XP and Aliens

[Whoha]

XP also doesn't like Chopper air defense intercepts, or intercepts in general when you're the defender.

[xiaoyao]

In case you are still interested, the windows cvrplayer available on the internet doesn't work on anything newer than a Pentium II. I uploaded a hacked version that effectively calls all newer processors PII so it does work.

As far as the problem you were discussing, ACOLPOD.cvr is an animation (it includes animation instructions) DROP.cvr does not. It is likely that the animation instructions are causing the problem.

As far as the file format, it appears to be a fairly simple one. There is an 8 byte file header the contains "CVR" and the file length and a number of segments. Each segment has an 8 byte header that includes a segment number (or type?) and a segment length (including the header). The contents of the segments is the difficulty here and that isn't obvious. If this is still an issue I could probably remove the animation instructions see what happens.

It works. Thanks!

[WBird784]

Hack to try

For grins try this one. I removed a segment that does not exist in drop.cvr. I have no idea what the segment does. Its remove does not affect it for me. May help you, let me know.

[vyeh]

It worked for me. I use a Mac.

Maybe, if Petek would verify the fix, we could edit question 62 of the SMAC/X FAQ.

[Petek]

This fix didn't work for me (on a PC). I downloaded the zip file, renamed the existing acolpod.cvr to something else, extracted acolpod-hack.cvr and renamed it to acolpod.cvr.

I then started a game as the caretakers and immediately designed a new colony pod with 3-res armor. The game crashed. In fact, if I simply design a colony pod with no armor (as opposed to using the already-designed pod), the game also crashed. I downloaded the zip file again in case there was a problem with the download, but got the same results.

Petek

[vyeh]

Too bad. Just to be sure, I started another game as the caretakers and designed a new colony pod with 3-res armor. The game did not crash. I actually had my base produce the 3-res armor colony pod. It did.

[WBird784]

I am able to duplicate the failure. Will try to figure out what is causing it. Never tried to design a colony pod with armor before. Pretty neat except for the abend.

[WBird784]

Patch for caretaker colony pod memory failure

Try this. I increased the memory allocation that the program uses to manipulate the cvr files and it seems to work. The test case is adding shielding to the Caretaker colony pod. I am now able to do that and schedule the new colony pod for build. None of the builds have actually completed yet but should when I have a little more time.

Let me know if there are any issues that this does not resolve and how to duplicate them. I will see if I can figure out where the problem is.

[vyeh]

Is there a new file?

[WBird784]

Attachment

On reading the fine print the file is too big. So... Download this one, rename it from .mp3 to .zip and give it a try. See previous message and readme for details.

Attachment removed since it is based on a NO-CD crack. Please listen to Petek and use a hack that doesn't incorporate no-cd cracks.

[Petek]

I tested the new file and it appears to fix the problem. However, the new terranx.exe shouldn't be posted to this forum, since it incorporates the no-cd crack. Perhaps you could modify the original exe and post that?

Petek

[vyeh]

Did you modify the acolpod.cvr file?

I use Mac so the terranx.exe does not apply to me.

The modified acolpod.cvr file that you provided in post #18 worked for me.

When you are using the modified terranx.exe file, are you using the acolpod.cvr that came with the game? (The download does not contain a modified acolpod.cvr file.)

Thanks for your work.

[Petek]

I used the unmodified acolpod.cvr file along with the modified terranx.exe.

[vyeh]

Thanks. Once there is a proper terranx.exe file and it works to your satisfaction, we can consider how to modify the FAQ.

[WBird784]

I thought about the no-crack issue after I posted the patch. I'll try to update the original but I will have to figure out what safedisk did to the exe first. I'm not sure how hard that is going to be. Will let you know.