Installation Woes...

[rjnharvey]

It has been a long while but I decided to pull out the SMAC CDs and install them (Played the game pretty hard core for a couple years and some great PBEM ).

I am running XP on a 2.8Gig P4. The install hangs. I tried lauching setup.exe directly off the cd and it hung. If I put the CD in it hangs when I click the install button (top one). It PAINS me to think I can not install/play this game. I see a few answers if you are having problems running the game under 2000/XP once the game is installed but I have not seen a solution for installing it. I tried installing it off my DVD player and my CD writer.

Any help would be greatly appreciated gents!

Thanks,

Robert

[Pythagoras]

I can't help you, if anything you can purchase a fresh copy for dirt cheap these days:

http://store.yahoo.com/cybercitysoftware/sidmeieralce.html

or

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B0000CE1L7/homeoftheunde-20/102-3931807-2332142

[Dis]

it's hard to say if it is the CD.

You could try to install the game on another computer just to see if it works. That will tell you if it is the CD or your system that is the problem.

[Jamski]

Try copying the files to your HD first and installing from there, or use another programm to burn an image of the CD and mount it on the HD.

You seem tech-savvy enough to do this without a step-by-step, if not PM me.

-Jam

[binTravkin]

Alternate version here for free:

http://smac.2be.cc

[rjnharvey]

I have tried copying the files to my HD and running the install from there. Still having problems. I would think if it was the CD (corrupt file) I would have a problem with copying the CD to my HD.

If you have the name of a tool to grab an image file from my CD and mount if of the HD I can give it a whirl. I have a machine in peices so it would be a while before I could assemble something to try and install on another machine. So much for the quick and easy answer.

Thanks for the prompt replies gents. Greatly appreciated.

Robert

[Petek]

Have you tried running the XP Program Compatibility Wizard on setup.exe? See

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gethelp/appcompat.asp

Can't hurt, might help.

You might also try setting your video to a lower resolution (say, 800x600) or fewer colors (256) just to see what happens.

[rjnharvey]

Thank you! Petek, you hit it on the head. I had to set the setpup.exe to run in Windows 98/Me Compatability mode. I also had to set the Votex setting to 1 in the .ini. It seems to be running now. I have not used the 2000/XP patch. Would you guys suggest installing that as well? I still get the dialog about an invalid processor but it seems to run anyways.

Thanks!

[Jamski]

If its running anyway, I wouldn't touch it.

-Jam

[GeoModder]

When installing the xp compatability patch on SMAC(X), do we need to install it in a special way or change something in the .ini? I did so but SMAC still shows version 4.0 and the version screen of SMAX shows blank.

[Jamski]

I thought with SMAX installed you should only install the 2nd SMAX patch.

-Jam

[Petek]

Originally posted by rjnharvey
I had to set the setup.exe to run in Windows 98/Me Compatability mode.
Thanks!

You're welcome. I'll add this tip to the FAQ.

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Jamski
I thought with SMAX installed you should only install the 2nd SMAX patch.

Well, did so last night and SMAX is now version 2.0 on XP. No problem there anymore. But SMAC is still 4.0, while it is 5.0 on my Win98 partition.

[Barinthus]

The XP patch will bring SMAC up to 5.0