Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => Modding => Topic started by: DrazharLn on May 05, 2016, 04:01:09 AM

Title: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on May 05, 2016, 04:01:09 AM

SMAC in SMAX!

Play SMAC in the slightly improved SMAX engine!

This project mods SMAX to make it play like SMAC.

This is a good idea for you because the SMAX engine is slightly better (less buggy, and much better if you're into modding, thanks to Yitzi) and has a better faction select screen. This is good for the community, too, because all modding effort can be concentrated on one version of the game.

Summary of changes:
* SMAC Tech tree restored
* Unit and Facility prerequisites restored
* Progenitor references purged (as far as possible) from datalinks
* Progenitor references purged from tutorial messages
* Map of Planet and Huge Map of Planet replaced with SMAC variants
* Yitzi: Sealurks, Spore Launchers, Fungal Towers and Battle Ogres will not spawn or appear in pods
* Yitzi: Unity Wreck and Fossil Ridge landmarks will not appear on randomly generated maps
* Yitzi: SMAC Main menu screen and colours used

History:

(click to show/hide)

Two years ago, diessa and BUncle kicked off talks about making a SMAC in SMAX project, and the community came together collected lists of differences between the games. Ford_Prefect made a mod manager and I did all the modding we could do without .exe support. In early 2015, Yitzi released version 3.4 of his patch, including an expansion features code that allows us to turn on and off precisely the bits of the game engine we needed to.

For my share of the changes, I thank vimdiff.

Original threads:
SMAC within SMAX (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8413.0)
Comprehensive SMAC->SMAX changelist (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8428.0)

Installation:

Latest versions of thinker include an ac_mod directory with all the files you need. See instructions here https://github.com/induktio/thinker/blob/master/Details.md#smac-in-smacx-mod

If not using Thinker, read on.

I recommend that this patch is installed with Ford_Prefect's SMAC Mod Manager Beta 3, so install that first (http://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=8433.msg92806#msg92806).

Then download the two mods attached to this post, yitzi3.4b+pracx1.07 and smac_in_smax. The first is a compilation of the Yitzi 3.4, 3.4b and PRACX 1.07 patches, for your convenience, and as a recommendation of a better way to do these things. Extract the two mods to the Mod Manager's mod directory, then run SMACXLauncher.exe, enable both by moving them to the right column, ensuring that yitzi3.4b+pracx1.07 is higher up the list than smac_in_smax. Click "Apply".

You can now run terranx.exe, and you'll be playing SMAC, without the X!

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 05, 2016, 02:39:45 PM

So you consider this a finished full release version?  Is it up in Downloads?

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on May 05, 2016, 03:28:14 PM

It's not in downloads yet. I'd like forumites to give it a go first. I'm particularly interested in any bug reports or difficulties experienced using the mod manager.

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: mcshame on May 07, 2016, 01:40:10 AM

A question about the SMAC in SMAX mod and what I should expect to see.  I understood that this mod would limit the new elements of SMAX.  Does this include the selection of your faction?  I noticed I could still select the aliens or new ones in the game setup phase.

Thx

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on May 07, 2016, 01:45:09 AM

You can still select any faction (replacing the Alien factions with some other custom factions is on the todo list, though), if you select a faction that gets a free tech or facility that I've disabled, I dunno what will happen. Probably you'll just get the tech/facility. (though you won't be able to research any of the other disabled techs).

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: mcshame on May 07, 2016, 02:07:51 AM

ok, so if I play the original factions, I'll be good and get the gameplay experience like original? I like the idea of that, especially until I figure out how to play the game.

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 07, 2016, 02:14:21 AM

I believe some of the idea -certainly something that interested me about the project- is that stuff like games of the month scenarios can all be done in SMAX w/o leaving out a substantial portion of the potential audience who don't have/like x-fire...

Check the subforums of Command Nexus for a LOT of scenarios...

