Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire
1 port and 1 mod
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (GLSMAC)
afwbkbc/glsmac
GLSMAC: a free reimplementation of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri and its Alien Crossfire expansion, written from scratch in C++ with OpenGL and SDL2, that loads the images, sounds, and other resources from your installed copy of the game. It doesn’t disassemble the original executables or link to their libraries. It aims to replicate the original game, with its models, texts, factions, and rules, but rewrites the graphics engine and the network code, which won’t be compatible with the original’s; map generation, AI, and dynamic music are recreated from scratch. It already has a random map generator, most of the interface, a map editor, and, since v0.3, a multiplayer lobby for hosting and joining games, with chat. The game logic and interface are written in moddable JavaScript-like scripts (.gls.js). The game itself is still under construction: the 2026 work, on the way to v0.4, focuses on bases (production, facilities, and worked tiles). There are 64-bit builds for Windows and Ubuntu; the latest stable one is v0.3-db4dbc9 (May 31), and development builds are kept up to date. It builds on macOS but crashes because of OpenGL issues. Its author states that they don’t use AI-generated code, though they accept contributions made with it: three commits by one contributor declare it, one of them listing Claude as a co-author.
You needYour own copy of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri with the Alien Crossfire expansion installed; the GOG, Steam (Planetary Pack), Loki, and Legacy releases are supported. On first launch it asks for the game folder. Plus 64-bit Windows or Linux and, for 60 fps, a graphics card along the lines of an Intel HD 4400, Radeon R7, or GeForce GT 710, with 2–4 GB of RAM.
Thinker Mod
induktio/thinker
Thinker: a mod for Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire that remakes parts of the game engine. Its launcher, thinker.exe, starts the version 2.0 terranx.exe without changing it on disk and makes it load an extra DLL with the new code, written in C++; from there the project keeps rewriting functions of the original engine, such as game startup, the network code, and turn upkeep. It fully rewrites the production and movement AI, with minor changes to diplomacy, and offers better automation routines for player factions; it changes map rendering and the random map generator, adds new mechanics and dozens of options in thinker.ini for rules the game had hardcoded, more resolution options (fullscreen at desktop resolution or borderless windowed), and its own menu on Alt+T, and it includes Scient’s patches, with fixes for the original game. It also fixes game crashes on Windows 11 when ending the turn and when saving. A SMAC-in-SMACX mode lets you play something close to the original Alpha Centauri, without the expansion content. TCP/IP multiplayer works, though it’s less stable than single-player. It’s tested with the GOG release. Releases are published on Dropbox and, since April, on GitHub too; v5.5 came out on August 16. The repository and the download include modified versions of alphax.txt, the game’s rules and text file (in the repository, in German too), and, for SMAC-in-SMACX mode, the text files alphax.txt, helpx.txt, conceptsx.txt, and tutor.txt adapted from DrazharLn’s SMAC in SMACX mod.
You needYour own copy of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri with the Alien Crossfire expansion for PC, with the official Alien Crossfire 2.0 patch (the terranx.exe from Scient’s v2 patch works too); version 1.0 isn’t supported. The files are extracted into the game folder, and the game is started with thinker.exe. Plus Windows.
Questions
What projects are there for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire?
The catalog has 1 port and 1 mod for Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire, all on this page with their status.
What do I need to play it?
Your own copy of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Alien Crossfire (Windows). Recompendium only links projects that don’t distribute the game, and each entry says which version or region you need.
Which one is the most popular?
Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (GLSMAC), with 648 stars on GitHub.