To buy Command and Conquer Generals Zero Hour legally today, go to Steam or the EA App. Both games are part of Command & Conquer The Ultimate Collection, and old retail discs work too if you still have them. ZeroFront and our bot don't distribute game files: the phone needs the folders from your own copy.
Steam: Generals and Zero Hour
Both games arrived on Steam on March 7, 2024, each with its own page:
- Command & Conquer Generals, app 2229870;
- Command & Conquer Generals Zero Hour, app 2732960. Zero Hour has 15 new missions and 9 enemy generals in Generals Challenge.
In many regions these pages have no standalone Buy button. According to price trackers and Steam community threads, the games are sold as part of The Ultimate Collection. The Zero Hour page also offers access through an EA Play subscription (from €5.99 a month, EU pricing). What you see on the page depends on your region.
Languages listed on the Steam page: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese and Traditional Chinese.
After you buy, you also get the Steam Workshop with player maps and the level editor.
EA App
The EA App sells the same Ultimate Collection. On EA's site the regular EU price is €19.99, and it drops during sales: on September 25, 2026 it was discounted to €6.99. The games install through the EA App on Windows.
Command & Conquer The Ultimate Collection: what's in it
The Ultimate Collection covers almost the whole classic series: 10 main games and 7 expansions. That includes the first Command & Conquer, Red Alert, Tiberian Sun, Red Alert 2 with Yuri's Revenge, Renegade, Generals with Zero Hour, Command & Conquer 3 and Red Alert 3. If you only want Zero Hour, you still have to take the whole bundle. On the upside, you get the whole series for not much money.
Availability by region
Whether you can buy the collection depends on your region: EA doesn't sell its games in every country, and prices differ from store to store. The simplest check is to open the game's Steam page while signed in to your own account. If there's a price, you can buy it. If there isn't, purchases are closed for your region.
We don't link to torrents or repacks. If you already own a license on Steam, the EA App or a disc, that's all you need.
Old retail discs
Boxed copies work too: Generals, Zero Hour or The First Decade collection. Install the disc on a Windows PC and update Zero Hour to patch 1.04. After that, copy the game folders the same way as from Steam. ZeroFront doesn't need the disc image itself, only the files from the installed game.
Zero Hour PC system requirements
The requirements on the Steam page are modest; the game is over 20 years old.
| Spec | Generals | Zero Hour |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 | Windows 10 |
| CPU | 2.2 GHz Intel or AMD | 2.2 GHz Intel or AMD |
| RAM | 1 GB | 1 GB |
| GPU | GeForce 4 / Radeon 8500 | GeForce 4 / Radeon 8500 |
| Disk space | 2 GB | 3 GB |
On modern PCs the trouble is rarely the hardware. It's compatibility: the game may refuse to start or throw errors. There's a separate guide on launching it on Windows 10 and 11.
Which folders ZeroFront needs
Zero Hour is an expansion, and it takes terrain textures and models from the original Generals. So the app needs two folders:
- the original Generals folder, with Terrain.big, Textures.big and W3D.big;
- the Zero Hour folder, which contains INIZH.big. If you play a mod, point the app at the mod folder instead.
If you don't set the Generals folder, the ground in the game turns pink. In the Steam and EA App versions, the base Generals archives usually sit inside the Zero Hour folder in a ZH_Generals subfolder. Take a look: if it has Terrain.big, Textures.big and W3D.big, that subfolder is your original Generals folder.
Where to look on PC: in Steam, open the game's Properties, then Installed Files, then Browse. It's usually steamapps\common\Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour.
Moving the folders to your phone
- Copy the whole Zero Hour folder on your PC. If you have Generals installed separately, grab that too.
- Connect the phone by USB in file transfer mode, or upload the folders to cloud storage and download them on the phone.
- Put them in internal storage, for example
/storage/emulated/0/GENERALS/. - In ZeroFront, open game setup, grant "All files access" and set both folders.
- When the status turns green, tap "Start game".
Copy whole folders rather than picking individual files: the game reads a lot of .big archives, and if one is missing you'll get errors. You don't need the installer or shortcuts, just the game folders. Plan for a few gigabytes of free space on the phone, roughly what the game takes on your PC.
The full path from downloading the APK to your first match is in the install guide. If the ground is still pink, the answer is in the FAQ.
FAQ
Can I buy Zero Hour on Steam without Generals?
In many regions there's no separate purchase on Steam; both games are sold as part of The Ultimate Collection. So you get Generals along with Zero Hour.
Do I need the original Generals if I have Zero Hour?
Yes, Zero Hour can't do without it. In the Steam and EA App versions the base files are usually already in the ZH_Generals folder inside Zero Hour.
Will an EA App copy work on the phone?
Yes. You need the same files: the Generals archives and the Zero Hour folder with INIZH.big.
Does ZeroFront provide the game files?
No. The app and the bot only give you the launcher; the game files come from your own licensed copy.
Once your folders are ready, download the APK in @generals_mobile_bot and try the game on your phone: the first 24 hours are free.