Turns of ADB001 - Aldeberan MP Scenario

[Scipio Centaurus]

Originally posted by johndmuller
That was one of the variations I tried earlier, with the .sav file in a subdirectory (of the "scenarios" subdir.) called "aldebsmp" (with all the .txt files in that directory also) in which arrangement it didn't work.

I didn't catch you note till I had already posted. Sorry.

When you guys are talking about using .sc files, does that work at any time other than the initial creation of the game?

No.

Which of you are using Macs and which are using intel style PC's?

I'm on a PC. Smack is on a Mac. Don't know about anyone else.

Are you all satisfied that everyone before me experienced Aldebaron and not vanilla smac?

No. In fact it sounds like Arima received the game as regular SMAC. Not 100% certain of that though.

...looks like there are only 7 non-unique files in the aldeb download; it wouldn't be a horrendous deal to switch them back and forth if necessary, but it would be a bit of a PIA and might have inadvertent side effects on some other games as I would probably forget to do it sometime. In other words, a more elegant solution would be preferred.

Agreed about the more elegant solution. If your willing to risk your SMAC install (and the fate of the known universe, BTW) it might be the only way you can play the game under Aldebaran rules.

Problem is, if the game is already corrupted - and I'm guessing it is - then one or more players may have played their turns using Chiron SMAC costs for research, production, etc. Probably a trivial issue this early in the game. OTOH, why not just start over - for the same reason?

It may matter exactly what the specific path to the aledbaron .txt files was in the original creation of the game, it may try to find the same path on subsequent machines and either use the proper files or not depending on whether or not it finds them.

In the foothold test described in previous messages, I just made a folder under the 'scenarios' folder that was created during install. I guess I could try the test again moving the game folder to some other location. Nahh...

- Scipio

[Avenoct]

I'm impressed and grateful that you both took the time to test things out. Here are some conclusions I have about the PC version:

Preface: A 'full' install is just like you said JohnD...it just means having those 7 files replace or swap-out their Vanilla counterparts, and the addition of all the extra factions, graphics, etc. that don't disturb anything. This has the effect that when you start the application AC, you're automatically in Aldebaran.

1. I think Scipio is saying that as long as the Aldeb alpha.txt is in the game directory somewhere, the scenario will 'make a call' on that brand if it was created by that brand.

2. However, because this didn't work for JohnD, we can conclude that he recieved a Vanilla brand .SAV file.

3. My conclusion is that Qantaga played 'MP-Scenario-Load-(the savegame file)' but did not follow rule 1 above: Keep the sav-games in the AldebMP folder, and (this is new) keep this somewhere inside the SMAC directory.

4. If there is no way for some versions of SMAC to play customized scenarios without 'full installing', then I suspect Firaxis didn't think anyone would ever try them.

5. It is true that if you load a Vanilla Smac game into Aldebaran it 'forces' the game into Aldebaran. However, this is not a fix to get back on track b/c

a. Imagine the previous player was studying biogenetics...next round they're forced back into Aldebaran and are studying the tech with that same number, which could be Arboreal Beginnings (tree farms).

b. There are some techs that don't exist (by their reference number) in SMAC that do in Aldebaran. The game will probably break if it encounters this (meaning a crash, not a reinstall).

4. As an aside, I may be the exception to the rule b/c the Mac and PC versions differ in this regard. I can play the darn thing from anywhere, even my pinky toe, and it's Aldebaran, with no Aldeb files around. No wonder I'm confused...heh.

I suggest we restart the game because it got miffed somewhere early-on. As far as I can tell, the protocol for interacting with the game will be: Play just like any other MP game, but keep the .SAV files in the AldebMP directory, and keep that in the AC directory. Sound right?

Another thing, how about everyone report what version of SMAC they are playing, just in case the problem comes up again. Of course, if it does, I'm feeding my files to .

-Smack

[Qantaga]

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the lack of response today, but I had no access to e-mail or the internet today. Long work day, then long drive home. I just got in a little while ago.

It looks like I may have passed the corrupted file to Arima, but I did save and load the turn from the "aldebsmp" folder that I downloaded from Smack.

