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I just re-loaded SMAC and managed to get the game to run, but when I go to save, I no longer see a save and auto-save folder. I seem to be in a root folder with topics such as "Alternative Art" "Blind Color Palette" "facs" "fx_old", etc.
I can't figure out where this is, and it is my only option of where to save game files. I also can't find any auto-saves.
Any ideas of how to fix this?
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zyygal: I seem to be in a root folder with topics such as "Alternative Art" "Blind Color Palette" "facs" "fx_old", etc.
I can't figure out where this is, and it is my only option of where to save game files. I also can't find any auto-saves.
That would be the root game folder in the .app, Right-click - Show Package Contents:

Contents\Resources\drive_c\Program Files\GOG Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\
Is the game actually saving?
Post edited December 07, 2015 by Gydion
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zyygal: I seem to be in a root folder with topics such as "Alternative Art" "Blind Color Palette" "facs" "fx_old", etc.
I can't figure out where this is, and it is my only option of where to save game files. I also can't find any auto-saves.
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Gydion: That would be the root game folder in the .app, Right-click - Show Package Contents:

Contents\Resources\drive_c\Program Files\GOG Games\Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri\
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Gydion: Is the game actually saving?
Thanks- I did track down where the folder was after some searching - and it is saving. It's just saving into that root folder. I would like to figure out where the normal save and auto save folders are so that I can try to fix this.

Does anyone know?
I'll tell you what happens. The version currently available for download from GOG has hardcoded symlinks for the save folder (and the .INI file) pointing the home directory of a user named "pmirecki".

I guess this works fine when you are someone from GOG trying to set the game up to work, and your name is P. Mirecki. Otherwise, not so fine.

(Other problems, in case someone from GOG ever reads this: there's also a folder called "pmirecki" inside the .app bundle.)

To find out if this is happening in your case (as it was in mine), open Terminal and paste this command:

find /Applications/Sid\ Meier\'s\ Alpha\ Centauri.app -lname \*pmirecki\*

If it lists two entries (to a "saves" folder and the .INI file) then this is your problem, so keep reading.
If it lists no entries, then you can stop reading this post, because your problem is something else.

To fix, start by copying these lines into Terminal:

cd /Applications/Sid\ Meier\'s\ Alpha\ Centauri.app/Contents/Resources/game/Alpha\ Centauri\ Alien\ Crossfire.app/Contents/Resources/drive_c/Program\ Files/GOG\ Games/Sid\ Meier\'s\ Alpha\ Centauri/

ls -l saves Alpha\ Centauri.Ini

This should confirm that the links indeed point to inside the folder /Users/pmirecki. We're going to change this so they point to inside your home directory instead.

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/GOG.com/Sid\ Meier\'s\ Alpha\ Centauri/saves
rm saves Alpha\ Centauri.Ini
ln -s ~/Library/Application\ Support/GOG.com/Sid\ Meier\'s\ Alpha\ Centauri/saves saves
ln -s ~/Library/Application\ Support/GOG.com/Sid\ Meier\'s\ Alpha\ Centauri/Alpha\ Centauri.Ini Alpha\ Centauri.Ini

Now, ls -l saves Alpha\ Centauri.Ini once more to see that the links point to your home directory instead of Mr P. Mirecki's. Close Terminal. Enjoy access to a proper save folder and editable .INI file.
Post edited December 09, 2015 by hemflit
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hemflit: I'll tell you what happens. The version currently available for download from GOG has hardcoded symlinks for the save folder (and the .INI file) pointing the home directory of a user named "pmirecki".

I guess this works fine when you are someone from GOG trying to set the game up to work, and your name is P. Mirecki. Otherwise, not so fine.
You are a genius! Totally solved my problem.

Now, if you could only help me figure out why my cursor disappears when I go into fullscreen mode on GOG games - and how to fix it, I'd be golden!
Post edited December 09, 2015 by zyygal
Cheers!

I really don't know about the cursor, but purely as a stab in the dark, I can tell you what my video settings are and hope they work for you. (I do see the cursor; OS X 10.9.5 here.)


First, run the Wineskin configurator.

The slow (but clear) way to do that is:
- right-click "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri.app" in "Applications" in Finder, then click "Show Package Contents"
- open "Contents" > "Resources" > "game"
- right-click "Alpha Centauri Alien Crossfire.app", click "Show Package Contents"
- open "Wineskin.app"

A quicker way is to just paste this into Terminal: open -a /Applications/Sid\ Meier\'s\ Alpha\ Centauri.app/Contents/Resources/game/Alpha\ Centauri\ Alien\ Crossfire.app/Wineskin.app

(Dear people of the future: this applied to version 2.0.0.10.)


In Wineskin, choose "Set Screen Options". My options that matter are:
(left column)
"Fullscreen" (not rootless/windowed)
Resolution: "Current Resolution"
Color Depth: "24 bit"
(right column)
Override Wine control…: "Override"
Use Mac Driver instead of X11: OFF! (see below)
Gamma: irrelevant to your cursor trouble, but you may want to up it anyway.

Click "Done", then "Quit".


Also, my .INI file has the DirectDraw=0 and DisableOpeningMovie=1 options, as documented in countless threads and FAQs (google it). As a side effect, this lets the game make better use of the screen resolution.


Now run the game. If that doesn't bring your cursor back, I've got a couple more stabs in the dark I'd try in that situation:

1. Try the Wineskin options recommended in the wiki instead of mine:
http://www.gogwiki.com/wiki/Sid_Meier's_Alpha_Centauri#Widescreen_support

2. Try enabling the "Mac driver" option in Wineskin.
It used to work for me (doesn't anymore), and honestly X11 sounds like it might fail to display the cursor due to some misconfiguration.
If the game appears not to start at all with the Mac video driver, I recommend restarting the computer before undoing that change. (Otherwise Wine leaves some processes running that prevent the game from restarting.)

3. Try some of those unofficial patches. (I haven't.)

If you ever feel like you've painted yourself in a corner with any of these changes and need to undo everything, it's always an option to restart the computer and reinstall the game.


Good luck - I hope some of that works!
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zyygal: I just re-loaded SMAC and managed to get the game to run, but when I go to save, I no longer see a save and auto-save folder. I seem to be in a root folder with topics such as "Alternative Art" "Blind Color Palette" "facs" "fx_old", etc.
I can't figure out where this is, and it is my only option of where to save game files. I also can't find any auto-saves.
Any ideas of how to fix this?
Fixed as of 12.02.2016 :) Either update the game via Galaxy or make sure you have this DMG: sid_meiers_alpha_centauri_2.0.0.14.dmg :)
The save game bug is half back in the latest version. The simlinks correctly point to my home directory, but `~/Library/Application\ Support/GOG.com/Sid\ Meier\'s\ Alpha\ Centauri` (or .../saves) doesn't actually get created by the installer.

It might be a permissions problem, since the `GOG.com` directory is owned by root.
Post edited March 24, 2018 by deisum42