Is there a way to get Alien Crossfire to skip the CD?

[mmontgomery]

I recently bought the Laptop Pack to get Alien Crossfire. I did a full install of both Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire. If I play Alpha Centauri without the CD, it works fine, with just a warning that some features might not be available. But if I try to play Alien Crossfire without the CD, it does not work at all, even though I did a full install.

This is not normally a big deal, but I have a lot of travel I have to do, and I thought I'd try out Alien Crossfire. But I am more than reluctant to carry the CD, since I already have had two CD carriers stolen while traveling in the last 12 months, losing my original AND replacement copy of Frozen Throne (among lots of other games and movies). I don't want my Alien Crossfire disk to be my next casualty.

Does anyone know how to get Alien Crossfire to continue like Alpha Centauri does?

[Flubber]

There is apparently a no cd file out there but I think you would have to do a search of the poly threads to find where to get it

[Lord Nword]

There is a no CD file, I have it, and he has it now too (it's one of the sites listed on Networknode.org)

[Dis]

http://smac.2be.cc/tools.html

[Commy]

Yeah, I remember this. Made a post of it myself. Basically, the terranx.exe program activates another program to look for the CD. That screen with the red sky and green slime is just a nice artsy thing that comes up while the game is doing this.

Fixed .exe programs are those that are edited so they don't need a CD. Numerous ones were made, however you have to be careful with them. Since they are unofficial, they can be messed up, and often are made for particular patches.

For example, if you have installed the version 2.0 patch for crossfire, then you need a different fixed .exe than for someone without the patch.

Once you have found a site that has the fixed .exe, and have made sure it is for the appropriate version of your game (I would suggest installing the 2.0 patch and then getting the no-cd crack for it), you download off the internet, and then copy it and have it replace the terranx.exe file. Some people suggest backing up the original .exe program just in case.

With a no-cd crack for crossfire, you won't see that screen come up with the red sky and alien stuff. Instead, it will just be like original SMAC and the pop-up saying that 'all features may not work without cd' blah blah blah...

The game should then run fine, assuming you have a complete installation.

Note that once you have installed crossfire, without a no-cd crack, you will be required to have the crossfire cd to play the original as well...