Came across another fan patch for this game a while back, it is primarily concerned with fixing some of the AI issues that plague the stock game, but it also includes the fixes from the other fan patch that's floating around from 'scient'.

Thread here with download (click to the last page for the newest version).

Haven't tried it yet, but the SMAC fanboys in the thread seem to like it.

Original fanpatch it's based on is here, for reference (with thanks to 1Macready for the link).

This is the patch that I've been using and I can say it works great.

I'm liking the fan-patch so far, the AI seems to be more aggressive then usual while doing a better job with terraforming. I do wonder if it was meant to work with the Gog version of the game since I've noticed some strange stuff.

Examples:
When asking the University to go to war with Morgan, they (university) wanted -567219 credits which I agreed with thinking about how silly the deal was. I didn't get 567219 credits from them =(..... but they went to war for nothing =).

Sometimes my planes will disappear even when they have plenty of fuel on their 1st turn (completely refueled). It happens right after a successful attack and the plane will just vanish.

Now these could be present in the vanilla game and I just don't remember (it's been over 10 years since I've played this game and I was younger then and didn't really pay much attention to bugs as much).

I hope Kyrub can clear that up for me since I know there are some SMAX elements in the install and I'm wondering if that affects his exe in any way.

I don't remember ever seeing those glitches in vanilla SMAC either, so I'm guessing they're patch-related.

First, thanks for testing the patch. And it's nice that you enjoy the challenge.

a) Negative credits is probably a vanilla thing.
From SMAC academy web: My patch strictly does not touch the diplomatic part of the game (other than the bug related to the colony exchange valuation).

b) Disappearing planes.
I remember there are several issues related to planes in vanilla. Sadly, I have almost no idea about them. Also, the AI patch should not interfere there.

You really should ask @scient (CGN forums), who is the most enlightened breaker of the SMAC code (author of many fixes, which I simply took over from him). He worked lots of detailed problems (including SMAC planes) with mechanics and interface that I don't even try to address. My interest is fully AI oriented.

c) There should be no problem in SMAC- SMAX connection. The original and the expansion were designed to coexist in one directory.

I stand corrected.

Thanks for clearing that up. I'll reinstall the patch since I've played 2 games with your patch and 1 vanilla I can say there's a huge difference just with the AI using more formers in the start.

In Vanilla it seems the AI barely terraforms or builds enough roads.

In the patch, it isn't uncommon to see all the AI cities connected via roads. The AI is also a tougher nut to crack thanks to the AAA units it keeps building (looks like copter wars have been toned down).

The AI is more aggressive and starts wars on the drop of a hat. I usually roleplay the peace keepers(power brokering) so I'm always trying to get everyone to play nice (even the hive), but it's harder to do in the patch. I'm thinking this is cause the AI has more production and resources so it becomes more bold in terms of warfare. In vanilla I can usually bribe them out of wars but they seem more stubborn here. I guess I'll just adapt my strategies.

Morgan has a huge kick in the pants, since both of the games I've played with the patch, he was my number one competitor(usually swallowing another faction up in the process). Where as in vanilla he usually just has 4 cities doing nothing.

The university has always gotten shafted in my games (both times Miriam conquers them right off the bat, to be fair though both times she started right next to them).

In the one game I played as the Hive, the Peace keepers were a major threat (2nd to Morgan of course).

In the game I played as the Peace Keepers, the Hive was average, just slightly above Deirdre. Then again the Hive spawned right next to me so there was no place for them to expand.

Miriam is always a major threat. Mainly cause she conquers the university and is roughly the size of 2 factions.

Deirdre is average, she manages to survive to the end though so she's doing something right. Even if she gets shafted in the start, she usually expands to uninhabited islands and/or build sea bases to stay in the game.

Spartans are below average, they don't build enough bases and aren't aggressive enough.

This was all with standard map settings/size, 5-8 hour games fit my time schedule better plus I think the AI performs better on an average size map. Mid range difficulty (sorry I'm no 4x god). I'll probably fire up some more games this weekend as the university or deirdre and see if I can notice any other AI quirks but so far it was better then my vanilla game where I was #1 in everything except wealth and controlled half the planet without conquering anyone on the same settings.

I would advise against using this modified exe.

Besides common sense, Norton 360's (latest) SONAR detected this file doing suspicious activity, and promptly automatically perma-deleted it (skipped quarantine).

It would be nice if other Norton users could confirm this is a false-positive.
It is unlikely to be a false positive, as the file is detected immediately after executing,
and the only changes are to an AI, which is loaded after execution.

The official file is not detected.

???
My antivirus (AVG) gets nothing. Maybe Norton is overzealous? Try other program.

I made the changes myself and I can 100% affirm that there is no malicious code in the file from my part (there is also the scient's bug fix included in the file - I still doubt he put any bad code inside and nobody detected it after 2000+ downloads).

I am not a hacker and have no interests in hijacking computers. I simply try to repair old games and to improve their AI. People may check my other work, Insecticide (MoM patch), MoO unofficial patch, X-Com Icing patch etc. No viruses anyhere.

