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**Robear** · July 25, 2002, 17:29

Well, what I did was to reinstall clean, then unset all
the compatibility options back to XP standard. Then
I installed the ini file and tweaked it. This worked for
both games. Then I updated SMAC and put in the
exe fix, and this worked also.

I got the ini file from the one posted this week, but
it had a typo in it in the screen size setting. The
value was 1084, but should be 1024. Here is the
file I ended up using.

Note that I've turned off Direct Draw, since my
video card is 16/32 bit color. I suspect that did
the trick, but I'm not sure.

Robear

[Alpha Centauri]
ds3d=1
eax=1
FastUnitAnim=0
SmoothUnitAnim=0
MainFontSize=16
InterludeFontSize=16
DisableOpeningMovie=1
Prefs Format=12
Difficulty=5
Map Type=3
Top Menu=0
Faction=1
Direct Draw=0
Video Mode=1024
WindowsFileBox=0
Preferences=10011011111000111101001010000111
More Preferences=101111101011111100101100
Semaphore=00000000
Announce=111100110010101111
Rules=101100000011110
Customize=2
Time Controls=1
Custom Map X=128
Custom Map Y=128
Faction 1=GAIANS
Faction 2=HIVE
Faction 3=UNIV
Faction 4=MORGAN
Faction 5=SPARTANS
Faction 6=BELIEVE
Faction 7=PEACE
Latest Scenario=
Main Volume=79
Voice Volume=80
Music Volume=63
SFX Volume=107
Base Sort=0
Gamma Correction=100
[PREFERENCES]
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

**Pandemoniak** · July 25, 2002, 18:10

(applauds)

Well done Robear, no one answered your thread, but you managed the thing anyway

**Googlie** · July 26, 2002, 02:21

OOPS - I'm the culprit who posted the .ini file details on the other thread

I actually run VideoMode=1200, but edited that and got it wrong (I'll edit the actual thread so that others won't copy that mistake)

I also run the classic windows type boxes rather than tyhe custom Firaxis ones - the line to edit should then be:

WindowsFileBox=1

If you want no-cd capability, then replace the exiting .exe files with the 2 no-cd files. get them at:

SMAC and SMAX no CD cracks

http://googlie2.tripod.com/rynnsgallery/id8.html

G.

**Robear** · July 26, 2002, 09:31

Well, to be honest, the really weird
assumption I made was that if it was not
working reliably in compat mode, maybe I
screwed things up with the order of the
patch installs or something. But that
did not explain why it failed on the
initial startups.

With XP, if you uninstall, then re-install,
it keeps the same compat settings that you
had before uninstalling, so I had to change
them all back to standard, no compat mode.
Then test, then build ini, then add the
patch, then the startup patch because it's
the Planetary Pack.

With this in place, I could figure out
what had happened. I had actually used
*both* patches at one point - that's not
needed and probably messed things up.
But I think it was turning the Direct
Draw off that really did make the
difference. When that was done, and
the cpu tweak was put in, it ran fine
before and after patching. this is
probably important because my video
card won't do 8 bit, and if that was
requested, it might choke. I don't
know this for sure but it's my working
hypothesis.

The other WinXP oddity is that creating
a text file with the name "alphacentaur.ini"
did not prevent a file with the same name
but a different type from being created
by the patch installation process.
I had to copy the contents into that new
one to get the game to notice.

I'm just putting this stuff up in case
anyone else finds themselves in the same
mess at some point. :-) Ultimately, it
was reading the past messages and the
Win2K troubleshooting thread that put it
together for me, and I commend those
to anyone following in this path.

Thanks!

Robear

**Kajak** · August 1, 2002, 18:59

I'm a newbie of newbies with a xp machine that crashes on "terran exe" in smac. After lurking ( also my first time) today I found one reference that mentioned it as if everyone knew of it. Anyhelp for you all ?? or references where I could find help ? EA's help support's suggestions didn't work. The darn thing crashes just as it's getting interesting around yr2400.

**Googlie** · August 2, 2002, 10:00

If you've reached 2400 in gameplay, it sounds like one of the gameplay bug crashes.

Offhand I can recall three:

The interceptor scramble crash (you have an interceptor on alert or on hold, and it scrambles to meet an incoming enemy threat - game freezes) - solution is to always hit "spacebar" with your interceptors - that way you control the scrambles.

this seems to happen less frequently with WinXP, but can happen

The North Pole bug (you move a unit to the topmost row of tiles, and next turn to move it, game freezes) - solution is to reload that turn, and put that unit on "automatic" - the computer will move it off for you

The design workshop overload bug (you enter the design workshop thru the "change build orders" option in the base screen and try to manage the obsolescence feature from there - the screen at times will just freeze, and exit and reload is the only option) Solution is always to manage obsolescence thru the "menu" and "HQ" and "workshop" route.

this seems to be unique to WinXP

Might it have been any of these?

G.