I am way too tired to experiment tonight, but I will check things out tomorrow.

[Avenoct]

I'm going to send a new game and turn to Scipio, and as a test, we'll play a few turns of a two-player game. Sound o.k. Scipio?

[Avenoct]

So...I've sent turn one out all over again to Scipio...there may be some notes here if we decide how to make this fool-proof. Here are the notes so far.

Things I've noticed: If I store the AldebMP scenario folder, or a save game in the actual 'Scenarios' Directory in SMAC, it won't play properly...yes, that's counter-intuitive. Instead, I put the scenario folder on the desktop and everything works fine from there. This may indeed be the whole problem in our last attempt. Apparently SMAC will use a scenaro-customized rules text ONLY if it's outside the game directory!

Also, this game is in natural turn order to preserve the graphics, therefore the order is:
Planetlovers: Qantaga
Syndicate: Scipio
Universality: AI
Nauticon: JohnDMuller
Outlaws: Smack
Galactics: AI
Peacemakers: Arima

-Smack

[Scipio Centaurus]

OK. I have played the first turn of ADB002 and will email it to Qantaga after I post this message and start a new turn thread.

After much mucking about passing game files back and forth via email, Smack and I have arrived at...

...The Bottom Line (we think)

In order to play SMAC in the Aldebaran Universe, each involved player must ensure that six (6) standard SMAC TXT files (listed below) in the default game directory are replaced with equivalently named Aldebaran TXT files prior to loading and playing incoming Aldebaran SAV files.

When you want to play regular SMAC, you must return the regular SMAC versions of these files to the default game directory prior to play.

The swap files are;

alpha.txt
blurbs.txt
help.txt
monument.txt
techlongs.txt
techshorts.txt

The aldebaran version of these files were included in the zip download that everyone should already have.

Before doing any switching of files, I recommend that you copy at least these 6 regular SMAC files to some neutral folder.

There are more than one way to skin this cat, so I will simply describe how I do this on my machine.

Nomenclature
-----------------
The default game directory on my PC is called 'Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri'. It resides under a placeholder folder called 'Firaxis Games'.

Process
----------
1> I navigated to the Firaxis Games directory and made a complete copy of my Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri default game directory, including all files, subfolders and contents of subfolders. I named this new folder Aldebaran. This Aldebaran folder resides beneath the Firaxis Games folder, side-by-side with the original Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri game folder. You can delete all SAV and SC files that copied across from the original game folder.

2> Within the Aldebaran game folder, replace the six aforementioned TXT files with the Aldebaran modified versions.

3> Move all remaining TXT files from the Aldebaran download into the Aldebaran game directory. There shouldn't be any overlap with existing files.

4> (Optional) Make a shortcut to the terran.exe in the Aldebaran game folder and place the shortcut somewhere convenient for you - mine is on my desktop. Rename this shortcut - mine is called Aldebaran. Double-click this shortcut icon to play an Aldebaran MP game turn. Use your normal start procedure to play regular SMAC.

This is far and away the easiest way to play the scenario. You only have to set everything up once, and then remember to load the Aldebaran turn SAV files under the Aldebaran game directory and start the Aldebaran game from the proper icon. The obvious drawback, is it takes up a lot of hard disk space. If you don't have the space, contact me or Smack offline for help on playing the turns from a single game install.

To save possible confusion, could everyone confirm to this thread or the ADB002 turn thread when they beleive they are setup to play? Thanks.

- Scipio

[Avenoct]

And here's the current ADB002 Thread .

Can I just say how bizzare the Firaxians must be? Everything about playing a custom MP scenario is the opposite of what you would think. Thanks to Scipio, we've (prays) navigated this complete silliness.

It turns out, you can play a custom SP scenario in the way you would imagine: you load the scenario from a directory containing it's special rules...after that, everything is fine. But for MP, you can't even start a custom MP scenario if it's anywhere near the Smac directory...it's alergic. . But I'll stop my rambling here. Just know that Scipio and I looked for more elegant (read 'simpler') solutions.

Thanks Scipio, and g'night. Oh, and the No-Crawler game has been posted.

-Smack