P4 and SMAX - to good to be true?

Magnus Nilsson · May 26, 2002, 07:24

Hello - is there anybody out there still playing your good-old SMAC or SMAX? Any body upgraded the computer as well?
Well, I did and and I can get my old SMAX running again:

I bought a 1.7GHz P4 with a GeForce2MX400 card and a crisp 17" 1280x1024 screen. I fed it 256M of DDRAM and topped up with WinXP (home) and I thought I'd be playing turn-based-strategy in heaven! ... Indeed my new CivIII runs beautifully but when I got bored, and started longing for my SMAX things went bad.

Early on the SW gives me a pop-up telling me my processor is not supported, and I should prepare for crashes, and that is indeed what happens next.

I have tried:
* upgrading to SMAC4.0 and SMAX2.0
* adding the "video mode=1024" line in the preferences
* setting the "OldVoxel" thingy to "=1"
* even copatibility mode in XP
but I'm out of luck.

There sure must be any one else out there with similar equipment, and problems(?) - how did you solve it?

Finally - my new PC is all 100% standard components - an Intel845 motherboard with ATA66 bus. At least I thought it should be "clean" enough not to mess up things.

Please help me!

Thanks!
/Magnus

Chowlett · May 26, 2002, 10:00

Hmm, was about to refer you to the FAQ - but it seems you've tried the Voxel thing. Sorry, can't help.

Mongoose · May 26, 2002, 10:18

Can you run the SP movies by drag/dropping them into the playuv15.exe in your movie folder? If not, maybe you do have a problem with the video card (and directx??). If that's the case, you could add the line

DisableOpeningMovie=1

to your AC.ini file...maybe get into the game, anyway.

Good Luck!!

Magnus Nilsson · May 26, 2002, 10:45

Hi Guys,
thank you for being so fast.

However, I already had that "disable movie" set to =1, and the "voxel" thing as well. Now I just tried to set my video card acceleration to nil, and it still shuts down on me ...

I have to say that it HAS worked a few times, but then it can shut down later, and you can not be sure to start up again (and I always like to use that Ironman setting to gain some points, but then the game must not be this instable!)

Good night!
/Magnus

Chowlett · May 26, 2002, 11:14

Hmm, a thought. The nVidia drivers that were released with XP were, IIRC, not stunningly reliable. Have you tried updating the video drivers? Even without hardware acceleration, that may well make a difference.

Lucy In The Sky · May 26, 2002, 14:18

Does this help?

If a program refuses to run, just right-click its icon and select Properties, then the Compatibility tab, where you can choose the operating system to emulate (Windows 95/98/NT 4.0/2000).

Chowlett · May 26, 2002, 16:41

He's tried that, although slightly misspelt, as the last resort listed above.

Googlie · May 26, 2002, 22:41

MN:

Try loading the no-cd crack and bypassing the start-up smac/x procedures. get it at:

http://googlie2.tripod.com/rynnsgallery/id8.html

I bought a 1.8 P4 last November with GeForce2MX400 card and 512M of RAM. I run the nocd crack and it works perfectly.

here, from my .ini file, are the settings I've adjusted:

ds3d=1
eax=1
DisableOpeningMovie=1
Video Mode=1024
WindowsFileBox=1
[PREFERENCES]
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

(the windows filebox simply opens saves, etc in a typical windows box instead of the smac custom boxes - I find it easier to navigate that way, as I have 2 complete firaxis directories (in one i have loaded the fun factions, altered alpha.txt etc) and often switch between them for CMN setups.

Good luck

Googlie

Magnus Nilsson · May 27, 2002, 08:41

Hey guys!,
I just did everything above (except updating the GeForce drivers - yet), but this thing is still flying like China Airlines ...

But hear this: When loading a SAVED GAME it works! And when making a QUICK START (no own settings) it works!

I can smell something here ... I'll try un installing the lot and shuffle the discs again! I'll be back!

Any way, thank you all for trying so far, and that "no CD" patch really saves time! Thanks! (Your site looked nice by the way - I'll check it out closer soon!)

Best regards,
Magnus

Magnus Nilsson · May 27, 2002, 09:54

Yeeeoo!

It is really a bit embarrasing to admit that a simple uninstall-install helped. I'm sorry if I wasted your time.

Anyway - no it runs, movies and all (although 1024 looks like s**t on a 1280 LCD). But once I actually had it running with a smaller control panel centered in the bottom of the screen, and the map spreading out 1280 wide above ... I'll see if I can get that back ...! Else I just go SMAX:in'!

Again - thank you for supporting me in need!

- M'goi! (That's thanx in Cantoneese - I live in Hong Kong!)
/Magnus