Game Will not work

[DemonShred]

Hello all, although I am new to this forum I have been playing ALpha Centauri ( Like most of you ) for about 10 years.

I recently re-acquired a copy of the Expansion, however I can't play it. I can install it fine All the patches and updates are installed as well . I start cross fire i get to the menu but when i click play the program disappears. It doesn't crash it simply vanishes from running process and the screen.

Any help would be appreciated i wannna play the Pirates Soooooooooooooooooooo bad.

[waab]

Never had any problem myself playing with my alien crossfire. The only problem I have had is the famous CPU not supported. So I really don't know what the problem is. Does standard SMAC start?

[DemonShred]

Yes, I can play Smac in all its glorious forms but as soon as i click play in Alien Crossfire it just closes.

[Verrucosus]

When you say "click play" you are not referring to the menu that allows you to start either "Alpha Centauri" or "Alien Crossfire" or "Cancel", are you? I'm just asking to be sure, because that menu can be bypassed by starting the game with a doubleclick on the terranx.exe file in the main folder.

In any case, I do hope that you will find a solution eventually. Good luck!

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by DemonShred
I start cross fire i get to the menu but when i click play the program disappears. It doesn't crash it simply vanishes from running process and the screen..

I do believe I have seen this problem before. Question: can you play a SMAX scenario, or load an existing SMAX game? If so then there is probably a corrupted text file. I don't recall which it is off the top of my head, but if you can load a scenario, then I'll see about looking up which file it is.


D

[wodan11]

I have a huge problem because both my SMAC and SMAX discs say "Macintosh" on them but I have a PC.

Wodan

[DemonShred]

No, it doesn't work when i try and just load a scenario. I also tried loading the game using auto play and it crashed when i tried to go into cross fire or classic SMAC from the Smacx menu. but Smac works fine.

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by DemonShred
No, it doesn't work when i try and just load a scenario. I also tried loading the game using auto play and it crashed when i tried to go into cross fire or classic SMAC from the Smacx menu. but Smac works fine.

Well, it was worth a shot. The only other thing I can suggest short of a re-install is drilling down to the alpha centauri subdirectory and double clicking on the terranx.exe file to see if the game starts that way.
petek is extremely knowledgeable in all sorts of esoteric crashes, so hopefully when he comes along (and I'm surprised he hasn't stopped by already ) maybe he can shed some light on this.


D

[Petek]

I'm here! Was just waiting to see what happened when DemonShred tried the other (logical) suggestions.

If executing terranx.exe directly doesn't work, then I suggest the following:

* Create a shorcut to terranx.exe.
* Open the shortcut's properties.
* Select the Compatibility tab.
* Select an alternate operating system in the Compatibility mode section.

If that doesn't help, try other operating systems or other compatibility options.

HTH

Petek

[DemonShred]

I tried it in all compatibility modes and even changed some of the starting video options it still crashes. I also uninstalled the win 2000 upgrade but nothing the program still just vanishes.

[Verrucosus]

What happens when you double-click the terranx.exe file? Also, can you describe which button you mean when you say "click play"? (I ask because I don't have a button that exactly says "play", but that might be because I have the Planetary Pack version.)

[DemonShred]

It's in a Menu that has the options quit , Classic or Expansion. All options do the same as quiting.

[waab]

@DemonShred

Skip the meny start the game through the .exe file.

[DemonShred]

Tried that too, i'm starting to think there might be something wrong with my Alien Crossfire CD. Oh well ill just have to cough up 100 bucks on Ebay.

[Petek]

DemonShred,

Since the game installed correctly, your CD is probably just fine.

Let's go back to basics:

* What OS are you running?
* I know you said that you installed the latest patches, but are you sure that you have the Alien Crossfire v2.0 update? Missing the update could be causing your problem.
* If that's no help, then you should run an uninstall of both games (including deleting any files that get left behind) and then reinstall.

Let us know what happens.

Pete