SMAC on XP??

[Jonny]

I have Windows XP Home Edition and I am having trouble getting the game to run. I installed it sucessfully (I have Planetary Pack) but when I try load it up, I get the "This program has encountered a problem and will have to shut down" message. I have tried all of the "Compatibility Mode" settings, but with no luck.

My system:
Windows XP home edition
Pentium 4 1.8 GhZ (I have already changed ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm setting to 1)
75 GB hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce2 MX 400 video card
A Sound Blaster brand sound card

Help please!!

[Chowlett]

Odd, it works fine on my XP Pro machine, both SMAC and SAMCX (PP each). Have you tried updating the drivers from the standard ones XP supplies? It's amazing how many things that can fix.

[Jonny]

Which Drivers?

Let me explain the problem in more detail.
When I load it up, after the short Firaxis Logo movie, the screen comes up asking if I want to play Alien Crossfire or the original (which is what should happen in Planetary Pack.) All sound and graphics associated with this screen work. When I click on one (either one), the loading screen comes up, and then I get a message like this:



Edit: Sorry for the blurry pic.

Yet Another Edit: I just realized something. I have set the Compatibility Options for terran.exe and terranx.exe, but the message box says the problem is in terran.icd and terranx.icd, but you can't change compatibility settings for .icd files.

[Chowlett]

Originally posted by Jonny
Which Drivers?

Usually graphics and sound card are the ones to start with. Beyond that, I don't know. My setup is nigh-on identical to yours, except that I've got an Athlon 800 insteadof the Pentium, so if that doesn't help it indicates (perhaps) that it's not a hardware issue.

[Docfeelgood]

Go to the Alpha Centauri.ini


Make ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1





worked for me

[Docfeelgood]

ooops


sorry



my dumbdass did not read your whole post

[Docfeelgood]

I have the same stats on hp system except for the sound card.


might be the drivers?

[johndmuller]

There are also the DirectX drivers.

On the machine I was using over the weekend, it appeared to be necessary sometimes to reboot without the CD in the drive (and then insert the CD and wait paitently for the autorun to come on and then exit it) and only then run the program. Perhaps this, or some other dubious ritual will work for you.

BTW, regarding drivers in general, newer is usually, but not necessarily always better.

[Blake]

I believe that .icd files are related to copy protection. You might like to try installing a no-cd crack.
You could try looking on www.megagames.com or www.gamecopyworld.com.

[Googlie]

I run both SMAC and SMAX on XP suxxessfully

Try adjusting the compatibility mode feature in XP for SMAC - I had to do that for an old NHL Hockey game I have - it worked fine after that.

(Start, Programs, Accessories, Program Compatability Wizard)

G.