CnC Zero Hour Mismatch fix

So we all have had the dreaded mismatch detected game over screen. I have found THE solution to fix this!

From my extensive testing i found that most, but not all of mismatches happen due to packet loss and that can happen for a multitude of reasons. This guide will avoid the dangers of the internet and will host all 8 players on 1 pc.

I have tested this with 7 players + myself on a custom massive map where we built up around 3k units, sieged war, multiple simultaneous super weapons and general powers with no issues

Prereq's:

A modern PC running windows 11 pro

A descent GPU with a lot of VRAM( 1 player needs around 2gb vram)

Around 4-6GB ram per player

Somewhat know how about networking

Two network interfaces( two ethernet cards/ 1 ethernet + 1 wifi) ((Or the know how to loopback IP packets. I will not go over it on this guide))

Around 55gb SSD space per virtual machine

Descent internet(10mbs/10mbs per user)

What we do first is follow this guide on setting up you first virtual machine:

https://youtu.be/ZQxEwC6lyco?t=480

When creating a VM give it 4-6gb of ram, more is better but you cannot go lower than 4gb.

This guide will teach you how to setup, you don't need a 4090/3090 to do this a 4060 with 16gb VRAM can host 8 players.

(This part only needs to be done once:

You will need to setup a new virtual switch on the main hyper-v page, right side click virtual switch manager>new virtual switch>external and click create virtual switch.

The name can be whatever you want, on external network select your ethernet adapter, but make sure its not your main one that the host is using or we will have issues port forwarding later on.

)

Now you have a VM setup and ready to roll, download CnC:ZH through your preferred method. I would recommend getting something to avoid DRM as not everyone will want to login to steam/origin on your VM, this will also avoid any tech issues you need to help with for the players as the game can be launched with one click.

Download genpatcher, apply all fixes, download maps and apply the network patch.

Now turn off the VM.

After this right click on your vm>setings>network adapter and select the new switch you just created, apply and we are done here.

Turn on your VM and go to cmd, write ipconfig and make sure you are given a local IP with your routers gateway.

Next download parsec: https://parsec.app/downloads (This is how players will connect to their designated VM)

This is where it can get super tedious, first create an account and login with it on the VM. Go to settings>network, write in the client port and the host port i recommend something easy to remember (ex:10001 and 10002. These ports will need to be different for every VM you host.). If you are lucky and your router supports UPnP then go on to the next step. If not then login to your router and port forward the required ports

Download parsec on your phone and login. Make sure you are not connected to your home network. If everything is working you will see your desktop.

Now you will need to repeat the process for every VM you want to create, 1VM=1player

To have people connect, they will need to create a parsec account and download parsec on their PC.

For them to connect to the VM instance, you need to go to that VM's parsec app, on the computers tab, click the share button and give them the link. This will launch a parsec instance for them and they can start the game.

Some important things:

The host machine needs to have the VM windows opened otherwise the players won't have any display output, the windows can be minimized.

The host can play the game too.

It's important not to bog down the computer with browser tabs or any other workloads as running 8 instances of the game+windows is very demanding task.

There will be a slight delay for the players controls, this can vary on how far the players are from the host. A delay of 5ms if within same city or 500ms if they are in a different country.