Thinker is an AI improvement mod for Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire. This mod increases the level of challenge in single player while providing many gameplay enhancements. By patching the game to use an additional DLL, many new features can be developed in C++.
- Vastly improved production/movement AI
- Visual changes on map rendering and random map generation
- More config options for many previously fixed settings in the game engine
- Additional options for resolution settings and other user interface features
- Some automation features are also available for player factions
- Mod also includes Scient's patches
This mod is tested to work with the GOG version of Alpha Centauri. Note that official Alien Crossfire patch version 2.0 must be installed for the launcher to work with terranx.exe. Older game version 1.0 is NOT supported by Thinker. Installing Scient's patch v2 also works since this terranx.exe can be used by the launcher.
See more information about the features and recommended settings. It's strongly recommended to read Details.md as many features provided by the mod are not present in the vanilla game. Discuss here about anything related to Thinker development. Remember also to star and watch the repository to receive notifications about new updates.
This is the only place to download binary releases. See also the Changelog for useful release notes.
- Extract the files to Alpha Centauri game folder. Alphax.txt changes are optional.
- Check Changelog.md and Details.md for useful information.
- Change configuration from thinker.ini or just use the defaults.
- Start the game from thinker.exe.
- Press ALT+T to open Thinker's options menu. Other option is to check that mod version/build date is visible in the game version menu (CTRL+F4).
- If neither of those options display mod version, Thinker is incorrectly installed and not loaded.
The launcher requires original Alien Crossfire v2.0 terranx.exe in the same folder but this file is not modified on disk. In case of startup problems, make sure the official v2.0 patch is applied on the game, and the mod is actually started from same folder with the game. Sometimes startup issues can be fixed by starting the launcher with administrator privileges.
Alt-tabbing may sometimes not work by default in Alpha Centauri's GOG version. To re-enable alt-tab feature, follow these steps. First open a command prompt with administrator privileges in Alpha Centauri's installation folder. After entering the commands below alt-tabbing should now work when the game is restarted.
sdbinst -u game.sdb
sdbinst -u game_add.sdb
After installing the game on Windows there might be a notification that Windows Features can't complete the requested changes. This might be caused by a failure to install DirectPlay. First open a command prompt with administrator privileges. Then after entering the command below DirectPlay should be automatically installed.
dism /online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:DirectPlay /All
- SMAC-in-SMACX mod can be installed to play a game similar to original SMAC while Thinker is enabled.
- OpenSMACX is a long-term project to decompile and create a full open source clone of SMACX.
- Also see compatibility with other mods such as PRACX.
For information on how to compile Thinker, see Technical.md.
This software is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 2, or (at your option) version 3 of the GPL. See License.txt for details.
The original game assets are not covered by this license and remain property of Firaxis Games Inc and Electronic Arts Inc.
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri and Sid Meier's Alien Crossfire is Copyright © 1997, 1998 by Firaxis Games Inc and Electronic Arts Inc.
