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Microsoft Ants does not launch
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 Sgeo


Joined:  1 August 2024
Posts: 4
Posted 29 August 2025 - 10:47 pm
Every time I try to launch Microsoft Ants, a white box shows up on the upper left of the screen, then disappears, and the game closes.

A message shows up in the chat, saying "<DirectX tool is on -- if you experience problems such as crashes it's recommended that you disable this tool in the "Game" menu.>", however, I see no option to turn the DirectX tool off.

The below are the contents of vooblylaunch2.txt
Code:
18:43:56 vooblylaunch2.dll v2.7.5.9 loaded! 18:43:56 CommandLine="C:\program files (x86)\voobly\gamedata\ants\ants.exe" /spike /1 /n0Sgeo /p0192.168.56.1 18:43:56 Running in ants 18:43:56 Binding to advapi32.dll 18:43:56 CLaunchCommunication::Init successful! 18:43:56 GameShort = Ants 18:43:56 bAntiCheat = 0 18:43:56 bNAT = 0 18:43:56 DxToolsConfig IN 18:43:56 Hook for 'SetCursor' not successful 18:43:56 Hook for 'MoveWindow' not successful 18:43:56 Hook for 'ClientToScreen' not successful 18:43:56 Hook for 'ScreenToClient' not successful 18:43:56 Hook for 'GetForegroundWindow' not successful 18:43:56 Hook for 'GetActiveWindow' not successful 18:43:56 Hook for 'GetFocus' not successful 18:43:56 DxToolsConfig OUT 18:43:56 g_PlayerList[0]=Sgeo 18:43:56 RegisterClass 18:43:56 CreateWindowEx: dwStyle = 90080000, dwExStyle = 40008, className = Microsoft Ants size = 640x480 18:43:56 g_ApplicationHasFocus=1 18:43:56 g_WinPaddingXMax x g_WinPaddingYMax=0x0 18:43:56 h_SetWindowPos - 0 x 0 - 640 x 480 18:43:56 CreateWindowEx DONE 18:43:56 SetDisplayMode: 640 x 480, bpp = 8 18:43:56 IDirectDrawProxy::CreatePrimary 18:43:56 assert failed on dxtools.cpp:585
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 +chris@voobly

Voobly Team


Joined:  3 October 2007
Posts: 41361
Posted 30 August 2025 - 10:58 am
The problem is related to Windows 10 / Windows 11. We are not aware of any patches or fixes that would allow playing the game on newer Microsoft operating systems. The input and help of the Ants community is required in order.
https://www.voobly.com/forum/thread/359058
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 Sgeo


Joined:  1 August 2024
Posts: 4
Posted 30 August 2025 - 10:06 pm
On Windows 11, without Voobly's injection stuff, just running Ants.exe directly, the game runs, albeit poorly.

The game runs better when used with CNC-DDraw 7.1.

There are also some music issues but the version of Ants that Voobly distributes doesn't include the music anyway, so that's not an urgent issue (I do have a fix for that though)
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 Rowan55


Joined:  31 August 2025
Posts: 1
Posted 31 August 2025 - 9:25 am
On Windows 11, running Ants.exe directly without Voobly’s injection works, though performance is subpar. The game runs more smoothly with CNC[You must login to view link]DDraw 7.1. There are some music issues, but since the Voobly version of Ants doesn’t include music, it’s not a pressing problem—I do have a fix for that if needed.
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 +chris@voobly

Voobly Team


Joined:  3 October 2007
Posts: 41361
Posted 4 September 2025 - 5:37 pm
Rowan55 wrote:
On Windows 11, running Ants.exe directly without Voobly’s injection works, though performance is subpar. The game runs more smoothly with CNC[You must login to view link]DDraw 7.1. There are some music issues, but since the Voobly version of Ants doesn’t include music, it’s not a pressing problem—I do have a fix for that if needed.
Can you provide a document that explains how to install the game, so it works on Windows 11? I may be able to fix the performance issues and remove the Voobly injection.
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 Sgeo


Joined:  1 August 2024
Posts: 4
Edited 6 September 2025 - 4:58 am by Sgeo
    Download and install Ants from [You must login to view link] (the ants.msi at the bottom)

