Error upon startup

[Commy]

Windows 2000 is about as bad for games as Window NT, if not worst. The system is fine for everything else. But considering the XP came out like 2 years later, and ME came like around the same time, I just don't see it worth it buying a 2000 if you play games. Other than that, it's great. But I judge systems on how they handle games. Heck, if they can Disk Defrag, the Sims 2, Shogun, Omega Stone, and download off the Internet at the same time, and I can still play mindsweeper without any glitches or slowness, it's all good. If it can do that, chances are it can run MS word...

[kraftplax]

I was experiencing very similar problems to you - SMACX stopped working one day, and I couldn't fix it despite following all the stuff advised on these forums. However, I have just gotten it to work by taking the following steps...

1. Install
2. Apply WINXP compatibility patch
3. Copy your original .ini
4. Change the FOVA to 1
5. downloaded the NOCD patch

I posted the steps in this order because at an earlier point I had gotten very close to getting the game to work - it would only work on quickstart, however, by following these steps in a different order (I think my .ini was messed up).

[laurentius]

ditto kraftplax though mine stopped working after installing the NOCD patch, so I dont advice you doing that.

[Clownboat]

I upgraded to windows XP and reinstalled the game, same thing. I tried all the suggestions and nothing works. This is freaking ridiculous, why in god's name does the game not work, it makes no sense. Thanks anyways to everyone who relpied to this thread.

[Urban Ranger]

When in doubt, start from scratch. IOW, reinstall W2K after completely reformat your HDD.

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Clownboat
I upgraded to windows XP and reinstalled the game, same thing. I tried all the suggestions and nothing works. This is freaking ridiculous, why in god's name does the game not work, it makes no sense. Thanks anyways to everyone who relpied to this thread.

What you might need is a copy of someones .ini file
When I reinstalled SMAC(X) on XP, I got the same problem, and solved it by copying this file in the root folder. O yes, perhaps it's as simple as the changing the 'ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1' thingie?

[Petek]

Originally posted by Clownboat
I upgraded to windows XP and reinstalled the game, same thing. I tried all the suggestions and nothing works. This is freaking ridiculous, why in god's name does the game not work, it makes no sense. Thanks anyways to everyone who relpied to this thread.

Do you still get the same error message that was mentioned in your original post? The one that says that an error log is being created? If yes, then I think we should try to find that log.

It's probably a file named drwtsn32.log. Search your hard drive for a file with that name. The log file is most likely quite large. Delete the log file and then start the game only once. You should now have a log file that contains a single entry. Please post the file here.

This log file may point us in the right direction for figuring out what's causing the problem.

[Commy]

If you ever uninstalled the game, then reinstalled it, it is possible that it was installed or uninstalled incorrectly by your computer...I have had problems with this before on other games, it is a royal pain, because it won't uninstall, but it won't play either...

If you delete the game in your registry (AKA the computer doesn't know you installed the game) and try to delete the game, whatever error there was might be deleted...

By installing the game again, hopefully it will work fine...

Althought, I still thing Petek's advice is the best idea yet...

[Clownboat]

Attached is the log file, it seems to indicate something is wrong with lines like:

*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terran.exe
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for C:\Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terran.exe

I hope someone can make sense of that.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Clownboat
I upgraded to windows XP and reinstalled the game, same thing.

I missed the part where you mentioned "upgrade."

Sometimes upgrading from a previous version will mess things up. Try a clean install.

[Petek]

Originally posted by Clownboat
Attached is the log file, it seems to indicate something is wrong with lines like:

*** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terran.exe
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for C:\Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terran.exe

I hope someone can make sense of that.

Well, the Dr. Watson log doesn't tell me anything specific to your error (I don't think the extract that you quoted is significant, but might be wrong).

However, the log does show that you have lots of processes and services running. One of those could be conflicting with the game. I suggest that you restart your computer in Safe mode and see what happens. See

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;316434&Product=winxp

for detailed troubleshooting info.

I also second UR's suggestion of a fresh install (instead of an upgrade), but try the clean boot first. It's less drastic and if you have a conflict with another program you'll want to know that in any event.