Game won't start on Gateway PC in UK

  Alpha Centauri Forums
  Support and Troubleshooting
  Game won't start on Gateway PC in UK

profile | register | prefs | faq | search

Author Topic:   Game won't start on Gateway PC in UK

Steven Alexander posted 04-03-99 04:41 AM ET
The game won't start, the DVD drive doesn't even try to drive and I don't see any logos or anything! I have asked for help before and like I was told I went to the gateway site and downloaded all the driver updates they had, but they had nothing for the DVD drive and they say its not the problem. Help!
PhysicsMan posted 04-03-99 05:11 AM ET
Steven Alexander
I have worked with Gateway in the past. If you tell me what type of computer you have and specifically the type of DVD drive, I'll see if I can help you.
PhysicsMan
Steven Alexander posted 04-03-99 05:50 AM ET
Thanks for your reply here is some of the system info:
PENTIUM II G6-450 SYSTEM UK
Features
MOTHERBOARD: 450MHZ PENTIUM II PROCESSOR
CHIPSET: INTEL 440BX CHIPSET
MEMORY: 128MB SORAM
CACHE: 512KB PIPELINE BURST L2 CACHE
BIOS: PHOENIX BIOS
HARD DRIVE: QUANTUM ECLIPSE PLUS IDE 10.0GB HARD DRIVE
FLOPPY DISK DRIVE: 1.44MB 3.5" PANASONIC DISKETTE DRIVE
DVD: TOSHIBA DVD WITH SOFT DVD
VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA NV4 16MB AGP VIDEO CARD
SPEAKERS: BOSTON ACOUSTIC SPEAKERS
MODEM: TELEPATH II V90 WINMODEM
MONITOR: 17" EV7OO COLOUR MONITOR
CASE: 200 WATT MINI TOWER CASE
SOUND CARD: INTEGRATED SOUND BLASTER PCI 64V
PORT(S): I PARALLEL, 2 SERIAL, 2 USB PORTS
SLOT(S): 4 PCI, I SHARED SLOT & I AGP SLOT
KEYBOARD: WINDOWS 105 KEY-KEYBOARD
MOUSE: MS INTELLI-MOUSE
SOFTWARE: WINDOWS 98 & HOME ESSENTIALS & GAMES- STD
INTERNET EXPLORER 4 & MC'AFEE ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
WARRANTY: 1 YEAR ON SITE, 2 YEARS PARTS & LABOUR
MONITOR WARRANTY: 1 YEAR LIMITED MONITOR WARRANTY

Upgrades and Downgrades
CASE: 200 WATT ATX MAXI TOWER CASE
FLOPPY DISK DRIVE: SUPERDISK LS-120 FLOPPY DRIVE
SOFTWARE: P GB HOME ESS & SOURCE & WIN98
MODEM: FULL FEATURED V.90 WINMODEM
MONITOR: 19" VX900 MONITOR
SOFTWARE: SECONDARY SCHOOL SOFTWARE PACK
MONITOR WARRANTY: RO EU YOUR WARE TERMS/CONDS

I brought the G6-450 PC with the DVD drive and some other upgrades.
Hope you can help me as I want this game to work.
PhysicsMan posted 04-04-99 12:07 AM ET
Steven Alexander
I sent you an e-mail with some additional questions and possible quick fixes. I apologize if the questions and fixes are over-simplified. It isn't an insult to you. It's the result of rewriting instructions for people over the internet one to many times. Let me know if you received it.
PhysicsMan
Oly posted 04-04-99 06:03 AM ET
Hi, I've brought Alpha recently, and can not get it to run, i can install it fine but the game won't play. Can you give me any advice?
I have all the system requirements.
BikeDude posted 04-04-99 03:03 PM ET
This bug has been commented on in the past.
Turns out the european version of SMAC has copyprotection added on. Consistent with other games (Settlers3 springs to mind), the copyprotection simply doesn't work very well with the majority of DVD drives (and some CD drives).
Your best bet is to get hold of the US version of terran.exe (3MB) and use it instead of your UK one. This enables you to apply the latest patch (v3.0) as well!
This problem supposedly is fixed in the UK version of v3.0 too, but I haven't seen that patch yet, so I can't tell.
Search around this message board, you'll find a couple of messages pointing at URLs where you can retrieve the US version of terran.exe.
--
Rune
Steven Alexander posted 04-04-99 08:00 PM ET
I got it to work with the new UK v3.0 update. Thanks for everyone that helped me and stuff and I hope I am never stopped from playing a good game by some crappy copywrite code!!!!!!!
BikeDude posted 04-05-99 10:32 AM ET
As long as you don't buy Settlers3 you should be ok (for now, AFAIK)... :-/
--
Rune
To close this thread, click here (moderator or admin only).


