GoG Version crashes

[derkleinedieb]

Hi there folks,

was looking thru the internet for a possible solution for my problem with the GoG version of SMAC/SMACX.
I have it running under Win 10 pro and installed aditionally the SMACX german language pack. So far i get only SMAC version to be running on my system, as soon as i start SMACX i will get to up to the point in creating a new game where you choose the ruleset.
Then the games stay 2 seconds and crashes or rather stops working and puts me back to the desktop.
Does someone have any idea what causes it to crash ? Seemingly the SMAC version seems to just work fine??
Any help is appreciated.

Eventlog in windows says:

 System

  - Provider

   [ Name]  Application Error
 
  - EventID 1000

   [ Qualifiers]  0
 
   Version 0
 
   Level 2
 
   Task 100
 
   Opcode 0
 
   Keywords 0x80000000000000
 
  - TimeCreated

   [ SystemTime]  2021-10-21T14:36:19.0472572Z
 
   EventRecordID 21909
 
   Correlation
 
  - Execution

   [ ProcessID]  0
   [ ThreadID]  0
 
   Channel Application
 
   Computer xxxxxx
 
   Security
 

- EventData

   terranx.exe
   0.0.0.0
   385e91ff
   terranx.exe
   0.0.0.0
   385e91ff
   c0000005
   002454fb
   310c
   01d7c688c7cf61c2
   D:\GOG Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terranx.exe
   D:\GOG Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\terranx.exe
   bc698b5e-21f5-41e6-b1eb-a159c882ab10

[bvanevery]

What exact release version number of Windows 10 ?  I remember the 18xx series having some issues.  But those were bugs that arose during playing the game, not just crashing outright at start.

Does everything work without the German language pack?

Did you use the setup_sid_meiers_alpha_centauri_2.0.2.23.exe installer or the GOG Galaxy installer?  I just tried installing with the former, and I didn't see any option to install any language packs.  That installer is what I use.  I don't have experience with anything else.

[derkleinedieb]

hi bvanevery,

to answering your question, i am using version 2004, build 19041.1288.
I did use the GoG installer, basically the version you get when you buy the game. Later i did download the language pack from a guy, who did upload just what seems to be the original data from 1999-2000 as i look thru the folder.
SMAC works just fine in german and doesnt crash. Its only the terranx.exe which refuses to work 
Though the intro on SMACX works and is in english. SMAC doesnt have that intro but all voice chat is in german.
No idea, what i should look for. As far as i read, the patch isnt needed with the current GoG version, or am i wrong?

[bvanevery]

If you mean, the plain English version that one installs like I did, works just fine... yes it works just fine.  There's no reason us native English speakers would be patching the game with a German language pack.  I don't even know where such a thing is obtained.  Getting it from "some guy" unfortunately doesn't guarantee anything about it being appropriate, supported, or compatible.

Try using whatever installer you didn't use, and see if you get better results?

While looking briefly on the internet for "Alien Crossfire German version" I found an interesting clue to problems:

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Alpha_Centauri

Retail only. German text/audio/video files have to be copied over from the retail version. Due to game values and display texts being in the same file, many unofficial patches will overwrite German retail files.

[derkleinedieb]

I am not sure if it has todo with that language pack, but i have the original game as cdrom package..... just one CD is missing, so i had to go for the GoG version.
That "guy" just did provide the folder containing all german related text and stuff, and i just replaced what was necessary. By the way i am not native english 

I saw that link as well, but couldnt get a clue out of it. So in terms of language localization, or rather these patches mentioned over there. Are they needed ?
Since out of the discription of that guy it worked for him on Win 10, he managed to use the original installs from hardcopy and had some patches
installed too. Running into confusion what should i try

[bvanevery]

Are they needed ?

I personally have no idea.  I do not speak German, have never needed such a thing, no longer own original game CDROMs, have a GoG installation using the .exe I specified, do not use unofficial patches except for a "save hack" that Scient gave me which doesn't touch anything else, and have never obtained anything from "some guy" on the internet.

Absent someone who speaks German and has already solved the problem showing up, I'm afraid you're on your own.  You're probably the 1st hacker sacrifice trying to figure out "what's what".  I strongly suggest you try to tackle it "by the book" and not rely on "some guy" on the internet.

I'm willing to guess that your version of Windows 10 isn't a problem though.  The problems I saw were in the 18xx series.  19xx was pretty stable.  In any event they were gameplay bugs, not localization problems.

I would be suspicious that those German language files contain characters that the game binary you're using, doesn't understand or expect.  Like some kind of Unicode problem.  I don't know how all that stuff is implemented.  But I do know that various characters can get changed when they're transferred from operating to operating system.  I have a vague memory of Scient's patch having some issue in that regard as well, that crashed games when a movie was run.  It resulted in the Scient patch 2.1.

I'm now vaguely remembering that those crashes had something to do with excessive line lengths in some .txt file.  The endline encoding could have been changed as the file was passed from OS to OS.

Running into confusion what should i try

That's the basic life of a hardcore hacker, who gets paid the "big bucks".     Elbow grease until you either figure it out or tear your hair out.  Hope your hacker kung fu is good, because you definitely have a bit of a problem.

Maybe you should try talking to GoG customer support?  Didn't you just buy their version of the game?  Maybe they have a language pack that actually works, instead of "some guy's" offering.

[derkleinedieb]

Yeah i did got their version. Their was also some mentioning that the "have had" language packs few years ago.
That "guy" actually was answering on some other guys question, in a GoG forum, in regards of available language packs, so i just hooked up on that.
Since i had only played the SMAC up untill now, there where no problems.
Guess you are right, have to try some stuff my own. And hacking, no hell, have no skills in hacking programming whatssoever 
Anyway thanks for trying bvanevery !

[derkleinedieb]

just drives me nuts 

[bvanevery]

Frankly in your shoes I would try to find a pirated German version of the game.  Install it, see if it actually works.  If it does, then get yourself some kind of diff tool like WinMerge.  Compare the files from the game that do actually work, with the files that "some guy" gave you.  You may find that they're different.

[derkleinedieb]

Got it fixed, reinstalled and copied data.
Thanks for the hint 

[bvanevery]

It works?  If you'd provide a brief cookbook for any future Germans who land here, that would be helpful.