SMACX vs XP

[knowhow2]

running SMACX with XP giving me problem. How do I proceed from here?

[Archaic]

Get the XP patch Firaxis released not so long ago might help. Or was that for SMAC only?

[Jamski]

Try changing "force old voxel algorithm" to =1 in the ini file. This can help.

-Jam

[knowhow2]

Originally posted by War of Art
Try changing "force old voxel algorithm" to =1 in the ini file. This can help.

-Jam

I'm sorry but when it comes to files I'm a total idiot. So how to change this would be easier with more info please?

Already downloaded the patch for XP but it didn't help

[Googlie]

Go thru explorer to open the 'AlphaCentauri.ini' file (it should open automatically with the windows text editor)

Now add a line to the block of text (right after 'PREFERENCES' at the end:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

and save and exit

Now try to start smacx

I play on Win XP with no trouble except for the interceptor crash - and I am following that thread carefully, as I do play on humungous maps (128 x 256)

G.

[Kajak]

Googlie,
It sure is time for someone knowledgeble as yourself to put together a FAC on what we know so far on the xp problems. I'd be willing to help what little I can.

Did you note the points at the way down end of the patch 4 note file on Items to help reduce playing crashes, This note does imply they know there is still an xp problem. I do those things mostly plus others I've learned or have tried and with patch 4 they seemed to have keep the crases under control.

[Jamski]

I solved the XP problems by installing win98 on my new computer - just for the sake of SMAC. It was too sad to think I had to leave this game behind when I upgraded my machine. Not very helpful, though, I suppose, but a good final solution.

-Jam

[Hydro]

I upgraded to XP and it has been a complete nightmare, which I’ll have to fix by wiping my HD (or in my case getting a new HD) and starting clean. The only good thing is that SMAX works fine, once I replaced my soundcard, that is (grrrr!).

I hope it works out for you. I know I’d be lost without SMAX for my PBEM sagas (and hearing the melodious sound of Dee's voice...ahhhhhh)!

Hydro

[johndmuller]

If XP is causing no end of grief, there is always the "dual booting" option. If you can scrape up a couple of Gigs into a separate partition, that should be plenty of space for a retro op system used primarily for SMAC. You may need it anyway for some other equipment (I just discovered that my scanner isn't supported on any of the NT family of op sys's).

SMAC/X runs fine on W2K and there should be no trouble installing a second (new W2K system) installation in addition to an already existing XP installation. With both systems NT based, you shouldn't have any problems reading files between the systems in either direction. If you only have Win98-family systems as your predecessors, you might have to install the XP on top of an existing Win98 setup rather than just add it to the XP, so it could entail blowing off whatever else has been done with the XP setup; if you are still early into XP, that shouldn't be too much to lose. You might also experience trouble passing files between partitions, depending on what file systems and which exact operating system pairs you have.

At various times, there have been unpleasant side effects to dual booting (primarily the file systems mentioned above and needing to install everything twice or risk funny things happening), but current versions of the operating systems seem to be largely OK with dual booting so it is not terribly dangerous and can sometimes be helpful if one of them gets corrupted, you can still boot the other and have a chance to fix whatever problems are going on with a better chance of success than trying to "repair" a damaged installation with the repair diskettes et al.

[knowhow2]

The change of algorithm worked fine, thanx for the help.

-knowhow2