How to: C&C Generals Zero Hour Menu animation Win7 Win8.1 Win10 x64 fix PROOF IT WORKS
193Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour is actually playing the main menu background animation on a Win7 x64 machine, read on for "How?". UPDATE: Works on Windows 8.1 64 bit as well. UPDATE: Windows 10 x64 too.
What's else special about that Video?
MaxCameraHeight = 450 and DrawEntireTerrain, makes it look better in high resolutions.
3424x2140 (nearly) 4K HD resolution, normal on my channel, limit of DirectX 8.1.
30 fps perfectly fluent? No, 30 fps is the game engine's internal limit.
The Generals engine does not play that background animation (Aka Shell Map or ShellMapMD.map) on Vista/Win7 x64. Digging around I found lots of forums asking people for help, and most of the answers were tauntings, "you are stupid", trolling etc. Well, that's the internet, forums are full of that useless type of people. However around the 40th browser-tab (i.e. around 60th google hit) there were hints in the right direction:
The Generals engine fails to detect your CPU/GPU speed class on 64 Bit machines, and therefore assumes "too slow for animation".
The actual solution is simple: Run Generals.exe in compatibility mode "XP SP3", i.e. create a shortcut and set the option, or do the same directly on generals.exe for all users. For First Decade users: Don't use the launcher. Additional note: DON'T install in C:\Program Files, install in C:\games and set the rights for C:\games to be "open for everyone" or a different drive.
Tested with: C&C first decade and unofficial Patch 1.03 rev 4.
Other notes: The youtube player limits to a maximum of 2048x1536, but your can download the original resolution using the usual tools.
My Ultra HD (low res for me) Videos: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIgfh22pB6pZ-KlDUCDKJgqunqVLOL2Fy&feature=view_all
My Beyond Ultra HD Videos: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIgfh22pB6pZfXK0gwftgP4A5iXuw-gSS&feature=view_all
All Videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/JouMxyzptlk/videos?flow=grid&view=1
---- working option.ini for Win7 x64 ----
AntiAliasing = 4
BuildingOcclusion = yes
CampaignDifficulty = 0
DynamicLOD = no
ExtraAnimations = yes
GameSpyIPAddress = 0.0.0.0
Gamma = 65
HeatEffects = no
IPAddress = 0.0.0.0
IdealStaticGameLOD = Low
LanguageFilter = false
MaxParticleCount = 5000
MusicVolume = 43
Resolution = 800 600
Retaliation = yes
SFX3DVolume = 79
SFXVolume = 71
ScrollFactor = 100
SendDelay = no
ShowSoftWaterEdge = yes
ShowTrees = yes
StaticGameLOD = Custom
TextureReduction = 0
UseAlternateMouse = no
UseCloudMap = yes
UseDoubleClickAttackMove = yes
UseLightMap = yes
UseShadowDecals = yes
UseShadowVolumes = yes
VoiceVolume = 70
Other Videos By JouMxyzptlk
Other Statistics
Command & Conquer: Generals Statistics For JouMxyzptlk
There are 40,922 views in 4 videos for Command & Conquer: Generals. His channel uploaded 2 hours worth of Command & Conquer: Generals videos, making up less than 0.78% of the total overall content on JouMxyzptlk's YouTube channel.