Faction Editor problem (SMAC/X)

[Rubin]

I cannot get the Faction Editor included in the Planetary Pack to work! It loads, but the graphics are missing or corrupt and I generally cannot use it for editing factions.

I've seen a working version of the Faction Editor some years ago, though. Any idea what is wrong with my version (Planetary Pack)? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Commy]

I got Crossfire and The Original separately. I know there are a few bugs, but never heard of this one. I used the faction editor all the time, and sell the factions to my friends (who don't have crossfire, good way to make money). Do you have problems loading different pictures? I don't understand the problem. For example, when you open the editor, is the current faction that is on the screen (should be the Hive) have the right picture and correlating information? Can you load different factions and graphic sets. Post again, and with good detail, clarify your problem.

[Googlie]

Rubin:

I've e-mailed you a copy of my facedit - let me know if this works

G.

[Rubin]

Thanks for the replies. Hmm, I've tried many, many things to make the Faction Editor work.

Firstly, Googlie, thanks for the file. It seems identical to the one I already have (both on the CD and in the game folder). I tried running the Faction Editor from the CD and from various directories. I also think I've tried using the facedit.exe included in one of the official patches (v2.0 I think). Same result every time.

Secondly, when I choose to load a new faction the default folder is NOT my Alpha Centauri folder. This happens no matter which facedit executable I use. Maybe, it has something to do with the install process, I'm not sure.

Thirdly, I've patched my version of SMAC/X with the Compatibility Update only (which is sufficent for getting v5.0 SMAC and v2.0 SMACX). I use Win98 and I've tried installing the game on different computers without any luck.

Finally, here's a screenshot of how it looks after clicking on a few of the buttons on the right. All messed up--and in particular: Not working!

(Edit: Although I not at all sure, maybe the problem has something to do with the facedit.exe being unable to locate my Alpha Centauri folder. My local registry database has no references to facedit.exe--I don't know if this is required (just a thought).)

[Petek]

Rubin,

Perhaps your facedit.txt file is corrupt. I changed one character in my file and facedit.exe immediately had weird problems (not the same as yours, though).

[Skanky Burns]

If so, here is a copy of my facedit.txt
It works for me.

[Rubin]

Thanks, Skanky Burns! Alas, no luck. However, I'm almost sure now that the problem is not the facedit.exe nor the facedit.txt.

Has anyone tried to run the Faction Editor without having installed the game (i.e. uninstalled the game but keeping the Faction Editor specific files)?

[Skanky Burns]

I moved facedit.exe into a new folder and tried running it, it didn't even load. Copying all the files in the SMAC root dir lets the program load up correctly.

What files are in the same directory as facedit.exe?

[Rubin]

Skanky Burns: The facedit.exe file is located in the main Alpha Centauri directory; most of the game files are there. I've found that the less obvious files: jackal.txt, lp.exe and clokspl.exe are used by facedit.exe by default.

I really hope to be able to solve this problem.

[Skanky Burns]

I've got my copy of facedit.exe running properly with just it, all the txt files and all the pcx files... Perhaps one of your pcx files is corrupted?

[Skanky Burns]

Ok.

I have the following files in a completely seperate directory:
facedit.exe
facedit.txt
jackal.txt
jackal.pcx
interface.pcx

and logfile.txt gets made in that directory.

Copy these files into a seperate directory and try to run the program, see what happens then.

[Skanky Burns]

Interface file.

IMPORTANT: This is a pcx file, not actually a zip file. Just rename it to .pcx

[Skanky Burns]

Jackal file.

IMPORTANT: This is a pcx file, not actually a zip file. Just rename it to .pcx

[Rubin]

Skanky Burns: Using the files listed above (including your .pcx files) allows me to run the Faction Editor. However, the text on the left side of the screen still gets messed up when I click the right side buttons. Do you get this too? I still have the same problems, btw.

I also uninstalled the game again. This is frustrating...

[Skanky Burns]

No, it blanks the screen properly, not just overlaying text on the previous screen. Works fine, even my minimal 5-files version.

My next guess is the graphics card driver. What card is it? Any updated drivers?