Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Problem Running Alpha Centauri on Laptop

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Problem Running Alpha Centauri on Laptop

    All,
    I have AMD Athlon-XP M (mobile) based laptop running Win XP SP2.
    I have installed both Alpha Centauri (older version) and the entire Alien Crossfile expansion pack (which comes with both newer version of Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfile). They are installed in separate directories.
    I have the following problem:
    I can play the older version of Alpha Centauri wihout any problems.
    I can play Alien Crossfire without any problems.
    But whenever I play the newer version of Alpha Centauri (that installed along with Alient Crossfire), it keeps crashing all of a sudden in the middle of a game.

    What can be done to fix the above problem?
    Any suggestions are welcome.

    I have so far applied the WinXP compatibility patch that I downloaded from Firaxis web site.

    Also, I have a desktop based on AMD Athlon 64 cpu (1Gb DDR 400 RAM) with nVidia 6800 GT based video card with 256 Mb DDR RAM. I am running WinXP SP2 (32 bit). I am getting the error message "CPU not supported ..." when I start either Alpha Centauri or Alien Crossfire. Has anyone tried playing Alpha Centauri on similarly configured PCs?
    I am going the apply the changes to the INI files that I found from posts on these forums.

    Thank You.
    Sanjib.

  • #2
    There is only one version of Alpha Centauri (after all appropriate patches are installed). There is no benefit to have it installed in two different locations.

    The simplest solution to your problem is not to play the version that crashes. If you want to recover some HD space, uninstall all programs (and delete any files that might remain behind). Then reinstall the combined SMAC/SMAX files.

    To fix the "CPU not supported" error, add the line

    ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

    to your Alpha Centauri.ini file (or change 0 to 1 if the line is already present). You will still get the error, but just click through it and the game will run.

    This last tip is covered in the FAQ (top thread on the page), which all newbies are invited to read.
    "The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
    -- Kosh

    Comment


    • #3
      Thank you for your suggestions. I will try those.

      [SIZE=1]

      To fix the "CPU not supported" error, add the line

      ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

      to your Alpha Centauri.ini file (or change 0 to 1 if the line is already present). You will still get the error, but just click through it and the game will run.

      This last tip is covered in the FAQ (top thread on the page), which all newbies are invited to read.
      Regarding the above tip, I would like to explain that I have Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack installed on my desktop. I changed the above setting in the "Alpha Centauri.ini" file and I am able to play Alpha Centauri. But I am still unable to play Alien Crossfire. It always crashes with the error message from Windows saying "Terranx.icd has encountered a problem and needs to close ..."

      Is there any solution for the above problem?

      Comment


      • #4
        The terranx.icd error is usually associated with a copy protection problem. Some players have reported that installing the SMAX "No CD" crack fixes this error. This patch may be found here:

        "The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
        -- Kosh

        Comment


        • #5
          Petek,

          Thank you very much for your help and suggestions.

          I am going to try the No CD patch for Alien Crossfire.

          Regarding my original problem (Alpha Centauri on Laptop), the one that crashes in the middle is the one I installed from another Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack CD. And I also get a similar error message "Terran.icd has encountered a problem and needs to close..." when it crashes.

          Is it possible that the problem could be same as the one that I am having with Alien Crossfire on my desktop? If so, is there any similar fix available?

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by stalukdar

            Regarding my original problem (Alpha Centauri on Laptop), the one that crashes in the middle is the one I installed from another Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack CD. And I also get a similar error message "Terran.icd has encountered a problem and needs to close..." when it crashes.

            Is it possible that the problem could be same as the one that I am having with Alien Crossfire on my desktop? If so, is there any similar fix available?
            If I understand you correctly, you have two copies of SMAC installed on your laptop. One copy works, the other one doesn't. I previously advised you to use the copy that worked, but you still wish to fix the copy that doesn't work.

            In that case, I think you should completely uninstall all copies of SMAC and SMAX from your laptop and then reinstall from the planetary pack CD. Your problem may be caused by having two copies of the same program installed in different folders of the same computer.

            After having done this, if you still have a problem, please post again.
            "The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
            -- Kosh

            Comment


            • #7
              Thank you Petek .

              I have managed to fix the problems with Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack on both my Laptop and desktop.

              Laptop:
              I uninstalled both Alpha Centauri and Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack.
              I installed only Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack. With this installation I could only play Alien Crossfire and not Alpha Centauri (it always crashed in the middle of the game).
              I found that the problem was caused by something in sound.dll and turned off both ds3d and eax in "Alpha Centauri.ini" file [ds3d=0 and eax=0].
              This seems to have fixed the problem.

              Desktop:
              Reinstalled Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack. Applied the NO CD crack to both terran and terranx downloaded from the site http://smac.2be.cc/tools.html. Toggled the setting of ForcOldVoxelAlgorithm in "Alpha Centauri.ini".
              Now I am able to play both even if the message "CPU not supported ..." is displayed.
              btw, I alos found the this site http://googlie2.tripod.com/rynnsgallery/id8.html from where one can download the NO CD crack for SMAC. The link for NO CD crack for SMAX seems to be no longer valid.

              NOTE: When I applied the patch for Win2000 / XP compatibility (that I downloaded from Firaxis web site), both Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire had problems running on both my laptop and desktop. So I had to uninstall the patch. Now I am going to try playing MP over LAN and see if everything works properly or not.

              Comment

              Working...
              X