SMAX not recognized

[IsaacDormav]

By all that is still good, I curse this copy of smax. I have not only the cd, but an iso as well, and still it says that it cannot find the cd... If anyone has any advice, it would be greatly appreciated, since I'm out of ideas now. Thanks!

Well, I think I sorted out all the problems! yay! One last problem to fix, which hopefully will work. Otherwise, no smax for me.

--All went well with the re-install, and better yet, I don't think smac or smax will need to patch to run on my copy of xp. Don't know why, but part of me thinks that the xp compatability patch might either cause the whole problem to re-appear, or it will solve my new problem. smax isn't recognizing that my cd is in the drive...

I've finally convinced my friend to return the copy of smax he borrowed from me when I left for college. However, I ran into a problem after installing it. When I play smac, there aren't any problems, other than compatability for xp issues. However, when I try to play smax, it crashes. I try to start smax directly, and an error message says:
C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terranx.exe is not a valid Win32 application.
Does anyone have any advice on this?
P.S.
Tried to just reinstall smax without uninstalling first, that caused both smax and smac to have the same error. Next is complete reinstall with both on typical instal, rather than complete instal!--

[vyeh]

I was running a search to see if your problem had arisen before. I forgot to limit the search to the AC forum and found the problem reported in the off-topic forum!

The guy with the problem reported fixing it by doing "something stupid."

The answer puzzles me. I use a Mac and never tried to run AC on Win32, so I think it is best you read it for yourself. If it also doesn't make sense to you, maybe an experienced Windows user can make sense of the answer.

Edit: I found another reference to the same solution for the same or similar problem in the old The SMAC/X FAQ: COMMON QUESTIONS and their ANSWERS.

I'm hoping Petek will look at this. Maybe the "stupid" solution is no longer needed with the proper edit of the Alpha Centauri.ini file. Petek is the expert on getting SMAC and SMAX to continue to work as Window evolves.

He also uses the software that was used to solve the problem, so maybe he can explain (for my curiousity) why it would even work.

[Petek]

@IsaacDormav:

Try the solution reported here on CivFanatics. That is, copy terranx.exe from the CD to the proper location on your hard drive. If that doesn't work, the above thread contains links with other suggestions.

@vyeh:

I don't know why the "other" solution would work. Looking at the two links on the cited CivFanatics thread, there are lots of possible explanations for this error message.

Petek

[vyeh]

Petek,

Thanks. After some thought, I believe that the two posters must have had a corrupt terranx.exe file. Perhaps there is something buggy with the Alien Crossfire installer for some versions of Windows and/or hardware.

When they stopped using the corrupt version of the terranx.exe (doesn't the other software replace terranx.exe?), the problem was solved.

So, I hope IsaacDormav will try replacing the copy of terranx.exe on his hard drive with the terranx.exe on the CD.

If that fixes the problem, then the issue is a corrupt terranx.exe file created through the installation process (I assume there is an installation process for SMAX in Windows; for Mac, all you have to do is copy new files and the new game onto your hard drive) and that explains why that "stupid" solution works!

IsaacDormav,

Let us know how it turns out!

[Petek]

Originally posted by vyeh
Petek,

Thanks. After some thought, I believe that the two posters must have had a corrupt terranx.exe file. Perhaps there is something buggy with the Alien Crossfire installer for some versions of Windows and/or hardware.

Yes, that sounds like a reasonable explanation.

When they stopped using the corrupt version of the terranx.exe (doesn't the other software replace terranx.exe?), the problem was solved.

Yes, the "other" software replaces terran(x).exe and terran(x).icd

So, I hope IsaacDormav will try replacing the copy of terranx.exe on his hard drive with the terranx.exe on the CD.

If that fixes the problem, then the issue is a corrupt terranx.exe file created through the installation process (I assume there is an installation process for SMAX in Windows; for Mac, all you have to do is copy new files and the new game onto your hard drive) and that explains why that "stupid" solution works!

Yes, virtually all Windows programs, including SMACX, come with an installer.

IsaacDormav,

Let us know how it turns out!

Let me second that suggestion. If the fix works on two systems, then we have a new FAQ entry!

Petek