Game Screen Larger than Desktop

Can you post your debug info? Will make it alot easier to help you.

Double post.

Can you adjust your monitor (through the menu button on the monitor itself) to shrink the game window to fit your screen?

Try under \My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2 directory. There is a PREFS.CFG file that stores video and other game settings. There is a section called
[Video]
DisplayWidth=1024
DisplayHeight=768
Try some of the different screen settings your computer can handle. I had a similar problem when I tried 1600x1200. I reduced to 1024 x 768 and it worked great afterwards. Hope this helps.

What is your normal desktop size? 1024x768 or larger and 32 bit color ?
IF not change them. I couldn't say from the info given, but at least we can eliminate the obvious for you.

Thanks for looking at this, gang.

Its a laptop (Dell C840). There are no buttons to adjust the monitor. The normal desktop resolution is 1600x1200x32bpp.

I'm going to try poking at the prefs.ini file now. In the meantime, how do I supply debug info?

So, prefs.ini hackery didn't work. I'm downgrading the drivers from the Omega drivers that I have to the *shudder* 440go drivers from the Dell website. They're from 2003, though.

I found the debug log, so here's the contents:
Debug Message: Version v1.0X.2 last updated on: Tue Mar 7 15:02:59 2006
Debug Message: Could not find a TGN Serial No.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 3/14/2006, 17:40:49
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: MARVIN
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Latitude C840
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A13
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Mobile CPU 1.60GHz
Physical Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 322MB used, 2136MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: GeForce4 440 Go (Omega 1.6693) (P)
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce4 440 Go
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0174&SUBSYS_00D51028&REV_A3
Display Memory: 64.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1600 x 1200 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6693
Driver Date: 10/29/2004 16:50:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Crystal WDM Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2485&SUBSYS_59591013&REV_02
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: cwawdm.sys
Provider: Cirrus Logic, Inc.
Driver Version: 6.13.0010.4159
Driver Date: 8/8/2002 13:10:46
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 3
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0



Debug Message: *********END dxdiag info.*********
Debug Message: Entering WinMain
Debug Message: ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message: Going Fullscreen
Debug Message: Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONMASKABLE
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message: Running fullscreen.
Debug Message: HAL (sw vp): GeForce4 440 Go (Omega 1.6693) (P)
Debug Message: D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_DEFAULT
Debug Message: Refresh rate: 60
Debug Message: Bit Depth: 32 bit.
Debug Message: *********Checking D3DDevice Caps***********************
Debug Message: A full-color cursor is supported in hardware at high resolution modes.
Debug Message: RGB in format 6:6:6, Masks reported as ff0000:ff00:ff
Debug Message: Now Fullscreen
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message: Timer Frequency is 0 369e99
Debug Message: Initializing sound card.
Debug Message: initailizing bink
Debug Message: Create setup screens.
Debug Message: Clear galaxy settings.
Debug Message: Clear influence.
Debug Message: Clear up laws.
Debug Message: Clear first time events.
Debug Message: Clear wonders and trade goods.
Debug Message: Clear sector mapper.
Debug Message: Set mouse.
Debug Message: Set update timer.
Debug Message: Error flipping back buffer to primary buffer.
Debug Message: Device lost
Debug Message: Clear data definitions.
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\lrrodrig\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\*.StarSystems
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\lrrodrig\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\*.raceconfig
*DEBUG ERROR: ***Unable to find required tech ImpossibleTech for PirateShip. ***
*DEBUG ERROR: ***Unable to find required tech ImpossibleTech for Starbase. ***
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\lrrodrig\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipclass
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\lrrodrig\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipcfg
Debug Message: Reading Star Names
Debug Message: Reading Star Names... Done
Debug Message: TitleWnd: Quit Button.
Debug Message: Posting WM_CLOSE message.
Debug Message: WM_CLOSE message received.
Debug Message: GameUninitialize start
Debug Message: Killing Galaxy
Debug Message: Killing threads.
Debug Message: Kiling civs.
Debug Message: Killing ships.
Debug Message: Killing rallypoints.
Debug Message: Killing misc objects.
Debug Message: Killing stars.
Debug Message: Killing anomalies.
Debug Message: Killing space resources.
Debug Message: Killing colonies and planets.
Debug Message: killing scenario.
Debug Message: Clear galaxy settings.
Debug Message: Clear influence.
Debug Message: Clear up laws.
Debug Message: Clear first time events.
Debug Message: Clear wonders and trade goods.
Debug Message: Clear sector mapper.
Debug Message: Clear data definitions.
Debug Message: Killing Galaxy: Completed
Debug Message: GameUninitialize end
Debug Message: Destroying Window.
Debug Message: Main Shell terminating normally

Hmm, are you still having trouble with those old drivers? I haven't looked at your driver specifically, but can't you use the latest nvidia driver 81.98? Are you having the same problem you had with your first post? You might try setting you desktop to 1024 x 768 resolution and then run the game in same, see if that helps. Also, try turning down anti-aliasing in your video options if you can access them ingame. Looks to me like your drivers, resolution, or old gfx card are the problem though.

The problem is the Anit Aliasing setting. I had this exact same problem on my HP laptop witha 448 go video card. If you set anti aliasing to zero it will be perfecto garcia. You can do this from the preferences file where you can edit resolution. I was also able to edit it from the game screen even with the messed up interface. You dont have to worry about drivers, resolution or any other garbage. Just set anti aliasing to zero.

So it all works now.

First, I rolled back the drivers, which took care of the stretchy thing. A quick comparison of before and after registry details reveals an interesting detail: the Omega drivers were presenting two desktops to Windows, with one disabled. The most recent driver from Dell is not doing that. Interestingly, the most recent drivers straight from Nvidia refuse to even install.

Now that stretching was fixed, I was able to boot the game and actually have all the screen elements match up to their labels. I tried to start a new game (fear Lord Tabby of the Catsquatch!) and hit a lock up as soon as I hit the first "Loading" screen. I killed the game with Alt+F4 (thank you for not disabling that!) and restarted. In the options I disabled Antialiasing. I restarted the game again, but still hit the lock up. This time, I changed my resolution to the native 1600x1200... et voila! I can get my butt kicked in GalCiv2 style.

And indeed, its happening. I seem to be the only race that started with only one habitable planet nearby.

Thanks for all the suggestions gang. This game is going to help me get through my future move overseas.