CPU not supported

Closey · March 21, 2001, 09:03

Okay, I need your help again people. A friend of mine tried to run SMAC (and SMAX) on his computer, but it said that his CPU weren't supported, and that he could try and play it, but crashes were possible.

It didn't even start..

He's got a P4 1500 MHz. So maybe it's something with those chips and SMAC? Anyone had this problem before?

buster · March 21, 2001, 10:25

Have seen about 4 or 5 reports on this now. All about P4s.

Now why in the world firaxis would want to know what CPU you have is beyond me, but obviously it did not occur to whoever programmed the routine that new CPU types might be turning up.

Probably some deep down buried piece of code back from Civ1.

You should report it to Firaxis - while they may be hard to move on the point of coming out with more patches for gameplay errors and bugs - this one I have a hard time to see they can worm their way around. After all the game is still being sold and I see no notice on the package saying P3 or older processor required.

Hopefully when they fix this they can fix a few of the bugs in PBEM at the same time.

buster · March 21, 2001, 10:30

Maybe its time to get a "lets have one more patch campaign" going using this bug as the wedge to get through the armour.

After all word is they have another one finished since a while, but due to shortage of resources prefers to just drop the subject completely. Though seen worse (after all they did fix some bugs) not the most reassuring support policy if Civ3 is supposed to become a Classic.

Closey · March 21, 2001, 10:39

Hmm.. yeah. Good point. Can't make them look very good if you can't use a new computer to play a pretty new game. Think it's likeley that they'll relsease a patch for SMAC/X before Civ3 ships tho? I mean, they might probably just say that they're extremely busy working on that. But on the other hand, what's there to loose?

Closey · March 21, 2001, 10:59

What bugs do you people think we should try to make them fix? I mean, they probably won't be able to fix all the bugs when they're in the middle of making Civ3. So maybe we should press on just the most urgent bugs? Just a thought..

Edit: added the following..

Ok, checked the support page at EA, and they had a section about people having problems with playing the game on a P4. But.. of course that page didn't exist. Got to love things like that..

Oh well.. I'll just wait a while and check back to see if it's fixed.
http://retailsupport.ea.com/tech_sup...ail.cfm?id=727
[This message has been edited by Closey (edited March 21, 2001).]

Fitz · March 21, 2001, 19:12

add to gameplay:

infinite air drop bug
stockpile energy bug

buster · March 22, 2001, 01:29

My personal wishlist:

1) PBEM:

a) PBEM diplomacy - including possibility to refuse a demand withdrawal claim, possibility to declare vendetta.
b) PBEM reports bug - including probe action report and response menu, going to perpetrator not victim, and reports like water rising, building of SPs etc only going to last player.
c) Sometimes the game will just die with no possibility to save when a player is killed.

2) Gameplay:

a) Probe value bug - (probe value of 3 or higher becoming 0).
b) Design workshop - fix ot so that you cannot upgrade and move same turn.
c) One should be able to fire missiles from subs - seems they went back on forth on whether carrier decks could be fitted or not.
d) Some proportion on atrocity penalties - less for gassing more for busters.

3) Some general engine overhauls

a) so it works with, P4 and wheel-mice
b) does not crash when automated interceptors are called into action

4) Multiplayer

Slimmer and more tolerant implementation. Playing more than three over internet even on fast connections usually goes wrong.

It is a lot to hope for though. If they would just fix the PBEM and the probe value (makes playing Angels a real liability in late game)I would be happy.

If they can fix the crashes thats great too. The Sub/missile thing is my personal preference, but its obvious they got stuck in some situation where missiles and planes got put in same category so to not have sub-carriers we also lost missile carrying subs.

Could they also fix the IP stuff or just improve it, then I would be ecstatic.

buster · March 22, 2001, 19:38

This was posted on alt.games.firaxis.alpha-centauri.
I don't know if it works as I don't have a P4 pc to test it on.

"This is a known problem with an easy workaround.
Open your Alpha Centauri.ini file and change the line that says

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0

to

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1"

If that is all it takes we probably will never get that patch.

Closey · March 23, 2001, 03:50

That's both good and bad I guess.. Good that it's playable on a P4, but bad that it'll be harder to get a patch..

But at least I might be able to play a MP game on a few more computers here at work..

Oh well, I'll give it a try as soon as my friend gets here.

Closey · March 23, 2001, 04:27

Yeah.. it worked. It still complained that the cpu wasn't supported, but it did run. Guess it might be a little harder getting that patch now..