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Author Topic:   Running SMAC minus CD

Chowlett posted 06-10-99 02:28 PM ET
Is it possible to run SMAC without the CD? I often feel the game music is a bit pants, and want to put in an audio CD, but even a full install doesn't seem to let me start without the CD. Does this ability come on one of the enhancements?

LoD posted 06-10-99 02:55 PM ET
It's posible. Altough the bug was not listed in the readme for any of the patches (IIRC), downloading the latest one could help you. BTW, I think you will have to turn off the entire audio in the game to hear the music from the audio CD.
LoD
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS posted 06-10-99 03:22 PM ET
What version is it? If it's a European version, there is on-disc copy protection that will require it to be in the drive. Patch 3 does away with this inconvience. If it's the US version, and you do a complete, just "okay" past the warning. You'll lose no feature. Even if you do a typical, the only thing you'll miss are the movies.
jkm
firaxis games
Krushala posted 06-10-99 05:54 PM ET
Does anyone know if you can run an audio cd. I did that with civ2. I used the cheap program to run it. audiostation would slow the game up. I'm afraid smac would slow up too much.
OldWarrior_42 posted 06-10-99 06:21 PM ET
One question Jeff.....This was done intentionally by Firaxes to let us play without the cd right? Why?
Dont get me wrong I appreciate it as I am sure many others do but with the way the industry is going I find it nice that a company takes into consideration the gamers side and I was wondering if this was the reason for doing it that way. Kind of makes you guys look consumer friendly in that regard. Was it an intentional business ploy. I think it was and hope it continues in that direction with your future games and other companies future games , as opposed to say ....locking out cd's from any one else's comp. but your own with id software and such.
Good for you guys if this is the case.and thanks.
Nell_Smith posted 06-10-99 09:51 PM ET
The sad fact is that no form of software copy protection exists that can't be cracked by a determined decompiler, hence the fact that hacked copies of pretty much every game that's ever been made can be found on warez sites or FTPs... regardless of this, I for one appreciate Firaxis' good faith gesture of removing the European copy protection with the advent of patch 3. It's great for me, as I have two computers, a good one and one that sucks, so I have a full install on the good one and play SMAC without the CD, and keep the CD in the drive on the crummy computer, which hasn't got enough HD space for a full install.
Krushala:
Yes, you should be able to play an audio CD while playing SMAC... or a load of MP3s in WinAmp (as I do)... although your system spec will dictate whether or not this will slow down SMAC. On a system with a slower chip or not much RAM, you might find the game pauses or runs slowly if you play audio in the background. If you have problems, try renaming sound.dll in the main Alpha Centauri folder to sound.dl_, which will totally disable all game sounds and might help you to play from another audio source while the game is running.
Nell
Chowlett posted 06-12-99 09:23 AM ET
Thanx everyone, patch 3 downloaded, and it seems to have worked
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Author	Topic: Running SMAC minus CD
Chowlett	posted 06-10-99 02:28 PM ET Is it possible to run SMAC without the CD? I often feel the game music is a bit pants, and want to put in an audio CD, but even a full install doesn't seem to let me start without the CD. Does this ability come on one of the enhancements?
LoD	posted 06-10-99 02:55 PM ET It's posible. Altough the bug was not listed in the readme for any of the patches (IIRC), downloading the latest one could help you. BTW, I think you will have to turn off the entire audio in the game to hear the music from the audio CD. LoD
Jeffrey Morris FIRAXIS	posted 06-10-99 03:22 PM ET What version is it? If it's a European version, there is on-disc copy protection that will require it to be in the drive. Patch 3 does away with this inconvience. If it's the US version, and you do a complete, just "okay" past the warning. You'll lose no feature. Even if you do a typical, the only thing you'll miss are the movies. jkm firaxis games
Krushala	posted 06-10-99 05:54 PM ET Does anyone know if you can run an audio cd. I did that with civ2. I used the cheap program to run it. audiostation would slow the game up. I'm afraid smac would slow up too much.
OldWarrior_42	posted 06-10-99 06:21 PM ET One question Jeff.....This was done intentionally by Firaxes to let us play without the cd right? Why? Dont get me wrong I appreciate it as I am sure many others do but with the way the industry is going I find it nice that a company takes into consideration the gamers side and I was wondering if this was the reason for doing it that way. Kind of makes you guys look consumer friendly in that regard. Was it an intentional business ploy. I think it was and hope it continues in that direction with your future games and other companies future games , as opposed to say ....locking out cd's from any one else's comp. but your own with id software and such. Good for you guys if this is the case.and thanks.
Nell_Smith	posted 06-10-99 09:51 PM ET The sad fact is that no form of software copy protection exists that can't be cracked by a determined decompiler, hence the fact that hacked copies of pretty much every game that's ever been made can be found on warez sites or FTPs... regardless of this, I for one appreciate Firaxis' good faith gesture of removing the European copy protection with the advent of patch 3. It's great for me, as I have two computers, a good one and one that sucks, so I have a full install on the good one and play SMAC without the CD, and keep the CD in the drive on the crummy computer, which hasn't got enough HD space for a full install. Krushala: Yes, you should be able to play an audio CD while playing SMAC... or a load of MP3s in WinAmp (as I do)... although your system spec will dictate whether or not this will slow down SMAC. On a system with a slower chip or not much RAM, you might find the game pauses or runs slowly if you play audio in the background. If you have problems, try renaming sound.dll in the main Alpha Centauri folder to sound.dl_, which will totally disable all game sounds and might help you to play from another audio source while the game is running. Nell
Chowlett	posted 06-12-99 09:23 AM ET Thanx everyone, patch 3 downloaded, and it seems to have worked