AI lagging the game to a halt, Shit's gone bananas Options

[Ebonholt]

In short, the AI is causing me grief.

After ten or so minutes into a skirmish game, the game starts to slow down.
And down.
And down...

I'm pretty sure it's the AI chugging, as I found this while practicing my google-fu.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/trailhog250s-zer...-of-the-reds-18
Clearly this is not an issue unique to me, but rare enough that I never came to find out about it while researching the mod, before actually installing ROTR or Generals again.
Sadly the guy who worked on that fix seems to have abandoned the project, like a sack of puppies tossed in a river.

Is this something that I can mend myself, or am I shit out of luck?

Edit: It's probably worth mentioning that I'm using Windows 8, unfortunately.

This post has been edited by Ebonholt: 1 Mar 2014, 0:41

[Chuck Kawosky]

Yeah it really pisses me off too. And also the network "mismatch" issue is a pain in the ass as well. I know some on here will hate me for saying that!

[dArCReAvEr]

Even tho I'm necroing this old thread this might help out People trying to find a solution to the "lag Problem" with AI involved, or Generals multiplayer in General.
originally I thought that this issue had to do with certain dual core/quad core CPUs being incompatible with this old game. However, nowadays the game should run on a single quad core CPU without any Problems. Yet, when we played it on LAN we still had massive Performance Problems. While my friends actually blamed the shitty net code, I went further and tried some stuff. Here are my results from These testings so far:

- The game seems to have Problems with the Windows index function for fast searching Folders, especially under Windows XP and Win 7. As soon as I removed that Feature from the Generals Folder the game ran smooth. This is also the case for multiplayer games (except for those where one Opponent has Performance Problems).
- Flash based web Video programs/web sites seem to slow down the Connection considerably, even if you're having more than enough bandwith to maintain both watching a stream and playing a game. Close down your web browser when you're experiencing delay
- there might be Problems when playing with "high Sound Quality" activated, especially when certain types of onboard Sound Chips are used.


If you're experiencing the common "Generals lag" aka low framerate and/or unit stuttering in SAGE engine games (so not only Generals, but also battle for middle earth 1&2 aswell), try following:

1) go to your Generals Sub Folder:
usually you can find it under something like "C:/Program Files(x86)/EA GAMES/Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour", or if you have The First Decade it's: "C:/Program Files(x86)/EA GAMES/Command & Conquer The First Decade/Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour")
2) right click -> properties
3) under category 'general' click on 'extended'
4) disable check at "allow Windows to index data additionally to properties"
5) click 'apply'
6) enjoy C&C Generals without lag

Have fun and enjoy
DarcReaver

[Emin96]

Even tho I'm necroing this old thread this might help out People trying to find a solution to the "lag Problem" with AI involved, or Generals multiplayer in General.
originally I thought that this issue had to do with certain dual core/quad core CPUs being incompatible with this old game. However, nowadays the game should run on a single quad core CPU without any Problems. Yet, when we played it on LAN we still had massive Performance Problems. While my friends actually blamed the shitty net code, I went further and tried some stuff. Here are my results from These testings so far:

- The game seems to have Problems with the Windows index function for fast searching Folders, especially under Windows XP and Win 7. As soon as I removed that Feature from the Generals Folder the game ran smooth. This is also the case for multiplayer games (except for those where one Opponent has Performance Problems).
- Flash based web Video programs/web sites seem to slow down the Connection considerably, even if you're having more than enough bandwith to maintain both watching a stream and playing a game. Close down your web browser when you're experiencing delay
- there might be Problems when playing with "high Sound Quality" activated, especially when certain types of onboard Sound Chips are used.


If you're experiencing the common "Generals lag" aka low framerate and/or unit stuttering in SAGE engine games (so not only Generals, but also battle for middle earth 1&2 aswell), try following:

1) go to your Generals Sub Folder:
usually you can find it under something like "C:/Program Files(x86)/EA GAMES/Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour", or if you have The First Decade it's: "C:/Program Files(x86)/EA GAMES/Command & Conquer The First Decade/Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour")
2) right click -> properties
3) under category 'general' click on 'extended'
4) disable check at "allow Windows to index data additionally to properties"
5) click 'apply'
6) enjoy C&C Generals without lag

Have fun and enjoy
DarcReaver

Can you show with screenshot pls i want to try maybe will help

[Pandut]

Even tho I'm necroing this old thread this might help out People trying to find a solution to the "lag Problem" with AI involved, or Generals multiplayer in General.
originally I thought that this issue had to do with certain dual core/quad core CPUs being incompatible with this old game. However, nowadays the game should run on a single quad core CPU without any Problems. Yet, when we played it on LAN we still had massive Performance Problems. While my friends actually blamed the shitty net code, I went further and tried some stuff. Here are my results from These testings so far:

- The game seems to have Problems with the Windows index function for fast searching Folders, especially under Windows XP and Win 7. As soon as I removed that Feature from the Generals Folder the game ran smooth. This is also the case for multiplayer games (except for those where one Opponent has Performance Problems).
- Flash based web Video programs/web sites seem to slow down the Connection considerably, even if you're having more than enough bandwith to maintain both watching a stream and playing a game. Close down your web browser when you're experiencing delay
- there might be Problems when playing with "high Sound Quality" activated, especially when certain types of onboard Sound Chips are used.


