C&C Labs News

Fresh off the presses, I've got a bunch of new Zero Hour screenshots and wallpapers for you to feast your eyes on.  They're all courtesy of Sagi, who sent them to me.  Here are some of the new wallpapers that I've just added:

As you can see, they're all different screens from within Zero Hour itself, but they make great desktop backgrounds.  To download any of the above and others, click here.

I've also just finished adding some new screenshots from Zero Hour.  Sagi took them while fighting a great battle.  They show many of the new units in the expansion.  Here's a few of their thumbnails:

You can see the full-sized version of these screenshots by clicking on them.  To see more of the new screenshots, head on over to our Zero Hour Screenshots page.  Enjoy!

Real Threat has found its Beta testers. Thanks to all who applied, winners will have an e-mail notification.

Blbpaws

Now that Zero Hour is out the door, we are also going to be working on patch 1.7 for Generals. We’re retrofitting some of the bug fixes that were made for Zero Hour into Generals and trying to add a few minor Zero Hour features, as well. No timeline yet, as we just started working on it, but we’ll keep everyone updated.

I've got a few community updates for everyone this afternoon.  First of all, CnC Sector has closed its doors.

Why you ask? Well Generals hasn't lived up to my standards of a 'true' CNC game, and Zero Hour certainly won't.. obviously as a webmaster, you need a certain amount of motivation to keep you going on running/operation the site, and.. well, Generals has killed that.

You can click here for the full message.  CnC Matrix is also currently down, as Malc explains, because "I did something which I didn't think would effect anything but resulted in my host deleting all of the files and databases without giving me any warning...".  The site should be back online by Monday, hopefully.  To see the full message and explanation, click here.

And on a slightly better note, here are a couple of updates from Mike (EAComMike).

Hey all,

I wanted to update everyone on several things this afternoon. First off, Command & Conquer™ Generals Zero Hour has shipped and should start appearing in stores if it hasn't already. The team is ready and waiting to see if any issues pop up requiring immediate attention. Players can expect to see the chat monitors in the lobbies for the next few weeks.

As mentioned in a previous news update, a few members of the Generals development team will be at EB in Westwood, Los Angeles, CA this Friday from 5:00-7:00. For more deatails on this, read our previous news message.

Here are a couple of other items the team has planned
We’re making some multiplayer maps for free distribution in the near future.
Generally just playing the game and having fun. We’re taking a short rest. Many of us just got back from a week long break.
Reading the message boards and looking for player feedback & thoughts on ZH.
Thanks to Deezire for the kind words.
Continuing work on LOTR which was announced yesterday.
EAComMike and the rest of the Generals team!

FYI - This is being posted in the forums because we're in the process of updating the Generals website. At the moment, the tool I use to publish with isn't working.

You can see that post in the Official Forums here.  Here's another couple posts that were in the forums, in regards to graphic problems and performance with Zero Hour:

Possible Microwave Tank Problem
We have a new unit in the game called the US Microwave Tank. It produces a cool effect around the unit to simulate microwaves. However, it’s a pretty tricky effect that some video cards can’t handle. We auto-detect any systems that can’t draw the effect correctly and don’t show the effect in those cases. However, if there is a system that we aren’t detecting properly, the user may get a visual problem. It could be anything ranging from an ugly, multicolored graphical distortion around the unit to an incredibly slow frame rate (1-2 FPS) to a black screen. In every case, the problem goes away when the unit is destroyed.

One quick solution to this problem is that we give users the option to turn this effect off manually. From the Main Menu, if they go to the Options screen and set their detail level to Custom and turn off Heat Effects, the problem should be corrected.

If this fix doesn’t work, or if you see any commonalities among machines that seem to have this problem, that information would be helpful to us. We have heard a few reports that the Radeon 9700 Pro has problems, but we have also seen that machine work just fine, so we’re trying to gather more data.

