Differences Between GOG and scient or kyrub Versions of SMAC/X?

[Lord Avalon]

So Petek posted in the news thread about GOG.com having SMAX that GOG's exe files are larger, and they added a couple dlls.

The current GOG versions of the games have been modified from the originals. Both exe files (terran.exe and terranx.exe) are larger than the originals. The main game folder also contains two new dll files (goggame.dll and goggame_add.dll). I think this implies that GOG has the source code for the games and has recompiled it, but I'm not certain.

Hmmm, I wonder what they've done.

One change that I noticed is that Alt-Tab has been disabled from within the game.

.
Then he posted the changes:

From the readme file:

-----------------------------------------------
CHANGES IN ALIEN CROSSFIRE VERSION 2.0
-----------------------------------------------

FIXES:

· You can now airdrop units into your own bases.
· The correct voiceovers for Alien Crossfire base facilities now play the
first time you build them.
· Pirates can no longer capture units that are defending a base.
· Alien probe teams now use the correct art.
· The Cyborg faction now correctly has the Technology Steal ability.
· It is now possible to rescue a captured faction leader.
· Base facilities no longer cost less than they should at Thinker and
Transcend difficulty levels.
· In some instances a Golden Age would not produce a population boom. It now
does.
· AXStart.exe will now switch to a resolution it supports.
· The Sid and Brian factions can now be loaded in the Faction Editor.
· Occasionally refugees from a captured base would appear at coordinates
0,0. This is fixed.
· The Maritime Control Center now grants a defensive bonus against naval
units for player controlled factions.
· Psi Artillery combat strength is now calculated correctly.
· Some special abilities were not reflected correctly in automatically
designed units.
· The Right-click menu's version of airdrop now correctly uses movement
points.
· You can no longer have a pact brother support one of your factions units.
· The 'Aliens capture your base' interlude now correctly displays, even if
the base captured was obliterated.
· All satellites can now be added to the build queue, even if currently in
production.
· Miscellaneous text fixes.
· Base population no longer 'rolls over' when it reaches 127.
· Native artillery units no longer get a 'hasty' penalty when attacking.
· Drone revolts no longer can select aliens as new masters.
· The Faction Editor now correctly updates bonuses on the Faction page.
· The Faction Editor now correctly loads free units and free abilities.
· The Faction Editor now correctly saves bonus technologies.
· The Drone faction now correctly includes the Base Revolt ability of 75%
· During a random game, if an Alien faction is selected, and there is
another random slot, there will be two Alien factions in the game.

Which got me wondering (and also thinking this should be another thread in another section):  is there anything that GOG fixed that scient or kyrub didn't?  Is there anything that scient or kyrub fixed that GOG didn't?  Is there some spreadsheet or database that lists bugs and changes and whose version has what?

[Kirov]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the proper order seems to be - official 2.0 patch -> scient's -> kyrub's, so there wouldn't be any issue here if not for the fact that my GOG SMAX rejects 2.0 patch. So now I wonder if I can just apply scient's on GOG, probably with modifying cyborg and drone files by hand.

(Yeah, I just wanted to rephrase your question to make sure that this GOG problem is addressed.)

[Lord Avalon]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the proper order seems to be - official 2.0 patch -> scient's -> kyrub's, so there wouldn't be any issue here if not for the fact that my GOG SMAX rejects 2.0 patch. So now I wonder if I can just apply scient's on GOG, probably with modifying cyborg and drone files by hand.

(Yeah, I just wanted to rephrase your question to make sure that this GOG problem is addressed.)

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think you have 3 options:

1) Original SMAX (whether expansion alone or Planetary Pack) -> 2.0 patch -> scient

2) Original SMAX -> 2.0 patch -> kyrub

3) GOG SMAX

As I understand it, scient was just doing bug fixes, and kyrub added some game changes to scient's version (did he do any additional bug fixes?).

If you replace the GOG exe with a scient or kyrub exe, are you getting the same thing as option 1 or 2?  [Edit] I do not have the GOG version.

[Kirov]

I will do more tests, but I applied scient on my non-working 2.0 GOG and it seems to work. What's the easiest issue to test for scient?

And what about kyrub? Can I use it in MP games?

Lord Avalon, are you implying that GOG differs from Original? In the sense that 2.0 didn't work (I reapplied it and this time it was asking for CD) or in any other sense?

[Lord Avalon]

Well, going by what Petek said, that the GOG exe files are bigger than the original, plus they added dlls, it seems to me that GOG does differ from original.

I don't play MP, but wouldn't all people need to have the same version of the game, whether it's original, scient, kyrub or GOG?

[Petek]

Sorry if I caused some confusion. I wasn't saying that GOG-SMAX is patched to v2.0 (even though the game displays its version as 1.0). I posted the portion of the readme file in response to a question about what changes were made in v2.0. I believe that GOG-SMAX really is v1.0 because some of the v2.0 changes (such as the probe team graphics for the aliens) aren't present. What's especially odd is that the v2.0 changes are displayed in GOG-SMAX's readme file but they apparently based their version on v1.0.

One way to test if scient's (or kyrub's) patch is present is to set a unit to patrol with three waypoints. If the unit instantly promotes to Elite/Demon Boil, then you don't have scient (or kyrub).

