Hello - I'm a fairly savvy gamer with a solid system, very clean, and has no trouble running any game I put on it, until I reinstalled Gal Civ II Dread Lords.
I love Galactic Civilizations, and it ran fine in the past after I got it when it first came out. After being away from the game for a year or two, I recently reinstalled to get back into things, updated to the latest version through Impulse, and I thought I was ready to go for more galactic goodness. No deal - after clicking through to just create a default game - or any other type for that matter - shortly after game creation the screen under the cursor shows some weird anomalies, and then I find my whole system locked up, and the only way to get out is hard restart.
I thought about bad memory, so I swapped out memory - no relief there. I updated to the very latest nVidia drivers - still the same behavior. I downloaded smartexception.exe, but since its a hardware lockup, after reboot there is nothing in the logs - so I don't think its a software exception - or at least I would be able to regain control of my system through task manager to kill the process.
I've read through all possibly related forums, and even tried the registry fix for language someone suggested, but to no avail. I tried software vs hardware cursor with no luck. All I have to go on is debug.err, but I'm not seeing anything in there which really jumps out at me. Please help?
I have an Intel Core 2 6600 CPU, 2 gig of memory with plenty of page filesize, an nVidia 7900GS with 256M on it, onboard RealTek sound, all on an Asus P5WDH motherboard and no jury rigged anything. I'm running WinXP Pro sp3, with all virus/spyware turned off. Like I said, the machine runs anything I put on it - so this is not a case of user silliness I assure you!
Here's the debug.err - I would be very grateful for any help or suggestions with this one - I miss the galaxy... 
Debug Message: Version v1.53 last updated on: Tue Nov 4 11:55:35 2008
Debug Message: Checking DX Version.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 8/3/2009, 03:30:16
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: KRESSNER0
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090206-1234)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: ASUSTEK COMPUTER INC
System Model: P5W DH Deluxe
BIOS: BIOS Date: 08/28/06 21:35:13 Ver: 08.00.12
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz (2 CPUs)
Physical Memory: 2048MB RAM
Page File: 378MB used, 3055MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce 7900 GS
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0292&SUBSYS_22181682&REV_A1
Display Memory: 256.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: SyncMaster 226CW,SyncMaster Magic CX226CW(Digital)
Monitor Max Resolution: 1680,1050
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.9038
Driver Date: 7/14/2009 12:54:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Realtek HD Audio output
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0882&SUBSYS_1043E601&REV_1001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: RtkHDAud.sys
Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5247
Driver Date: 4/17/2006 02:31:26
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 hardware vertex processing
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_4_SAMPLES
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message: Running in windowed mode.
Debug Message: HAL (hw vp): NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS
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 31
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: GalCiv2 is activated.
Debug Message: ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message: Timer Frequency is 0 8f4cb910
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: * Collectors Edition *
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\User\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\User\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipcfg
Debug Message: Reading Star Names
Debug Message: Reading Star Names... Done
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Mods\Default\Data\CustomMaps\*.gc2map
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\Mods\Default\Data\Scenarios\*.gc2scenario
Debug Message: Creating 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: Clearing Turn Event Log
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: Galaxy Size Set: 4 x 4
Debug Message: Creating Random Map
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Stars
Debug Message: Number of Unplaced Stars: 12.
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Planets
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Anomalies
Debug Message: Num Anomalies: 10
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Resources
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Done
Debug Message: Setting Game Options
Debug Message: Creating Civs
Debug Message: Terran Alliance: Intellence -> 40
Debug Message: Drengin Empire: Intellence -> 40
Debug Message: Altarian Republic: Intellence -> 95
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 Message: UIBeginGameHelper: New Game Started
Debug Message: UIBeginGameHelper: Mods are Disabled
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: Clearing Turn Event Log
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: Shutting down sound system.
Debug Message: Clearing sound and music handles.
Debug Message: GameUninitialize end
Debug Message: Device not cleared. 1 counts left.
Debug Message: D3D not cleared. 1 counts left.
Debug Message: Destroying Window.
