macOS: Cyrillic text labels not rendered (numbers work, English labels work)

[w1semannn]

Prerequisites

• I have searched for similar issues and confirmed this is not a duplicate

Game Version

• Command & Conquer Generals
• Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour
• Other (please specify below)

Operating System

• macOS
• Linux
• Windows
• Other (please specify below)

Bug Description

Hi, dear fbraz3
On macOS ARM64 build, UI labels containing Cyrillic characters render as empty.
Affected elements: building construction status, super weapon names, unit veterancy text.
Numbers (timers, percentages, resources) render correctly.
English version (without Russian localization patch) renders all text correctly.
Reproduction:

Install game with English ZH .big files + Russian localization patch (00RussianZH.big)
Start any skirmish
Build any structure — construction label is empty
Build super weapon — countdown timer shows numbers but no weapon name

Key observation: The exact same set of files works correctly on Windows 11 native (Steam). Issue is specific to GeneralsX macOS port, suggesting Cyrillic glyph rasterization fails in the font subsystem.
Workaround: Removing 00RussianZH.big restores all text (in English). This confirms the issue is Cyrillic rendering, not a general font/UI bug.
System: macOS [Tahoe 26.3.1 (a)], Apple M1, GeneralsX 8

Reproduction Steps

1. Install game with English ZH .big files + Russian localization patch (00RussianZH.big)
2. Start any skirmish match
3. Build any structure — construction status label is empty (no text)
4. Build a super weapon — countdown timer shows numbers but weapon name is missing

Additional Context

Same set of files works correctly on Windows 11 native (Steam). Issue is specific
to GeneralsX macOS port — Cyrillic glyph rasterization appears to fail in the font subsystem.

Workaround: removing 00RussianZH.big restores all text (in English). Numbers and
Latin characters render fine throughout — only Cyrillic labels are affected.

System: macOS [Tahoe 26.3.1 (a)], Apple M1, GeneralsX 8

[fbraz3]

Thanks for the detailed report — this is very helpful.

To properly diagnose this we need a minimal repro package for the localization/font layer (not the full game install).

Could you please share:

1. The exact 00RussianZH.big you are using.
2. A screenshot of the same UI element in:
   • Windows (working)
   • macOS GeneralsX (missing Cyrillic)

If you cannot share files publicly, checksums + exact filenames/paths should be enough to reproduce and verify.

From your symptoms (numbers/Latin OK, Cyrillic missing), this looks likely related to localized font loading on the macOS path.

[w1semannn]

Hi,

Follow-up with the macOS side. There's a lot of useful data here — TL;DR at
the bottom if you want to skip ahead.

────────────────────────────────────────

1. GeneralsX build
   ────────────────────────────────────────
   CFBundleDisplayName : GeneralsXZH
   CFBundleIdentifier : com.generalsx.generalsxzh
   CFBundleShortVersionString : 0.1.0
   CFBundleVersion : 0.1.0
   LSMinimumSystemVersion : 15.0
   Bundle path : /Applications/GeneralsXZH.app

   Confirmed from launch log:
   Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour (Linux)
   SDL3 + DXVK Build
   DXVK : 2.6.0
   Build : aarch64 clang 17.0.0
   Device : Apple M1
   Driver : MoltenVK 0.2.2209

────────────────────────────────────────
2) Launch method
────────────────────────────────────────
Default user action: double-click /Applications/GeneralsXZH.app.
CFBundleExecutable = run.sh (in Contents/MacOS/).

run.sh exports the following before exec'ing Contents/Resources/bin/GeneralsXZH:
DXVK_WSI_DRIVER = SDL3
VK_ICD_FILENAMES = /Resources/MoltenVK_icd.json
VK_DRIVER_FILES = /Resources/MoltenVK_icd.json
DXVK_CONFIG_FILE = /Resources/dxvk.conf
FONTCONFIG_FILE = /Resources/fontconfig/fonts.conf
FONTCONFIG_PATH = /Resources/fontconfig
CNC_GENERALS_ZH_PATH = $HOME/GeneralsX/GeneralsZH (auto-detected)

────────────────────────────────────────
3) Asset root layout
────────────────────────────────────────
$HOME/GeneralsX/GeneralsZH/
00RussianZH.big ← russifier (SHA256 matches Windows: DC9088DD…4A33)
INIZH.big, EnglishZH.big, MapsZH.big, ... (stock ZH .big files)
Generals.exe, Game.dat, BINKW32.DLL, mss32.dll, steam_api.dll
GeneralsXZH.dxvk-cache ← bundled DXVK cache
GeneralsXZH_d3d9.log ← ~30 MB DXVK log
Data/{Cursors, English, INI, Movies, Scripts, WaterPlane}
← only English locale dir; no Data/Russian/
SibRusUninst/ ← uninstaller left by "SibRus" russifier installer

────────────────────────────────────────
4) Localization observed in launch log
────────────────────────────────────────
The engine uses CSF (Compiled String File), not Language.ini, for game text.
When launched with LANG=ru_RU.UTF-8 LC_ALL=ru_RU.UTF-8 (workaround):

 [CSF] init() - getCSFInfo OK, textCount=6422
 [CSF] parseCSF() - START filename='data/english/generals.csf'
 [CSF] parseCSF() - Header: id=0x43534620 version=3 num_labels=6422
                    num_strings=6421 skip=0 langid=0
 [CSF] parseCSF() - Main loop complete! Processed 6422/6422 labels
 [CSF] init() - parseCSF SUCCESS

Other english/* paths loaded in the same run:
Data\english\Language\Language.ini
Data\english\CommandMap\CommandMap.ini
Data\english\HeaderTemplate\HeaderTemplate.ini

So in the broken default-locale run, the engine presumably targets
data/russian/* (sourced from 00RussianZH.big) and that path produces no
rendered text. Happy to capture and send the broken-run log line that
actually picks the russified CSF path if useful.