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: mcshame on May 07, 2016, 02:17:50 AM

lol, first thing first, got to play the game.  I started yesterday and found 3 groups got attacked by the Spartans and I was freaking out! I just wanted to build up my cities and suddenly it got really crowded. Didn't have enough time to play, but will get a serious  playthrough soon. What play level should I start at for my first run at it?

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 07, 2016, 02:26:17 AM

The lowest - the problem with the AI being stupid take a few years playing and getting good at it to crop up...

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on May 07, 2016, 02:29:15 AM

I dissent! :P

I think Librarian is a good default difficulty. It'll be a bit challenging in the early game for a newer player, especially on a smaller map, but not too bad.

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: Buster's Uncle on May 07, 2016, 02:33:00 AM

Depends on how much of a natural you are, I guess...

What were you the first time, anyway; ten?

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on May 07, 2016, 03:10:24 AM

Young, anyway. I don't know what I played on originally.

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: mcshame on May 09, 2016, 04:52:40 AM

Played SMAC_in_SMAX with the mod organizer and it's working like a charm.  Although I wouldn't really know yet if there was a lore related item issue, it seems really good so far. 3 hours put into this playthrough.  I'm on the easier level and kinda owning everyone but that's ok, making lots of mistakes and hopefully will learn from them.

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on May 09, 2016, 11:06:58 AM

I'm fairly confident I got rid of all the references to the progenitors, so you should be safe :)

I'm glad everything's working and that you're having a good time with it. Thanks for the report!

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: scient on May 17, 2016, 05:30:01 PM

Did you set this flag inside SMACX binary (v2.0)?

009A6488 g_ENABLE_SMACX

It gets toggled to TRUE in WinMain on start. It might actually cut down on the need to some edits since it will prevent a lot of SMACX specific content. You can find all references to it inside db draft.

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: Yitzi on May 17, 2016, 09:20:11 PM

Quote from: scient on May 17, 2016, 05:30:01 PM

Did you set this flag inside SMACX binary (v2.0)?

009A6488 g_ENABLE_SMACX

It gets toggled to TRUE in WinMain on start. It might actually cut down on the need to some edits since it will prevent a lot of SMACX specific content. You can find all references to it inside db draft.

I actually used that flag to find all the differences, and the "SMAX stuff" data is OR'd to that DWORD and flags tested that way...however, just using that flag means you can't split it (e.g. use the SMAX rules for some things and SMAC for others).

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on May 17, 2016, 10:55:39 PM

Yitzi did all the exe stuff for this mod, I just edited the text files :)

Interesting to know how you did it, though, Yitzi.

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: scient on May 17, 2016, 11:24:03 PM

Ah that makes sense. I never really dug into it deeper than it was likely a debug boolean to switch between SMAC/X.

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: spilskinanke on October 21, 2019, 09:35:14 PM

After downloading the latest version of smacinsmax and trying to use it with thinker mod, I seem to have no luck getting it to work when launching terranx_mod.exe. I always get the crossfire intro instead and start quick play starts me as CyCon. I've tried just dropping everything in manually, putting ac_mod in as a whole folder without overwriting as the instructions request, and I tried using the beta launcher that was recommended in this post. Same result every time. Anyone else have a problem like this, or know of any fix?

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on October 22, 2019, 12:02:03 PM

Latest versions of thinker include an ac_mod directory with all the files you need. See instructions here https://github.com/induktio/thinker/blob/master/Details.md#smac-in-smacx-mod

I maintain up-to-date documentation about the mod here: https://github.com/DrazharLn/smac-in-smax

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: mcshame on October 23, 2019, 02:46:31 PM

So happy to see this post.  I had installed SMAC in SMAX many years ago, looking forward to trying it again  :danc:

Title: Re: Release: SMAC in SMAX
Post by: DrazharLn on October 23, 2019, 09:04:10 PM

Great! I'm glad to know some other people used the work :)