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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™Where is the "help" button in faction select?(7 posts)solved(7 posts)solved
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Posted November 12, 2014
I remember that when I originally played the game (not alien crossfire) when it originally came out, there was a Help option in the faction select menu. After clicking it the quote was replaced by info on a given faction, including the bonuses/debuffs (e.g.: Peacekeepers had "UN-style bureaucracy"). However, I can't find this in the GOG version. Googled, and I found nothing. Found a gameplay video on YT, and I could see that there were 5 buttons in the faction select screen instead of the 3 I have in the GOG version (you can also see that there are 5 buttons in the menu).

I'd like to know how I can access this, and if it is unavailable in this version than why?

Best,
M.
This question / problem has been solved by Petekimage
Posted November 12, 2014
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alex242: Found a gameplay video on YT, and I could see that there were 5 buttons in the faction select screen instead of the 3 I have in the GOG version (you can also see that there are 5 buttons in the menu).
Are you sure, that this video was for SMAC? As far as I know, only SMAX has 5 buttons, and the option to see the faction-stats before starting a game. In SMAC you must start the game, then click on the MENU button in the lower left corner, then on HELP, and finally select Factions, if you want to see the stats.

Granted, I haven't played the original release, only the later versions. So I don't know, if this was different in the first version.
Posted November 12, 2014
I haven't noticed five buttons before either, but I could be wrong. Anyway, as you only need the info when starting a game, you can also check it here before: http://www.land-of-kain.de/docs/smac/
Posted November 12, 2014
Thanks for the link; I've found some pages with this info (it also is in the faction txt files), but the page DeMignon provided will be helpful.

I'm certain that the version I saw on YouTube was SMAC (http://youtu.be/pbdXcgXxxl4?t=45s). I'm also pretty sure that it was in the original. I actually still have it on CD-ROM somewhere, so I can check later (if it works)
Posted November 18, 2014
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alex242: Thanks for the link; I've found some pages with this info (it also is in the faction txt files), but the page DeMignon provided will be helpful.

I'm certain that the version I saw on YouTube was SMAC (http://youtu.be/pbdXcgXxxl4?t=45s). I'm also pretty sure that it was in the original. I actually still have it on CD-ROM somewhere, so I can check later (if it works)
The short answer to your question is that the game was patched to change the five-button menu to three buttons. Skythikon must have been using an unpatched version of SMAC when he recorded the Let's Play in your link. At least one other of his Let's Plays features the three-button menu. I don't know the reason for the change. You can verify this change yourself, if you wish, by opening the file scripts.txt and searching for CHOOSE. In the current version of SMAC you'll find

#FACTION
#xs 350
#caption CHOOSE A FACTION
#x -5
#y -5
#listbox
#button OTHER

while if you load scripts.txt from the original SMAC CD, you'll find

#FACTION
#xs 440
#caption CHOOSE YOUR FACTION
#x -5
#y -5
#listbox
#button Custom Name
#button Help
#button Load

which shows two additional buttons.
Posted November 18, 2014
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Petek: ... the game was patched to change the five-button menu to three buttons. ...
Interesting, thanks for the info.
Posted November 18, 2014
Thanks for this hint Petek.
Ctrl+c and ctrl+v optional. :)
Post edited November 18, 2014 by alex242
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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri™Where is the "help" button in faction select?(7 posts)solved(7 posts)solved
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