Alien Crossfire Not Working

[quailman]

Did some trolling through the forum, but I couldn't find anything like this. I've got the original Alpha Centauri working, and It's worked for months. I have the following lines in my .ini file;
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1
video mode=1024

I've also installed the patches and the XP compatibility update. I've spent many hours playing this way on my XP Pro system, SP3 and up to date.

I recently acquired Alien Crossfire, and I was excited to play it. The install seems to go okay, but when I get to the beginning screen that says "Choose your world" I can't get any further. Clicking any of the three buttons closes the game with no errors or any indication as to the problem. I've tried completely un-installing, and re-installing both CD's to no avail.

If anyone here has any ideas please let me know, I'm pretty disappointed at this point. I don't know what else to try. Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[Petek]

I don't see a screen that specifically says Choose your world, but I'll assume you're referring to one of the screens where you choose Ocean Coverage, Erosive forces, etc. Probably doesn't matter anyway. Your description leaves me some doubt whether you installed the latest Alien Crossfire patch. If you haven't, the patch may be found here (Alien Crossfire 2.0 Update).

If you did install the patch, or installing it doesn't help, then disable the line video mode=1024 and replace it with directdraw=0. Note that the directdraw line will mess up Alpha Centauri, so you'll have to restore the video mode=1024 line to play the original game.

Please post again if none of this helps.

Petek

 

[quailman]

I don't see a screen that specifically says Choose your world, but I'll assume you're referring to one of the screens where you choose Ocean Coverage, Erosive forces, etc. Probably doesn't matter anyway. Your description leaves me some doubt whether you installed the latest Alien Crossfire patch. If you haven't, the patch may be found here (Alien Crossfire 2.0 Update).

If you did install the patch, or installing it doesn't help, then disable the line video mode=1024 and replace it with directdraw=0. Note that the directdraw line will mess up Alpha Centauri, so you'll have to restore the video mode=1024 line to play the original game.

Please post again if none of this helps.

Petek

When I launch axstart I get an animated Fraxis logo, and then a screen which is titled "Choose your world" with the ship from the original game on the left, and two alien ships on the right. You can either click the ships to enter their respective worlds, or you can click the "Alien Crossfire" or "Classic" buttons. There is also a cancel button. If I click anywhere on either of the ships, or any of the buttons, I'm returned directly to my desktop. I've done this 20+ times with no errors or any indication of what actually happens.

I tried switching out the video mode for direct draw, and it didn't change anything. Although I noticed after re-installing everything last night again to see if it would help, I can't start the original Alpha Centauri anymore. It gives me an error saying it's not a valid Win32 application. Doesn't really matter if I can get Alien Crossfire to work, but for now I'm going to uninstall everything again so I can play the original. Thanks for your help. Any other ideas?

 

[Petek]

OK, I'd forgotten about what happens when using axstart to run the game. Try executing terranx.exe directly, since axstart is known to cause problems. The "not a valid Win32 application" error message can indicate a corrupt installation. If you still get it, try copying terran(x).exe from the installation disc directly to the proper location on your hard drive.

Petek

 

[quailman]

Went into safemode and un-installed everything. Restarted, into safe mode again, and re-installed. I did not install the XP update or the SMAC patch, since I think it's included in SMAX. After installing SMAX, I did install the 2.0 update. Upon running the game, I have basically the same scenario. Although this time, when I return to the desktop I get the hourglass. After a few seconds I get a windows error reporting dialog box. It says it encountered a problem with either terran.exe or terranx.exe, depending on which I try to start.

If this is an indication of a bad install, I'm starting to wonder about the SMAX CD I've got. It doesn't look in too bad of shape, but it sure isn't perfect either. Think that could be the problem? Considering I can play SMAC just fine until I attempt to install SMAX, I'm leaning toward the CD.

I don't know anyone else interested in the game, so I don't really have any way to test another CD. If you have any other ideas let me know, and thanks for your help thus far.

 

[Petek]

Quailman,

Check your PMs.

Petek

 

[Birdjaguar]

Ok I just reinstalled Smac (with the 4.0 update) on my XP system and it runs great. what do I need to do to get Alien crossfire running smoothly? I have the disk.

 

[Buster's Uncle]

First thing to try is make sure the SMACX desktop icon points at terranx.exe. If that don't do it, try all the compatabilty settings-sometimes that's all it takes. Next, do what Petek says.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Thanks! I am really enjoying playing SMAC again

 

[Buster's Uncle]

Does that mean one of those worked, or thanks for trying?

 

[Birdjaguar]

I haven't installed AX yet. I will probably do so when i finish my current game. The "thanks" was for your advice.

 

[Tarkhan]

Yeah, ive been fighting with SMAC, trying to force it to work in 64bit windows 7.

SMAC is working fine, but SMACX is not - however I didnt try just running terranx.exe.