Terran.icd error

[gman]

Just rescued my Planetary Pack from being trashed (an over-zealous relative was nerve-stapled for that). However, I can't get it to run on my new PC. It installs OK, but when I try to run SMAC, it prompts me with a "terran.icd" error, spits out its dummy and crashes.

I've had a hunt around for a fix but (and call me stupid if you like) can't find one. I'm aware that there are some Windows 98/XP conflicts but am not exactly sure what they are.

For those who need to know, I'm currently running:
Sharp laptop
AMD Athlon XP-M
Windows XP HE, Service Pack 2
S3 ProSavage DDR 32-bit graphics
Acres of hard-disk space

Any help would be most gratefully received

Cheers!

[Darsnan]

FIrst - have you downloaded the patches for the game? There is an XP comaptibility patch at the Firaxis site which is probably what you need.

If that doesn't do it then look in the SMACX FAQ Thread , as there are a lot of problems listed as well as their solutions. Most common of these is the "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1" problem, as noted below:

You will need to modify a line in the Alpha Centauri.ini that is located in the game folder. To do this:

Double click on My Computer
Double click on the C: Local Drive (your Hard Drive or the drive that the game is installed to)
Double click on the Program Files Folder
Double click on the Firaxis Games Folder
Double click on the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Folder]
Double click on the Alpha Centauri.ini File (The file looks like a read me text file with a little gold symbol on it).

Once the file is open in Notepad, change:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0

to

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

Be sure to save your changes, then run the game. You may still receive the error message. If it occurs, click OK and the game will load fine.

If you are Installed Sid Meier's Planetary pack then their will be no Alpha Centauri.ini File initially. Upon attemping to play the game and clicking ok despite CPU being unsupported the ini file will be produced. Then simply change the ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm to 1.

[Hydro]

If you haven’t done so already, you may be able to rehabilitate your CD with DiskDoctor or another type of CD repair system. I’ve had 2 SMAC CDs that have gone south. In one case a malfunctioning CD drive in a laptop issued heart-rending scraping and grinding sounds when trying to access the SMAX CD. Sure enough, there were chattermarks all over the CD and it would no longer work. A single round of DiskDoctor did the trick and it has worked fine ever since.

Hydro

[gman]

Thanks for the tips, Darsnan... patches run, algorithms changed... now my "terran.icd" error has morphed into a "terran.exe" error when running SMAC or "terranx.icd" error when running SMAX.

Further advice most gratefully received

[gwillybj]

In Alpha Centauri.ini look for the entries "ds3d=1" (or 0) and "eax=1" (or 0). Try each combination (0/0, 0/1, 1/0, and 1/1) until one of them works.
Another possibility is adding the line "directdraw=0", but try ds3d and eax first.
btw, I had an S3 video card in my previous PC and had to do all sorts of special stuff for nearly every game I played.

[Petek]

gman,

If the other suggestions don't work, experiment with running the programs in various compatibility modes, such as:

* Run in Windows 2000 emulation mode,
* 256 colours,
* No visual themes, or
* No advanced text services

Let me know if this is unclear.

Petek