Model Citizen

One of my all time favourite games just keeps getting better!
First, what is Zero Hour?
It's an RTS or Real Time Strategy game from Westwood Studios who sells through Electronic Arts or EA.
The game itself is a derivative of the very first RTS "Dune" where you harvested spice to convert to money, this money was used to build a base where new technologies were researched and new weapons etc were made. As you were doing this there were up to 7 other players doing the same.



Zero Hour which is itself an add-on for the game Generals takes this same premise and brings it into a superior graphical world where the 3 main sides (USA, China and the GLA) are at it hammer and tongs. The buildings have got bigger and better, the weapons stronger and tougher. You can call in air support, build nuclear silos, Scud Storms or huge Emperor Overlord tanks that roam around crushing other more mortal tanks beneath it. The game is incredibly well balanced though, and has a superb skirmish mode that lets you play up to 7 other Generals on a massive range of maps. But dont worry, if you get bored of the maps available there are sites that have plenty for download. I regularly get new maps from generals Maps
Anyway, I recently took an interest in seeing what Mods were out there for this game. A Mod is basically a fan addition to the game, something that has been MODified, weather a tank, a sound, a bit of scenery. Some people do total conversions, where nearly every aspect of the game is changed.

So as said, I recently started looking for Mods for Zero Hour and hit gold. I found the site Mod DB which has list of mods for hundreds of games including a huge selection of finished as well as ongoing mods.
So here are the top 4:

Retarded by The Gunrun.
For those who don't know what Zero Hour Retarded is it is a mod for Zero Hour which changes lots of stuff in the game and makes the game uber fun. Unlike most other mods this one is created by one person who also happens to be Filipino, ME! My main intent in creating this mod was to create the funnest gaming experience possible using zero hour. This mod features an innumerable amount of changes. These changes include a much further view of the battlefield, numerous music changes, $500 from all supply structures every 12 seconds, the implementation of your self as a unit, starting vehicles, new menu design, and many many more very sexy changes to the game.



Xeno Force by Jaf.
For all you fanns of Gundam and Macross out there....we've got a present for u. This mod adds not 1, not 2, but 3 new generals. These generals are: Gundam General, Macross General, and Zaku General. The Gundam General mainly has units from Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 Series for the EFSF (earth federation space force), the zaku generals mainly has the same thing, just with zeon units. Macross has basically everything from the series almost. the Zaku Generals Ability for 5 star general is that they drop a colony from space onto a base, u can imagine what kind of havoc that will cause, damn! Many people agree, that this is one mod that packs a big fat can of whup-ass!!



Shockwave by Da Hunter.
Shockwave is an enhancement mod for C&C Generals ZH.
The main goal of this mod was to make ZH a more interesting game with more differences between the generals making you think twice before you select a certain general.

it will include 3 new campeigns, 3 new Generals, over 100 new units, a fully working navy and many other gameplay tweaks to enhance the Zerhour gameplay with:

-New sound effects
-New ingame weapon effects and vissuals
-Many Bug fixes that where present in the original game
-Improved the battlefield overview with a higher camera

and many more stuff!!



Cold War Crisis by Shadow.
CWC is a C&C Generals Zero Hour Total Conversion. It takes place from 1980-1989 and it will feature realistic units from the 80's.
We want CWC to be a mixture of realism and fun. We will make it more realistic than vanilla Generals though, with real life weapon systems and side specific characteristics.
CWC will offer 3 factions: Russia, USA and Europe. The Russians tend to use tanks and artillery (for example: T-72 / T-80, BM-21, 2S1, RT21-M only to mention a few) while the USA rely on aircraft and high tech units (for example: F-15, F-16, F-117, A-10 etc.). The Europeans actually are something like a "Best-Of" of actual European units (these are, German Leopard, English Harrier and so on).

Also we we will have a lot of infantry in the game, not all of them will be just cannon fodder. Of course engaging a Leopard II with a US Ranger wont be a good idea. Other infantry units can be a real pain in the ass to armored units. We want the players to use more infantry than in regular Generals, where infantry wasn't the big deal. In CWC Infantry can be very useful, even against tanks if you have LAW/RPG-Soldiers.



So that's the 4. Remember, all these Mods are completely free! You just need to go and buy Command & Conquer Generals and then also buy the Zero Hour expansion pack. These could probably both be picked up on eBay very cheaply. Then download the Mod that you like the look of, use the installer and your away! One tip though is to copy the entire folder before Modding so you have the original to play too. Sure it takes up more space, but these games are definatley worth it.
Happy hunting!