I'm trying to run the game on Windows 7 64-bit and the game seems to crash right after the Firaxis logo. I get a error window saying terran.exe has stopped working. I've installed and run the game as an administrator. I've tried the various compatibility modes and none of the work. The only compatibility option that changed anything was forcing the game into 640x480, but all that does is cause the game to crash without an error window.

Try this: Add the line

DirectDraw=0

to the [Alpha Centauri] section of the Alpha Centauri.ini file. Also, delete any Video Mode= lines, if present.

OP, did you find a solution? I just purchased the game and am having the exact same problem. I have looked around for solutions and it seems that no matter how many patches I install or ini options I tinker with, I can't get past the Firaxis logo. It's extremely frustrating. I've heard that other people are running it under Win 7 x64 so I can't even imagine what the problem might be. Nothing I've done has even made so much as a dent on this problem.

Even more frustrating is that my laptop running Ubuntu can run it, albeit not perfectly, under Wine.

Okay, so I did a fresh install of Win 7 (32-bit) on my laptop, and installed Alpha Centauri as well, and it worked. However, a couple of hours later when I went to try it again, I started having exactly the same problems. I installed a few things in between those times, so maybe one of those things might have triggered the error... Steam, maybe? That's probably a bit too far fetched. But in any case, I suppose it isn't a 64-bit issue.