posted 02-20-99 05:52 AM ET        

Ive installed the game and when attempting to run nothing happens bar the cursor going busy for about 30 seconds. Terrain.exe (win 98 tells me after alt ctrl del) is not responding. I have an intel 740 3d card with the very latest driver which they assure me is directx 6.0 compatable. I have tried the patch to no avail, I even copied the demo terrain .exe (Which works fine by the way) to the full game directory in a vain hope. It works but ends of course after 100 turns, but I do get extra sounds and that big monolith type screen for special events.

I have taken the disk back once and got a replacement (more vain hope) that didnt work.

I am getting desperate, not to say tired and emotional !

I have a PII 350 machine with 128meg ram win 98.

Ive had no trouble so far even with games like baldurs gate

Please help !

posted 02-20-99 07:38 AM ET            

Yes I do have a DVD drive, Ive tried the complete install though and that didnt work but maybe it still needs the CD,

It is so annoying thjat the demo gives us a taste but the game wont work

posted 02-20-99 11:53 AM ET            

jkm

posted 02-20-99 04:36 PM ET            

The question is if its the copy protection can it be patched in the game or are we stuck with it. Maybe Firaxis and Mr Morris ( who obviously doesnt get paid enough for the splendid firefighting he's doing) can come up with something else.

posted 02-20-99 07:34 PM ET         

System: P2-300/128MB/Millenium2/SCSI

All other games work fine (like BG, Halflife etc)
Changed GFX Card(Mystique), Memory(down to 64MB), disabled Sound(Sound.dl_), tried Win95 and Win98, tried other CD-Rom(Atzec 6x, instead of Plextor32x).

Nothing worked at all.

Then i tried to play on my old P166 non MMX and i works.
Didn't seem to be a DVD Problem, i think it depends on the P2. All guys writing here own a P2.

posted 02-20-99 07:39 PM ET         

It works. It must have something to do with the Pentium 2.

posted 02-20-99 07:55 PM ET            

same here, DVD drive and P2 and a copy of smac I am itching to play.

posted 02-21-99 01:33 PM ET            

My machine : PII 350 98Mo CDROM 8x Diamond Viper TNT

posted 02-22-99 08:18 AM ET            

Seems to pin the problem on the DVD.

posted 02-23-99 12:23 PM ET            

I've got a Compaq Pressario 5676 with PII 450 Mhz, 128 MB SDram and a DVD player (region 2).

posted 02-25-99 09:29 AM ET            

The US patch doesn't work with the UK terrain .exe 'cos the exes are different

posted 02-25-99 01:04 PM ET            

So my recommendation is to full install and keep waiting. I haven't timed
it yet but I would say that it could take a minute or more to start, this
is obviously unacceptable but at least it gets the game going. As an
aside, FA Premier Manager 99 (also from EA) has the same problem on my
computer.

I hope by now you've found other ways to get your play ;-) If you think
this information would be of use then please post it onto the Fraxis
Support group on my behalf."

posted 02-26-99 09:25 AM ET         

For all you people out there, UK and US, I've had the same problem with SMAC not starting. But, I don't have a PII, or a DVD.

Here's my system specs:

AMD K6/233
128 Megs of RAM
4 Gig HD
Diamond Sealth 2000 2d/3d card w/ 4 megs vRAM
Voodoo 2 w/ 12 megs RAM
Creative Labs AWE 64 sound card

But here's the catch. I only get the problem after I have run alot of other programs, so I believe it's a system resorces problem. So, here's my question to you all:

Are any of you running Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4 and have the ACTIVE DESKTOP running? The active desktop takes up an extrodinary amount of resorces. This may be the source of you problem.

Just trying to add my 2 cents to help the problem

posted 03-01-99 06:48 PM ET            

You are describing a different problem to the one that people are suffering from with their DVD drives (if indeed that is the case). The "DVD problem" is that the game doesn't start at all i.e no splash screen, no task bar button and no (apparent) hard drive activity.

I think that the DVD diagnosis in this case makes sense, it seems likely that a CD protection system which relies on a unique key stored on the CD, generated by something in the CD burning process, could be read differently by a DVD player. There is one system, for example, which relies on imperfections in the CD to give it its ID's, it is quite possible that DVD drives don't read these "imperfections" in the same way.

Interstingly I get the same problem from another EA produced game.

I think we'd all like to know how long it will be before the European patch is available although I don't think that this patch will necessarily solve this problem. If it is a problem with the burning process then it isn't necessarily the fault of Firaxis because it is not something they're responsible for. I don't like the idea of having to download an executable with the copy protection removed for a game I have purchased but in this case it seems the only easy solution.

Perhaps Firaxis would like to comment on any preliminary investigations they have made?

Yours,

posted 03-01-99 06:50 PM ET            

What did I pay for?
Is that ok, purcheasing the game that's not complited or buggy?!
How about all that �#")#(/! patch system.
All new games need patches!

huh!

Imagine, moving to the new hous without roof and windows and buyn' them later on?!

I say whata baloonies!!!