Command and Conquer: Generals Zero-Hour on Windows 8?

Solution 1:

Well, this might be caused by something i've experienced just recently.

Solution: Reinstall your game.

BUT ONLY DO THIS IF:

• You've had at least one previous successful startup on that machine at all.
• The game files were recently edited in ANY WAY; this includes updates from Origin!

So, turns out, it might be an issue with the game engine being unable to properly detect DirectX on your system. This is most likely because of corruption in the game engine code that is used to verify the version of DirectX that you are using (which can be caused by a multitude of things, such as game updates or mods). Usually some symptoms of this is when you Alt+Tab, hover over the game icon in the taskbar, and seeing 2 windows: one which is most likely an error message that states that you need DirectX 7.0 or higher.

If your conditions match those above, you should be able to reinstall the game without any issues. Your save games may be recovered upon the successful install of the new copy of the game because of Origin cloud backups. HOWEVER, do not purely rely on this system to keep your saved game safe and sound; always remember to periodically backup your saved games folder in the game files manually.