Zero Hour v1.0 (unpatched) offers non-lag gameplay. You can play with 7 Hard AI without any lag. Also, AI is more smart and more challenging in v1.0 .Now, who wants unpatched Zero Hour?
Zero hour v1.0 doesn't have any lag. You can play against 7 hard AI without any lag (like the base game Generals v1.08) but versions 1.01, 1.02, 1.03 and 1.04 of Zero Hour have this bug.
Unfortunately, most people play Zero Hour v1.04 because mods are compatible with v1.04. Also Patch 1.04 may fixes some bugs but it breaks AI.
So, AI is bad optimized in Zero Hour v1.04. It causes lag and makes unplayable. You can't play smoothly even with I9 12900k / 128 GB RAM etc.
For example, the Twilight Flame map gameplay (with 7 Hard AI) is smooth in Generals v1.08 and ZH v1.0 (unpatched) but it is terrible in ZH v1.04. So, AI Behaviour and Pathfinding Coding is broken in ZH v1.04.
The cause of this is the broken v1.04 game.dat file. The "game.dat" file located in the Zero Hour directory contains some codes related to AI and the difference between the ZH v1.0 and ZH v1.04 versions is due to the "game.dat" file.
By comparing the "game.dat version 1.0" file with the "game.dat version 1.04" files, the error can be detected. As far as I know, the programming language of .dat files is Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0. Also Hex editor or something can be use.
Actually, Patch 1.04 is a DOWNGRADE for me. Because although it fixes some bugs, it makes worse the stability and performance of Zero Hour.
In short, you can play version v1.0 until someone fixes this bug in version 1.04. This mod will downgrade your Zero Hour version to v1.0 for performance and smoothly gameplay. Installation instructions are available in the "README.TXT" file.
Does it works when I add this for different mods can't cause lag to play enjoy
Mods may (or may not) work fine with v1.0. Some mods may work without problems. Some may cause problems. They must be constantly tested.
This fix can be used until the bug is fixed in v1.04. So it's actually a temporary method.
As I said, Most people use ZH v1.04. Because v1.04 is the latest version and most mods are designed for it. Also, the gentool plugin is only compatible with v1.04, and v1.04 is used in online matches.
In short, this bug should be fixed in the game.dat file of version v1.04. However, this requires advanced programming skills.
Alright, but ¿what about the "fixes" in the version 1.04?. Basically, ¿what makes the 1.04 to overcome the inital released?. If exist one officla patch to update is because some fixes ¿not?.
Patch 1.04 also includes changelogs of all previous patches. So, the changes from Patch 1.01, Patch 1.02 and Patch 1.03 are also available in Patch 1.04. In addition to these, Patch 1.04 has its own changes.Changelogs are made cumulative.
Changelogs of all Zero Hour patches are available on internet.
This bug has reached from Patch 1.01 to Patch 1.04. So it was probably undertested or overlooked during making of Patch 1.01.
As I said, although the patches for Zero Hour fix some issues, they break AI Pathfinding. AI tries to take the shortest route. That's why it causes problems on some maps.
For example, the FPS drop in the Twilight Flame map in v1.01, v1.02, v1.03 and v1.04 is actually because the AI is trying to take the shortest route. Therefore, vehicles are often stuck on cliff edges.
In short, broken AI causes lag in patched Zero Hour versions. This is an embarrassment for EA. How could an official patch break the game's AI? and how can this error be overlooked?
Many thanks. I apreciatte your upload patch and much your reply. Honestly, i (and possibly many more people) will use this in mods like SHOCKWAVE, because i never play Vanilla ZH later of know Shockwave mod and in maps with 8 players is atrocious the massive slowdown.
You 're welcome. My fix method may work with some mods and not with others. For example, it may not work with shockwave mod. As a workaround I made this fix which downgrades the version to v1.0 so this fix method can be used until this bug is fixed in v1.04.
However, we must fix this issue in game.dat v1.04 file. Thus we can play all mods smoothly and without lag, alongside vanilla Zero Hour. We also get the fixes that all patches from Patch 1.01 to Patch 1.04 have. We need help from someone with programming skills.
Thanks for this solution. This really works and I appreciate it. But the crashes in the game have increased unignorably. I couldn't complete a single skirmish without a game crashing. This is probably because we removed the fixes that came with the patches. Can you suggest something to solve this, apparently the standard solutions don't work much.
This requires opening and editing the game.dat files (perhaps by comparison the v1.0 and v1.04 files) but this requires EA Games to release the source codes of the game and also requires programming knowledge.
hm, did not know that the reason for lagging are patches for ZH, and not ZH itself
Unfortunately. The patch fixes some bugs but also destroys game's stability.
IF this works, mate, you're a hero! :)
It works but it has some disadvantages unfortunately. Please read description. Don't forget, install to vanilla (unmodded) Zero Hour 1.04 directory.
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Does this work together with genpatcher or gentool? Me and some friends want to Play against AI only but always gives mismatch....
If we go against each other works fine...
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