This is most likely a problem with the video, although I have the latest drivers for my card (drivers dated 3/21/2006).

It doesn't matter what I'm doing at the time--I can be on the individual planet management screen; I can be attempting to move a ship from the main screen; I can be in the build screen; etc.--but without warning when I confirm an action (e.g. clicking "Done" or setting a new autopilot point for a ship) my game freezes (music plays, mouse moves, but screen does not update) and the disply goes haywire for a bit. When the display comes back, the galactic civ window is completely blank. The game is still running, however, since I can quicksave the game. Also within about 15 seconds or so of the display coming back, ATI's control center program pops up a friendly message telling me that my graphics card had stopped responding so they decided to reset it for me. (I have VPU recover set on, it's a little utility that will reset the graphics card when it stops responding to the driver.) However, this reset essentially hoses my system and requires a restart, not to mention making it very difficult to shut down GCII. (Task manager fights the program to shut it down and seems to lose more frequently than it should. When this happens I just do a cold reboot.)

I'm going to turn the Recover utility off, and see if that at least fixes the OS getting hosed up. (According to the documentation on the utility, it's supposed to allow resetting of the processor without generally requiring a restart, but in this case I always get the "you need to restart" window.) However, the utility should have nothing to do with the processor not responding to the driver, unless the response timeout to trigger the utility is just too slow. I've included the .err log:

Debug Message: Version v1.11 last updated on: Mon May 8 11:15:04 2006
Debug Message: Could not find a TGN Serial No.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 5/22/2006, 16:35:24
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: DEEPTHOUGHT
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 Inc.
System Model: Dimension XPS
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A03
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.40GHz (2 CPUs)
Physical Memory: 1022MB RAM
Page File: 348MB used, 2109MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: RADEON X800 XT
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type: RADEON X800 XT (0x5D57)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5D57&SUBSYS_03021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Dell 2005FPW (Digital)
Monitor Max Resolution: 1680,1050
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6606
Driver Date: 3/21/2006 22:56:42
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [CCC0]
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0004&SUBSYS_20061102&REV_04
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Provider: Creative
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0445
Driver Date: 8/6/2004 11:43:26
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: Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_4_SAMPLES
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1360 x 1024
Debug Message: Running in windowed mode.
Debug Message: HAL (hw vp): RADEON X800 XT
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 32
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 ca27b580
Debug Message: Initializing sound card.
Debug Message: initailizing bink
Debug Message: No string tables in C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods/*.str
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Gfx\*.png
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Gfx\Race\*.png
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\sfx\*.wav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Music\*.mp3
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Event Music\*.mp3
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\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\Techs\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\ShipComponents\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\ShipDefs\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\PlanetImprovements\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\TerrainColorSchemes\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\PlanetDescriptions\*.xml
*DEBUG ERROR: ***Unable to find required tech ImpossibleTech for PirateShip. ***
Debug Message: Found existing ship type with class name: Ranger
*DEBUG ERROR: ***Unable to find required tech ImpossibleTech for Starbase. ***
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipclass
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\Anomalies\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\Events\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\UPIssues\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\Invasion\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\PoliticalParties\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\StarTypes\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\Data\StarbaseModules\*.xml
Debug Message: Reading Star Names
Debug Message: Reading Star Names... Done
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Logos\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Metaverse\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Mods\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\Portraits\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.sav
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Grant\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\temp\*.sav
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: Loading Custom Map
Debug Message: Loading Data Defs
Debug Message: Data Defs block size: 2175995
Debug Message: Clear data definitions.
Debug Message: Loading TechDefs
Debug Message: Max num techs: 248
Debug Message: Loading ImprovementDB
Debug Message: Loading Component Defs
Debug Message: Loading ShipTypes
Debug Message: Loading ShipConfigs
Debug Message: Loading AnomalyTypes
Debug Message: Loading RandomEvents
Debug Message: Loading UPIssues
Debug Message: Loading ResourceTypes
Debug Message: Loading InvasionTactics
Debug Message: Loading SBmodules
Debug Message: Loading PoliticalParties
Debug Message: Loading Planet Types
Debug Message: Loading Star Types
Debug Message: Loading Game
Debug Message: Loading Galaxy
Debug Message: Sectors across: 18 x 18
Debug Message: Loading FOW Map
Debug Message: Loading ZOC Map
Debug Message: Loading Planets
Debug Message: Loading Stars
Debug Message: Loading Anomalies
Debug Message: Loading Resources
Debug Message: Loading Civs
Debug Message: Loading Colonies
Debug Message: Loading RallyPoints
Debug Message: Loading Ships
Debug Message: Loading Fleets
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Can't find ship type Fleet in definitions
Debug Message: Loading ENDGALAXYDATA
Debug Message: Updating ZOC.
Debug Message: UIBeginGame called with g_ulLocalPlayerID = 10
Debug Message: UIBeginGameHelper: New Game Started
Debug Message: BuildShip: Cannot build ship type 0-Constructor M5-11 at Geta V - No open slots
Debug Message: BuildShip: Cannot build ship type 13-Constructor M5-11 at Scottlingas I - No open slots
Debug Message: BuildShip: Cannot build ship type 18-Constructor M5-11 at Snathi I - No open slots
Debug Message: StackedShipsWnd: Cannot find OBJID Stacked_Logistics_Value
Debug Message: StackedShipsWnd: Cannot find OBJID stacked_Fleet_More_Button