Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri NoCD fix
 

Is there an updated Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri NoCD fix? It looks like the game is on patch 4 but the latest NoCD fix I found is version 2 at Megagames. I have the US version.

Hmmm, this patch has been released around 07-Jul-99, according to http://dlh.net/cgi-bin/dp.cgi?lang=e...s&sys=pc&cap=s . Are you sure the copy protection hasn't been removed in this patch already?! Yeah, it's pretty weird that there's no no-CD patch for this one around... :( (No, I don't have this game at all.)

problem is AC hates XP machines, some get lucky, many dont.

Like me :\

Theres a patch for XP users that came out in 2001.

I'll confirm that, but unfortunately not for the expansion "Alien Crossfire" :(

Nope, the copy protection is still present in the current patch :(
I know I had a nocd for both of these games of GCW about a year ago?, but they've vanished. (Theyre referred to in old news searches, but not present on the site?!)
Anyway, what you want is the Alien Crossfire 2.0 update from the Firaxis site, & then fish up the Alien Crossfire 2.0 eng file from here: http://megagames.com/cracks/html/c30150_0.htm
(If you are using the Planetary Pack, then install the latest update, and then the Alien Crossfire nocd fix; Make a note of the fixed exe name, and then use that as the shortcut, rather than the launcher)
Final point, the game will still complain that stuff may not work if the CD is not inserted; If you haven't done a full install then you won't get the secret project movies, but the game still runs fine.

Talking of Alpha Centauri, anyone who has seen a copy of the Linux version anywhere, PLEASE post or PM me!! (The company went out of business ages ago, and I can't find one anywhere :mad: )

-Leezer-

Please, someone run ProtectionID on this latest patch of the game and tell us what copy protection it uses.

On the us version patch #4 ProtectionID states (File appears to have no protection or is using an unknown protection).

I just tried playing the game on my desktop system that has a LGA P4 3GHz CPU and a popup box appears stating (Your CPU is not supported, you may attempt to play the game, however, crashes are possible). As soon as you press the OK button the game crashes:(. Maybe I'll try the game on my laptop later since that is the system I had in mind for the game anyway, that has a Intel 1.3GHz M CPU, might have better luck there.

Hmmm, interesting. Can you, please, zip up the main EXE, along with the necessary DLL's, to be able to launch the game to the point of displaying the copy protection message, and send it to me in an E-mail?

Sent to [email protected].

@Whoeverxxx:
You want the Windows XP patch (Top one) to fix the CPU type crash.

I think I'm now getting very confused, according to what I seem to be seeing, the basic Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire patches seem to have been unprotected, but the Planetary Pack remains protected?! :confused:
Edit: Oh, and the patch to V2.0 of the Planetary Pack seems to have gone missing :confused: (I know I had one earlier to fix a whole load of Windoze XP issues, not least not starting)
Have a try at installing the most recent updates for both SMAC & SMACX and seeing what this does!
From a bit of net prodding, this may well have come about as the US & UK versions used different protections, Securom R4 & Safedisc V2 respectively, and the current patches are multi-reigonal.

Very confused!!

-Leezer-

If that's still true, then there should be no problem to remove the protections ;)

all what you need, is to open "Alpha Centauri.ini" file with notepad and change "ForceOldVoxelAlgoritm=0" to "ForceOldVoxelAlgoritm=1". it will still complain about cpu and no cd in drive, but will work without flaws. all latest patches to smac and smacx? are unprotected. :cool:

Hi whoeverxxx,

Sorry, the package you've sent to me does not seem to be enough for testing the copy protection. When I launch the main executable, all I get is a black screen and then crashing back to the desktop. Please, test your package on your PC (or, even better, another one where the game is not installed!) and send it to me when it displays an error message or does something that can clearly be attributed to the copy protection kicking in. Thanks!

Thanks, that worked! My sound is a little distorted but sound isn't that important on a game like this.

Yeah, I noticed that also. I'm not sure what files triggers the CPU message but as I stated before, ProtectionID states that the game has no know protection on it and the game seems to work fine without the original CD thanks to Felar Furlong post, although I do get an annoying message stating that some features of the game will not funtion properly without the CD or a Full install even with a Full install.

Ahhh, ahhh, gimme the exact message that talks about the lack of the CD. That should be something to start working with... :)

Hi there Joe,
Just tried a reinstall & update to the latest versions- This is what I get: (Both vanilla Alpha Centauri & Planetary Pack)
Protection ID states that no protection was detected/ unknown protection.
On loading I get the generic Safedisc message that no disc is inserted, Abort retry or continue. Pressing continue about 5 times gets rid of this.
Then I get this:
Small note- The text for the CD check string is called by this section of the jackal.txt file:
(I assume that this means that you could make the CD-Check message say whatever you want :D)

Another edit!!: The Safedisc message will come up unless ANY disc is in the drive, no matter what it is.
Small edit: Safedisc version on untwiddled exes from the Planetary Pack is 1.4.004.

Totally confused :p (And no-longer amused!)

-Leezer-

It seems the message is displayed at two parts of the program: when the opening movie (movies\virtualWorld.wve on the CD) is played and when the DirectX DLL (directx\dsetup.dll on the CD) is loaded.

If you don't have the CD inserted or you have a different CD inserted then neither the movie will be played nor the DirectX DLL will be loaded, because the file the game needs is not there. I think the "ForceOldVoxelAlgoritm=1" config setting, recommended by Felar Furlong, disables DirectX usage ("old voxel algorithm" as a fancy name for the "software renderer"?) and that's why the game works at all... (?)

leezer3, please, drop me an E-mail. I'll send you and whoeverxxx a no-CD patch next Monday or something for testing.

I'm not entirely good with computers but I'm trying to get this to work. So far I've unzipped it, updated it, added the game fix/cd crack. It still says No cd detected etc.. So how exactly do I find the Alpha centauri.ini file. Where will I find it and what will it look like? Thanks for your time.