Someone please help...

cannot get the game to work...

I just purchased Galactic Civilizations 2 today. I installed it without any problems, but when I try to play it, all i can see is a black screen, and the mouse cursor. I hear the music from the game playing and the introduction where the woman is talking, but the screen stays black.

I have a geforce 500 video card and I'm able to play games such as "The Movies" and "Mark Ecko's Getting Up" with no problem. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I can do?
4,763 views 9 replies
Reply #1 Top
A "geforce 500 video card"?! Such a thing does not exist : be more precise, and indicate the card's driver-version number. Your drivers might be too old.

I did experience a black screen (with cursor & voice, like you), but it was limited to the intro movie and the short in-game movies. I pressed the escape key and landed on the game's main menu : but later, the in-game movies were black. It was a problem with Bink video-compression . I solved it by downgrading the anti-aliasing, in the game's video options, from the default 4x to 3x. Another poster had to set the AA to 0.

If you skip the black intro movie, you should land on the main menu. Can you, or does everything always remain black? If you can, go to options/video and find the anti-aliasing level that allows you to see the intro movie : IF that is the cause, in your case.
Reply #2 Top
I just purchased Galactic Civilizations 2 today. I installed it without any problems, but when I try to play it, all i can see is a black screen, and the mouse cursor. I hear the music from the game playing and the introduction where the woman is talking, but the screen stays black.


You could try and update your video card drivers to see if that would help. Also post your debug.err contents, found in the games folder, so people might be able to help you further if the driver update doesn't work.


A "geforce 500 video card"?! Such a thing does not exist ........


Yes it does - it is a Geforce 3 Ti500



Reply #3 Top
Hello,

Go to the main 'GalCiv2' folder and in there you will find a file named 'debug.err'. Open it with Notepad and copy and paste it's contents in here. In other words, post the contents of that file on here for people to read. It will probably help someone to be able to help you. After people read that you may be told that you need to update your systems 'drivers', or they may see something else wrong after looking at it. Either way, you should make sure that you have your systems drivers all updated. And, I hate to say this, but the Nvidia 5000 series of video cards are known for not really being very good. However, having the latest driver installed for it might help solve a video/display related problem.

If there's a problem with playing the movies it may have something to do with Anti-Aliasing as Soceresss suggests. Although perhaps less likeIy, it may also be that you have an outdated 'binkw32.dll' file in your 'Windows\System32' folder. To look and see if you have a binkw32.dll file in the Windows\System32 folder you would need to have the 'show hidden files and folders' option checked in Windows Explorer.
Reply #4 Top

Yes it does - it is a Geforce 3 Ti500


Ahh yes. If he's(she?) trying to play the game on an ancient and antiquated Geforce Ti 500 then that would explain a lot eh! For people that come on here and do not know about posting the contents of the debug.err file it would be nice if they were at least posting their system specs, like the following example(maybe not as detailed, but still)...

System Specs:

Intel P4 3.4C(C = Northwood Core) on Asus P4C800-E Deluxe(Intel 875P + ICH5R Chipset), Zalman 7000a-Cu HS/Fan, Enermax RG651P-VE 550W PSU, 2 GB Mushkin eXtreme Performance(2-2-2) Dual Channel PC3200 RAM, Samsung 214T MultiSync 21" Digital LCD Monitor, Sapphire Radeon X800 XT PE Videocard with v6.3 Catalyst Drivers, DirectX 9.0c, Creative Audigy2 Platinum Soundcard with v2.08.0002 OpenAL Beta Driver, Western Digital 250 GB w/8 MB Cache 7200 RPM Parallel ATA HDD, WinXP Pro SP2, Comcast Cable Internet Connection, Nortons Anti-Virus and Personal Firewall 2006
Reply #5 Top
Thank you everyone for the comments, I am a total computer idiot. I finally found the debugger thing and here's what it says:

Debug Message: Version v1.0 last updated on: Mon Feb 6 12:52:05 2006
Debug Message: Could not find a TGN Serial No.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 5/7/2006, 17:07:02
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: TREES
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (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: Dell DE051
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A00
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.66GHz
Physical Memory: 510MB RAM
Page File: 366MB used, 882MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce FX 5500
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0326&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_A1
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.7777
Driver Date: 7/20/2005 21:07:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes

