Is there a way to have it displayed widescreen?

-- I should add that I used the play.it scripts to install it on Linux.

For base Alpha Centauri, apparently not.

For Alien Crossfire, see this: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Sid_Meier%27s_Alpha_Centauri#Widescreen_resolution

A quick precision because I suspect not everyone here knows about ./play.it: it means the game uses the native Linux engine developed by Loki Entertainment, and a couple tweaks so it runs on top of current day SDL 1.2.

The main side effect is that patches targeting the Windows binaries will not work here, same for anything related to the DirectDraw rendering engine.

---

I did a quick check and the game runs nicely on my 16:10 screen, using the full screen. With the expected downside: graphics are stretched from the original 4:3 ratio.

Since I have a access to a 5:4 screen, I have not spent a lot of time trying to get it to display without stretching on wide screens yet. But I still plan to work on that at some point ;)

You mean sunset SDL 1.2? I don't have SDL 1.2 on my system anymore, just SDL1.2 compatability libraries.

I meant "current day" as in latest 1.2, compared to the old build the engine originally was built upon.

For some reason I have yet to understand the engine does not work with the 1.2 → 2.0 compatibility wrapper, despite the tweaks allowing it to run with the real sdl1.2 libraries.

Here is the simple command to enter widescreen mode. Your mouse wheel will NOT work to zoom in you have to use the Z and X keys to do that, but it works.

1. Go to the installation folder. (typically found in the folder ...\GoG Games\Alpha Centauri\

2. Open Alpha Centauri.ini. (to do a search for this file in File Explorer even modern Windows 11 because OS developers are too stupid to add spaces in search parameters, you must search with quotes as in "Alpha Centauri.ini")

3. Add DirectDraw=0 under [Alpha Centauri] section

4. The game will now run at your desktop resolution (Yes even 3440x1440!)

5. You are welcome! =)

Hi, We need you in the game.

It's not streched when I play it. Just stretched would suit me well (that's how I play old games in DosBox and I like it better than the black sidebars). Ofc if you could make a true widescreen resolution that would be perfect.

I hope I'm not bothering you, it's just that I know GoG support won't be of any help- I couldn't get another game to run, they told me it was because my GPU didn't met the requirements, I used your script and guess what? It worked like a charm. So no GoG, the issue was NOT my GPU (thank you btw, and the game was Shadowrun Returns).

Ubuntu 16.04.

So what do you get when trying to run the game in fullscreen? The game viewport takes the full screen height but black bars are added on the sides? Or does it stay as a small window in the middle of the screen?

--- That’s a great game, I’m glad you got it to work ;)

I get the fullscreen height but not the width. So yes, black bars on each side. The game starts fullscreen, if I do Alt+Enter it's windowed, but that window is the same height/width as the fullscreen screen(without the black bars), and I can't change the dimensions. Really, just stretched fullscreen, like I do with DOSBOX, would work for me.

So it would work with wine? I'd rather use vv221's native linux version but maybe I'll try your solution.

Which distro are you using?

Debian Sid
The game runs on top of my system-provided SDL 1.2 library, with no need for any third-party legacy library. I use an AMD GPU with the open-source Mesa drivers (amdgpu).

I don't remember well if it was with original Alpha Centauri or the expansion. If your monitor have a 1366x768 vanilla resolution and you disable the option in the ini to make it widescreen, the game use to crash when pointng the mouse to he borders. Not sure if it is present in any other resolution. It can be game breaking if you consider the border mouse scrolling a must have.

It only happens with one of the executales. Maybe a bug or a limitation.