WinXP Issues

[Sikander]

Kaigun,

Have you added the line to the ini file that allows you a choice of using an unsupported processor? The exact code is on the first page, and it looks something like "forceold...."

I'm wondering if the problem is with the SMAC v4 patch. I haven't installed it, and now SMACX is running fine, even with the v2 patch. Try running vanilla SMAC and see if that works, then try the patch. Vanilla (unpatched) SMAC worked just fine for me, both before and after I loaded SMACX and the SMACX v2 patch.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Kajak
kaigun;
You might try cleaning out your version in all respects, then reloading without the Patch 4. ( I'm assumming here you have the p4 installed.) In either case try it.

I just had a very aggrivating terran.exe crash at y2395 and swore I wouldn't touch this again until there was a solution if any. If and when there is one, someone please drop me a e-mail as I do love the game otherwise. Bye for now, have fun...

Patience! Dan Magaha has informed me that Firaxis is working on a patch to resolve the XP issues. As you can no doubt understand, this is not one of their priorities at the moment, so we'll just have to wait until they manage to get it finished. I'm guessing we can forget about it at least until Play The World is released.

[Kajak]

Thanks, Willem for the information from Fireaxis, in the meantime I guess we can consider the terran.exe crash as a dark side of the Planet. The goal being perhaps to win before it strikes.

A happenstance with trying out a demo from PC Gamer Demo disk 7.19( Medieval: Total War) in the last of the battles included, which had many many hundreds of little fighters running around , loose horses running around, ect. and the darn thing froze up tight as a drum.

Makes me wonder if my earlier speculation of a deep list limit of some kind doesn't exist in xp.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Kajak
Thanks, Willem for the information from Fireaxis, in the meantime I guess we can consider the terran.exe crash as a dark side of the Planet. The goal being perhaps to win before it strikes.

That's about the best we can expect at the moment unfortunately. The last time I played, I ran into the Interceptor crash, but I was still able to get a 130% rating out of my game, at the highest level, when it happened. So I guess we may as well think of not crashing the game as another victory condition for the time being.

[Ned]

Willem, I think Sikander has a point. I have never installed the SMAC v.4 patch on this machine.

Since I set eax=0 and run only huge size worlds or less, I get no crashes whatsoever. Also, just in case it matters, I start terranx.exe directly.

I did try a few experiments increasing the world size to above huge. The crashes returned in all cases.

Also, I found I can run without the CD. I thought this was not possible? I simply have a full install.

[Willem]

Thanks for the info, I'll have to try not installing the v4 patch. I shouldn't need it anyway since I'll be running Crossfire. I kind of hate reducing my map size though. I've increased Huge by 50%, and I really like the space I have to play with.

[Willem]

Originally posted by Sikander

I'm wondering if the problem is with the SMAC v4 patch. I haven't installed it, and now SMACX is running fine, even with the v2 patch. Try running vanilla SMAC and see if that works, then try the patch. Vanilla (unpatched) SMAC worked just fine for me, both before and after I loaded SMACX and the SMACX v2 patch.

I think you might be on to something here. I reinstalled the game, leaving out patch 4, and I've had no problems at all so far. It hasn't crashed once on me. Mind you I've also been playing on the default huge map, not 50% as I was doing before. So I'm not positive which thing was causing the problems.

[Kajak]

Willem and rest of you all.
I just beat the terran.exe crash by running over it.
( A magnificant conquest victory at Y2427, after a terran.exe crash at Y2217, at Trancendent Thought 92) Enough brag, but it was my first real win.
Here's how!!!!
I was attacking Mariam on two fronts, we both had very large empires in a "large" map, the other three ai factions had only three or four bases each. Mariam had hordes of mobiles running back and forth all over her space. and then it crashed on a turn completed click at Y2217. I had a save about five turns earlier and .....

1. Did not attack Mariam, only hit her pieces when they entered my space, greatly slowed down her movements.
2. Calmed all my other work down as well, no pieces on patrol, no travels set beyond the amount allowed, i.e. basically no carry over orders for other tiles except for the current tile.
3. Cut all build ques to three or less. none in many cases.
4. Continued tip toeing for about 20 turns or so, saving every couple turns, then took out the three smaller factions more or less one at a time.
5.. Obviously no guarantees, but it seemed to work for me this one time.

Most of the ideas above were not mine,
but come from a variety of you alll. Thank you.
So if you see your ai doing wheelies all over its part of the map, you may close to a terran.exe crash.

So, as an old Fortran debugger from the 60's , I still suspect a list limit somewhere in the program/or xp that involes the number of things it needs to remember about each tile or their sum or whatever...???.

And so the journy continues.

[Sikander]

<> for statusperfect

[Kajak]

Well old Mr. Terran.exe got Mr. Smarty Pants here.
Y2465 or so. Two major AI after my hide and I was about to launch my first drop troop offensive, oh well.
Only a large map, but as usual lots and lots of stuff going on when it crashed.
Did think of another thing to cut out, Fog-of-war , it adds another piece of info to each tile.
Cut out much more and I'll be playing Spider solitare.
50-50 so far, but win early.