Intel integrated video cards 82815 and 82810E do not support DirectX 9 and as such you will not be able to see the text in Gal Civ 2 if you have one of these cards. We ran into this problem with The Political Machine, but it is a driver problem and Intel is no longer upgrading those drivers.
If your computer has room, you can install a newer video card and make it your primary video card. You can find good video cards for $50 or less at www.pricewatch.com if you need your computer to make it a few more years before upgrading. I recommend getting a Radeon 9000 or newer, or a NVidia FX 5200 or newer, depending on if you're a NVidia fan or an ATI fan.