Command-Line Arguments

This source-audited reference contains all 97 active command-line arguments accepted by Command & Conquer: Generals and Zero Hour, including player-facing, development, and build-gated switches.

Command-line matching is case-insensitive but requires the whole argument name. The capitalization below follows the source.

Values

A blank Value cell means the argument is a flag and does not take a value. Text in angle brackets describes the expected value rather than literal text: for example, <width> means an integer display width and <file.rep> means a replay filename. Plain alternatives such as 0 or 1 show the accepted choices directly.

Use the next command-line token for the value. Quote spaces: -mod "My Mod\mod.big". If a required value is omitted, the setting is left unchanged.

Browse all 97 command-line arguments

Showing all arguments

Argument	Value	Availability	Category	Behavior
`-win`		All builds	Window and startup	Forces windowed mode before the game window is created.
`-fullscreen`		All builds	Window and startup	Forces fullscreen mode before the game window is created.
`-headless`		All builds	Replays and automation	Runs without a window, graphics, input, or audio. Also disables intro and sizzle playback; intended for replay simulation.
`-replay`	`<file.rep>`	All builds	Replays and automation	Queues a replay from the replay folder or a subfolder. May be repeated and accepts wildcards. Disables intro, sizzle, and shell-map startup and permits another game instance.
`-jobs`	`<processes>`	All builds	Replays and automation	Sets the maximum concurrent replay-simulation processes. Accepts a positive integer, or `-1` for sequential simulation; `0` and values below `-1` terminate with an error.
`-nologo`		All builds	Shell and UI	Disables both startup intro and sizzle playback.
`-noshellmap`		All builds	Shell and UI	Disables the animated shell map behind the main menu.
`-noShellAnim`		All builds	Shell and UI	Disables shell and game-window animations.
`-xres`	`<width>`	All builds	Display and rendering	Sets the horizontal display resolution from an integer value.
`-yres`	`<height>`	All builds	Display and rendering	Sets the vertical display resolution from an integer value.
`-fullVersion`	`0 or 1`	All builds	Shell and UI	Shows the full version string for a nonzero value and hides it for `0`.
`-particleEdit`		All builds	Modding and tools	Enables particle-editor mode and forces windowed mode with Windows cursors.
`-scriptDebug`		All builds	Modding and tools	Enables the script-debugger integration and Windows cursors.
`-playStats`	`<seconds>`	All builds	Statistics and performance	Sets the play-statistics collection interval. Values less than or equal to `0` disable collection.
`-mod`	`<file-or-directory>`	All builds	Modding and tools	Loads a mod archive or directory. Relative paths are resolved under the game user-data folder; absolute paths are used as supplied. Missing paths are ignored.
`-noshaders`		All builds	Display and rendering	Forces the renderer onto its lowest-feature chipset path.
`-quickstart`		All builds	Window and startup	Disables intro and sizzle playback, the shell map, and shell/window animations.
`-useWaveEditor`		All builds	Modding and tools	Enables the water-track/wave editor mode.
`-forcefullviewport`		All builds	Display and rendering	Forces `ViewportHeightScale` to `1.0` for full-viewport control-bar addons.
`-noaudio`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Audio and video	Disables audio, speech, sound effects, and music.
`-map`	`<map-path>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Modding and tools	Sets the initial map and expands its short path to the map-file path. The handler only applies the value when this option and its value are the final two tokens.
`-nomusic`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Audio and video	Disables music without disabling the other audio channels.
`-novideo`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Audio and video	Disables video playback.
`-noLogOrCrash`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Calls `DEBUG_CRASH` with “`-NoLogOrCrash` not supported in this build” and changes no setting.
`-FPUPreserve`	`<integer>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Sets the DirectX wrapper FPU-preservation value.
`-benchmark`	`<seconds>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Statistics and performance	Sets both the benchmark duration and the play-statistics interval to the supplied integer.
`-stats`	`<interval>`	`RTS_DEBUG + DUMP_PERF_STATS`	Statistics and performance	Enables periodic performance-stat dumps using the supplied integer interval.
`-saveStats`	`<directory>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Statistics and performance	Enables statistics saving and sets the base output directory.
`-localMOTD`	`<file>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Networking	Loads the online message of the day from the supplied local file.
`-UseCSF`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Modding and tools	Disables STR string-file loading so the game uses its CSF localization file.
`-NoInputDisable`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Prevents scripts from disabling player input.
`-DebugCRCFromFrame`	`<frame>`	`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Sets the first frame included in CRC debug logging; `-1` disables it.
`-DebugCRCUntilFrame`	`<frame>`	`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Sets the final frame included in CRC debug logging.
`-KeepCRCSaves`		`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Keeps the binary data saved during CRC calculations.
`-SaveDebugCRCPerFrame`	`<directory>`	`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Writes CRC debug logging to a separate file for each frame in the supplied directory. If the first logging frame is unset, it is changed to `0`.
`-CRCLogicModuleData`		`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Includes logic module data in CRC diagnostics.
`-CRCClientModuleData`		`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Includes client module data in CRC diagnostics.
`-VerifyClientCRC`		`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Checks that client-only visual updates do not alter the game-logic CRC.
`-ClientDeepCRC`		`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Writes deep CRC data before and after client updates to `clientPre.crc` and `clientPost.crc`.
`-LogObjectCRCs`		`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Logs object and weapon CRC values.
`-NetCRCInterval`	`<frames>`	`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Sets the multiplayer CRC-check interval only when `RETAIL_COMPATIBLE_NETWORKING` is disabled. With its current default of `1`, the option is parsed but has no effect.
`-ReplayCRCInterval`	`<frames>`	`DEBUG_CRC`	CRC diagnostics	Sets the interval between CRC values written to single-player replay files.
`-saveAllStats`	`<directory>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Statistics and performance	Enables statistics saving, sets the base directory, and requests all statistics.
