C&C Generals: Zero Hour - SIGEN Mod

WARNING: The SIGEN mod only works on VANILLA, that is, unmodded Generals Zero Hour!
I've been getting Private Messages and comments everywhere asking how to install the SIGEN mod. Long story short: You don't. The way I set this up ensures you do not need to 'install it'. I'll explain later, but here's a step by step on how to do this:

Obvious step first, download the ZeroHourSIGENmod6.rar file. Since this is a .rar package, you will want to install a program such as PeaZip, 7Zip or WinRar to unpack it. To where doesn't matter. In fact, it might be best if you unpacked it away from your Generals Zero Hour installation.

Once unpacked, start up firsttimesetup.exe- this program will look if you have The First Decade installed. That is the best method of running it.. If you have First Decade, all you need to do is use sigenmod.exe to run it. I'd suggest making a short cut to that file.

If you DONT have The First Decade installed, the program will inform you that it cannot find an installation, and ask if you have it installed by retail. It will assume it is installed over at 'C:\Program Files\EA Games\Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour\' as that was the default location for the retail disc version.. but this might not be the case for you. Check where you have Zero Hour installed, and edit the location.

For example, if your Zero Hour is installed in 'C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour\Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour\' folder because you decided to buy the Ultimate Collection on Origin and you're running an 64 bit machine, change it to that folder. Should be easy, folks.

In related news, it was tested whether or not it worked with the Ultimate Collection. It does. Even on Windows 8.

From there on, just click OK, and it will look for generals.exe in that folder. For the love of everything, dont cheat this system by putting a false generals.exe file in the folder, or by putting Generals' data in instead. You only got yourself to blame if it doesn't work that way.

Anyway, once generals.exe is found, you can start the game by using sigenmod.exe. Again, the suggestion to make a shortcut would be a good plan.

I am sorry that this isn't automated or made simpler- back then I did not have the means to make it easier and it's kind of a miracle this is STILL working properly, even on 64 bit Win 8 with the Ultimate Collection, heh..

HOW this works, you ask? The first time setup checks your register for The First Decade data, and if those exist, takes the install directory straight from your register- can't go wrong if your TFD installation is legitimate. For retail versions, it simply checks for the existance of generals.exe. It's a bit of a crude check, but it was meant to be a quick and dirty method for people to use the mod without The First Decade.

As for how the mod executable itself works, it copies files from your Generals Zero Hour folder as backup, and then overwrites the files with the modded files found in the folder. Again, a bit crude. I apologize for this, but this is why you need vanilla Zero Hour- it basically puts clean Zero Hour files in there with modded data.

Once you shut down the game, the mod will take the backup files and restore your Zero Hour to normal. It runs an extra check to ensure it has worked and then shuts itself down.

The two executables were built in AutoIt and I'm basically still proud I managed to get it to work like that. In current days, I'd probably have built an executable in Visual Studio and make it look nicer.. ;P

I'm sorry guys, I was a newbie at this stuff back then. That's why the SIGEN mod is essentially crap.. I had high hopes for this thing and STILL want to fix it (I got workdata for SIGEN 7 lying around, in fact) buuuut it's just.. it's an old project, and really, I kinda want to let it die down. If I ever do another mod, it'll be better than a shoddy new side mod. Maybe with some custom images, movies, et all.. :)

But that's a dream for another time. For anyone still interested in SIGEN, I hope you enjoy the mod still, despite it kind of being a shoddy train wreck. :)