windows xp

[timmy_otoole]

I have installed SMAX, the latest patch, and the windows 2000/xp and I stilll can not play the game with my windows XP system. I continue to get the "CPU is not supported message". I have tried using the preferences in the forums for the alpha centauri.ini file to no avail. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Tim

[Static Universe]

Welcome timmy_otoole!

When you say "the preferences in the forums for the alpha centauri.ini", do you mean that you changed the value of ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm to 1?

Read the following thread if this makes no sense to you:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=74934

[Archaic]

Even if you get the CPU not supported message, you can still play the game so long as you've got all the latest patches, etc.

[timmy_otoole]

Static Universe, yes I have tried changing changed the value of ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm to 1.

Archaic , I have applied all the latest patches. Both the culmative smacxpv2.exe and the Windows 2000/XP compatibility patch. In that order. This was after doing a fresh complete install.

[Googlie]

Silly question, but can't you just select "OK" and continue anyway when you get the CPU unsupported message?

That's what I do, (for over a year now with win XP) with nary a problem

G.

[Verrucosus]

I was able to run SMAC on my WinXP system after changing the VoxelAlgorithm line. The CPU-message still appeared, but after clicking OK the game worked as normal. Nothing changed in that regard when I added the compatibility patch last weekend.

I've got a question about the patch, though. I applied it to my classic SMAC game (v4), but the readme.file now includes references to SMAX. I did not check in detail, but from a short test game (50 turns or so) I get the impression that maintenance costs now are what they should be on Transcend level. I was rather surprised at that, because Firaxis advised against applying the patch unless there were problems with WinXP. Has anyone here checked yet?

Also, can the patch be applied to the Planetary Pack (which I have also installed, but rarely use, because I like the classic version better)?

Regards,
Verrucosus

[Archaic]

Originally posted by timmy_otoole
Archaic , I have applied all the latest patches. Both the culmative smacxpv2.exe and the Windows 2000/XP compatibility patch. In that order. This was after doing a fresh complete install.

Yes, I know. I was referring to what Flubber just mentioned.

And yes Verrucosus, the patch can be applied to the PP (That's what I did). All the PP is is just SMAC v4 with SMAX v2 all in the same box.

[Rubin]

Oh my! If what you tell is true, Verrucosus, that the maintenance costs are fixed on transcend.... ooh my!

That would indeed be fortune looking my way!

If it's confirmed I'll switch to WinXP just to play a less buggy SMAC...

[Frankychan]

hmmm, I'm running SMAC on WinXP with my notebook and I get a message that's all garbled. I just pick the button on the left and it lets me play the game just fine.

So long as the game works I'm o.k.

[Static Universe]

Originally posted by Rubin
Oh my! If what you tell is true, Verrucosus, that the maintenance costs are fixed on transcend.... ooh my!

What's all this about maintenance costs and the XP patch?

[Rubin]

Well, Static, if the XP patch fixes the maintenace bug on thinker and transcend levels in SMAC, you could consider the patch to be a hidden SMACv5-patch!!!

As I learned when I first visited apolyton: maintenance costs on these levels are 2/3 and 1/3 the normal costs, hence the F3 screen calculations are terribly wrong... (and besides, these difficulties are not as difficult, at all!) I guess you already know about this.

But if Verrucosus' experiences with the XP patch are confirmed, well... it seems that this maintenance bug is fixed in the XP patch!!! Now, how about that!?!

Hope my 'all jumpy' comment makes sense now...

[Verrucosus]

I must say I'm pretty excited about this myself. Last night I tested it again. I started a game on Transcend level under classic SMAC v4. In MY 2160, I had 120 energy credits. The F3 screen revealed a faction-wide budget surplus of +4 credits. I'm sorry I didn't make records about the exact maintenance costs. After saving the game and ending the turn, I started MY 2161 with 126 energy credits. No build orders were finished and no population growth occured in that turn and the F3 screen still revealed a budget surplus of +4. I then quit and started the SMAC version of the Planetary Pack to which I had applied the compatibility patch. I loaded the MY 2160 file that I had saved under classic SMAC. After checking that the F3 screen still showed the budget surplus at +4 credits, I just ended the turn and at the beginning of MY 2161 I had 124 energy credits as I was supposed to. To me, this seems pretty conclusive, but knowing how easy it is to overlook little details, I'd really appreciate it, if someone else could check as well.

On a sidenote, after applying the compatibility patch to the Planetary Pack, the "show version" entry in the help menu shows "Version 5.0" for SMAC, but still "Version 2.0" for SMAX.

Well, hope I did not mess up somewhere, so I look forward to hearing from others about this. I still worry that if this were really the transfer of the SMAX fixes to SMAC that many here had hoped and begged for, you'd think Firaxis would probably have advertised their good deed a little bit more. Of course, so far, we've only discussed maintenance costs. Can you imagine a reliable Morganite Golden Age boom under SMAC?

Regards,
Verrucosus (keeping his fingers crossed)

[timmy_otoole]

Googlie, I have tried clicking yes to the, "do you want to play anyway?", but SMAX just quits to the desktop.

Here is something more odd. I can get SMAC to run if I *don't* apply any patches or updates at all. As soon as I apply any patches or updates, I get the "don't support this CPU" message. Though SMAC is fun, I would prefer to get SMAX to run correctly.

[Verrucosus]

That's weird, timmy_o'toole. I don't have the original SMAX expansion, but the Planetary Pack. There was a startup screen where I could choose between SMAC and SMAX, and the game would quit (even before the CPU-message) whenever I chose SMAX. Eventually I evaded that problem by linking my desktop icon directly to the terranx.exe file. Could you try something similar?

I have no idea if this can help in your case, but it was the only thing I could think of. By the way, I just realised I temporarily hijacked your thread with my question about the XP-patch. Sorry about that.

Regards,
Verrucosus

[timmy_otoole]

No worries, Verrucosus. I appreciate your suggestions. If you can think of anything else to try, please let me know.