Athlon 64 crashes SMAC

[Urban Ranger]

I posted a thread in the Other Games forum, but it was pointed out that the good people here can offer more help.

TIA.

[Petek]

Your Alpha Centauri.ini file probably has this line:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0

Change it to

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

(or add the line if not present)

You'll still get the "processor not supported" message, but just click through it and the game should start.

However, several other players with newer systems have reported further problems with the game even after applying this fix.

[Urban Ranger]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot.

Strange problem, though. The Athlon 64 supposedly runs all old applications flawlessly.

[Petek]

The "processor not supported" error isn't specific to the Athlon 64. It occurs on all processors (Intel or otherwise) sold in the past few years. My guess is that SMAC/SMAX has a routine to identify incompatible processors, but mis-identifies compatible ones as well.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Petek
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0

Change it to

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

Worked like a charm, greatly appreciated.

[Urban Ranger]

New problem: I am in the middle of a game, and it just hangs. Fortunately I can shut it down by bringing up the task manager, but why the heck does it hang? I tried running it in Windows 98 compatibility mode - no joy.

Will applying the XP patch help? I have no problems starting the game anymore...

[Petek]

A similar problem was reported in this thread:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=132717

This gamer also was using a system with an Athlon CPU. I wonder if that's a factor?

Does anyone else out there have problems running SMAC/SMAX on an Athlon chip?

Other than that, you should look at Buster's suggestions here:

http://www.civgaming.net/forums/showthread.php?t=5217

The XP patch only affects SMAC. I think you said you were playing SMAX.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Petek
This gamer also was using a system with an Athlon CPU. I wonder if that's a factor?

Mine's Athlon 64 though.

[Urban Ranger]

Further investigation shows that when my game freezes, there is no sound. Also, it always freezes at the same place (after I bomb a road).

[Urban Ranger]

Okay, I think I know what it is. The game gets crashed by a bug.

Is it the one where Alien Crossfire links two base as one. In my case I have just disbanded one of them. So now I have units sitting out in the middle of nowhere

Is there a fix for this?

[Petek]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
Okay, I think I know what it is. The game gets crashed by a bug.

Is it the one where Alien Crossfire links two base as one. In my case I have just disbanded one of them. So now I have units sitting out in the middle of nowhere

Is there a fix for this?

I'm not familiar with that bug. Can you post a save file to see if it reproduces on other systems?