Couple of bugs I've noticed...

from GalCiv2 Forums
Just thought I'd mention a few bugs I've noticed, in my one full game I've run in a small map.

1) GC2Launcher.exe does NOT work. I can't run it, I have to run GalCiv2.exe directly, GC2Launcher just crashes before opening a window.

2) On loading a save game, the game treats it like the first day. IE: I get all the 'We're about to launch our people into space' messages and the original startup musical score, as well as it takes me to my home planet and displays the research screen. Annoying.

3) My allies are idiots. They were loosing their war, so I gave them some ships. What'd they do? Leave them parked where they were for the rest of the game! I mean, come on, I gave them four of my best ships! (mind you, they weren't the latest version, and I was making more powerful ones at the time, but still!)

4) If something steals window focus, the game freezes. Several times now my A/V has popped up to update itself and stolen focus, prematurely ending my game. Yesterday I bumped the window's key, and prematurely ended the game. When I reselect GalCiv2, I just get a black screen and music, nothing else. I have to CTRL+ALT+DEL out of it.

5) The game is way too addicting. Wait, thats not a bug... nevermind.
4,497 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
What version are you running? Can you post a debug.err log found in your main game folder?
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
1) No idea there.
2) It's always been this way.
3) What difficulty and what version of the game? The is actually coded to be sub par on easier difficulties.
4) This sounds like a very early bug that was fixed within the first patch or two.
5) Yes it is
Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top


Sorry for the long wait for a reply, I wrote it just before leaving for work, and just got home.

1) I just updated to the latest version this morning, previous to that? Not sure, whatever it was on the download site.


2) Ah, ok, just wondering if it was just me. More annoying than a bug
3) Yeah, easy level. But they are still idiots.
4) Really? Sweet, I just got home from work so I'll try it out after I grab some dinner.

Unfortunatly I can't post a debug.err because I just shrugged it off and reloaded. Crashes don't bother me too much when I don't have to debug them. The next time it dies, I'll post the debug.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Ok, got a crash when my AntiVirus just decided to update itself...

First of all, the initialization section of the debug.err file.

Debug Message: Version v1.1 BETA-3A last updated on: Mon Apr 10 17:03:06 2006
Debug Message: Could not find a TGN Serial No.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 4/11/2006, 22:12:41
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: AREIN
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: INTEL_
System Model: D875BZLK
BIOS: BIOS Date: 03/31/05 22:15:04 Ver: 08.00.09
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Physical Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 353MB used, 4614MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce 6800 GT
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0045&SUBSYS_21031682&REV_A1
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (85Hz)
Monitor Name: SyncMaster 997DF/927DF/997MB/927MB/927DFI/927MBI
Monitor Max Resolution: 2048,1536
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.8421
Driver Date: 3/9/2006 16:29:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Emu10Kx Audio [B800]
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0002&SUBSYS_80661102&REV_0A
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Provider: Creative
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0252
Driver Date: 7/19/2002 11:47:52
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_4_SAMPLES
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1280 x 1024
Debug Message: Running fullscreen.
Debug Message: HAL (hw vp): NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT
Debug Message: D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_DEFAULT
Debug Message: Refresh rate: 85
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 *****



Here's the part that's the actual error.


e
Debug Message: Random Event: End
Debug Message: Drath Legion (7): Researching: Enhanced Miniaturization
Debug Message: Error. String Not Found. Table: SDesignWnd String Name: NoFilter
Debug Message: Error. String Not Found. Table: SDesignWnd String Name: NoFilter
Debug Message: Error. String Not Found. Table: SDesignWnd String Name: NoFilter
Debug Message: Error. String Not Found. Table: SDesignWnd String Name: NoFilter
Debug Message: Error flipping back buffer to primary buffer.
Debug Message: Device lost


Leaves me sitting at a black screen with the sound playing.

Judging from this, and from how it's behaving, I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and say that the Direct3D device is being lost. Yeah, I know, amazing deductive powers I have.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
2. You think thats annoying, wait until you see the other things that happen 9or don't happen) when you load a save.

4. I get this too (however I have music turned off). It's not that the game crashed, it just takes a long time to load everything back onto the screen. If you see the black screen and your HD is running i would not worry about it right away. Give it a couple of min to get loaded again. (mine takes about a minute and a half to load back up). Seems like forever if your just sitting there tho. If the computer is not doing anything (HD still, activity light not doing anything) then there might be more of a problem. (recalled info from a previous thread)
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hmm... wonder if you've hit the crash bug that Frogboy posted about. Seems there is something nasty lurking in B3. If you've got the SmartException program he mentioned send them the files.

Slightly off topic but I've always disabled auto update crap. IMO it's the worst thing software engineers have ever devised since it rarely checks to see if it is safe to update and even worse can cause all sorts of stability problems if you've got another program running that isn't 100% Windows compliant. Not saying GC2 isn't. Just that those programs do not always play nice with all the other things running on your system.
Reply #7 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
3) I've had the same problem on Normal and Brilliant settings. I wish they would fix this.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Slightly off topic but I've always disabled auto update crap. IMO it's the worst thing software engineers have ever devised since it rarely checks to see if it is safe to update and even worse can cause all sorts of stability problems if you've got another program running that isn't 100% Windows compliant.


Oh, yes, I totally agree. However I found that I'm way to lazy to actually update on my own, so I have my autoupdate set to go off at 3am. Unfortunatly, these last few weeks I've been pulling long hours (Software Engineer), so if I -do- get a chance to play it's at 2am.



That'll be changing soon, I hope!