Error upon startup

[Clownboat]

When I try to run SMAC it shows the Fireaxis screen for a moment then gives me an error box saying

"terran.exe has generated errors and will be closed by windows. You will need to restart the program.

An error log is being created."

I'm using windows 2000, with a 1.1 ghz Athlon, 512 mb ram, a Radeon 9600 pro. I have the latest SMAC patch and the windows 2k compatibility patch. I tried messing with the ini file and using the no cd exe, as suggested in the faq thread, but nothing workd.

Smac used to run on my win 2k machine years ago, so I have no idea why it's doing this.

[#endgame]

Post us a full dump of your "Alpha Centauri.ini" file, and we can try to give you a hand. It's frustrating, I know, but it's usually possible to fix.

[Clownboat]

I don't know if this will help, as it's all on the default settings.

[Alpha Centauri]
MainFontSize=16
InterludeFontSize=16
ds3d=1
eax=1
FastUnitAnim=0
SmoothUnitAnim=0
[PREFERENCES]
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0


I tried the tweaks mentioned in the faq thread to no avail.

[Mart]

Changing this line to:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

works for many Win XP machines. maybe it would work for you too. Actually I do not know exactly what this line is about. In my case, if it's 0, game doeas not start. I have XP home

[Clownboat]

Originally posted by mart7x5
Changing this line to:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

works for many Win XP machines. maybe it would work for you too. Actually I do not know exactly what this line is about. In my case, if it's 0, game doeas not start. I have XP home

Tried that, no effect.

[#endgame]

Are you running the XP Compatability patch?

[Clownboat]

Yes. This is annoying as hell, I really want to play this game again. Nothing I do seems to change anything.

[Petek]

Lots of other things to try. Here're some of the more likely possibilities. Apologies if you've already done some.

* If you're starting the game using axstart.exe, use terran.exe (or terranx.exe if you have SMAX).

* In Alpha Centauri.ini, change the ds3d and eax entries from 1 to 0 (zero).

* Change Windows screen resolution to 800x600.

* Change Windows screen colors to 256.

* Look at the Troubleshooting section of the readme.txt file for more suggestions.

Check back if none of this works.

HTH

[Clownboat]

Originally posted by Petek
Lots of other things to try. Here're some of the more likely possibilities. Apologies if you've already done some.

* If you're starting the game using axstart.exe, use terran.exe (or terranx.exe if you have SMAX).

* In Alpha Centauri.ini, change the ds3d and eax entries from 1 to 0 (zero).

* Change Windows screen resolution to 800x600.

* Change Windows screen colors to 256.

* Look at the Troubleshooting section of the readme.txt file for more suggestions.

Check back if none of this works.

HTH

Changing the ini file, resolution, and colors gives the same results as before.

[Mart]

maybe the reason is your operating system. What DirectX does your machine have?
I only used Win2k several times - I cannot help much about its tune up. Tried to reinstal DX maybe.

[Petek]

More suggestions:

* If you haven't already done so, update your sound and video drivers.

* Have you tried an uninstall/reinstall? If not, do so. Before reinstalling, be sure to delete any files that might remain in the Alpha Centauri folder.

* This one's a longshot, but easy: Delete all files in your temp folder.

If these don't help, then

* Reboot (to clear memory). Use Task Manager to terminate all non-essential running processes (just about everything except Explorer). Now try to run SMAC. If it works, then one of the processes conflicts with SMAC. You'll have to use trial-and-error to determine the culprit.

[Commy]

Windows 2000 is probably the worst operating system. Even '95s are probably better. But anyway, you could try installing a french or german version. One of my friends couldn't get the English version to work, but somehow got a French version for free, probably illegally, off the Internet and it worked...

[Clownboat]

Petek - I tried everything except for closing all non essential programs. I doubt that'll work, but I'll try it later. Still nothing.

Commy - why is win 2k so bad? At the very least it's better than 95 in my experience, though perhaps not in game compatibility (unless that's what you were referring to).

[Petek]

Clownboat,

Agreed--Shutting down running processes probably won't work.

In your original post, the error message states that an error log was created. Can you please post it?

Also, here's my Alpha Centauri.ini. See if it it helps:

[Alpha Centauri]
DirectDraw=0
ds3d=1
eax=1
FastUnitAnim=0
SmoothUnitAnim=0
MainFontSize=16
InterludeFontSize=16
DisableOpeningMovie=1
Prefs Format=12
Difficulty=5
Map Type=3
Top Menu=3
Faction=7
Preferences=10101011111001111001111110000111
More Preferences=101010101111100100101000
Semaphore=00000000
Announce=111100001000001001
Rules=1010100000011110
Customize=1
Custom World=3, 0, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1,
Time Controls=1
Custom Map X=180
Custom Map Y=180
Faction 1=JENN282
Faction 2=JENN282
Faction 3=JENN282
Faction 4=JENN282
Faction 5=JENN282
Faction 6=JENN282
Faction 7=FUNGBOY
Latest Save=C:\Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\saves\Petek of the Drones, 2241
Latest Scenario=
Gamma Correction=129
Main Volume=127
Voice Volume=85
Music Volume=63
SFX Volume=95
WindowsFileBox=0
Base Sort=0
Latest Map=C:\Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\maps\180_No_Small_Islands
Vehicle Groups=7
DontResetBeginnerPrefs=0

[PREFERENCES]
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1
DisableOpeningMovie=1

[Clownboat]

I should have mentioned this at first, but I can't seem to find the log it refers to. There's a file called logfile.txt in my smac directory, and while windows shows that it gets modified when I run the game executable, the file has nothing in it.

The game used to run on this machine a year or two ago, it just stopped working one day and I have no idea why. The only harware changes were replacing the cd drive and getting a new video card (Powercolor Radeon 9600 pro with 256mb ddr memory).

I wonder if there's something wrong with my windows installation, ie it's degrading. I've had this install for years. I don't know, but all my other games still work fine.