 7-mission campaign, 3 classic missions, 8 new multiplayer maps, 6 new weapons, as well as 5 new multiplayer game modes. Sadly, this is rarely played online any more. Although, the singleplayer experience can still be fully enjoyed. This expansion, not available on Steam requires a different install procedure. (Credits go to irishbear for the solution - http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1049634)
Download the expansion from "http://www.fileplanet.com/promotions/ironwrath/"
With credits to Phileosophos, copy the following code.
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\{AF131494-F5D8-45C5-938C-D5F020CF1B0D}]
"DisplayVersion"="1.60.412"
"InstallLocation"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\rainbow six 3 gold"
"ModifyPath"="C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Steam\\steamapps\\common\\rainbow six 3 gold"
"Version"=dword:01000000
Create a new textfile on your desktop calling it "rvs.txt".
Edit the file and place the code. Note: Check to see if the path to the game is correct. This example using (Windows 7 - 64bit)
Save and close.
Rename the file to "rvs.reg".
Doubbleclick the file and import it to the registry.
Note: reason for this, acordingly to irishbear:
"the Iron Wrath installer doesn't check the Red Storm Entertainment reg keys to make sure a valid Raven Shield product is installed, it goes to the Uninstall section of the registry and checks there instead. The Steam version of Raven Shield doesn't create any Uninstall keys, so the installer fails"
* INSTALL: PunkBuster [OPTIONAL]
This is the Anti-cheat protection used and is maintained by www.evenbalance.com. Although, looking at their site it seems like they dropped support for this game a while back. (Im guessing this is due to UbiSoft!) Also, servers online rarely have this feature enabled these days. Please note: This can not be installed without the Iron Wrath Fix above.
Download PunkBuster from "ftp://ftp.ubisoft.com/games/ravenshield/patches/RVSPunkBuster.exe".
Install the software.
Start the game and go to Option->Multiplayer and enable PunkBuster.
* FIX: Missing sounds in Athena Sword and Iron Wrath
For some reason, when installing any of the two expansions, some of the sounds go missing in action. These are the new weapons, environment sounds and various voice overs. To fix this, follow these steps to copy over the required files to the correct folder.
Navigate to the sound folder of Athena Sword, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Mods\AthenaSword\Sounds"
Copy all the files in this folder.
Navigate to the sound folder of Ravenshield, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\sounds"
Paste the files.
Navigate to the sound folder of Iron Wrath, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Mods\IronWrath\Sounds"
Copy all the files in this folder.
Navigate to the sound folder of Ravenshield, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\sounds"
Paste the files.
* FIX: Enabling EAX for Creative X-Fi users
When using Windows Vista or Windows 7 the feature to enable EAX sound will be disabled. To be able to enable this you have to download a software called "Alchemy" from Creative.
Open a browser and go to "http://www.creative.com".
Navigate to your hardware and look for "Alchemy" in the support/driver/download section.
Download and install the application.
Start the Application and select "Ravenshield" in the left hand side list.
Click the arrow pointing to the right and that should bring the game over to the enabled side.
Quit the application and start the game.
Go to Options->Sound and enable EAX.
NOTE: if you, like me, get an "layout.bin" error when installing, do the following. Download WinRAR and open the Exe file. Extract all the content and run the setup manually.
* FIX: Can not create new user for online multiplayer
UbiSoft, being the shady people that they are, have removed and retired the website needed to register a new player. Luckily, you can still just register at their main site and it still counts as an in-game player account.
Open a browser and go to "http://www.ubi.com"
Proceed to register a user.
Use the same information to login to online multiplayer in-game.
* FIX: Crash on launch (Xfire issue)
It's pretty safe to say this is an old game and a lot of problems may occur. To my own experience i've only encountered one crash that was traced to X-Fire. The problem was the ingame overlay that Xfire uses. To fix this (rather than closing xfire every time) follow these steps to disable in-game overlay for Ravenshield.
Open Xfire and go to Options->Games and select Ravenshield.
Under advanced options, tick the checkbox for "Disable Xfire In-Game"
* FIX: Game keeps returning to desktop.
Don't know if this is an issue only i get. Sometimes the game refuses to go fullscreen and always returns me to the desktop. Found out that if you close all other applications and folders, windows forces the game to be fullscreen (Since it's really the only active item on the taskbar. Worked for me).
* TWEAK: Removing intro movies
One annoying thing in all games are the constant bombardment of video playback on startup. Luckily in this game you can disable them to get a quick game launch and ready for action in no time.
Navigate to the videos folder, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Videos"
Delete/Rename the following files. "Logos.bik" and "R6logo3a.bik".
* TWEAK: Mouse & Performance (INI Files)
Since this is an oldschool game there are a few ways to tweak it to your liking. Most importantly this is where you can make sure your mouse is dead on accurate and other settings. To get more information about INI Tweaking, read more here - http://www.tacticalgamer.com/first-person-shooters-fps/5666-tweaks-raven-shield.html
Navigate to the Save folder, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\Save\Profiles"
Edit the file "user.ini" and change the following settings.
* MouseSamplingTime - This setting effects how fast/slowly your mouse moves by taking samples at more/less frequent intervals (in seconds). As this number increases from the default the slower your mouse will seem as samples of your mouse movement are taken less often. Experiment with this setting if the default sampling time doesn't seem to help your mouse speed.
Navigate to the System folder, usually in "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\rainbow six 3 gold\system"
Edit the file "RavenShield.ini" and change the following settings.
* CacheSizeMegs - Increasing the cache size can improve overall performance, especially if you have high texture detail settings and 64MB of Video RAM or more. Try higher values such as 128 if you have a higher spec system.
* ReduceMouseLag - If you have issues with your mouse "lagging" on screen, then setting this option to True will help resolve them. Unfortunately it will also reduce your fps to some extent, so if you have no mouse lag problems set it to False for a slight increase in performance.
* UseVSync - VSync is the synchronization of your graphics card and monitors' abilities to redraw the screen a number of times each second. When set to False, your fps will improve slightly, however, you may see some image "tearing", in which case switch to True if you don't like the results. (Setting this to False cleared up any mouse lag i was experiencing.)
Note: It is good practise to backup these files (and avoiding some drama) as Ravenshield sometimes crashes and reverts to the default setup.
QUESTION: Does Ravenshield work on Windows 7 & 64bit?
ANSWER: Yes it sure does.
QUESTION: Does Ravenshield support Widescreen?
ANSWER: Yes/No. Resolutions work but various items get stretched to some point, but really not a big problem.
That's all folks! Hope this helps somebody and see you ingame! :cool: