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Author Topic:   Problem and Fix

Paxnova Demundo posted 07-14-99 03:34 AM ET
I've had the game for a couple of weeks now, and I'm so frustrated I could almost get rid of it. The gameplay is great... all the way up to near the end when it crashes.
Has anyone else been having this problem? My computer is on the low end of the acceptable range of hardware capability (I have a Pentium 133). Do I just need to upgrade? Will one of these patches on the web site help, or will it just add more stuff for the game engine to keep track of and thus cause more crashes?
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 07-14-99 10:04 AM ET
It sounds like you're exhausting the virtual memory on your system. The demands the game places on it increases the later the game goes (usually). This is also the case with large and huge maps. To increase the amount of virtual memory, free up hard drive space on your c: drive (or wherever your swapfile is located if you moved it), defrag that space, and ensure that windows is managing your swapfile size. 200+ megs fre should do it.
jkm
firaxis games
Paxnova Demundo posted 07-14-99 03:54 PM ET
I have well over 200 megs free. I more like 5 GIGS free, as a matter of fact. (I just recently bought a bigger hard drive.) It happened once on a "huge map" game, so I tried it on smaller maps, and now it's happened to me on a standard map size. I could go on down to the smallest size, but then I wouldn't be getting the real game experience. I just want the thing to work right.
Paxnova Demundo posted 07-14-99 11:34 PM ET
Just to clarify what type of crash I'm having (because I've read some of the other posts), I'm not getting a general protection fault or any other type of message. The game just stops running. After a couple minutes of nothing happening and not being able to click on anything, I do the old alt-ctl-dlt and see that Alpha Centauri is listed as "not responding." My computer IS a P133, but it's also 4 years old. Maybe I'll just have to hang on to it until I upgrade, which I was planning to do, anyway.
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 07-15-99 08:35 AM ET
Any pattern to what's going on when it locks up? Try loading an autosave from before the lockup and see if you can play past the point it locked up originally. If not, send that save to [email protected], summarizing what the prob is. Thanks.
jkm
firaxis games
rscanlan posted 07-15-99 08:52 AM ET
Just to let you know, I don't think that it is due to the fact that you have a low end system. I am running the game on a 400MHz system with 96 Megs of RAM and had the exact same problem. I was running version 2 when this occurred but now I am running version 4 and will see if it happens again.
Zoetrope posted 07-16-99 01:34 AM ET
Yes, perhaps version 4 will help. I have a P-100 from April 1996 and SMAC versions 1 and 2 in occasional games used to hang on one of the other faction's moves in the latter game on huge maps. (Deleting the faction helped. ) But since version 3, this problem has been so subdued that it may even have disappeared.
Paxnova Demundo posted 07-16-99 07:38 AM ET
Well, I did try loading an autosave, and yes, it did crash at exactly the same point as before. Unfortunately, I had already deleted all my files, including my save files, and reinstalled, so I can't send you a copy of the save. If it happens again, I will send it to you. I've now also downloaded the 4.0 patch, so maybe that will fix it. It does seem to run a bit smoother.
Ganondorf posted 07-21-99 03:10 PM ET
I've got the same problem,with the italian version of the game,on 2 different systems(P2-350 with win98 e p166 with w95)...I've got 1 savegame....should i send it ?
Paxnova Demundo posted 07-22-99 08:39 AM ET
Okay. I have downloaded the 4.0 patch and tried again. I played and enourmous game with an incredible number of military units flying, walking, and floating everywhere on the map, and it never even hiccupped. Apparently, whatever the problem was, the new patch fixed it, reaffirming my initial evaluation that this is the greatest strategy game ever created. ...If only the patch had been included on the CD. Thanks, Firaxis.
bigboote posted 07-27-99 02:41 PM ET
I too have experienced the same problems the others describe. After a long campaign (random map, largest size, v4.0 patch -- verified on several different systems) the game just stops in the middle of a turn. It's not a system lockup, the game just stops and won't accept any user imput. It's extremely frustrating because I've been playing a week now and have yet to finish a game because of this problem! Is there somebody I can send a save game to analyze?
Paxnova Demundo posted 07-27-99 05:50 PM ET
Per a previous post on this board, send the save game to [email protected]
I'm surprised you're still having the problem after the new patch. The patch seemed to fix it for me.
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Author	Topic: Problem and Fix
Paxnova Demundo	posted 07-14-99 03:34 AM ET I've had the game for a couple of weeks now, and I'm so frustrated I could almost get rid of it. The gameplay is great... all the way up to near the end when it crashes. Has anyone else been having this problem? My computer is on the low end of the acceptable range of hardware capability (I have a Pentium 133). Do I just need to upgrade? Will one of these patches on the web site help, or will it just add more stuff for the game engine to keep track of and thus cause more crashes?
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 07-14-99 10:04 AM ET It sounds like you're exhausting the virtual memory on your system. The demands the game places on it increases the later the game goes (usually). This is also the case with large and huge maps. To increase the amount of virtual memory, free up hard drive space on your c: drive (or wherever your swapfile is located if you moved it), defrag that space, and ensure that windows is managing your swapfile size. 200+ megs fre should do it. jkm firaxis games
Paxnova Demundo	posted 07-14-99 03:54 PM ET I have well over 200 megs free. I more like 5 GIGS free, as a matter of fact. (I just recently bought a bigger hard drive.) It happened once on a "huge map" game, so I tried it on smaller maps, and now it's happened to me on a standard map size. I could go on down to the smallest size, but then I wouldn't be getting the real game experience. I just want the thing to work right.
Paxnova Demundo	posted 07-14-99 11:34 PM ET Just to clarify what type of crash I'm having (because I've read some of the other posts), I'm not getting a general protection fault or any other type of message. The game just stops running. After a couple minutes of nothing happening and not being able to click on anything, I do the old alt-ctl-dlt and see that Alpha Centauri is listed as "not responding." My computer IS a P133, but it's also 4 years old. Maybe I'll just have to hang on to it until I upgrade, which I was planning to do, anyway.
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 07-15-99 08:35 AM ET Any pattern to what's going on when it locks up? Try loading an autosave from before the lockup and see if you can play past the point it locked up originally. If not, send that save to [email protected], summarizing what the prob is. Thanks. jkm firaxis games
rscanlan	posted 07-15-99 08:52 AM ET Just to let you know, I don't think that it is due to the fact that you have a low end system. I am running the game on a 400MHz system with 96 Megs of RAM and had the exact same problem. I was running version 2 when this occurred but now I am running version 4 and will see if it happens again.
Zoetrope	posted 07-16-99 01:34 AM ET Yes, perhaps version 4 will help. I have a P-100 from April 1996 and SMAC versions 1 and 2 in occasional games used to hang on one of the other faction's moves in the latter game on huge maps. (Deleting the faction helped. ) But since version 3, this problem has been so subdued that it may even have disappeared.
Paxnova Demundo	posted 07-16-99 07:38 AM ET Well, I did try loading an autosave, and yes, it did crash at exactly the same point as before. Unfortunately, I had already deleted all my files, including my save files, and reinstalled, so I can't send you a copy of the save. If it happens again, I will send it to you. I've now also downloaded the 4.0 patch, so maybe that will fix it. It does seem to run a bit smoother.
Ganondorf	posted 07-21-99 03:10 PM ET I've got the same problem,with the italian version of the game,on 2 different systems(P2-350 with win98 e p166 with w95)...I've got 1 savegame....should i send it ?
Paxnova Demundo	posted 07-22-99 08:39 AM ET Okay. I have downloaded the 4.0 patch and tried again. I played and enourmous game with an incredible number of military units flying, walking, and floating everywhere on the map, and it never even hiccupped. Apparently, whatever the problem was, the new patch fixed it, reaffirming my initial evaluation that this is the greatest strategy game ever created. ...If only the patch had been included on the CD. Thanks, Firaxis.
bigboote	posted 07-27-99 02:41 PM ET I too have experienced the same problems the others describe. After a long campaign (random map, largest size, v4.0 patch -- verified on several different systems) the game just stops in the middle of a turn. It's not a system lockup, the game just stops and won't accept any user imput. It's extremely frustrating because I've been playing a week now and have yet to finish a game because of this problem! Is there somebody I can send a save game to analyze?
Paxnova Demundo	posted 07-27-99 05:50 PM ET Per a previous post on this board, send the save game to [email protected] I'm surprised you're still having the problem after the new patch. The patch seemed to fix it for me.