Uh I dunno maybe because Norton is known for being complete shit? I find it offensive that you're accusing kyrub and by extension myself of putting something malicious in patched exe. And no, changes aren't just to AI. There are numerous bug fixes included in my original work that kyrub built off of.

kyrub 444 k:
http://www.virustotal.com/file-scan/report.html?id=78c29696641b359d4392071d8ebc5ef5ff6ccccc1a0578fd2219d25b3fa70641-1310908894

unofficial v1.0:
http://www.virustotal.com/file-scan/report.html?id=ea742976b9359a2f05069e72f9dd8049bcd4211ab8760df4983f6f43547d217f-1310908614 Happen to have save for this? If not, will try to make my own test save. I could prob add check to make sure their requested amount of credits is at least positive. Yeah this is well known issue where units (especially air) will disappear for no reason. I'll hopefully track it down eventually.

Honestly, AVG sucks. I lost a computer to a bad virus that AVG failed to remove, and eventually, the virus disabled AVG. I don't even think AVG has heuristics (radar), and it surely does not have SONAR (sonar...).

I use Norton 360 because it protects itself from being disabled. And it can diagnose unknown infection (aggressive, i know).
I apologize for this misunderstanding. However, it is versions of Norton older than V4.0 that are complete shit, they have really gotten better. Primarily, it is good at detecting unknown risks, and defending itself (very aggressive and unstable, but its the price for good security).
There is a major difference between a known virus reaking havok for days to years, and a fresh virus that is an unknown threat. A new virus is only detectable when running, and only by paid AV that has at least RADAR protection, though SONAR is preferred.

Anyways... i am submitting the file to Symantec, they can decide if its malicious or not. Unless, you can provide proof that it is safe.

I do like this patch, and really want to use it, to the point that i'm willing to disable Norton.

EDIT: It seems ever sense i ran this... mod, i have been getting all kinds of ips connecting to my computer, as well as all sorts of host processes trying to modify security settings.

Somewhere along the line, someone inserted malicious code into this mod, if you two did not, then i advise protecting your pride, honor, and reputations by looking through the code for anything odd. I will decompile and skim through it as well.

Then post a copy of exe or send it to me via PM on CGN or WPC (or here I guess, just realized they have PM system). I KNOW that my version hosted on CGN and WPC is completely clean of any infection. I hand patch everything and uploaded both of those files myself. So unless you are accusing me of inserting something into my code (which your original post does), there is something wrong with your AV or system. Did you try my version from CGN or WPC?

I'll concede that file you have might be infected but it begs the question where you downloaded it from? I'm more than happy to have a look at the copy you have but if you downloaded from one of the trusted hosts (CGN/WPC) then the problem is on your end.

There are two branches, my version and the one that kyrub posted based off of my version of exe. While I can't speak for all of his changes (I've skimmed over it), his version has run fine on systems with nod32 and kaspersky.

You could of easily worded your original post that you think some how one of our hosts got infected and post details where you got it. Or that Norton might be picking it up as false positive. Not throw out veiled accusations that this project is some fail way to create a bot net. I take it you're new to SMAC/X community because my exes have been available for over a year and this is the first time I've been accused of trying to piggy back something malicious in them. Or that anyone has had AV alert, "real" or false positive. For the amount of time and effort I've put into this project, there are much easier ways to infect a few thousand people. And believe me, if I wanted to unleash a rootkit or some malware your precious Norton wouldn't detect it.

I know, thats why i have every free security program out there that is compatible with Windows 7. Norton is mostly for its Fire Wall and Intrusion Prevention, oh.. and Safe Site check, and Identity Safe. It's general purpose. Primarily i use Malwarebytes (free).

As for everything else you said, i agree. It isn't very logical to put malware in a video game. And i wasn't accusing either of you. I simply meant that my copy is infected.
I obtained it here: http://www.rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=56203&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

VirusTotal came up clean, just to inform you. I had it re-analyzed:
http://www.virustotal.com/file-scan/report.html?id=78c29696641b359d4392071d8ebc5ef5ff6ccccc1a0578fd2219d25b3fa70641-1310958665

My apologies.

Would saved games from 5.0 work with kyrub's branch?

Ya Malwarebytes is decent. As for exe, I downloaded it again and it's same one I have by kyrub. Nothing wrong with it so it's a false positive on Norton's end. Otherwise, there is some problem on your system or network where exe's are being infected. The copy I downloaded from mediafire is clean.

I'd be curious to see if your setup has same reaction to my version that kyrub based his off of.
http://www.weplayciv.com/forums/downloads.php?do=file&id=240

As for saved game, all my fixes will work with older saves. I'm not sure how some of kyrub's AI changes will affect your older save but I don't see any reason why game shouldn't work. The AI just wouldn't have benefits of changes for previous turns.

Sadly no, if I happen to run accross it again, I'll send you a PM of the save (it will of course be running Kyrub's updates as well as yours). If it helps, I've noticed that if I press spacebar at the end of a air unit's turn, it will be unaffected.

If I tell an Air unit to wait or hold at the end of it's turn, that's when the disappearing act happens more frequently.