Send any helpful information to this email address and I'll pass it along: generals@ea.com

To get the best performance...
You must have an AGP video card. PCI video cards are generally much slower than their AGP counterparts. PCI cards are normally below the minimum game spec.

Make sure to turn off automatic anti-virus protection. This is usually located on the bottom of your screen in your PC tool bar. Simply right click and turn off. Remember to turn back on when exiting the game.

Make sure your audio & video drivers are updated. This can be done by visiting their respective website and following instructions.

Also remember that if you're having any technical problems with Generals or Zero Hour you can ask for help in our Tech Questions forum!

Does anyone know if Zero Hour has been delayed? The guy at Electronics Boutique told me the shipment was delayed but I have been unable to confirm that through anyone. In the East Coast of the US it appears not ot have arrived yet.

More info will come soon.

Edit By Luckie: Most likely, this is a delay on the part of Electronics Boutique. Although this is a top release, many stores go through multiple (or atleast one) middle man. Generals.EA.com says "Release: Current" so thats what I would take as correct. Many loosely knit chain stores *like EB* as well as 'Mom and Pop' stores take up to or maybe more than a week to get a new game in. Sometimes you just have to be patient.

According to this table from GameSpy, GameSpy was supposed to release the GLA generals pages on Thursday. They haven't officially released these pages yet according to this page. If they had released it, I assume that they would have linked it on that page under the link of the USA generals and China generals pages. I guess that someone guessed the address. You can go here to see the first GLA general on the pages and see that one of the icons, cameos, is missing, anyway it's not finished yet (I guess). You can also visit this page and this page for the other two GLA generals.
As of what I read, it supposed to be completed tomorrow; we'll just have to wait and see.

Edit by MicScoTho: Gamespy has now "officially" released the GLA Generals page.

Hey guys.

Just want to let everyone know that the long-awaited GW mod Real Threat needs beta testers. We will be accepting applications at Blbpaws@cncgeneralsworld.com. First come first serve basis. You must have Generals and a reasonably fast computer.

Check us out on the forums!

Thanks.

Blbpaws

Thanks to Luckie's work, we've just added over 15 new screenshots that we previously did not have to our Zero Hour Images Gallery.  Be sure to check them out as you may find one you haven't seen before!  Here's a couple of their thumbnails for good measure:

Yes, EA has announced that Generals has gone GOLD!  For anyone that doesn't know, a game goes gold when it has finished all testing in the Quality Control and has sent the master copy to a reproduction plant. After the cds have been produced, they are sent back to the developer to check for any glitches that might have come up during the production. Now the discs are ready to be stamped into jewel cases and placed in the final box for shipping. Here is EA's official announcement:

Command & Conquer™ Generals Zero Hour has gone gold and will start to ship on Monday, September 22. The first expansion pack to one of the best-selling PC games of 2003, Command & Conquer Generals, gives players more weapons, more power, new battlefields, three new single-player campaigns, 15 new missions, and new game modes.

Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour features a new Generals Challenge mode which allows players to control any of the unique armies of nine distinctive Generals in head-to-head competition against computer-controlled Generals. Each General has a unique strength and is equipped with a special army. In three new singleplayer campaigns players will continue to take charge of three different armies, the Global Liberation Army (GLA), China, or the USA. With new weapons such as the US Spectre Gunship, GLA combat motorcycles, and Chinese Helix helicopters, players will select from a surplus of new high-tech weaponry and an assortment of new units and structures in their quest for global domination.

Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour was developed by EA LA and is being published under the EA GAMES brand. The game is rated “T” (Teen) by the ESRB and has a US MSRP of $29.99. The original Command & Conquer Generals game is required in order to play Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour. Additional information can be found at www.generals.ea.com or www.info.ea.com.

Thanks to Lion of CnC Den for the tip!

In other news, but just as good. Elite Gaming Network has announced plans for the 2003 CNC Community Awards. This is an anual event where the people of the community decide on the best site. Info can be found at the official site HERE.