**Kajak** · August 2, 2002, 17:34

G. Thanks for the good try.
But I guess I should have been a little more specific on the problem ( I assummed it might be some common mistake by beginners) So I'll try again.
1. The screen does not freeze, it dumps me completely out of the program back to the desktop with a message that " terran.exe" was nonresponsive. and do I want to send the details to microsoft. I didn't bother.
2. It may be related to the "change" build you mentioned, as the major tech advances were coming very fast, though I was not trying to obsolete anything.
3. I t also seems to happen when the actions of the AI is running a lot of movement of its pieces. Sometimes in very repetitive motions. Today three of the factions were all ganging up on my poor little Univ. guys when it went crash on yr2398. Is there perhaps something limiting the number of balls in the air either ac or more to the point xp can handle ? ( I vaguely recall that back in the early 60's we were allowed only three balls
in the air at one time (registers, I think I remember it was. Sorry about the senior moment here. But also remember in the 80's there was a strange 15 limit on things that I never understood in late dos or early windows.)
4. In some cases where the audio was "talking" it would actually stutter 5-10 times before the crash.
5. I had no interceptors.

**Googlie** · August 2, 2002, 21:20

K:

I should have been more specific too.

On my desktop, (WinXP) I get booted out of the game with the "Do you want to notify Microsoft?" message, and when I choose "No", the screen then resizes from it's smac/x resolution back to my normal desktop resolution.

On my laptop (WinME) I do get an utter game freeze - just have to reboot the laptop.

On my desktop I'm running a P4 1.8, with 512 MB ram and nVidia Riva TNT2 model 64 pro. I have heard that some other graphics cards work with no problems at all, while others seem to sieze up more frequently than I experience.

Not sure if the # units being moved around by the AI has any bearing - I frequently play on 256 x 256 maps, and with game end set to 2800 (tech stagnation) and have had several games where the #units for me has been over 1000 and combined for the AI in excess of 3000, with no problems

G.

**Kajak** · August 2, 2002, 22:38

G.
Went back to the game where I was booted out at y2398 ( I had saved at y2389) and tried to make sure all was calm ( no pounding on the key board when they sank my best ship) , least amount of automation on my part, and it still crashed at more or less the same point.

I picked up the name of the Fireaxis guy( re: xp patches) on another thread and sent a message to them offering to help on the patches ( little that i could probable do, ) . It looks as if you're right about the number of "registers" not being the problem, so there goes my only idea. In any case thank you for your help.

Probable should be a new thread, but stuff all the older stategies say works, just put me in worse trouble.
My real question is have "they" perhaps also tweaked the AI in the later editions???
Kajak.

**Kajak** · August 4, 2002, 14:02

Back to the "terran.exe" total crash problem, yaa, one more time.
I have now a game saved where only several more strokes on the key board adjusting short build lists during a game yr turn pause will do the crash. i.e. no planes were flying, no patrols, no formers during things or otherwise.
Probable opening too many doors for would be humerists, but any ideas on what if anything useful someone could do with this??? It's way over my pay grade.

**Googlie** · August 4, 2002, 19:02

Interestingly, this past week or so I've been getting a terran.exe crash every time i try to start a new game with random seven factions and random play faction.

It even spills over into regular games immediately thereafter, so that I get the crash before I load any game.

The solution (for me) is to start the game through the "start/programs/firaxis games/s..m..a..c../run s..m..a..c.."

Seems to work then (even random factions and random player)

G.

**Willem** · August 4, 2002, 23:49

Originally posted by Kajak

4. In some cases where the audio was "talking" it would actually stutter 5-10 times before the crash.

I'm not exactly sure where, maybe the readme, but I came across a mention that SMAC might have have sound problems when running on an NT system. Since XP is sort of an extension of NT, the sound will no doubt stutter on it as well. But I don't think that's what's causing the crashes. I'm having problems as well, since I upgraded to XP, but it's never happened during a sound event.

It was interesting that you mentioned the AI movement. It seems to me that's when it crashes on me, though I can't really say if it's because of a lot of units being moved. I had one incident that I could repeat, and it seems to me that it only happens when a certain unit makes a move.

Just in case anyone isn't aware, Firaxis is working on a patch that will deal with XP issues. There's no release date yet though, and it sounds to me like it might be awhile before it's ready. Dan Magaha more or less mentioned that it's not their biggest priority at the moment.

**Kajak** · August 7, 2002, 11:02

G. and W.
After three weeks at this game I finally won one with the Ascent. The interesting part was again the "terran.exe" crashes around the yr2400-2420 area of the game . I had the crashes, but I was tiptoeing through the time period, saving every 5 yrs or so. The main difference in getting through the crash gap (arg!) was changing a pact I had with the greens on the same big island and not agreeing to a pact. This stopped the AI from doing wheelies with every green piece it had all over my territory. Later in our war there was a lot of action but all response to my actions or straight out attacks by the AI.

Question or speculation, Is there something that happens around this stage of the game that actually gives the machine less to keep track of ? After about 2420 I had no more trouble, even with research, upgrades, and fast build completions pouring in like mad.

Do your crashes happen around the same place, difference places for differing players may just reflect differening styes of play?

**johndmuller** · August 7, 2002, 19:54

It seems likely that you are getting the interceptor crash in some form, perhaps between two AI dudes, so you don't see it happening. IIRC, I've noticed that the annoying antics of Yang's Million Drone Air Force (or its equivalent in other factions) seem to stop at some point. I think that I have also been gifted by large numbers of planes occasionally when pacted with the AI, perhaps indicating that it thinks they are not so useful at that time. I suppose that the AI's strategy is dependent on various things, like what techs have been discovered, so that it might suddenly change horses with the planes if its guidelines call for that.

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