25-12-2004 05:16									#1
	Error upon startup Get a bigger avatar today!

When I try to run SMAC it shows the Fireaxis screen for a moment then gives me an error box saying

"terran.exe has generated errors and will be closed by windows. You will need to restart the program.

An error log is being created."

I'm using windows 2000, with a 1.1 ghz Athlon, 512 mb ram, a Radeon 9600 pro. I have the latest SMAC patch and the windows 2k compatibility patch. I tried messing with the ini file and using the no cd exe, as suggested in the faq thread, but nothing workd.

Smac used to run on my win 2k machine years ago, so I have no idea why it's doing this.

	25-12-2004 14:05									#2
	Support Apolyton

Post us a full dump of your "Alpha Centauri.ini" file, and we can try to give you a hand. It's frustrating, I know, but it's usually possible to fix.

	25-12-2004 14:14									#3
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

I don't know if this will help, as it's all on the default settings.

[Alpha Centauri]
MainFontSize=16
InterludeFontSize=16
ds3d=1
eax=1
FastUnitAnim=0
SmoothUnitAnim=0
[PREFERENCES]
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0


I tried the tweaks mentioned in the faq thread to no avail.

	25-12-2004 17:06									#4
	Increase Your PM Length

Changing this line to:

ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1

works for many Win XP machines. maybe it would work for you too. Actually I do not know exactly what this line is about. In my case, if it's 0, game doeas not start. I have XP home

	25-12-2004 23:27									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization III: Complete

quote: Originally posted by mart7x5 Changing this line to: ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1 works for many Win XP machines. maybe it would work for you too. Actually I do not know exactly what this line is about. In my case, if it's 0, game doeas not start. I have XP home

Tried that, no effect.

	26-12-2004 05:15									#6
	Browse Apolyton AD-FREE

Are you running the XP Compatability patch?

	26-12-2004 05:36									#7
	Inflate your Upload Space

Yes. This is annoying as hell, I really want to play this game again. Nothing I do seems to change anything.

	26-12-2004 06:51									#8
	Inflate your Upload Space

Lots of other things to try. Here're some of the more likely possibilities. Apologies if you've already done some.

* If you're starting the game using axstart.exe, use terran.exe (or terranx.exe if you have SMAX).

* In Alpha Centauri.ini, change the ds3d and eax entries from 1 to 0 (zero).

* Change Windows screen resolution to 800x600.

* Change Windows screen colors to 256.

* Look at the Troubleshooting section of the readme.txt file for more suggestions.

Check back if none of this works.

HTH

	26-12-2004 12:51									#9
	Help yourself to an AD-FREE life

quote: Originally posted by Petek Lots of other things to try. Here're some of the more likely possibilities. Apologies if you've already done some. * If you're starting the game using axstart.exe, use terran.exe (or terranx.exe if you have SMAX). * In Alpha Centauri.ini, change the ds3d and eax entries from 1 to 0 (zero). * Change Windows screen resolution to 800x600. * Change Windows screen colors to 256. * Look at the Troubleshooting section of the readme.txt file for more suggestions. Check back if none of this works. HTH

Changing the ini file, resolution, and colors gives the same results as before.

	26-12-2004 17:46									#10
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

maybe the reason is your operating system. What DirectX does your machine have?
I only used Win2k several times - I cannot help much about its tune up. Tried to reinstal DX maybe.

	26-12-2004 21:24									#11
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

More suggestions:

* If you haven't already done so, update your sound and video drivers.

* Have you tried an uninstall/reinstall? If not, do so. Before reinstalling, be sure to delete any files that might remain in the Alpha Centauri folder.

* This one's a longshot, but easy: Delete all files in your temp folder.

If these don't help, then

* Reboot (to clear memory). Use Task Manager to terminate all non-essential running processes (just about everything except Explorer). Now try to run SMAC. If it works, then one of the processes conflicts with SMAC. You'll have to use trial-and-error to determine the culprit.

	28-12-2004 09:07									#12
	Remove this text

Windows 2000 is probably the worst operating system. Even '95s are probably better. But anyway, you could try installing a french or german version. One of my friends couldn't get the English version to work, but somehow got a French version for free, probably illegally, off the Internet and it worked...

	28-12-2004 19:12									#13
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

Petek - I tried everything except for closing all non essential programs. I doubt that'll work, but I'll try it later. Still nothing.

Commy - why is win 2k so bad? At the very least it's better than 95 in my experience, though perhaps not in game compatibility (unless that's what you were referring to).

	28-12-2004 20:13									#14
	Put an end to popups!

Clownboat,

Agreed--Shutting down running processes probably won't work.

In your original post, the error message states that an error log was created. Can you please post it?

Also, here's my Alpha Centauri.ini. See if it it helps:

[Alpha Centauri]
DirectDraw=0
ds3d=1
eax=1
FastUnitAnim=0
SmoothUnitAnim=0
MainFontSize=16
InterludeFontSize=16
DisableOpeningMovie=1
Prefs Format=12
Difficulty=5
Map Type=3
Top Menu=3
Faction=7
Preferences=10101011111001111001111110000111
More Preferences=101010101111100100101000
Semaphore=00000000
Announce=111100001000001001
Rules=1010100000011110
Customize=1
Custom World=3, 0, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1,
Time Controls=1
Custom Map X=180
Custom Map Y=180
Faction 1=JENN282
Faction 2=JENN282
Faction 3=JENN282
Faction 4=JENN282
Faction 5=JENN282
Faction 6=JENN282
Faction 7=FUNGBOY
Latest Save=C:\Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\saves\Petek of the Drones, 2241
Latest Scenario=
Gamma Correction=129
Main Volume=127
Voice Volume=85
Music Volume=63
SFX Volume=95
WindowsFileBox=0
Base Sort=0
Latest Map=C:\Games\Firaxis Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\maps\180_No_Small_Islands
Vehicle Groups=7
DontResetBeginnerPrefs=0

[PREFERENCES]
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1
DisableOpeningMovie=1

Last edited by Petek on 28-12-2004 at 20:20

	29-12-2004 13:06									#15
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

I should have mentioned this at first, but I can't seem to find the log it refers to. There's a file called logfile.txt in my smac directory, and while windows shows that it gets modified when I run the game executable, the file has nothing in it.