As you can see we are having some problems with our site. We hope to have everything restored as soon as possible. Sadly the damage is bad, we have lost basically everything at this time.

I'll keep everyone updated if things change.

Sonic.

Note: The main site is back online now, although some sections of the site are still being working on to get them up and running again.

Word from the Generals official site is that ZH is in CQC! Here is what EAComMike said:

What is CQC you ask? This is EA’s Quality Control department that all products must go through before being approved for release. We’re hoping for Zero Hour approval no later than Monday Sept 8, 2003. Hey, that's today! From there we create a “glass” master and then make a “silver”. We then send the “Silver” for approval and once it passes this process the game goes into duplication. All this is a coordinated dance performed by our production services department. If all goes well, we’ll ship Zero Hour around the world on Sept 22, 2003.

He also said that the Dev team held an inner-staff tourament. The replays of the finals of this tourney will be released some time after ZH ships. Get all the details HERE.

Thanks to Ash of CNC Series for the info.

Its finally here ive just released Beta 2.3 of SecondWave which includes the following,

1 New Side
25 New Units
2 New Structures
7 New Skirmish/MP Maps
Mobile Repair Vehicles
VSTOL Aircraft (Harrier)
Carpet Bombing
Cluster Bombs
Spy Plane
Submarine Missile Strikes
Swing Wing Aircraft
Infantry Which Can Cross Water
Mod Launcher
Blood
Hovercraft
Walls
Mods Lobby Renamed To SecondWave

So heres what you've been waiting for, Download Here. Don't forget if you need any help or support you can get it over at the CnCMatrix Forums.

Posted by Malc

As you probably know by now, we had to move servers again due to various issues. It has taken us about between a 1-2 months to get the site up again but we've finally done it. We used this time to update alot of our content and to 'clean up' various bits of the site. Our forums are online, so why not drop by and say hi, or something. :) Our downloads database is back online, though I do believe there are some problems server-wise affecting some files at the moment, so we'll keep you updated on that. We are now accepting file uploads again, so if you've got a map, a mod, whatever - please do upload it to us. Thats all for now.. lastly, I'd just like to thank the current CNCS staff for all working hard and being dedicated to bringing the site up, and thanks to our fans and the community for the support and patience.

The Main aim of Project LOFS is to restore and re-introduce classical weapons of the known armies of the world, mainly weapons from the Chinese PLA (People's Liberation Army), the US Army, and any from the "Land of the Believers" (GLA). In addition to tradition ground combat and limited air missions, Project LOFS will be begin to expand into the vastly unexplored void of Naval warfare, which may be the long-waited addition to Generals Play.

Yep, we've finally got a new poll.  It isn't anything overly original, but you can go ahead and vote on the right side of the page anyway.  The question is: How will you be purchasing Zero Hour?

If anyone has any ideas for good, original poll questions, then feel free to email them to me.

Here's the results from the previous poll:

What do you think of Zero Hour so far?
It's going to rock!	615
Why don't they just give up on Generals?	40
I'm not sure yet... I haven't heard enough about it.	127
What's Zero Hour?	62
Microwave Tank?	103
Total Votes: 947

Just wanted to remind you that the chat with Harvard Bonin and Mike Murphy will be in 3 and a half hours.

If you still don't have any program that uses IRC, then go to this page to download mIRC and see this page for help with mIRC.

Enter the server irc.elite-irc.net and then enter the channel #cnccomevents.

Note from MicScoTho: Cabal has informed us that CnCCommunity.net has a Java IRC Chat Applet up for those of you who don't have mIRC.  You can access the web based chat here.

I'm just reminding everyone that the Generals World Fan Map Contest will end in exactly ONE WEEK, on September 8th.  Be sure to send your maps in if you want a t-shirt signed by the development team!  You can submit your maps through this page.  If you have any problems with that page, then please email me and let me know.

I'd also like to thank everyone who has already submitted a map!  We have received all the maps that you've submitted.  We will be sending out emails confirming that we have received your map(s) in a day or two.