Hop to:

Contact Us | Alpha Centauri Home

Powered by: Ultimate Bulletin Board, Version 5.18
© Madrona Park, Inc., 1998.

Author	Topic: Game won't start on Gateway PC in UK
Steven Alexander	posted 04-03-99 04:41 AM ET The game won't start, the DVD drive doesn't even try to drive and I don't see any logos or anything! I have asked for help before and like I was told I went to the gateway site and downloaded all the driver updates they had, but they had nothing for the DVD drive and they say its not the problem. Help!
PhysicsMan	posted 04-03-99 05:11 AM ET Steven Alexander I have worked with Gateway in the past. If you tell me what type of computer you have and specifically the type of DVD drive, I'll see if I can help you. PhysicsMan
Steven Alexander	posted 04-03-99 05:50 AM ET Thanks for your reply here is some of the system info: PENTIUM II G6-450 SYSTEM UK Features MOTHERBOARD: 450MHZ PENTIUM II PROCESSOR CHIPSET: INTEL 440BX CHIPSET MEMORY: 128MB SORAM CACHE: 512KB PIPELINE BURST L2 CACHE BIOS: PHOENIX BIOS HARD DRIVE: QUANTUM ECLIPSE PLUS IDE 10.0GB HARD DRIVE FLOPPY DISK DRIVE: 1.44MB 3.5" PANASONIC DISKETTE DRIVE DVD: TOSHIBA DVD WITH SOFT DVD VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA NV4 16MB AGP VIDEO CARD SPEAKERS: BOSTON ACOUSTIC SPEAKERS MODEM: TELEPATH II V90 WINMODEM MONITOR: 17" EV7OO COLOUR MONITOR CASE: 200 WATT MINI TOWER CASE SOUND CARD: INTEGRATED SOUND BLASTER PCI 64V PORT(S): I PARALLEL, 2 SERIAL, 2 USB PORTS SLOT(S): 4 PCI, I SHARED SLOT & I AGP SLOT KEYBOARD: WINDOWS 105 KEY-KEYBOARD MOUSE: MS INTELLI-MOUSE SOFTWARE: WINDOWS 98 & HOME ESSENTIALS & GAMES- STD INTERNET EXPLORER 4 & MC'AFEE ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE WARRANTY: 1 YEAR ON SITE, 2 YEARS PARTS & LABOUR MONITOR WARRANTY: 1 YEAR LIMITED MONITOR WARRANTY Upgrades and Downgrades CASE: 200 WATT ATX MAXI TOWER CASE FLOPPY DISK DRIVE: SUPERDISK LS-120 FLOPPY DRIVE SOFTWARE: P GB HOME ESS & SOURCE & WIN98 MODEM: FULL FEATURED V.90 WINMODEM MONITOR: 19" VX900 MONITOR SOFTWARE: SECONDARY SCHOOL SOFTWARE PACK MONITOR WARRANTY: RO EU YOUR WARE TERMS/CONDS I brought the G6-450 PC with the DVD drive and some other upgrades. Hope you can help me as I want this game to work.
PhysicsMan	posted 04-04-99 12:07 AM ET Steven Alexander I sent you an e-mail with some additional questions and possible quick fixes. I apologize if the questions and fixes are over-simplified. It isn't an insult to you. It's the result of rewriting instructions for people over the internet one to many times. Let me know if you received it. PhysicsMan
Oly	posted 04-04-99 06:03 AM ET Hi, I've brought Alpha recently, and can not get it to run, i can install it fine but the game won't play. Can you give me any advice? I have all the system requirements.
BikeDude	posted 04-04-99 03:03 PM ET This bug has been commented on in the past. Turns out the european version of SMAC has copyprotection added on. Consistent with other games (Settlers3 springs to mind), the copyprotection simply doesn't work very well with the majority of DVD drives (and some CD drives). Your best bet is to get hold of the US version of terran.exe (3MB) and use it instead of your UK one. This enables you to apply the latest patch (v3.0) as well! This problem supposedly is fixed in the UK version of v3.0 too, but I haven't seen that patch yet, so I can't tell. Search around this message board, you'll find a couple of messages pointing at URLs where you can retrieve the US version of terran.exe. -- Rune
Steven Alexander	posted 04-04-99 08:00 PM ET I got it to work with the new UK v3.0 update. Thanks for everyone that helped me and stuff and I hope I am never stopped from playing a good game by some crappy copywrite code!!!!!!!
BikeDude	posted 04-05-99 10:32 AM ET As long as you don't buy Settlers3 you should be ok (for now, AFAIK)... :-/ -- Rune