    Download CNC-DDraw 7.1 (that's what I tested on) from [You must login to view link]

    Extract the contents of cnc-ddraw.zip into the Ants install directory, which on 64-bit Windows, defaults to C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Games\Ants\

    (Optional) run cnc-ddraw config.exe and adjust preferences as desired. I don't believe Ants needs anything specific

These instructions don't include music. If I make my own installer, I'll probably include an option for that.
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 +chris@voobly

Voobly Team


Joined:  3 October 2007
Posts: 41361
Posted 7 September 2025 - 9:18 am
I will see what I can do. My previous attempts getting Outlaws working was not really successful either, so please allow me some time to figure out the cause.
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 Dorian85


Joined:  6 September 2025
Posts: 2
Posted 7 September 2025 - 1:45 pm
+chris@voobly wrote:
Can you provide a document that explains how to install the game, so it works on Windows 11? I may be able to fix the performance issues and remove the Voobly injection.
Running Ants.exe directly (without Voobly’s injection) does launch the game, but performance is poor.

Using CNC-DDraw 7.1 improves performance and stability.

The Voobly version of Ants has missing music, but that’s not a critical issue.

Chris from the Voobly team asked for a step-by-step document on how you set it up so they can try to fix the injection/performance issues for Windows 11.

So right now, the workaround is:

Install Microsoft Ants normally.

Don’t run it through Voobly injection. Instead, run Ants.exe directly.

Use CNC[You must login to view link]DDraw 7.1 to improve performance (fixes slow rendering and windowed/fullscreen issues).

👉 That should get Ants launching on Windows 11, though you may still notice missing music or some graphics glitches.

Do you want me to draft a step-by-step installation + fix guide (including links to CNC-DDraw) that you can share back on the forum or follow yourself?
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 +chris@voobly

Voobly Team


Joined:  3 October 2007
Posts: 41361
Posted 11 September 2025 - 7:34 pm
Does anyone have the launch parameters for Ants? For usual we have a launch parameter for the host and a launch parameter for the players to join the host's game. I couldn't find a DPlay Game Unique ID, so I assume we have command line parameters to achieve this.
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 Sgeo


Joined:  1 August 2024
Posts: 4
Posted 11 September 2025 - 7:54 pm
An Ants community member provided the following. I believe green, player 1, is always the host. Should be run from the Ants install directory:

The generic command line setup is as follows:
Code:
ants.exe /p0<IP> /n0<name> /p1<IP> /n1<name> /p2<IP> /n2<name> /p3<IP> /n3<name> /spike /<n>

Each parameter has the following meaning:
/p0 - green IP; replace <IP> accordingly; no spaces between the parameter and the IP
/n0 - green name to show in the game; replace <name> accordingly; no spaces between this parameter and the name
/p1 - idem for red
/n1 - idem for red
/p2 - idem for blue
/n2 - idem for blue
/p3 - idem for black
/n3 - idem for black
/<n> - replace <n> with the total number of players expected; no spaces between the slash and the number

Furthermore,
For games with less than 4 players, leave out the respective parameters
As mentioned above, you can assign the colors as you wish, i.e. it is allowed to leave out, for instance, the parameters 1 and 4 and keeping 0 and 2 for a game between green and blue ants.
If you are not the game host, add the switch /h before /p0.
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 Chica325


Joined:  15 September 2025
Posts: 1
Posted 15 September 2025 - 10:50 pm
Yes, green is always the host/player one. Hope this gets fixed soon =/
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 +chris@voobly

Voobly Team


Joined:  3 October 2007
Posts: 41361
Posted 16 September 2025 - 8:46 am
Chica325 wrote:
Yes, green is always the host/player one. Hope this gets fixed soon =/
What is wrong with green always being the host? In AOC it's blue for example.
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 Dethcon


Joined:  2 December 2007
Posts: 32
Edited 17 September 2025 - 9:14 am by Dethcon
As mentioned above whoever is hosting the game room is ALWAYS green. The second player that joins in sequence is red. Follow by blue if a third player joins, then the fourth player that joins is black. All in that order (green, red, blue, black).


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