Alpha Centauri.. hurts eyes..

[ancient]

anyone else have this problem? the red land.. kills my eyes.. cant play for more then 15 mins,,,

[mark13]

I hear it's a sign of old age

But no, try adjusting the gamma correction in the game preference menu. Alternatively, try toning the colour down on your monitor....

[Horus]

I've heard a rumour that Vel's so good at the game that he plays without any monitor. Try that!

[buster]

Hurting eyes can also be too low refresh rate.

75 Hz or better is recommended. It can be set in display settings for windows in general under advanced - adapter.

Directx at times has it own refresh setting. This can be set by going into program files direct and click on dxsetup.exe (or some other exe file - varies with version - and there is usually only or two exe type files in there).

[johndmuller]

I remember thinking "man, this red is weird", when I first started playing, and when I started getting surprised by mind worms, I got to dislike it even more. If I had known what the gamma correction really did (and whether using it might make things worse - or mess up the settings on the whole computer) I might have used it, but I didn't.

Anyway, now I don't think it is weird at all, and I haven't done anything to my settings, monitor or whatever. Sometimes I even wish for more contrast - it can be tough sometimes to be sure of a single fungus square, especially compared to a flat arid one, in the midst of other stuff, with units, etc around.

I suppose that different monitors, different eyes, different ambiance, etc. could make a difference too. Once there are a few forests out there though, your eyes will have somewhere to go to relax.

[Iskandar Reza]

There'sa Program called Powerstrip that you can use to tweak refresh rates, directx settings and what-nots. you can get it at www.ocshoot.com

[ancient]

actually no my pc is top of the line and know matter what i change it to on gamma it still bothers me. thats why i quit playing and dont play too often. i really hate the red it should just be a normal planet like earth.

[gwillybj]

ancient and others who are having trouble with the red hues:

Here is an option that might or might not help your eyes. There is "RGE's Alternate Color Set" you can download from LoD's The Chironian Guild. One of these URLs should get you there (most times I use the first one, but sometimes I have to use the second).

http://guild.ask-klan.net.pl/
http://www.smac.prv.pl/

Once there, go to "Downloads", "Misc". It is currently the last item, "drabsmac.zip". You can read a brief description of it there before downloading it. The site has a bunch of other cool stuff . I should mention I have not actually used it in a game yet, but I have looked at the .pcx and it is cast in a much "earthier" pallette.
[This message has been edited by gwillybj (edited May 04, 2001).]