The game used to run on this machine a year or two ago, it just stopped working one day and I have no idea why. The only harware changes were replacing the cd drive and getting a new video card (Powercolor Radeon 9600 pro with 256mb ddr memory).

I wonder if there's something wrong with my windows installation, ie it's degrading. I've had this install for years. I don't know, but all my other games still work fine.

	01-01-2005 12:22									#16
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Windows 2000 is about as bad for games as Window NT, if not worst. The system is fine for everything else. But considering the XP came out like 2 years later, and ME came like around the same time, I just don't see it worth it buying a 2000 if you play games. Other than that, it's great. But I judge systems on how they handle games. Heck, if they can Disk Defrag, the Sims 2, Shogun, Omega Stone, and download off the Internet at the same time, and I can still play mindsweeper without any glitches or slowness, it's all good. If it can do that, chances are it can run MS word...

	10-02-2005 03:24									#17
	Put an end to popups!

I was experiencing very similar problems to you - SMACX stopped working one day, and I couldn't fix it despite following all the stuff advised on these forums. However, I have just gotten it to work by taking the following steps...

1. Install
2. Apply WINXP compatibility patch
3. Copy your original .ini
4. Change the FOVA to 1
5. downloaded the NOCD patch

I posted the steps in this order because at an earlier point I had gotten very close to getting the game to work - it would only work on quickstart, however, by following these steps in a different order (I think my .ini was messed up).

	10-02-2005 05:24									#18
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

ditto kraftplax though mine stopped working after installing the NOCD patch, so I dont advice you doing that.

	31-05-2005 09:52									#19
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I upgraded to windows XP and reinstalled the game, same thing. I tried all the suggestions and nothing works. This is freaking ridiculous, why in god's name does the game not work, it makes no sense. Thanks anyways to everyone who relpied to this thread.

	31-05-2005 11:58									#20
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

When in doubt, start from scratch. IOW, reinstall W2K after completely reformat your HDD.

	31-05-2005 13:36									#21
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

quote: Originally posted by Clownboat I upgraded to windows XP and reinstalled the game, same thing. I tried all the suggestions and nothing works. This is freaking ridiculous, why in god's name does the game not work, it makes no sense. Thanks anyways to everyone who relpied to this thread.

What you might need is a copy of someones .ini file
When I reinstalled SMAC(X) on XP, I got the same problem, and solved it by copying this file in the root folder. O yes, perhaps it's as simple as the changing the 'ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1' thingie?

	31-05-2005 19:56									#22
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

quote: Originally posted by Clownboat I upgraded to windows XP and reinstalled the game, same thing. I tried all the suggestions and nothing works. This is freaking ridiculous, why in god's name does the game not work, it makes no sense. Thanks anyways to everyone who relpied to this thread.

Do you still get the same error message that was mentioned in your original post? The one that says that an error log is being created? If yes, then I think we should try to find that log.

It's probably a file named drwtsn32.log. Search your hard drive for a file with that name. The log file is most likely quite large. Delete the log file and then start the game only once. You should now have a log file that contains a single entry. Please post the file here.

This log file may point us in the right direction for figuring out what's causing the problem.

	31-05-2005 20:28									#23
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

If you ever uninstalled the game, then reinstalled it, it is possible that it was installed or uninstalled incorrectly by your computer...I have had problems with this before on other games, it is a royal pain, because it won't uninstall, but it won't play either...

If you delete the game in your registry (AKA the computer doesn't know you installed the game) and try to delete the game, whatever error there was might be deleted...

By installing the game again, hopefully it will work fine...

Althought, I still thing Petek's advice is the best idea yet...

	01-06-2005 04:09									#24
	Increase the size of your Attachments

Attached is the log file, it seems to indicate something is wrong with lines like:

quote: *** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terran.exe *** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for C:\Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terran.exe

I hope someone can make sense of that.

	01-06-2005 11:46									#25
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

quote: Originally posted by Clownboat I upgraded to windows XP and reinstalled the game, same thing.

I missed the part where you mentioned "upgrade."

Sometimes upgrading from a previous version will mess things up. Try a clean install.

	04-06-2005 02:43									#26
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

quote: Originally posted by Clownboat Attached is the log file, it seems to indicate something is wrong with lines like: *** WARNING: Unable to verify checksum for C:\Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terran.exe *** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for C:\Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terran.exe I hope someone can make sense of that.

Well, the Dr. Watson log doesn't tell me anything specific to your error (I don't think the extract that you quoted is significant, but might be wrong).

However, the log does show that you have lots of processes and services running. One of those could be conflicting with the game. I suggest that you restart your computer in Safe mode and see what happens. See

http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...4&Product=winxp

for detailed troubleshooting info.

I also second UR's suggestion of a fresh install (instead of an upgrade), but try the clean boot first. It's less drastic and if you have a conflict with another program you'll want to know that in any event.