Alpha Centauri (GOG version) is using up nearly 100% cpu

SMAC is overheating my Win7 64-bit, Core Duo 2.0Ghz, 4GB RAM machine and when I check the Task Manager after playing a few minutes (nothing major happens in the game, I just build my base and move the scout around), I see the following:

How should I stop this from happening? Is there a patch that counter-acts this? Would a CPU throttler work? Or something else?

I'm using the GOG version which is already supposed to be patched to the highest official version.

Solution 1:

I keep play SMAX till now, and it works fine on my Win7/x64.

1. Make a clean installation SMAX (or backup an existing copy);
2. Install SMAX patch, searchable smacp4e, last time seen here;
3. Install Windows Fix, searchable smacxp103fus or SMAC Win2000 XP Compatibility Update v1.03f; last time seen here.

As far as I know, all patches are available for SMAC and SMAX.

Then try the following settings in config:

[Alpha Centauri]
DirectDraw=0 ;; important
Video Mode=2560 ;; your screen resolution
ds3d=1
eax=1
FastUnitAnim=0
SmoothUnitAnim=0

[PREFERENCES]
ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1 ;; important

The patches above have quite a few of bugs fixed, including operation on fast or non-Intel CPU's, crashes on air-to-air combat (when fighter defend the city against bombers), division by zero when automated units in polar areas, and many others.

It even works like a charm on WQXGA (2560×1600) screen with no crashes on scrolling.

And it does not require any compatibility settings in Windows.

Solution 2:

The game runs fine in 32-bit Windows XP (with the usual SMAC patches) on the same machine. It's still hard to prove, but I think it has a lot to do with being 32-bit.

My guess is that some CPU calls are being made that W7 64-bit can't handle properly. I don't know how to prove this, but I've seen it mentioned in several forum threads by now, and starting to see some correlation.

I'll update this when I've checked out a few more possibilities.