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Boy, how it crashes!

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  • #1

    Boy, how it crashes!

    Ok, now I'm having this problem...

    I used to play SMAC in my Duron 850 MHz w/ 256 MB RAM and Windows ME without a single problem. All of a sudden, the game starts to crash randomly. Sometimes it happens when I move a unit, sometimes when I close the base screen... no pattern here.
    I always get the message "Terran.exe made something illegal and you'll pay for it" or something like this...

    Actually, I tweaked the game a little bit: I added the line "Video Mode=1024" to the "alphacentauri.ini" file, because I wanted to play the game in that resolution even if my screen resolution is 800x600 at the moment. Only then the game started to crash.

    I tried to change the line "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm" as described in the readme file, but to no avail. Do I have to reinstall the game? (Please, tell me I won't have to do it).

    Thanks.
    I watched you fall. I think I pushed.
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  • #2
    Well, the obvious thing to try would be to take the resolution line back out...
    The church is the only organisation that exists for the benefit of its non-members
    Buy your very own 4-dimensional, non-orientable, 1-sided, zero-edged, zero-volume, genus 1 manifold immersed in 3-space!
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    • #3
      Originally posted by Chowlett
      Well, the obvious thing to try would be to take the resolution line back out...
      I did that. It didn't work. Well, I think I'll have to reinstall it and see what happens.
      I watched you fall. I think I pushed.

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      • #4
        I had the same problem as you have now. I think it has to do with how much memory you have left on your hard drive. When i emptied some diskspace the game run normaly. Im not sure thoe. If you dont have much free space on your hard drive, try and remove some stuff and see if it works.
        Raveland:
        A land where the trees looks like big soundsystems, the flowers seemed to become ravers and the air smells like happiness!!!

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        • #5
          Phobos: I had approximately 3.6 GB free on my HD at the time the crashes started to happen.

          Is it possible to delete the "alphacentauri.ini" file? I know that this file is created when you first install the game, I'm thinking it might be recreated if I delete it... or not?
          I watched you fall. I think I pushed.

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          • #6
            oh....well. Then im afraid i dont know

            I dont know what happens if you delete alphacentauri.ini. What do you want to accomplish by doing that?
            And be sure to make a copy of the alphacentauri.ini before you delete it just in case the game wont run. But you probably thought of that
            Last edited by Phobos; May 28, 2002, 11:38.
            Raveland:
            A land where the trees looks like big soundsystems, the flowers seemed to become ravers and the air smells like happiness!!!

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            • #7
              Phobos: yes, always keep backups is a lesson I learned painfully some years ago...

              I'm thinking on these lines: if the game started to crash constantly after I tweaked the alphacentauri.ini file, then something must have gone wrong (corrupted file, whatever). Given that the file is created after the game is installed, rather than being part of the original file package, then when I delete it, it might possibly recreate itself next time I start a game, and then it will be brand new.

              I know... too many words.
              I watched you fall. I think I pushed.

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              • #8
                Ok, i see your point.
                If it doesn´t work and you dont want to reinstall the game i can send you the original alphacentauri.ini file.
                Raveland:
                A land where the trees looks like big soundsystems, the flowers seemed to become ravers and the air smells like happiness!!!

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Alexnm
                  Phobos: I had approximately 3.6 GB free on my HD at the time the crashes started to happen.

                  Is it possible to delete the "alphacentauri.ini" file? I know that this file is created when you first install the game, I'm thinking it might be recreated if I delete it... or not?
                  Do not delete it, just empty it except for the end of file line.
                  Gaius Mucius Scaevola Sinistra
                  Japher: "crap, did I just post in this thread?"
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                  • #10
                    Are you sure that you limited your tinkering to just the AC.ini file? No teenie weenie little changes to any of the .txt files? (nothing that would make any differences of course)

                    Did you change any of your hardware/software(particularly drivers) at about the same time. On a computer I fortunately use only rarely, I took MS's advice and 'upgraded' my sound drivers and ended up with a system that would only reliably run AC if it were shortly after a reboot and if the proper chants and rituals were performed in the correct order.

                    Re reloading the game: For the record, I share your angst about doing that, but actually, it only takes a few minutes to do it and you can always save the prior installation into some other folder or archive it onto another partition or CD.

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                    • #11
                      ... and it keeps crashing...

                      The crashes have changed their methods. Now I don't get that nasty "Terran.exe" message anymore, the game just freezes. Sometimes the game screen remains visible, sometimes it just locks on a blank screen. Nothing helps. No Ctrl-Alt-Del, no praying, no virgin sacrifices. I have to turn off the computer and start the game again only to have it crash a few turns later.

                      My checklist:

                      - Changed the line "eax=1" in alphacentauri.ini. Nope.
                      - Changed the line "dsd3=1" in alphacentauri.ini. Nope.
                      - Changed the line "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0" in alphacentauri.ini. Nope.
                      - Checked dxdiag to spot any incompatibilities. Nope.
                      - Uninstalled and reinstalled the game. Nope.
                      - Changed color depth from "True color (32 bits)" to "High color (16 bits)". Nope.

                      Funny... in theory, I would not even have to make these changes, because the game WAS playing fine until some days ago (one or two weeks) and I did not make any changes to my system at all.

                      I know that probably no one will be able to help, I just wanted to vent my frustration a little bit. I did it in an orderly fashion, I guess... the moderators won't be angry.

                      I'll have to play Civ3.
                      I watched you fall. I think I pushed.

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                      • #12
                        I seem to get the terranx.exe crash when I'm upgrading units...anyone else come across this?
                        "Love the earth and sun and animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown . . . reexamine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency" - Walt Whitman

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                        • #13
                          Re: ... and it keeps crashing...

                          Originally posted by Alexnm
                          the game just freezes. Sometimes the game screen remains visible, sometimes it just locks on a blank screen. Nothing helps. No Ctrl-Alt-Del, no praying, no virgin sacrifices. I have to turn off the computer and start the game again only to have it crash a few turns later.
                          A:

                          I had the same problem with my last desktop PC, but worse - I'd get that same absolute freeze not only in smac/x, but also Word, Excel, etc

                          Turns out it was a videocard problem that smac exacerbated (was the original basic GeForce card) - after I re-installed the video driver the problem more or less disappeared. (I say "more or less" as I found that if I left the machine unattended for an extended period - say 10 minutes or more - then when I tried to renew everything was frozen, and I had the usual "hit reset" action.

                          We never did find out how to cure that one - the store tekkies reckoned that it was to do with my powersmart settings, but tinkering with them made no difference.

                          All I can say is "good luck"

                          G.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by SMAC Fanatic
                            I seem to get the terranx.exe crash when I'm upgrading units...anyone else come across this?
                            Using ctl/U, or while in the workshop?

                            I got it on my old machine while in the workshop, if a base screen was open (ie, change production, activate workshop, try to assemble a new unit for upgrading, result, frequent absolute freezes - see my previous post)

                            G.

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                            • #15
                              Since I installed a new vidio card, I only have reloads when my sons or wife quit a game that I leave unattended. lol.

                              With the old card, I once had a unit disappear in a MP game when I hit Cntl/U.

                              No such problems recently.

                              bc
                              Team 'Poly

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