diff --git a/Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/HeightMap.cpp b/Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/HeightMap.cpp
index 8e03f064594..b9ba556db98 100644
--- a/Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/HeightMap.cpp
+++ b/Generals/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/HeightMap.cpp
@@ -4327,7 +4327,9 @@ void HeightMapRenderObjClass::renderExtraBlendTiles(void)
 		DynamicIBAccessClass::WriteLockClass lockib(&ib_access);
 		UnsignedShort *ib=lockib.Get_Index_Array();
 
-		if (!vb || !ib) return;
+		// Enhanced pointer validation: check for NULL and suspiciously low addresses that indicate
+		// invalid/corrupted pointers from failed buffer allocation or device in degraded state
+		if (!vb || !ib || (size_t)vb < 0x10000 || (size_t)ib < 0x10000) return;
 
 		const UnsignedByte* data = m_map->getDataPtr();
 
diff --git a/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/HeightMap.cpp b/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/HeightMap.cpp
index 6b7dbd25a84..66c93739743 100644
--- a/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/HeightMap.cpp
+++ b/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngineDevice/Source/W3DDevice/GameClient/HeightMap.cpp
@@ -2267,7 +2267,9 @@ void HeightMapRenderObjClass::renderExtraBlendTiles(void)
 		DynamicIBAccessClass::WriteLockClass lockib(&ib_access);
 		UnsignedShort *ib=lockib.Get_Index_Array();
 
-		if (!vb || !ib) return;
+		// Enhanced pointer validation: check for NULL and suspiciously low addresses that indicate
+		// invalid/corrupted pointers from failed buffer allocation or device in degraded state
+		if (!vb || !ib || (size_t)vb < 0x10000 || (size_t)ib < 0x10000) return;
 
 		const UnsignedByte* data = m_map->getDataPtr();