Scient's patch incorporates all prior official patches. Kyrub's patch incorporates scient's patch. You should only have to install whichever you want to use.

[Hadrian]

Is it advisable, then, to apply one of the unofficial patches on the GOG version? Also, kyrub's patch weighs 1.38 MB, while scient's patch weighs 2.77 MB. That's strange, considering the claim that scient's patch has been incorporated into the former.

[Lord Avalon]

I have no idea what putting scient's or kyrub's exe files into a GOG installation does.  As far as sizes, you need to look at the exe files, not the other stuff that may be included in the zip archives.  What I see is that both scient's and kyrub's terran.exe files are 3117 kB, and both terranx.exe files are 3004 kB.  I wonder why the SMAC one is larger, but as far as I can tell, they work.

[Petek]

Kyrub has separate zip files for his SMAC and SMAX patches, whereas scient combined patches for both games into one zip file, explaining the different sizes. I've played a few turns with scient's patch installed in the GOG version. Everything seems to work.

[Kirov]

I don't play MP, but wouldn't all people need to have the same version of the game, whether it's original, scient, kyrub or GOG?

I don't know for sure, but I'm under the impression that you can start an MP game with different execs, but the result will be buggy and crashy, especially in the area of discrepancies.

Scient's patch incorporates all prior official patches. Kyrub's patch incorporates scient's patch. You should only have to install whichever you want to use.

Is this something we know for 100%? Because there's something suspicious here. For one, the official 2.0 patch modifies not only the exe, but also some txt files (cyborg, drones, typos in datalinks), all in all 31 files come unzipped.

Also, in his thread http://www.civgaming.net/forums/showthread.php?t=7511 scient is very specific that you need to apply the official patch before his.

I applied scient before 2.0 on GOG and the spore launcher penalty issue is solved. So maybe his exe contains all the official fixes, but you still need those other files?


There is two more things I have, one is short and don't laugh - 1) how do I get to change resolution? In my other copy, I applied scient and resolution just happened to change, now it sort of didn't.

2) Kyrub readme says that Creche and Brood Pit bonuses now work properly. Could someone comment on that? Does it mean that CC is not bugged anymore and plain gives +2 Morale? Because that sure is a gamechanger. The current issue with CC is beneficial for Wealthers and most of them (us) adopted it to their strategy. If CC is fixed, it changes a lot. And although I can switch to the fixed version, albeit reluctantly (don't get me wrong - I know that CC is heavily bugged, but I grew up with it), I certainly wouldn't accept the fact where I'm the only one in an MP game that uses kyrub. So can different execs be used for the same game or not?

I had no idea that Brood Pit is broken as well. What's wrong with this fac?


Something else I need to share - I love how you download GOG and the first game starts with the tutorial on.  It brought back memories of first steps in SMAC. Almost brought tears to my eyes. So many years and I still love you, Alpha! ;

[Green1]

I remember reading somewhere that the Scient patch incorporates the win2k patch. Is this correct or am I delusional again?

We do need to figure this all out. Much of the community on 4 or 5 different versions that may or may not work together could be an issue in some situations.

[Kirov]

I remember reading somewhere that the Scient patch incorporates the win2k patch. Is this correct or am I delusional again?

We do need to figure this all out. Much of the community on 4 or 5 different versions that may or may not work together could be an issue in some situations.

Again, for what it's worth, scient says to apply the 2k/xp update after 2.0 patch, and only then proceed with his.

And yeah, I agree we should sort it out. At the moment I'd like to switch from scient to kyrub and I'm unclear on whether I can or should do it. On the one hand, I want smarter AI, on the other - I have MP games ongoing and don't need any issues with that.

[Buster's Uncle]

So many years and I still love you, Alpha! ;

Qft.

[Lord Avalon]

I remember reading somewhere that the Scient patch incorporates the win2k patch. Is this correct or am I delusional again?

We do need to figure this all out. Much of the community on 4 or 5 different versions that may or may not work together could be an issue in some situations.

Again, for what it's worth, scient says to apply the 2k/xp update after 2.0 patch, and only then proceed with his.

To be more precise, if you have the Planetary Pack, apply the SMAC Win 2K/XP patch (apparently it's already 2.0?).

If you have SMAX separately, apply SMAX v2.0 patch, then Win 2K/XP patch.

Then replace the exe file with the unofficial one.

And yeah, I agree we should sort it out. At the moment I'd like to switch from scient to kyrub and I'm unclear on whether I can or should do it. On the one hand, I want smarter AI, on the other - I have MP games ongoing and don't need any issues with that.

You can copy all the game files to another folder and use the kyrub version in there.  I've done it.  That way you have your original installation for MP.

[Hadrian]

We do need to figure this all out. Much of the community on 4 or 5 different versions that may or may not work together could be an issue in some situations.

I agree. It would be extremely beneficial to draft a "canonical" step-by-step patching guide everyone can cling to, for the sake of unity (no pun intended). Especially the GOG version seems to raise even more questions. For example, do I need the Win 2K/XP patch at all with GOG-SMAC? And what about the discrepancies Kirov pointed out?