Multiplayer troubles

[Asc]

I'm trying to set up SMAC for multiplayer on two computers on a LAN. It works fine on one of them, an older pentium 2, but not on the other, a pentium 4. Both are running win2k.

When I start the game on the troubled one, a dialogue of some sort comes up. The only thing that shows is the outlines of two buttons; the rest is black, so I don't know what it says. Pressing the left button starts the game, at which point no multiplayer modes are available. I've tried installing the 4.0 patch, after which it informed me on starting that my cpu is unsupported and quit. I uninstalled, reinstalled, and tried the alternate color palette patch in hopes of being able to read the dialogue, but it had no effect.

Any idea about what's wrong? I'd sure appreciate any help.

[Zoid]

Download the XP/2000 compatibility patch Install on the P4

From the FAQ on the main page of this forum:

34) Q: When launching Alpha Centauri. I receive the error message "CPU not supported". My computer has a Pentium 4 or newer CPU.

A: You will need to modify a line in the Alpha Centauri.ini that is located in the game folder. To do this:

Double click on My Computer
Double click on the C: Local Drive (your Hard Drive or the drive that the game is installed to)
Double click on the Program Files Folder
Double click on the Firaxis Games Folder
Double click on the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Folder]
Double click on the Alpha Centauri.ini File (The file looks like a read me text file with a little gold symbol on it).

Once the file is open in Notepad, change:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0

to

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

Be sure to save your changes, then run the game. You may still receive the error message. If it occurs, click OK and the game will load fine.

If you are Installed Sid Meier's Planetary pack then their will be no Alpha Centauri.ini File initially. Upon attemping to play the game and
clicking ok despite CPU being unsupported the ini file will be produced. Then simply change the ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm to 1. Or if necessary copy ini file from original SMAC.

ALSO download the patch that helps XP:

Alpha Centauri (PC) PATCH - Update for XP.

35) Q: What does Update for XP do?

A: This patch will attempt to locate your installation of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and defaults to that location, if found. If the patch cannot locate Alpha Centauri, it will default to C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

In this situation, you should ensure the patch installs to the directory that you have installed Alpha Centauri into.

This patch is a Windows 2000/XP compatibility update, to allow users of Windows 2000 or XP to run Alpha Centauri. It is not required for users of Windows 95, 98, or ME. However, users with these operating systems may will need to install this patch if they wish to play multiplayer games with other players who have installed this patch.

There is a known issue with sounds skipping on Windows ME machines. This should not affect the game stability.

The latest patches need to be installed before the compatability patch can be also. But if your running planetary pack you should be at SMACX 2.0 already from memory.

[Asc]

Hm, thanks. On the record, I did do a forum search. Didn't think to look wherever you were talking about though... still can't find it, in fact. Anyhow, multiplayer's working so all things are moderately well.