If you're experiencing the common "Generals lag" aka low framerate and/or unit stuttering in SAGE engine games (so not only Generals, but also battle for middle earth 1&2 aswell), try following:

1) go to your Generals Sub Folder:
usually you can find it under something like "C:/Program Files(x86)/EA GAMES/Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour", or if you have The First Decade it's: "C:/Program Files(x86)/EA GAMES/Command & Conquer The First Decade/Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour")
2) right click -> properties
3) under category 'general' click on 'extended'
4) disable check at "allow Windows to index data additionally to properties"
5) click 'apply'
6) enjoy C&C Generals without lag

Have fun and enjoy
DarcReaver

Saw this and was incredibly skeptical at first. No more lag with such a simple fix? Impossible! So I gave it a go and started up a game with 6 brutal bots. Lo and behold, there was no lag or drop in FPS. Granted, it only dipped when a lot of things were happening on screen. But it ran very smoothly all the way through. This friggin' works.

HOWEVER the instructions are just slightly unclear in some areas which may mislead some people who had the issue I had when trying this out. When you get to your EA Games folder (Or wherever your ZH folder is), right click the ZH folder, click "Properties", look in the "General" tab where it shows "Attributes" down at the bottom, click "Advanced" and uncheck "Allow Files in this folder to have contents indexed in addition to file properties". Hit "OK", then "Apply" and apply it to all folders and subfolders and you're good to go.

Anyway though, lots of credit to DarcReaver for figuring this out. Pretty relieving for a compstomper like myself .

This post has been edited by Pandut: 19 May 2015, 18:21

[dArCReAvEr]

Yeah, I'm using the german language files on windows, so I wasn't sure how the folder names/options are named in english. I tried translating them with google translator. Just follow Pandut's instructions - he got the right names for the buttons etc.

Glad that it helps you guys

[M.P]

Even tho I'm necroing this old thread this might help out People trying to find a solution to the "lag Problem" with AI involved, or Generals multiplayer in General.
originally I thought that this issue had to do with certain dual core/quad core CPUs being incompatible with this old game. However, nowadays the game should run on a single quad core CPU without any Problems. Yet, when we played it on LAN we still had massive Performance Problems. While my friends actually blamed the shitty net code, I went further and tried some stuff. Here are my results from These testings so far:

- The game seems to have Problems with the Windows index function for fast searching Folders, especially under Windows XP and Win 7. As soon as I removed that Feature from the Generals Folder the game ran smooth. This is also the case for multiplayer games (except for those where one Opponent has Performance Problems).
- Flash based web Video programs/web sites seem to slow down the Connection considerably, even if you're having more than enough bandwith to maintain both watching a stream and playing a game. Close down your web browser when you're experiencing delay
- there might be Problems when playing with "high Sound Quality" activated, especially when certain types of onboard Sound Chips are used.


If you're experiencing the common "Generals lag" aka low framerate and/or unit stuttering in SAGE engine games (so not only Generals, but also battle for middle earth 1&2 aswell), try following:

1) go to your Generals Sub Folder:
usually you can find it under something like "C:/Program Files(x86)/EA GAMES/Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour", or if you have The First Decade it's: "C:/Program Files(x86)/EA GAMES/Command & Conquer The First Decade/Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour")
2) right click -> properties
3) under category 'general' click on 'extended'
4) disable check at "allow Windows to index data additionally to properties"
5) click 'apply'
6) enjoy C&C Generals without lag

Have fun and enjoy
DarcReaver

Can you give out some screenshots please?

[Arc]

Saw this and was incredibly skeptical at first. No more lag with such a simple fix? Impossible! So I gave it a go and started up a game with 6 brutal bots. Lo and behold, there was no lag or drop in FPS. Granted, it only dipped when a lot of things were happening on screen. But it ran very smoothly all the way through. This friggin' works.

HOWEVER the instructions are just slightly unclear in some areas which may mislead some people who had the issue I had when trying this out. When you get to your EA Games folder (Or wherever your ZH folder is), right click the ZH folder, click "Properties", look in the "General" tab where it shows "Attributes" down at the bottom, click "Advanced" and uncheck "Allow Files in this folder to have contents indexed in addition to file properties". Hit "OK", then "Apply" and you're good to go.

Anyway though, lots of credit to DarcReaver for figuring this out. Pretty relieving for a compstomper like myself .

So... when I click apply windows asks me if I should apply to the folder only, or all subfolders? Which one do I choose?

[Pandut]

Folder and all subfolders. So it'd include the ZH folder itself, plus the "Data" subfolders and whatever other subfolders are in there. Gets everything.

[Skitt]

Tried this, works like a charm. no more haveing to save and reload the game to fix the lag.
now im back to getting my ass kicked by brutals again

So thank you dArCReAvEr