Screen covered by oversized sun

from GalCiv2 Forums
Just installed the game and went to play but all i see is a giant sun it's way oversized and takes up the entire area that isn't covered by fog of war. The demo worked fine with no problems and i've updated my drivers.

Debug Message: Version v1.0X.2 last updated on: Tue Mar 7 15:02:59 2006
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 7/9/2006, 18:07:42
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: RECROOM
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) (2600.xpclient.010817-1148)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: Dimension 4300
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1400MHz, ~1.4GHz
Physical Memory: 256MB RAM
Page File: 174MB used, 442MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce2 MX/MX 400
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0110&SUBSYS_010F10DE&REV_B2
Display Memory: 64.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Dell E771p
Monitor Max Resolution: 1280,1024
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.9131
Driver Date: 6/1/2006 17:22:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Santa Cruz(tm)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: TURTLE_BEACH\SANTA_CRUZ_WDM_INTERFACE
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: tbcwdm.sys
Provider: Voyetra Turtle Beach
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.4141
Driver Date: 12/16/2001 01:27:34
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 3
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0

thats the beginind of the debug.err file. Do u need the actual debug messages.
11,706 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The entire debug might help.
From what you have posted, well, you have updated the video drivers but have left everything else.


No service packs in XP, and your audio drivers are way too old. And your swap file should be increased to at least 2GB.

You are also using a Geforce 2 MX card, which is not a good video card for this game. It is not a card that supports DX9.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
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): NVIDIA GeForce2 MX/MX 400
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\Byron\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\Byron\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipclass
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Byron\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipcfg
Debug Message: Reading Star Names
Debug Message: Reading Star Names... Done
Debug Message: GalaxyWnd: Cannot find OBJID Scenaro_Research_Value
Debug Message: GalaxyWnd: Cannot find OBJID Scenaro_Population_Value
Debug Message: GalaxyWnd: Cannot find OBJID Scenaro_Colture_Value
Debug Message: CustomRaceWnd: Cannot find OBJID CustomRace_Description_Text
Debug Message: CustomRaceWnd: Cannot find OBJID CustomRace_Tab_Homeworld
Debug Message: Creating Galaxy
Debug Message: Set galaxy size.
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: Creating Random Map
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Stars
Debug Message: Number of Unplaced Stars: 19.
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Planets
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Anomalies
Debug Message: Num Anomalies: 59
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Resources
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Done
Debug Message: Creating Civs
Debug Message: Drengin Empire: Intellence -> 50
Debug Message: Altarian Republic: Intellence -> 50
Debug Message: Creating Civs... Done
Debug Message: Updating ZOC.
Debug Message: Updating ZOC.
Debug Message: Galaxy Create... Done
Debug Message: UIBeginGame called with g_ulLocalPlayerID = 0
*DEBUG ERROR: ***ShipDesignScreen: Unknown edit field SDesign_Dial_Pitch type: Dial ***
*DEBUG ERROR: ***ShipDesignScreen: Unknown edit field SDesign_Dial_Yaw type: Dial ***
*DEBUG ERROR: ***ShipDesignScreen: Unknown edit field SDesign_Dial_Roll type: Dial ***
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Screen_Discription_Title
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_1
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_2
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_3
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_4
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_5
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_6
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_7
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_8
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Picture_9
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_1
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_2
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_3
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_4
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_5
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_6
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_7
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_8
Debug Message: ShipDesignScreen: Cannot find OBJID SDesign_Slot_Button_9
Debug Message: OptionsWnd: Quit Btn
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: WorkAreaBack.png not cleared 1 counts left.
Debug Message: GameUninitialize end
Debug Message: Device not cleared. 4 counts left.
Debug Message: D3D not cleared. 1 counts left.
Debug Message: Destroying Window.
Debug Message: Main Shell terminating normally

theres the rest of it. you say my video card isn't suported? so i need to uprade right? theres no other way to get it working? wuts a swap file?
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
A swap file is hard drive space reserved for virtual memory. When you run low on ram, the OS can swap portions to the hard drive. It lets programs use more ram than is physically present in the system.

Right-click My Computer (the desktop icon) and select Properties.
Go to the Advanced tab, and click the Settings button in the Performance section.
Go to the Advanced tab, and click the Change button in the Virtual Memory section.
Highlight the hard drive with the Paging File, then click the Custom Size radio button.
Change both the initial and maximum size fields to 2048, then click Set.
Click OK until you are out of all the windows. You may have to reboot for the changes to take effect.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

thats a picture of the problem, it had the texture for a sun on it until i turned it off trying to fix it. i resized the virtual memory but still no dice. Could it just be my graphics card not being compatible?
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
1. Make sure you are running the latest version of the game. Currently that is 1.20.035 as some of the older versions did have this error.

2. If your graphics card does not support DX9 then you will be seriously hampered playing this game (parts will maybe not work at all), so you should look towards getting a new card. One thing to remember about this is that most of the new cards AGP or PCI require a lot of power to run, so please ensure you have an adequate power supply for the job. A 250w power supply will have trouble supplying enough power to run most of the new cards for any long period of time. For £30/$55 you should be able to pick up a new 500w unit.

Total to upgrade for you looking at your specs would be around £150/$275 for 1gb memory (split over 2 500mb sticks), a new power supply and a new graphics card! If you use eBay you could probably slash those prices too.

Good luck with the issue and hope to see you around here with your problems resolved.

JJ


Join The Galactic Diplomats.
– A GCII Metaverse Empire –
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
don't have enough money for that right now i was thinking of seeing if i could find a mx 4 graphics card until i buy a new pc in march... would that be enough to run the game?
Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
The GeForce mx 4 series is, quite frankly, junk. Avoid it at all costs, as it is basically a repackaged, slightly updated GeForce 2. It should *run* the game, but you'll encounter a whole new slate of problems.
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
updated to the beta and it fixed it so i won't be buying the graphics card. the reason for buying it was just because it's cheap...
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I had this problem and it came after i got tons of updates off of stardock central. i decided that i hadnt gotten all of it, so i went to the site and downloaded the bonus thingummy. however, i didnt download the retail update with it (stupid me....). THE BLASTED THING TOOK UP TWELVE SECTORS!!!! the small ones took up about three. in anycase, download ALL the updates. make sure you every single one, and if you do, then its an issue with your comp.

by the way, i have a ATI Radeon 9250, with some other junk added on (something like stealth s950 or something...). in anycase, it cost a ton, and i still get issues with the graphics. such as the explosion pause my game for about three seconds and the frames skip to the point JUST after the explosion dissapates. very obnoxious. so, i do not beleive that this is a graphics issue, so much a "wow that was a stupid mistake i made!" issue. so make sure the game is TOTALLY updated. ver. 1.2 and all. good luck!

Heres a link to the page with the retail update and the bonus stuff (and sdc which by the way DID NOT fully update my game!   ANNOYING! o well!)
(im not sure if this worked.... never done links!)
[link="https://www.galciv2.com/Downloads.aspx"]https://www.galciv2.com/Downloads.aspx">Link
Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top
such as the explosion pause my game for about three seconds and the frames skip to the point JUST after the explosion dissapates


Have you tried the "Simple Explosions" option?