Game freezes with modified alphax.txt

[Maniac]

(Edit 7/12/05: see last post)

When I'm playing with a modified alphax.txt, the game always freezes when I want to start a new game. More specifically, choosing the world settings goes fine, but the game freezes when I get to choosing the factions to participate.
Quickstarts work just fine.

Does anyone else who sometimes uses modified alphax.txts encounter these problems? Do you perhaps know what could be the problem?

I attached a shrunk screenshot of how the game looks when it freezes. The game doesn't crash, the mouse can still be moved, but as you can see, there's nothing I can click - I'm stuck.

[Maniac]

For the record, here's the work-in-progress alphax.txt I was using. I've also encountered this problem with much simpler modifications though.

[GeoModder]

I've had it in the past.

The only solution is to start all over and modify step by step and test often.

Edit: In any case, your doomsday missile has too many 'ability' digits in it.

[Chaos Theory]

My first guess would be it doesn't like something about your faction lists. Do any of the factions in alphax.txt not exist in the same directory?

[Maniac]

Originally posted by GeoModder
I've had it in the past.

And have you been able to deduce the problem?

The only solution is to start all over and modify step by step and test often.

Damn.

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
My first guess would be it doesn't like something about your faction lists. Do any of the factions in alphax.txt not exist in the same directory?

Nope. Everything clear on that front.

[GeoModder]

In any case, your doomsday missile has too many 'ability' digits in it.

IIRC, mosttimes the error happened due to too many changes in the techlist at once. I could make the same changes in a rerun without a problem later on, and without error. Again, just adjust a few, test it by simply starting the game, and adjust some more.

So perhaps first put a vanilla techlist in your adjusted file, look if it works then, and then change that one bit by bit.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by GeoModder
In any case, your doomsday missile has too many 'ability' digits in it.

Those are the Marine Detachment, Fuel Nanocells, Algorithmic Enhancement digits which aren't added by default. IIRC adding those themselves didn't cause a problem though. However I'll test it out of course.

IIRC, mosttimes the error happened due to too many changes in the techlist at once. I could make the same changes in a rerun without a problem later on, and without error. Again, just adjust a few, test it by simply starting the game, and adjust some more.

So perhaps first put a vanilla techlist in your adjusted file, look if it works then, and then change that one bit by bit.

This is gonna take long.
But I'll try it out. Thanks!

[Maniac]

Hmm, I started with my modified alphax.txt, systematically replaced each section with the original one to see where the problem could lie, yet after replacing all sections back to the original - meaning I'm playing with an unmodified alphax.txt - the game still freezes.

/me crosses the southern border.

[Chaos Theory]

Check your Alpha Centauri.ini file, too

[Maniac]

Originally posted by Chaos Theory
Check your Alpha Centauri.ini file, too

For what?
(no custom factions are in it)

[GeoModder]

Originally posted by Maniac
Hmm, I started with my modified alphax.txt, systematically replaced each section with the original one to see where the problem could lie, yet after replacing all sections back to the original - meaning I'm playing with an unmodified alphax.txt - the game still freezes.

* Maniac crosses the southern border.

No, you have to start over with a vanilla one. I think the problem lays in that the file somehow gets corrupted.

[Petek]

Originally posted by Maniac
Hmm, I started with my modified alphax.txt, systematically replaced each section with the original one to see where the problem could lie, yet after replacing all sections back to the original - meaning I'm playing with an unmodified alphax.txt - the game still freezes.

* Maniac crosses the southern border.

When I use the Alphax.txt file that you posted, I get exactly the same problem when starting the game. Possibly your unmodified alphax.txt file still has a problem. It could be something like an extra tab character or carriage return that's hard to see at first glance.

I suggest that you load the original alphax.txt file that's on the installation CD. If you do that, you might have to reinstall the most recent SMAX patch (not absolutely positive, though). I'd post my alphax.txt, but it's heavily modded.

[Maniac]

Originally posted by GeoModder
No, you have to start over with a vanilla one. I think the problem lays in that the file somehow gets corrupted.

Woohoo, it works now!

Thanks!

[Maniac]

I always get this problem whenever I try to put a custom faction in the alphax.txt. Any idea how I could solve this? Does anyone else encounter this problem?

[GeoModder]

Check how many files this custom faction has in the root folder compared with the vanilla faction files. If there's one less, there's the problem. Don't ask me what this extra file does, I don't know, it's only something I remembered having observed.