Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => The Theory of Everything => Topic started by: Stalza on January 09, 2015, 10:43:54 PM

Title: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: Stalza on January 09, 2015, 10:43:54 PM

Hello, everyone.  According to the yellowing receipt, I purchased SMAC in 2000.  I remember playing it briefly then.

Fifteen years later, I'm anxious to give it another try, now on my Windows 7 computer.  I installed the complete game from the original CD and applied the SMAC 4.0 update, the SMAC Win 2000/XP update, and kyrub's patch (SMAC_444-AI patch version [p]).  In addition to these steps, I also inserted "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0" in the Alpha Centauri configuration text file.

The game started right up, but everything is shifted to the left, so much so that some of the Main Menu (in the lower left section of the view) and other information below the Main Menu are off screen and can't be seen.  Correspondingly, there's about a 1/2-in. wide black strip on the right side of the screen.

Any suggestions as to how to fix this?

Thanks.

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: Mart on January 09, 2015, 11:33:20 PM

Maybe try Yitzi patch:
Link (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=downloads;cat=2)
it has scient's changes, and they possibly made "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0" unnecessary.

Also, maybe computer restart would help?

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: gwillybj on January 10, 2015, 12:22:04 AM

Sometimes that line needs to be "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1". I need it that way on both my XP and Win98 systems.

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: Stalza on January 10, 2015, 12:35:04 AM

I've tried "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0", "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1", and leaving this line out altogether.  The game starts fine with all three, and all three have the same left shift.  (After running the game with this line left out altogether, I found that "ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=0" was back in the configuration text file.)

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: Stalza on January 10, 2015, 11:14:29 AM

It's my understanding that kyrub's patch is the latest thing for SMAC and that yitzi's patch is the latest thing for SMAX.  Since I have SMAC, yitzi's patch is not an option.  Is that right?

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: Flux on January 10, 2015, 02:24:05 PM

Quote from: Stalza on January 10, 2015, 11:14:29 AM

It's my understanding that kyrub's patch is the latest thing for SMAC and that yitzi's patch is the latest thing for SMAX.  Since I have SMAC, yitzi's patch is not an option.  Is that right?

Uh
I thought his patch worked with both games. Let me check that...
No, I think you're right. There's only a SMAX.exe in there, and it's titled "Yitzi's Unofficial SMAX Patch 3.3b"

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: Mart on January 10, 2015, 02:58:35 PM

How about system compatibility settings? running as admin?

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: gwillybj on January 10, 2015, 04:29:13 PM

iirc, there was a DirectDraw=0 (or 1) line some users needed.

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: Yitzi on January 11, 2015, 12:47:27 AM

Quote from: Stalza on January 10, 2015, 11:14:29 AM

It's my understanding that kyrub's patch is the latest thing for SMAC and that yitzi's patch is the latest thing for SMAX.  Since I have SMAC, yitzi's patch is not an option.  Is that right?

That is correct, although if you want to buy SMAX, patch version 3.4 will make it possible to imitate the aspects of SMAC that you like (well, except for AI, which is a big project in its own right.)

Title: Re: full-screen view is shifted to the left
Post by: Stalza on January 11, 2015, 03:12:56 PM

Success.  One of the FAQs cited in DrazharLN's post said that "DirectDraw=0" must be the first line in the configuration file, so I moved that line from last in the file to first, and now everything looks and sounds great.

Thanks for your help.