GalCiv 2 Gold won't start correctly

Hello,
When trying to start GalCiv 2 Gold Edition, my screen just goes black and nothing happens. I then need to use windows Task Manager to end the process. I've read all the ways to fix this on the forums (by changing the prefs.ini so that the game resolution is set to the same as the current display resolution), but nothing has helped. I updated the game, video card drivers (ATI Radeon 9800 Pro), and the monitor driver, but that did not work either. Does anyone have another way to fix this issue? Or was I doing the wrong thing? Thanks for your help and here is my debug.err file and the relevant parts of my prefs.ini file:

PREFS.INI

[Video]
DisplayWidth=1280
DisplayHeight=1024
ColorDepth=32
Fullscreen=1
HardwareMouseCursor=1

DEBUG.ERR

Debug Message: Version v1.80g Dark Avatar last updated on: Wed Dec 19 15:10:23 2007
Debug Message: Checking DX Version.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 1/5/2008, 19:23:30
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: TIMOTHY-XEXGXBA
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer INC.
System Model: A7N8X-E
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 3000+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.1GHz
Physical Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 375MB used, 2086MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS

Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: RADEON 9800 PRO
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type: ATI Radeon Graphics Processor AGP (0x4E48)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4E48&SUBSYS_00021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Hitachi CM715
Monitor Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6755
Driver Date: 12/4/2007 22:04:08
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes

Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: NVIDIA(R) nForce(TM) Audio
Default Sound Playback
Default Voice Playback
Hardware ID: NFORCE_VAD
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: nvapu.sys
Provider: NVIDIA Corporation
Driver Version: 6.14.0442.0030
Driver Date: 5/25/2004 15:58:04
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 hardware vertex processing
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_4_SAMPLES
Debug Message: Attempting to create D3DDevice at resolution 1280 x 1024, Windowed: 0, Multisample: 4
Debug Message: Could not create the render device using default format. Switching to 16bit
Debug Message: Using hardware vertex processing
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONE
Debug Message: Attempting to create D3DDevice at resolution 1280 x 1024, Windowed: 0, Multisample: 0
Debug Message: Could not create the render device.
Debug Message: InitializeDirect3D Failed.
Debug Message: Now Fullscreen
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: GalCiv2 is activated.
Debug Message: WM_CLOSE message received.
Debug Message: GameUninitialize start

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kryo

Join Date 05/2003

+458

Try setting fullscreen to 0 as well.

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Thank you for your fast reply. I changed fullscreen to 0, resulting in the following .ini file:

[Video]
DisplayWidth=1280
DisplayHeight=1024
ColorDepth=32
Fullscreen=0

But to no avail... Is there anything else I should change?

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Are you sure you have your desktop set to 32-bit?

If it is set at 16-bit you will have this problem.

Go into Display Properties and make sure.
(I know the debug says it is, but double check anyway)

If that is not the problem you may need an update for the chipset/AGP drivers.
You are running on a rather old AMD machine, and you may have overlooked updating those.

Check here for the most suitable drivers package:
WWW Link

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Hello,
I verified that the system is set to 32-bit. Also I downloaded and installed the correct chipset/AGP drivers from the website you provided but that did not work either... I thought that the system, while being old, would be able to run the game, as it meets the recommended requirements. Anyway, any other ideas? Thanks for your help.

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Hello,
I just wanted to tell you all that I was able to fix the problem by downloading the Omega drivers for my ATI Card at www.omegadrivers.net . Apparently, the problem (for me at least) was something in the ATI Catalyst driver, so by uninstalling the ATI driver and installing the Omega driver, I was able to fix the problem. Good luck to everyone else!

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