Generals: Zero Hour — Native on Android¶
Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour running natively on Android — the real engine (EA's GPL v3 source, via the GeneralsX lineage), not emulation. Vulkan 1.3 (Mesa Turnip + DXVK), SDL3, OpenAL, touch controls.

-
Play it
Grab the APK from Releases, push your own game files, play.
-
FAQ
Which devices work? Root? Legal? Direct answers.
-
Build from source
Toolchain, rendering pipeline, debugging toolbox, traps.
-
The journey
The under-24-hour port story — walls, 2 am root causes, lessons.
The Android port (this project)¶
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| The Android journey | The whole story: the renderer night, the black screen, the touch deep-dive, shipping day |
| Bugs & lessons | All 17 defects found (symptom → root cause → fix → upstream status) + 11 transferable lessons |
| Touch controls | The gesture system (shared with iOS): state machine, ten design decisions, debugging map |
| ANDROID.md | The complete guide: build from source, rendering pipeline, debugging toolbox, traps, known issues, regression checklist |
| Renderer research | Phase 0: how the Turnip-via-adrenotools route was chosen |
| Port findings | Codebase audit that shaped the plan |
| Design spec · Phase 0–2 plan · Phase 3 plan | How the port was actually planned and executed (human + AI) |
Inherited from the GeneralsX lineage¶
| Doc | What it covers |
|---|---|
| PORTING_PLAYBOOK.md | Complete engineering log of the iOS port this one descends from |
| PORTING_PATTERNS.md | Generalized methodology for porting classic Windows games |
| Getting the game files | Obtaining your own copy of the game assets |
| Known issues · Command-line parameters | Engine-wide references |
macOS / iOS / iPad builds live in the parent project: ammaarreshi/Generals-Mac-iOS-iPad.
Contribute¶
- Open issues —
good first issueandai-readylabels mark self-contained work - Discussions — questions, testing reports, show & tell
- AI agents: read AGENTS.md first
You need your own Zero Hour game assets — nothing here ships game data.