Getting SMAC to work in WinXP SP2

[SilentMage]

(I moved this from the FAQ Q&A, cuz I didn't have an answer to it, so hopefully someone can assist me w/ this new thread! )

Question: I recently upgrade Windows XP to SP2. I tried loading SMAC but this comes up: terran.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

SMAC worked fine prior to the upgrade: I had the SMAC XP patch installed and made the ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1 change for it to run.

And now it doesn't want to run anymore -- I just get that message above. I tried the noCDcrack but that didn't fix anything. Any suggestions?

[Illuminatus]

Am I correct in assuming that it run normally under Windows XP without running SP2?

I have two suggestions:
1) Right click on terran.exe and change compatibility to win98
2) Try reinstalling the game.

[Petek]

Try any or all of the following:

* In the Alpha Centauri.ini file, set

eax=0
ds3d=0

* Start the game in compatibility mode (try Windows 95 mode first, then other variations if that fails).

* Start the game using terran.exe instead of axstart.exe, if not already doing so.

These are the most common fixes for this problem. Please post again if none work.

[SilentMage]

I tried everything listed by both you guys -- cept reinstalling the game -- and they didn't work.

I'm going to back up all my savegames, delete, and do a fresh reinstall. I'll get back to you to let you all know if a reinstallation works.

(A side note, I also recently discovered that my Unreal Tournament 2004 now doesn't work either... I also blame SP2 for this too... )

EDIT: Reinstallation worked! Applied all patches and moved my savegame files to the newly-installed SMAC. Thanks!

(Looks like I'll have to do this with a few other games too...)

[Kataphraktoi]

SP2 has gotten alot of complaints.personally i dont recommend it-last time i installed it i ended up reformating the HD it was so messed up(!)