Crossfire & Windows XP?

[RX2000]

So I'm thinking about ordering Alien Crossfire from eBay, but I dont want to get it and find out it wont work on my XP Pro system. Do I have to install the compatibility patch? Because for some reason on my comp if I DO install the winXP compat. patch SMAC WON'T run, but if I DON'T install it it works (almost) perfectly.

Does anyone here play SMAC:XFire on XP Pro?

 

[Kaboth]

When launching Alpha Centauri. I receive the error message "CPU not supported". My computer has a Pentium 4 or newer CPU.

Answer
You will need to modify a line in the Alpha Centauri.ini that is located in the game folder. To do this:

Double click on My Computer
Double click on the C: Local Drive (your Hard Drive or the drive that the game is installed to)
Double click on the Program Files Folder
Double click on the Firaxis Games Folder
Double click on the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Folder]
Double click on the Alpha Centauri.ini File (The file looks like a read me text file with a little gold symbol on it).

Once the file is open in Notepad, change:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0

to

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

Be sure to save your changes, then run the game. You may still receive the error message. If it occurs, click OK and the game will load fine.

If you have just Installed Sid Meier's Planetary pack or possibly alien crossfire then their will be no Alpha Centauri.ini File initially. Upon attemping to play the game and
clicking ok despite CPU being unsupported the ini file will be produced. Then simply change the ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm to 1. Or if necessary copy ini file from original SMAC into your SMACX or planetary pack directory and then modify as above.

NOTE: With only Smac installed the game may well work without this config file modification (mine did) but as soon as alien crossfire was installed I needed the ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1 change.

ALSO if the above still doesn't work download the patch that helps XP:

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Windows XP/2000 Compatibility Update

Alpha Centauri (PC) PATCH - Update for XP. Download from firaxis.com.

Question
What does this update do?

Answer
This patch will attempt to locate your installation of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and defaults to that location, if found. If the patch cannot locate Alpha Centauri, it will default to C:\Program Files\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.

In this situation, you should ensure the patch installs to the directory that you have installed Alpha Centauri into.

This patch is a Windows 2000/XP compatibility update, to allow users of Windows 2000 or XP to run Alpha Centauri. It is not required for users of Windows 95, 98, or ME. However, users with these operating systems may will need to install this patch if they wish to play multiplayer games with other players who have installed this patch.

There is a known issue with sounds skipping on Windows ME machines. This should not affect the game stability.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This should solve all your problems. I run Smacx on windows xp home by just making the forceoldvoxel change. XP professional should be the same, it is just the same as XP home with a few additions.

 

[Lefty Scaevola]

You can get the re realsed Smac-x, likely cheaper that e-bay, in "The laptop Collection:" which has 3 0r 4 reareleases from EA (the publisher)

 

[RX2000]

Thanks yea, thats what I ended up doing; just buying that laptop collection. SMAX runs just like SMAC did on my XP machine, so no complaints here.

 

[Gelion]

Thank you sooo much!

 

[lastdreamer81]

I've tryied all this thing, but Alien Crossfire don't start... what else can I try?

 

[Fifty]

What in particular happens when you try to start it?

 

[Jan H]

Thanks for this help!
Last week I bought the 'Sold-out" release of Alpha Centauri and Alien Crossfire. After reading so much about it on these forums, I was really looking forward to playing it. So I was very disappointed when the game kept crashing after the "CPU not supported" message. (I have an AMD Athlon 64 3000+ with Windows XP)
After changing the .ini file, it worked fine!

When launching Alpha Centauri. I receive the error message "CPU not supported". My computer has a Pentium 4 or newer CPU.

Answer
You will need to modify a line in the Alpha Centauri.ini that is located in the game folder. To do this:

Double click on My Computer
Double click on the C: Local Drive (your Hard Drive or the drive that the game is installed to)
Double click on the Program Files Folder
Double click on the Firaxis Games Folder
Double click on the Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Folder]
Double click on the Alpha Centauri.ini File (The file looks like a read me text file with a little gold symbol on it).

Once the file is open in Notepad, change:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0

to

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

Be sure to save your changes, then run the game. You may still receive the error message. If it occurs, click OK and the game will load fine.

If you have just Installed Sid Meier's Planetary pack or possibly alien crossfire then their will be no Alpha Centauri.ini File initially. Upon attemping to play the game and
clicking ok despite CPU being unsupported the ini file will be produced. Then simply change the ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm to 1. Or if necessary copy ini file from original SMAC into your SMACX or planetary pack directory and then modify as above.

NOTE: With only Smac installed the game may well work without this config file modification (mine did) but as soon as alien crossfire was installed I needed the ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1 change.