Game crashes on startup AFTER update, but not before

Try turning off multisample competely.  1x antialiasing doesn't do much anyway and that could be causing the problem.  You were obviously able to create the Direct3D device, but it's not clear where you may have crashed after that.  You could also try enabling the hardware cursor.

If you still have problems after that, e-mail me and I'll make you a test exe. [email protected]

Also, others were having crashes due to out of date sound drivers and yours is from 2002. Your gfx driver is from 2003 also... You should seriously rule old drivers out, and turn off the AA as mentioned above. If you can't find new gfx drivers you can try Omega Drivers at this Link.

EDIT: Also, might set your desktop and game resolutions to the same setting, just to be safe.

Thank you very much, CariElf. I did both of those things and it works now!

I have exactly the same problem here. I could play with the (German) retail version, but since updating to the latest version the game exits to the desktop after the intro movie.

I have installed the latest nvidia drivers, which did not change anything. AFAIK there are no updated drivers available for my "Soundblaster Live!" card. I have not had any problems in other recent games (like Guild Wars).

Desktop and game resolution is equal at 1024x768, 32bit. I also tried editing the prefs.ini, setting "Multisample=0" and/or "HardwareMouseCursor=1". No change. When I set "Fullscreen=0", the game crashes just like before, but gives an exception dialog (0x005eefe9, adress 0x0000001c, "read") before exiting. I installed and tried the game as administrator.

By the way, I noticed some visual glitches (most importantly, the ships on the main map being pitch black) before the update. Don't know if this is relevant. This was before I updated my video drivers, however.

Finally, here's my debug file:

------------------------
Debug Message: Version v1.0X.1 last updated on: Mon Mar 6 13:57:14 2006
Debug Message: Could not find a TGN Serial No.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 3/23/2006, 17:12:43
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: [...]
Operating System: Windows 2000 Professional (5.0, Build 2195) Service Pack 4
Languages: German (Regional Setting: German)
System Manufacturer: VIA Technologies, Inc.
System Model: KT400-8235
BIOS: Phoenix-Award BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 1800+, ~1.5GHz
Physical Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 237MB used, 1187MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINNT


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce4 Ti 4200
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0253&SUBSYS_10F31554&REV_A3
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (85Hz)
Monitor Name: SyncMasterHVAX301113
Monitor Max Resolution:
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.8421
Driver Date: 3/9/2006 15:29:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes

Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: SB Live! Audio [9000]
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0002&SUBSYS_80641102&REV_08
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Provider: Creative
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0252
Driver Date: 7/19/2002 09:47:52
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 3
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0

Sound device 1:
Description: Marc A 1-2
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1382&DEV_20C8&SUBSYS_20C81382&REV_02
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: marca.sys
Provider:
Driver Version: 2.00.0009.0000
Driver Date: 7/17/2004 01:09:00
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 2
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0

[more channels...]

Debug Message: *********END dxdiag info.*********
Debug Message: Entering WinMain
Debug Message: ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message: Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONMASKABLE
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message: Running in windowed mode.
Debug Message: HAL (sw vp): NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
Debug Message: D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_IMMEDIATE
Debug Message: Refresh rate: 0
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: Border size reported as 6 by 25
Debug Message: RGB in format 6:6:6, Masks reported as ff0000:ff00:ff
Debug Message: Now windowed.
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: Clear data definitions.
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\administrator\Eigene Dateien\My Games\GalCiv2\*.StarSystems
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\administrator\Eigene Dateien\My Games\GalCiv2\*.raceconfig
------------------------

Hmm...Well, if you updated to the current version, it would have updated the English files but not the german data files, so maybe there's something incompatbile in there...Do you think that you could play the game in English? You could change your registry setting to use English as your language for GalCiv2 until the translators translate the updated data files.

To change the registry setting, click Start and enter regedit in the Run box. 

You may want to back it up before making any changes. In the registry editor, right click on the my computer icon and choose export. 

The key you want to change is located under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, in the path  SOFTWARE\\Stardock\\Drengin.net\\GalCiv2

Language is the key that you want to edit. Right click on the word Language and choose modify.  Change the string there to English. 

Thank you, that fixed it Even better as I wanted to switch to English anyway.... two birds with one stone ^^

The problem with ships being black and stars/planets not showing does persist, though... I expected that updating my video drivers and the game would fix it. As I can't attach images here, I'll send you a mail with a screenshot.

Also, the game crashes when I alt-tab out of the game... I read in the sticky that some people get this when in-game windows are open. In my case, it crashes repeatably even when there are none.

If you alt-tab a lot, you should play in windowed mode with the resolution set the same as your desktop rather than playing in full screen mode. If you are already doing that, I'm not sure what else to do.

-Dewar