Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour online connection problems :(
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Hi all,
Me and my friend are having connection problems with Generals online (Zero Hour).
I have XP Proffessional x86 (32 bit). My friend has Windows 7 Ultimate x64 bit. Our hardware are different but we both easily meet the the system requirements.
We both have the same ports open as suggested by portforward.com for our Virgin Media Super hub 2 (we both have the same version).
I am confused though because the EA web site states different ports to portforward.com and the patch readme file (the patch readme file states the same as portforward.com so this suggests that the ports are correct). This would suggest EA need to update their web site. If you could clarify the ports on port forward are the correct ones to have open then that would be appreciated. They are the ones we have set currently.
We can both login on to the generals online. We can both connect to each others created game room. We both get past the "probe response" connection bit but we cannot get past the next bit when you see each players loading status:
My player loading status screen.
Friends player loading status screen.
We tested if we could connect to other people. I am able to and he is not.
So I thought ok, try running in compatibility mode for XP SP3. Still the same result.
So I thought ok, try running as administrator as well. Still the same result.
So I thought maybe it's Windows 7 firewall. Turned it off and tested and it's not that. Still get the same situation (i.e. loading player status screen as shown above). We even added the port rules (both inbound and outbound) for Windows 7 firewall just to double check the ports were open. We even tested that they were with the program available from portforward.com ... it confirmed that his ports were open.
So I thought maybe AVAST anti-virus was stopping it so we disabled that and we still got the same result.
He has the game installed to his D drive which is not the OS drive within the following directory "D:\Program Files (x86)\EA Games\Command & Conquer The First Decade\".
We have no idea what else to try so we could do with some help; it's got me totally puzzeled.
Tried the above and that didn't work.
We've managed to get it working now. See below ...
- What we did was ... completely uninstall the entire game (TFD)
- Did a registry clean using ccleaner
- Restarted his pc
- Right clicked on the CD within windows explorer ... selected open (in order to view the DVD contents ready for step 6)
- Disabled AVAST anti-virus (as well as internet connection for obvious reasons)
- Right clicked on "setup" and ran it as administrator
- Installed it to the directory "D:\EA Games" (important that it's outside the program files 86 folder)
- After installation we set the main Zero Hour application (not the TFD launcher application) to run in compatibility mode for VISTA Service Pack 2 with run as administrator NOT ticked
- Test and hey ho success 🙂
