possible bug concerning MP games

[sevencubed]

Here is the case: PBEM game, 4 humans. I play as the Hive. I receive the 2nd turn and as soon as i load it to play it, i see that my city (Hive) has changed its appearance to a Domai-looking city. There can't be any probe action against me or a drone riot (thus the city would go to Domai) because its just the 2nd turn of the game, so I guess that somehow the graphics can get messed up from one turn to another. Has this ever happened to anynone else ?

[Flubber]

It happens to everyone and is a well known bug. Essentially your MP game will be assigned graphics in the same order as the last game you played. Only the graphics are changed so if you can get used to a green university or a blue domai there is no issue. If it really bugs you, there is a workaround that involves loading up a game with the same factions in the same turn order IIRC

[Maniac]

Constantly. The faction graphics from you last SP game are used. Nothing to do about it besides editing your alphacentauri.ini. But it doesn't cause any harm, besides screwed up graphics. Just a pain in the ass you have to endure.

[sevencubed]

Originally posted by Maniac
...The faction graphics from you last SP game are used...

The thing is that in my last SP game i played the angels, not the Drones, yet my city looks like the last one. Anyway, i will get used to it...

[Archaic]

It's not which faction you played last, it's which faction was in that slot position that your faction occupies in this game.

[Flubber]

and next turn your faction might look like the peacekeepers or uni or whatever was in your slot in your last SP game. One fix is to have a "SP"
game set up with the same factions in the same order as each of your MP games. You can load the appropriate SP game before its MP counterpart to ensure the faction colors are right.

Personally, I just live with it.

[Archaic]

And if you find you can't......I've found that the faction colours and images will all be correct if you've never played an SP game on that install. SMAC and SMAX aren't *that* big a game that you couldn't install 2 copies. Comes in handy if you want to have a modded one for SP and you can't be bothered switching your files everytime you need to play a PBEM turn too.