SMAC keeps "freezing"

[Phreddo]

this is my last save. i'll post the other 2 previous auto-saves as well, if you want.

i know i was at war with a couple factions. can't remember doing anything in particular, as i tend to automate a lot.

i'll go in and try to go back a couple saves, and sometimes it lets me play a few turns, then it stops again.

I have an AMD-64 with 1 GB of RAM and stuff, and i've set the old voxel engine to 1 or whatever.

i have run into this same problem on multiple machines as well.

[Petek]

OK, I loaded up your game. I also got a lock-up by just letting the game proceed. I noticed that the map centered on the Relativity School base just before the freeze. Based on prior experience, that suggested that one of the units in this base was causing the problem.

The primary suspect was the Gaian interceptor (since interceptors are known to cause problems). I eliminated the interceptor (using the scenario editor), but the game still crashed.

I next eliminated the other units in the base one-by-one. It turns out that the problem is caused by the University spore launcher in the base. If I eliminate this unit (or even just move it somewhere), the game proceeds without a lockup (I played 4 or 5 more turns).

Wish I could say exactly why this happens. I've seen similar situations where some random unit causes problems. My best advice is to automate less and learn how to beat the AI earlier. Just start reading this forum and browse through old threads. Pretty soon you'll be winning on transcend by 2300 or earlier!

[Phreddo]

thanks for checking that.
the spore launcher would kinda explain why it seems to begin at such a consistent time. i can't even think of a way to stop producing spore launchers. that is, i can eliminate other vehicles from my design shop, but not the critters. i'll have to look into it.
thanks again!


stupid addictive, brilliant, broken game

[Petek]

Originally posted by Phreddo
i can't even think of a way to stop producing spore launchers.

Turn off the base governors. If you don't care to do that, you can override any governor that tries to build a spore launcher. You also could remove the spore launcher from your alphax.txt.

However, I don't think that the spore launcher units in general are causing this problem. Although I could be wrong, you'll probably find that other unit types cause this problem in other games.