Install advice

[Unorthodox]

Ok, so let's say someone wants this on a modern windows 7 laptop.

What's the best means of installation?


Edit:  Such a person has the planetary pack disk for sure, and perhaps the original SMAC vanilla disk (if I can find it) available. 

[Buster's Uncle]

Crap - I did this just a few weeks ago.  [wracks memory]

Hold on; brb...

[Buster's Uncle]

We need to start a Tech Help folder and get Petek checking by every day - I'm not useless at this, but he's like magic.

Here are Draz' instructions.  All the patches mentioned are in our Downloads section.

...

Installing SMAC

N.B. If the CDs won't autorun then just open setup.exe on the disc. If that doesn't work check troubleshooting for an alternate solution.
I
f you have the Planetary Pack or Laptop Collection, install both parts of that and skip to step 5

If you own the new sold out software pack, install the games separately and follow the instructions for owning SMAX. This version of the game comes with a form of SecuROM DRM, If you get any weird errors, please post here.

Grab your CD and install SMAC

If you have SMAX, install it now

[If you own the Planetary pack or Laptop pack] Install, in this order, the SMAC Win 2000/XP Update and the unofficial patch.
Move on to configuring Hamachi

[If you own SMAX] Install, in this order, the Alien Crossfire v2.0 update, the SMAC Win 2000/XP Update and the unofficial patch.

[If you don't own SMAX] Install, in this order, the SMAC v4.0 Update, the SMAC Win 2000/XP Update and the unofficial patch (obviously, you only need to use the terran.exe file if you do not have SMAX).



Useful modifications
The datalinks (in-game help) that come with SMAX are flawed and, in many places, incorrect; consider installing GooglyBoogly's Comprehensive Datalinks Update (SMAX only)
SMAC will always warn you when you play the game without the CD in the drive, this message may be useful once, but on the 100th viewing it begins to lose appeal. To remove this warning open Jackal.txt in your root alpha centauri directory and delete the section that starts #FILEFIND_NOCD. You may want to make a backup.


Troubleshooting

If you can't find the answer here, or the answer given here doesn't work, check out these two excellent FAQ threads: [1] [2].
If you still have a problem ask in this forum (but not in this thread, your problem might get lost)
setup.exe won't run on the disc
Copy the programs folder off the disc (the folder that contains terran.exe) into an install directory of your choice. Rename it "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri". Copy the fx, movies and voices folders from the disc into this root folder for a complete install.
You can do this for both the SMAC disc and the SMAX disc, as long as you install SMAX after SMAC.
"terran(x).exe is not a valid win32 program"
Copy the orignal terran.exe and terranx.exe from the CD, this shouldn't occur after you've installed the patches.
"terran.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close"
This is a generic error and may mean a number of things. One solution may be to add the line "Directdraw=0" to the end of Alpha Centauri.ini (found in the root alpha centauri folder).
This also has the effect of making the game use your normal desktop resolution (as set by windows) and of preventing you from alt tabbing at all. This fix should only be used in SMAX; directdraw=0 makes SMAC unplayable.
SMAC(X) won't start!
Edit the Alpha Centauri.ini (you will need to run either terran.exe or terranx.exe at least once to get this file) and add the line (without quotes): "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0" to the end of the file.
If this doesn't work and you are using Vista, try running terran(x).exe as administrator.

...

For some reason, I found the compatibility setting for Windows NT Serivce pack 4.0 as good or better than the XP setting.  If you run into a problem the instructions above don't cover, post again with details - I do manage to talk people through this without Petek sometimes.

[Unorthodox]

Hm...that's a lot of info.  I'll have to decode it later. 

Anyone tried the GoG version?  A lot of times they fix up games to run on modern computers.  (and sometimes not...damn Dungeon Keeper II doesn't work worth a damn on new machines no matter the version)


Not entirely what I'm looking for. 

IS the expansion REALLY worth it, or is the vanilla game overall better?  I've heard the expansion is actually kinda crappy.

I'll be looking to try mods, so take that into account.  If most mods need the expansion, I may as well install, and so on. 

I recall the last time I attempted this game there was a lack of screenshot ability...any work arounds on that? 

On an aside, after posting this I tried planetfall, the civ IV mod...  I'm back to trying to install this again, that's all I'll say. 

[sisko]

Anyone tried the GoG version?  A lot of times they fix up games to run on modern computers.  (and sometimes not...damn Dungeon Keeper II doesn't work worth a damn on new machines no matter the version)

i have the GoG version and it's working fine on my Win XP computers. i don't know about other operating systems though..

IS the expansion REALLY worth it, or is the vanilla game overall better?  I've heard the expansion is actually kinda crappy.

I'll be looking to try mods, so take that into account.  If most mods need the expansion, I may as well install, and so on. 

you need the expansion if you're interested in mods. most recents ones (Kilkakon's, chuft's) are based on SMAX.

I recall the last time I attempted this game there was a lack of screenshot ability...any work arounds on that? 

the one i use is playing the game in a window.

[Buster's Uncle]

ISTR troubleshooting your screenshot problem - didn't you have some funny color settings on your machine at the time?  Screenshots are ususally a simple matter of escaping while the game is still running and pasting the screeny into something.  It looks all borked up that way, but should come out right once you go back and exit the game.

[Unorthodox]

[If you own the Planetary pack or Laptop pack] Install, in this order, the SMAC Win 2000/XP Update

Check

and the unofficial patch.

Check

Move on to configuring Hamachi

Whosawhatnow? 

[Unorthodox]

the one i use is playing the game in a window.

How is such a thing accomplished?

[Buster's Uncle]

Ignore the stuff about Hamachi.

I should rmember the windowed mode trick, but I do not - he'll have to tell you.  You can just escape the game using the Windows key, as far as screenies go.

[sisko]

the one i use is playing the game in a window.

How is such a thing accomplished?

this is the trick i'm using: open the game once -> open the game a second time -> close the game that just started. this will leave you with the game in a window (fixed dimensions, non movable, but still a window). that's it!