Unreal2 Custon Shortcuts No Application Associations

[Fred]

I put together a new computer, so I had to install everything, including Windows 11 and games. These efforts went well, except for the custom maps made for Unreal2. The Unreal2 game installed and is working properly.

The custom maps for Unreal2, Alien Shadows, Damage, Red Planet, and a couple other short subjects, won't launch from their shortcuts. The problem is that Windows 11 won't recognize Unreal2.exe as the associated application.

The shortcut Properties for each of these custom maps shows "Unknown application" for "Opens with." It should show Unreal2 for "Opens with," as it does in my Windows 10 computer. I checked.

I found no way to change this behavior in Windows 11. When I select Unreal2 under pop-up "Open with" it does nothing. All these custom maps work properly in my Windows 10 computer.

There is something going on in Windows 11 that I don't understand. I tried "Run as administrator," but that doesn't work either. I even gave myself full access under the Properties Security tab, but Windows 11 doesn't care about that either.

How do I get Windows 11 to recognize Unreal2 as the application associated with these shortcuts for the custom maps indicated above?

Fred

[Leo T_C_K]

My first guess would be to add association with regedit, but you can also make a shortcut or batch file for Unreal2.exe and then edit the commandline to say the mapname right after as an argument. That will automatically load the map as long as its located in "Maps".
Otherwise I have no experience with the modern windows versions.

[Fred]

Hey Leo, old dependable,

Thanks for the ideas. Ha, you just spoke over my head. Zip, there it went. I don't know anything about adding association using regedit. As for adding language for Unreal2.exe involving an argument, or something else, is out of my league.

If push comes to shove, I'd likely just give up on trying to get these shortcuts to work, and just go with the main Unreal 2 game program, as it works just fine. The custom maps programs aren't that important anyway. I can live without them. And, yes, the custom maps are located in the main "Maps."

Fred

[Leo T_C_K]

Basically when you create the shortcut and edit its properties right after unreal2.exe it should say the mapname you want.

You can also do this another way, create a text file which says

Unreal2.exe mapfilenamethatyouwanthere

then save the text file as "Launch this map" but instead of .txt it should be .bat

It will basically do the equivalent of open mapname on startup.

[Fred]

OK, buddy, I'll keep this advice in mind. I'm still working on finishing up the new computer I just put together. I included one of those hifalutin graphics cards, an Acer version of the Intel Arc A770, which Acer calls Predator BiFrost, and also some other hifalutin, high end hardware. I'll be flyin hi now.

Fred

[Leo T_C_K]

Interesting. This "hifalutin" word, didn't hear anyone else use it yet. Had to look it up what it means.

Well seems like you did teach me something new in a way!

[Fred]

Well, Leo, there are more than a million total words in the English language, if you want to include archaic words, but there are only about 170,000 words in current use, and somewhere around 20,000-30,000 words that are used by individual persons, according to information on the Internet. I doubt I know 20,000 to 30,000 words.

Look at this image of an English dictionary having a lot of words:

453_2.jpg

Fred

[Fred]

Basically when you create the shortcut and edit its properties right after unreal2.exe it should say the mapname you want.

You can also do this another way, create a text file which says

Unreal2.exe mapfilenamethatyouwanthere

then save the text file as "Launch this map" but instead of .txt it should be .bat

It will basically do the equivalent of open mapname on startup.

Leo, I managed to get those Unreal 2 custom map shortcuts (Red Planet, Damage, Alien Shadows) working on my new Windows 11 system. Recall, those custom maps worked on my old Windows 10 computer. This is how I fixed it:

In my old Windows 10 computer, I checked a certain Registry setting that effects those map shortcuts. It's a Registry setting under the "Software" data element "Unreal2" called "Command" that I realized needed my attention.

I noticed that that data element "Command" was not the same on my Windows 11 computer as that on my Windows 10 system. I changed the Registry "Command" data string element on my Windows 11 computer to match that on my Windows 10 computer.

That change fixed it. The file association in those shortcuts suddenly changed from "unknown" to "Unreal2.exe." Now, clicking on the shortcuts for those custom map shortcuts launches the games straightaway.

Problem solved.

Fred

[Leo T_C_K]

well, you see that you did figure it out. That's what I meant with regedit, regedit being the actual name of the registry program (under all that interface).

It is not really out of your league, maybe you just had less faith in your abilities.