`-noDraw`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	When `DEBUG_CRC` is also compiled in, sets the no-draw frame value to `1`; rendering is skipped while this value exceeds the current logic frame. Otherwise it has no effect.
`-nomilcap`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Disables military-caption timing behavior.
`-nofade`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Disables scripted camera fades.
`-nomovecamera`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Disables scripted camera movement.
`-nocinematic`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Disables camera movement, military captions, camera fades, and scripted input disabling.
`-packetloss`	`<percent>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Networking	Sets the simulated percentage of received network packets to drop.
`-latAvg`	`<milliseconds>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Networking	Sets the average simulated incoming-packet latency.
`-latAmp`	`<milliseconds>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Networking	Sets the amplitude of the sinusoidal simulated-latency component.
`-latPeriod`	`<integer>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Networking	Sets the multiplier applied to the clock in the sinusoidal simulated-latency calculation.
`-latNoise`	`<milliseconds>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Networking	Sets the maximum random jitter added to simulated incoming-packet latency.
`-noViewLimit`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Disables camera constraints.
`-lowDetail`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Forces the terrain level of detail to its minimum value.
`-noDynamicLOD`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Disables dynamic level-of-detail adjustment.
`-noStaticLOD`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Disables static level-of-detail settings.
`-fps`	`<limit>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Sets the integer frame-rate limit.
`-wireframe`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Enables wireframe rendering.
`-showCollision`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Shows object collision extents.
`-noShowClientPhysics`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Disables client-physics debug visualization.
`-showTerrainNormals`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Shows terrain-normal debug visualization.
`-stateMachineDebug`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Enables state-machine debugging.
`-jabber`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Reverses the letters in each translated UI-text word for localization testing.
`-munkee`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Replaces translated UI text with “Munkee” for localization testing.
`-displayDebug`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Enables the display-debug flag.
`-file`	`<map-path>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Modding and tools	Sets and normalizes an initial map path, primarily for World Builder launch integration.
`-preloadEverything`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Assets and loading	Enables asset preloading and requests that everything be preloaded.
`-logAssets`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Assets and loading	Clears `PreloadedAssets.txt` and enables reporting of preloaded W3D assets.
`-netMinPlayers`	`<players>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Networking	Sets the minimum player count used by network-game setup checks.
`-DemoLoadScreen`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Shell and UI	Enables the load-screen demo movie mode.
`-cameraDebug`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Enables camera debugging.
`-logToCon`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Adds console output to the debug logger when debug utilities are enabled.
`-vTune`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Statistics and performance	Enables the VTune profiling path.
`-selectTheUnselectable`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Allows selection of objects normally marked unselectable.
`-noshroud`		`RTS_DEBUG + ENABLE_CONFIGURABLE_SHROUD`	Debugging and testing	Disables the shroud when configurable-shroud support is compiled in.
`-forceBenchmark`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Statistics and performance	Forces CPU benchmark detection even for a recognized processor.
`-buildmapcache`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Assets and loading	Requests map-cache generation during engine initialization.
`-noshadowvolumes`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Disables both shadow volumes and shadow decals.
`-nofx`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Disables FX processing.
`-ignoresync`		`RTS_DEBUG`	CRC diagnostics	Sets the global flag that ignores synchronization errors.
`-shellmap`	`<map-name>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Shell and UI	Overrides the shell-map name.
`-winCursors`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Shell and UI	Uses standard Windows cursors.
`-constantDebug`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Updates debug statistics continuously instead of every two seconds.
`-seed`	`<integer>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Sets a fixed game-logic random seed; negative values disable the fixed seed.
`-noagpfix`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Enables the incremental AGP-buffer path.
`-noFPSLimit`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Disables FPS limiting and sets the stored frame-rate limit to `30000`.
`-dumpAssetUsage`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Assets and loading	Enables asset-usage dumping.
`-jumpToFrame`	`<frame>`	`RTS_DEBUG`	Replays and automation	Disables the FPS limit and skips rendering after the first frame until the supplied logic frame.
`-updateImages`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Assets and loading	Requests updates of older TGA images to DDS during startup.
`-showTeamDot`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Display and rendering	Shows the colored team dot for the currently controlled team.
`-extraLogging`		`RTS_DEBUG`	Debugging and testing	Enables more expensive diagnostic logging used to investigate crashes.
`-setDebugLevel`	`<level>`	`DEBUG_LOGGING`	Debugging and testing	Enables a named debug-log level when it matches an entry in `TheDebugLevels`.
`-clearDebugLevel`	`<level>`	`DEBUG_LOGGING`	Debugging and testing	Disables a named debug-log level when it matches an entry in `TheDebugLevels`.
`-ignoreAsserts`		`DEBUG_CRASHING`	Debugging and testing	Makes debug assertion crashes ignorable.
`-ignoreStackTrace`		`DEBUG_STACKTRACE`	Debugging and testing	Disables debug stack-trace handling.
`-preload`		`RTS_DEBUG or _ALLOW_DEBUG_CHEATS_IN_RELEASE`	Assets and loading	Enables asset preloading.

