If you are experiencing performance problems, try some of the following tips:
* Reduce your resolution to 800 x 600, rather than 1024 x 768. This can greatly improve all game performance.
* Disable the sound using the Audio/Visual Preferences menu.
* Disable map animations, sliding windows, and sliding scrollbars.
* Enable the following preferences: Move Friendly Pieces Quickly, Fast Battle Resolution, Move Units with orders quickly, Don't Center On Units With Orders
* Increase the amount of free hard drive space on the C: drive.
* Increase the amount of RAM in your system.
NEW FEATURES
* Right click on a Pact Brother from commlink menu to end a pact.
GAMMA CORRECTION
We've added a Gamma Correction feature to allow the customer to adjust the brightness of the palette without adjusting their monitor. It is accessible from any of the preference menus. The default value is 1.0.
WINDOWS NT
Almost all features of SMAC should work under Windows NT 4.0. You'll need to obtain NT Service Pack 3 or higher from Microsoft and install it, which includes DirectX 3 or higher support. Note: Sound support under NT currently requires us to use emulated drivers; this can in some cases produce poor sound results, including static and sound breaking up.
CPU OVERCLOCKING
If you experience random crashes and you are overclocking your CPU (especially with AMD K-5 and K-6 processors), try returning your CPU speed to it's original setting.
MOVIE PERFORMANCE
If your computer has problems playing some of the in-game movies, verify that you are not using any 16-bit real mode drivers for the CD-ROM drive. You can check this by opening the Control Panel and choosing the System settings. Under the Performance tab, there is a line for File System. This should read 32-bit. If it has anything else in that line, contact the manufacturer of your CD-ROM drive for updated Windows 95/98 drivers. If you still experience problems playing movies, try adding 'DirectDraw=0' to the Alpha Centauri.ini file in the install directory.
ADDITIONAL TWEAKS
Once the game is installed, a file is created called "Alpha Centauri.ini". This file contains various settings and preferences for the game, but can also be edited by the user. The following commands will allow you some control over the look of various parts of the game.
WindowsFileBox=1
Settings this to 1 allows you to use the traditional Win95/98 file navigation dialog.
MainFontSize=16
You can increase or decrease the size of the font used throughout the game.
DirectDraw=0
Settings this to 0 disables DirectDraw. This disables the automatic window resolution resizing during program launch.
Video Mode=800 or Video Mode=1024
This forces the screen resolution to either of these two sizes.
8BitMovieSound=1
This forces the sound quality to 8-bit from the original 16-bit. If your sound card has DirectX compatibility issues, this may improve movie performance.
TROUBLESHOOTING - If your computer has problems playing the game (crashes, returning to desktop, etc.), please try the following:
1. Reinstall DirectX 6. It can be found at www.microsoft.com/directx.
2. Rename the SOUND.DLL to SOUND.DL_. While disabling the sound, it may correct your original problem.
3. If you receive the message "CPU Not Supported", and you have a non-Intel processor such as an AMD K-5, try to run the game anyway. Many AMD processors show up as a 486 in verification tests, but if your machine is 'Pentium Compatible', it shouldn't be a problem.
4. Increase amount of free hard drive space on the C: drive, especially if you have 16 or 32 megs of memory.
5. Let Windows handle your swap file size. This can be adjusted by running the System Control Panel, selecting the Performance menu tab, then the Virtual Memory button, and selecting "Let Windows manage my virtual memory settings".
6. Update the Windows 95/98 drivers for your Video card, Sound card, and Monitor.
Enjoy,
The Firaxis Games Team
LEGAL
This demo is intended for promotional purposes only, and may not
be sold, rented or reproduced by any party. Any unauthorized use of
this demo is prohibited by applicable law.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED AS IS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, WHETHER
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE WHICH ARE HEREBY DISCLAIMED. IN NO
EVENT WILL ELECTRONIC ARTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR
CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM POSSESSION, USE, OR MALFUNCTION
OF THIS ELECTRONIC ARTS SOFTWARE PRODUCT.
Some states do not allow limitations as to how long an implied
warranty lasts and/or exclusions or limitations of incidental or
consequential damages so the above limitations and/or exclusions of
liability may not apply to you. This warranty gives you specific
rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to
state.
ELECTRONIC ARTS RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MAKE IMPROVEMENTS IN THIS FILE
AND TO THE SOFTWARE AT ANY TIME AND WITHOUT NOTICE.
THIS FILE AND THE SOFTWARE HEREWITH IS COPYRIGHTED. ALL RIGHTS ARE
RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS FILE OR THE SOFTWARE MAY BE COPIED,
REPRODUCED, TRANSLATED, OR REDUCED TO ANY ELECTRONIC MEDIUM OR
MACHINE-READABLE FORM WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN CONSENT OF ELECTRONIC
ARTS, P.O. BOX 7578, SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA 94403-7578, ATTN: CUSTOMER
SUPPORT.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (tm)
(c) Electronic Arts 1999. All Rights Reserved.
MPEG real-time libraries (c) 1996-1998 by MpegTV.
All rights reserved. The MPEG Layer-3 technology was developed by the
Fraunhofer Institut fuer Integrierte Schaltungen IIS, Am
Weichselgarten-3, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany. Used by permission, Reg.