────────────────────────────────────────
5) Fontconfig in the bundle
────────────────────────────────────────
/Resources/fontconfig/
fonts.conf (2858 bytes — verbatim stock fontconfig default template,
no Cyrillic-specific rules, no local.conf)
conf.d/ (24 files — standard fontconfig defaults)

fonts.conf scans /System/Library/Fonts, /Library/Fonts, ~/Library/Fonts,
and the Apple MobileAsset font dirs. No font files bundled.

────────────────────────────────────────
6) Locale experiments
────────────────────────────────────────

Launch	Result
Default (double-click .app)	Russian, text BLANK
LANG=ru_RU.UTF-8 LC_ALL=ru_RU.UTF-8	English UI, renders OK
LANG=ru_RU.CP1251 LC_ALL=ru_RU.CP1251 (*)	English UI, renders OK
LC_CTYPE=ru_RU.CP1251 only	English UI, renders OK

(*) macOS does have ru_RU.CP1251 locale — locale -a confirms.

System default in Terminal:
LANG=C.UTF-8 ; LC_ALL= ; LC_CTYPE=UTF-8

Conclusion: setting any explicit locale env var disables russifier loading.
Usable English-only workaround, but not a Russian fix.

────────────────────────────────────────
7) Screenshots (attached)
────────────────────────────────────────
windows_working.png — Windows Steam build, China skirmish, building
under construction. Cyrillic label
"Строительство: 18%" renders correctly.
macos_missing_cyrillic.png — Same UI element on GeneralsX 0.1.0 / macOS.

                             Cyrillic label COMPLETELY ABSENT, only the 
                             blue progress bar underneath renders. ASCII 
                             overlays render fine: cash ($ 8500), FPS 
                             counter (77[30] 13:47:15), game timer 
                             (00:02:03.04).

────────────────────────────────────────
8) Notable log warnings (FYI)
────────────────────────────────────────
WARNING: DX8WebBrowser::Initialize() - Linux stub (browser not available)
warn: D3D9DeviceEx::SetRenderState: Unhandled render state 136
warn: D3D8Device::SetRenderState: Unimplemented render state
D3DRS_PATCHSEGMENTS (repeats hundreds of times — looks harmless)
W3DRadar: findFormat: no supported format found in caps query - falling
back to WW3D_FORMAT_X8R8G8B8

────────────────────────────────────────
TL;DR
────────────────────────────────────────
• Build : GeneralsX 0.1.0, aarch64, DXVK 2.6.0, MoltenVK 0.2.2209
• Stack : winelib + DXVK + MoltenVK + SDL3 (game self-identifies as "Linux")
• Asset : 00RussianZH.big at $HOME/GeneralsX/GeneralsZH/, SHA256 matches Windows
• Failure : Cyrillic strings render as EMPTY (not tofu). ASCII fine.
• English : Works perfectly. CSF parser reports success (langid=0, 6422/6422).
• Workaround: Setting LANG/LC_ALL to anything Russian disables russifier
loading — engine picks data/english/* and renders English correctly.
• Fontconfig: Stock default, no Cyrillic-specific rules. Unlikely the root
cause given the symptom (full text disappearance vs glyph fallback).
• Likely : CSF loading of data/russian/generals.csf from 00RussianZH.big
either silently fails or produces empty wide-char strings.

Happy to send any of:

• the full DXVK d3d9 log (~30 MB)
• run.sh contents verbatim
• the broken default-launch startup log (so you can see which CSF path it
  picks when russifier is active)
• the actual .big file if the hash isn't enough
• extracted Language.ini and fonts from inside the .big

Thanks!

[w1semannn]

Sending the Windows-side.

Key finding upfront: the Russian localization install does NOT lay out
Language.ini or fonts as separate files — everything is packed inside
00RussianZH.big. There is no Data/Russian/ folder and no separate
Language.ini in the installation.

────────────────────────────────────────

1. 00RussianZH.big
   ────────────────────────────────────────

   • Source: cnc_generals_zh_russian_r3.exe
     (Russian localization installer, revision r3)
   • Install path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common
     Command & Conquer Generals - Zero Hour\00RussianZH.big
   • SHA256: DC9088DD90AB471165D66183C25112EDABB6012603211BB6BE1A94E3B3424A33
   • Size: 22 029 779 bytes (~21 MB)

   Happy to upload the actual .big file if you need it — just let me know
   where to send it.

────────────────────────────────────────
2) Language.ini and fonts
────────────────────────────────────────
Not present as separate files in the install — packed inside
00RussianZH.big. Can be extracted with FinalBIG if needed; I can also
extract and send them separately, just say the word.

────────────────────────────────────────
3) Screenshot — Windows (working)
────────────────────────────────────────
Attached: windows_working.png

• Windows Steam build of Generals Zero Hour
• In-game UI element with Cyrillic text ("Строительство: 18%" =
  "Construction: 18%" on a building under construction)
• Cyrillic renders correctly

Thanks!

[fbraz3]

Thanks a lot again for the detailed investigation and logs — they were extremely helpful.

We opened a fix attempt in PR #145

Could you please test using the build artifacts from that PR and confirm whether Cyrillic labels now render correctly on your macOS setup?

If the issue is still present, we will very likely need the actual 00RussianZH.big file (not only checksum) to reproduce and diagnose the remaining edge case precisely.

Thanks in advance!