Red Faction FAQ

This page provides fixes to commonly encountered issues, and answers to frequently asked questions.

It would be impossible to list absolutely every issue and question that may come up on this page. If you're facing an issue or have a question that doesn't appear on this page, please feel welcome to join the Red Faction Community Discord and ask it. It's extremely likely that someone there knows the answer and would be happy to help you.

Join the Red Faction Community Discord

Common Issues when Launching Red Faction

Nothing happens when I try to launch the game, or it launches but immediately crashes

Cause:

If you're running an official Red Faction version, this issue is likely a compatibility issue with modern hardware or a modern operating system. If you're running Pure Faction, you may experience this issue as Pure Faction is not compatible with certain versions of Windows 10.

Solution:

Installing and switching to Dash Faction should resolve this issue for you.

Error "Please insert Red Faction CD 2"

Cause:

You're running Red Faction version 1.0, 1.1, or 1.2, and those versions require CD 2 be in your CD-ROM drive for the game to launch.

Solution:

Official version 1.21, as well as all commonly-used community versions of Red Faction resolve this issue and allow you to launch the game without CD 2 in your CD-ROM drive.

Error "Unable to initialize DirectX 8.0"

Cause:

This issue occurs when launching Red Faction (particularly in full screen mode) on some new hardware.

Solution:

All commonly-used community versions resolve this issue - we recommend using Dash Faction for maximum compatibility with new hardware and operating systems. You may need to launch the community version you choose in "windowed" or "stretched" mode as opposed to full screen mode to resolve this issue.

Error "At least 8 MB of available video memory is required"

Cause:

This error occurs when Red Faction 1.0, 1.1, or 1.2 is launched on a system with 2GiB or more available video memory. At a technical level, the issue is caused by a signed DWORD being read as less than the minimum of 5MiB, and is resolved with the replacement of a signed less than comparision with an unsigned less than comparison.

Solution:

Official version 1.21, as well as all commonly-used community versions of Red Faction resolve this issue and allow you to launch the game on systems with 2GiB or more available video memory.

Error "Unable to read project sound information. Is bluebeard.bty missing?"

Cause:

This error occurs when the stock file bluebeard.bty is missing from your Red Faction directory.

Solution:

The fix for this issue is very simple. You will need to download an original Red Faction bluebeard.bty file (available on FactionFiles.com) and drop it into your Red Faction directory.

• The default Red Faction directory for Steam copies of Red Faction is C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\red faction\
• The default Red Faction directory for non-Steam copies of Red Faction is C:\games\RedFaction\

Error "Unsupported game executable has been detected."

Cause:

If you get this error when attempting to launch Dash Faction, it means you've tried to hook an incompatible version of the game. Dash Faction was built as an add-on for Red Faction v1.20 (NA), and it requires that version to run.

Solution:

The easiest way to resolve this issue is to reinstall Dash Faction via the installer, which should patch your game as required so you have the right version. In very rare cases however, you may need to manually download the necessary version of rf.exe, place it in your Red Faction directory, and configure the Dash Faction "Game executable" (via the Options button in the Dash Faction Launcher) to the rf.exe you just downloaded. You can download an original, unmodified rf.exe from v1.20 (NA) from FactionFiles.com.

• The default Red Faction directory for Steam copies of Red Faction is C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\red faction\
• The default Red Faction directory for non-Steam copies of Red Faction is C:\games\RedFaction\

Error "failed to inject DLL [...] win32 error 126 The specified module could not be found."

Cause:

If you get this error when attempting to launch Dash Faction, it means the required DashFaction.dll file is not in the same directory as DashFactionLauncher.exe. This may be because you've moved DashFactionLauncher.exe to your desktop or another location, when you intended to instead create a shortcut.

Solution:

The easiest way to resolve this issue is to reinstall Dash Faction via the installer. Alternatively, if you know that you've moved DashFactionLauncher.exe and/or DashFaction.dll out of the directory that contains the other Dash Faction files, you can fix this issue by moving them both back.

Error "Game executable has not been found. Please set a proper path in Options."

Cause:

If you get this error when attempting to launch Dash Faction, it means the "Game executable" field in the Dash Faction Options (accessible via the launcher) is not properly configured. This may be because you've moved your Red Faction executable to a new location.

Solution:

To resolve this issue, click the "Options" button in DashFactionLauncher.exe and click the "Browse" button next to the "Game executable" field. Specify a Red Faction v1.20 NA executable, then click OK. If you don't have this file, you can download an original, unmodified rf.exe from v1.20 (NA) from FactionFiles.com. This rf.exe file should be dropped into your Red Faction directory.

• The default Red Faction directory for Steam copies of Red Faction is C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\red faction\
• The default Red Faction directory for non-Steam copies of Red Faction is C:\games\RedFaction\

Common In-Game Issues

Submarine explodes after Geothermal Plant

Cause:

This error occurs when Red Faction is running with a high framerate (FPS), as will almost always occur when its running on a modern computer.

Solution:

Installing and using Dash Faction is the best solution for this issue, as Dash Faction resolves the issue entirely. Alternatively, as a workaround, you can limit your FPS to less than 60 through external methods.

I can't shoot, move, or jump; or my game is stuttering, glitching, warping, or running too fast

Cause:

Red Faction has numerous issues when running on systems with newer hardware and/or software, including but not limited to those in this list. There's not one issue to point to as the cause of these issues.

Solution:

We recommend using Dash Faction, as it resolves these issues and is compatible with all known hardware/operating system configurations. Some other community-made Red Faction clients resolve some amount of these issues, but Dash Faction is by far the most comprehensive solution.

Game has severe graphical issues

Cause:

Red Faction, particularly official versions v1.00 through to v1.20, suffers from a number of very severe graphical issues on modern hardware.

Solution:

We recommend using Dash Faction, as it resolves these issues and is compatible with all known hardware/operating system configurations. Some other community-made Red Faction clients resolve some amount of these issues, but Dash Faction is by far the most comprehensive solution.

I'm getting severe framerate/FPS drops

Cause:

If you're running official v1.21, this issue occurs when some specific levels are loaded. At a technical level, it's caused by v1.21 not properly handling invalid floating point values within the entity orientation matrix.

Solution:

No commonly-used community-made RF clients suffer from this issue. We recommend Dash Faction as it does not suffer from this issue, and fixes the vast majority of other issues you may encounter. Cause:

If you're already running Dash Faction, this issue occurs when OBS or OBS Studio attempts to hook the game for recording/streaming if you have anti-aliasing enabled in the Dash Faction launcher.

Solution:

To resolve this issue, exit the game and turn off anti-aliasing in the Dash Faction Launcher options panel, then relaunch the game.