Why does SMAC keep freezing?

[PlutonianEmpire]

In the middle of a great game, no less.

For reference, my computer: Dell Inspiron 8600 notebook computer/laptop ("widescreen" 1280x800), 60 gig hd, 256 meg ram, 1400 megahertz processor w/a speed of 1.37 gigahertz, Nvidia graphics card.

I even installed the patch, to no avail.

 

[The Person]

Since you can start it up, it doesn't seem like it's a problem with the resolution. After all SMAC was made with resolutions of 800x600 and 1024x768 in mind.

Other than that I have no idea. It can't be because of the specs, since they are all far above recommended. Try loading the game on a different comp, and see if it crashes there.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

It hangs up on my other computer as well (which had similar specs {60 gig, all far above recommended, etc} as the laptop, but was a PC instead), but I gave that to my computer to my grandma a few years ago. Yes, it crashes on that one too.

And If i remember correctly, it hangs even on the older computer as well.

could it have something to do with the fact that I included my uber-empire and uber-techs on it? (I modifed the alpa.txt manually, and took a few stuff for myself, such as renaming the singularity laser to plutonic laser and giving it a power of 98, taking 2 shields and making them plutoemp shields, and taking the hunter-seeker algorithim all to myself.)

I also have some factions downloaded from NetworkNode to my SMAC folder and made them replace some of the default factions (IE, i had the Bree replace the hive, since yang's a nuthead and i don't like him).

I don't have alien crossfire, but I hope to get it soon. (crossfire IS required to play the "return to earth" scenario, right?)

EDIT: Also, can someone PLEASE fix the "box around the cities" problem? I've done everything I can, to no avail. (I have paint shop pro, and networknode.org's tutorial for getting rid of the boxes using PSP simply does NOT work for me)

 

[Petek]

In the middle of a great game, no less.

For reference, my computer: Dell Inspiron 8600 notebook computer/laptop ("widescreen" 1280x800), 60 gig hd, 256 meg ram, 1400 megahertz processor w/a speed of 1.37 gigahertz, Nvidia graphics card.

I even installed the patch, to no avail.

When you say that you installed the patch, do you mean the patch that brings the game version up to 4.0, or the win2000/xp compatibility update? If you need to install the win2000/XP update, it may be found here:

http://www.firaxis.com/games/game_detail.php?gameid=7

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

The XP update is the patch I installed. Do I need the v4.0 patch as well?

 

[The Person]

Does it matter if you need it or not? Just install it and see if things work now.

Of course it could be that there are problems with your edited files, but if SMAC is like Civ2, it reads those when you start the program, so you should get the crash (or at least an error message) when you start up the game. But don't take my words for the one and only truth, as I'm only guessing that SMAC reads its files when it starts.

Maybe you should first install the 4.0 patch, then the XP compatibility patch over it. It's just a suggestion, but it's worth a try, isn't it?

In the end it might also be that the savegame is corrupted, but if you can play a few turns before SMAC crashes I highly doubt that.

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

Actually, I noticed that it freezes only when I'm fighting a war or something like that...

It's nothing to do with savegames, i don't think.

Oh, and I downloaded the v4.0 update, uninstalled the XP update, installed 4.0, then reinstalled the XP, reloaded the autosave just before it hung/froze, and it works good so far....

Now to get rid of those damn squares around my cities.

 

[Petek]

Hope the program continues to work! For your other problem, I suggest that you post it on the Apolyton AC Creation forum:

http://apolyton.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=24

Lots of experts in these matters there.