GC 2 Ultmate Edition

attempting to move

Please open your debug.err file in notepad, and copy/paste the contents into a post here. This will give us some technical information that can help troubleshoot your problem. The location you'll find the debug.err in varies depending on which game you're playing:

Dread Lords: My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2
Dark Avatar: My Documents\My Games\GC2DarkAvatar
Twilight of the Arnor: My Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor

Older versions may store the debug directly in the location the game is installed at.

Be sure to copy the debug immediately after the error occurs; if you start the game again, the debug will be erased and recreated for the new session.

Debug Message:  Version v2.02 Twilight of the Arnor last updated on: Tue Dec  9 11:44:40 2008
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net\GalCiv2UL
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net\GC2EU
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net\GC2
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net\GalCiv2
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net\DarkAvatar
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ComponentManager\Drengin.net\Twilight
Debug Message:  Can't find TGN or GalCiv2 serial number.
Debug Message:  Checking DX Version.
Debug Message:  *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 1/23/2011, 19:44:05
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Machine Name: AJSCOTT-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Dell XPS420                  
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A04
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q6600  @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Physical Memory: 3072MB RAM
Page File: 720MB used, 5417MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: ATI Radeon HD 4670 (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1)        
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type:
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9490&SUBSYS_20091787&REV_00
Display Memory: 2298 MB
Current Display Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution:
Driver Name: atidxx32.dll,atidxx64,atiumdag.dll,atiumdva.cap,atiumd64,atiumd6a,atitmm64
Driver Version: 8.15.0010.0163
Driver Date: 7/13/2009 20:14:55
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
 
Display device 2:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY2
Card Name: ATI Radeon HD 4670 (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1)        
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type:
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_9490&SUBSYS_20091787&REV_00
Display Memory: 2298 MB
Current Display Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution:
Driver Name: atidxx32.dll,atidxx64,atiumdag.dll,atiumdva.cap,atiumd64,atiumd6a,atitmm64
Driver Version: 8.15.0010.0163
Driver Date: 7/13/2009 20:14:55
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
 


Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_8384&DEV_7618&SUBSYS_10280215&REV_1002
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 65535
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Provider: Microsoft
Driver Version: 6.01.7600.16385
Driver Date: 7/13/2009 18:51:47
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 1
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 1024 x 768, Windowed: 0, Multisample: 4
Debug Message:  Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message:  Running fullscreen.
Debug Message:  HAL (hw vp): ATI Radeon HD 4670 (Microsoft Corporation WDDM 1.1)        
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:  GalCiv2 is activated.
Debug Message:  ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message:  Timer Frequency is 0 23ac6c
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Program Files\Stardock Games\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\./Data/ShipTemplates/\*.shipcfg
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Users\AJScott\Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor\ships\*.shipcfg
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Users\AJScott\Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor\shiptemplates\*.shipcfg
Debug Message:  Could not open reg key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE SOFTWARE\Stardock\ObjectDesktop\DesktopX
Debug Message:  Initializing sound card.
Debug Message:  initailizing bink
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Program Files\Stardock Games\Galactic Civilizations II - Ultimate Edition\DarkAvatar\Movies\techs\*.bik
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask Movies\techs\*.bik
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask Gfx\Tutorials\*.bik
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Users\AJScott\Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor\Gfx\Movies\*.bik
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Users\AJScott\Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor\sfx\*.wav
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Users\AJScott\Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor\Music\*.mp3
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Users\AJScott\Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor\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:  Error flipping back buffer to primary buffer.
Debug Message:  D3DERR_DEVICELOST
Debug Message:  Device lost
Debug Message:  Attempting to reset device.
Debug Message:  Device Validated. Attempting to restore resources.

I Purchased GC 2 Ultimate recently and had similar issues loading under Windows 7. The Game would NOT load correctly via the launcher. However, I found that I could open Dread Lords from the ".exe" directly rather than the loader. This is possibly due to a working configuration from a previous install of Dread Lords (only). This didn't work for Dark Avatar or Twilight though. On a hunch, I checked the "Prefs.ini" in all three and found that for the expansions the default values weren't working. After changing the following lines in "Prefs.ini" for both expansions to match those of Dread Lords, all will load from the associated ".exe".

*** start copy ***

[Video]
DisplayWidth=1680
DisplayHeight=1050
ColorDepth=32
Fullscreen=1

...

 Multisample=8

*** end copy ***

My System below:

System Info
Time: 4/20/2011, 22:48:43
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Machine Name: GOLLUM
Operating System: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: EP45-DS4P
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q6600  @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
Physical Memory: 8192MB RAM
Page File: 1599MB used, 14779MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce GTX 460
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0E22&SUBSYS_34FC1458&REV_A1
Display Memory: 4065 MB
Current Display Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version: 8.17.0012.6658
Driver Date: 1/8/2011 13:27:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
 
Display device 2:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY2
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce GTX 460
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0E22&SUBSYS_34FC1458&REV_A1
Display Memory: 4065 MB
Current Display Mode: 1680 x 1050 (32 bit) (59Hz)
Monitor Name: Generic PnP Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version: 8.17.0012.6658
Driver Date: 1/8/2011 13:27:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
 


Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Speakers (2- High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0885&SUBSYS_1458A002&REV_1001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 65535
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Provider: Microsoft
Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514
Driver Date: 11/20/2010 01:44:24
Type: WDM
Other Drivers: 
Acceleration Level: 1
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
 
Sound device 1:
Description: Digital Audio (S/PDIF) (2- High Definition Audio Device)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0885&SUBSYS_1458A002&REV_1001
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 65535
Driver Name: HdAudio.sys
Provider: Microsoft
Driver Version: 6.01.7601.17514
Driver Date: 11/20/2010 01:44:24
Type: WDM
Other Drivers: 
Acceleration Level: 1
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0

Sorry there was a typo in the above but I've since fixed it, however I didn't notice I could edit the above before I posted this "correction"!  Oops, live & learn. But just to re-iterate...

" The Game would NOT load correctly via the launcher. However, I found that I could open Dread Lords from the ".exe" directly rather than the loader."

Editing the "Prefs.ini" file did the trick for me, but may not be the whole answer to the problem.