Display device 2:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY2
Card Name: Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller
Manufacturer: Intel Corporation
Chip Type: Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller
DAC Type: Internal
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2572&SUBSYS_01D51028&REV_02
Display Memory: 96.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Default Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution:
Driver Name: ialmrnt5.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.4396
Driver Date: 9/20/2005 09:52:38
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: SoundMAX Digital Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24D5&SUBSYS_01D51028&REV_02
Manufacturer ID: 65535
Product ID: 65535
Driver Name: smwdm.sys
Provider: Analog Devices
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.7000
Driver Date: 3/22/2005 19:08:40
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_NONE
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message: Running fullscreen.
Debug Message: HAL (sw vp): Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller
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: Clear data definitions.
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Trees\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\*.StarSystems
*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\Trees\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipclass
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Trees\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipcfg
Debug Message: Reading Star Names
Debug Message: Reading Star Names... Done
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: Device not cleared. 1 counts left.
Debug Message: D3D not cleared. 1 counts left.
Debug Message: Destroying Window.
Debug Message: Main Shell terminating normally


I dont know what any of that stuff means, but if it helps any of you understand my problem, please let me know what i can do to fix it.

Also, my video card is a "geforce fx 5500" not 500, lol.

And thank you again for your help so far.
Reply #6 Top
Try updating the game, 1.0 had a few crash problems, update your drivers, and increase your page file to about 2 gig.
Reply #7 Top
when i click to update the game i get this message:

Server Error in '/' Application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Index was outside the bounds of the array.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.

Source Error:

The source code that generated this unhandled exception can only be shown when compiled in debug mode. To enable this, please follow one of the below steps, then request the URL:

1. Add a "Debug=true" directive at the top of the file that generated the error. Example:

<%@ Page Language="C#" Debug="true" %>

or:

2) Add the following section to the configuration file of your application:



Note that this second technique will cause all files within a given application to be compiled in debug mode. The first technique will cause only that particular file to be compiled in debug mode.

Important: Running applications in debug mode does incur a memory/performance overhead. You should make sure that an application has debugging disabled before deploying into production scenario.

Stack Trace:


[IndexOutOfRangeException: Index was outside the bounds of the array.]
System.Collections.ArrayList.Add(Object value) +43
Bacon.PageBase..ctor() +176
GalCiv2.PageBase..ctor() +11
GalCiv2.downloads..ctor() +10
ASP.downloads_aspx..ctor() +29
__ASP.FastObjectFactory_app_web_4mrleqsl.Create_ASP_downloads_aspx() +38
System.Web.Compilation.BuildResultCompiledType.CreateInstance() +49
System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CreateInstanceFromVirtualPath(VirtualPath virtualPath, Type requiredBaseType, HttpContext context, Boolean allowCrossApp, Boolean noAssert) +115
System.Web.UI.PageHandlerFactory.GetHandlerHelper(HttpContext context, String requestType, VirtualPath virtualPath, String physicalPath) +31
System.Web.UI.PageHandlerFactory.System.Web.IHttpHandlerFactory2.GetHandler(HttpContext context, String requestType, VirtualPath virtualPath, String physicalPath) +40
System.Web.HttpApplication.MapHttpHandler(HttpContext context, String requestType, VirtualPath path, String pathTranslated, Boolean useAppConfig) +139
System.Web.MapHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +120
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +155



im so confused
Reply #8 Top
You are using Stardock Central to try and update the game... correct? I'm not sure what to make of that error, perhaps a Stardock person would know what to make of it. Might have just been something wrong with Stardocks server at the time you were trying to update. Again, are you are using Stardock Central to try and update the game?

When using Stardock Central it defaults to having it show you and update your game with 'Pre-Releases'(beta) versions that are available. Since you say you are not too savy with computers I recommend you take a look look down at the bottom of Stardock Central and uncheck the 'Show Pre-Releases' checkbox and then it will only show and download stable versions. Right now that would be version 1.1 although that might chnage to version 1.11 pretty soon.

Make sure to update your video driver at the very least, if not your other drivers as well. Such as chipset drivers and sound drivers, if there is a newer driver for that SoundMAX onboard audio card that is. To update your chipset driver you would need to find out what chipset it has in it or Dell probably has them since your comp is a Dell.


Hope that helps
Reply #9 Top
MadTrees, both your video and audio drivers are a bit old.
Also, it looks like you have your motherboard graphics chip still enabled. It might help if you disable that in the mb BIOS.

Actually, looking at the debug, the game is defaulting to that Intel graphics chip on the mb, and not your Geforce card:
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message: Running fullscreen.
Debug Message: HAL (sw vp): Intel(R) 82865G Graphics Controller