Build availability

The Availability column describes which build configuration compiles an argument into the parser. It does not vary by game: Generals and Zero Hour currently consume the same command-line table. All builds means the argument is present in normal Release and Debug executables. Every other label records the exact preprocessor requirement:

RTS_DEBUG enables the main development-only argument set and is controlled by the CMake RTS_BUILD_OPTION_DEBUG setting.
DEBUG_LOGGING enables debug-log controls such as -setDebugLevel and -clearDebugLevel.
DEBUG_CRASHING enables assertion-crash controls such as -ignoreAsserts.
DEBUG_STACKTRACE enables stack-trace controls such as -ignoreStackTrace.
DEBUG_LOGGING, DEBUG_CRASHING, and DEBUG_STACKTRACE can be configured independently, although debug-utility builds enable them by default.
DEBUG_CRC is enabled when debug logging is present unless NO_DEBUG_CRC is defined.
DUMP_PERF_STATS enables -stats, while ENABLE_CONFIGURABLE_SHROUD enables -noshroud; both currently accompany their containing RTS_DEBUG blocks.
_ALLOW_DEBUG_CHEATS_IN_RELEASE is enabled by the CMake RTS_DEBUG_CHEATS option.
A label joined with + requires every listed condition. A label joined with or is available when either condition is enabled.

An argument whose requirement is not compiled is absent from that executable’s parser table and is silently ignored. Unknown argument names are ignored in the same way; the game does not display a command-line error.

Usage examples

Run replay verification without opening a game window:

generalszh.exe -headless -replay "compat\*.rep" -jobs 4

Start a mod archive in a window and skip the animated startup sequence:

generalszh.exe -quickstart -win -mod "My Mod\mod.big"

Capture per-frame CRC details in a suitable diagnostic build:

generalszh.exe -ignoreAsserts -DebugCRCFromFrame 0 -LogObjectCRCs -SaveDebugCRCPerFrame crc