Game Does Not Even Start.

Please post the contents of your debug.err file. It is located in the main program folder, usually C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2.
You can open the file in Notepad and copy/paste the comtents into a reply post.

I would have posted one, but none was generated.

This rig is setup to play online games... World of Warcraft, City of Heroes, and Auto Assault currently. With pretty much the rest loaded once upon a time. Hope it is up to the task of running GC2... hehe.

I might try uninstalling and trying to run game without patch/CollEd content installed.

It always generates a debug.err file. Look again. it should be there.

If it didn't even get that far it was not installed correctly. If you install the Collector's Edition content you will have to install the update again, I am pretty sure.

You could also try starting the GalCiv2.exe file directly from the install folder if the icon didn't work.

If there is no debug.err, then GalCiv2.exe was not even run (meaning there was likely a problem with the launcher). Try running GalCiv2.exe directly from the location you installed it at.

Correct, I hit Play Game and NOTHING happens, the hard drive doesn't even come on. I have tried launching already directly from C:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming directory. Same results.

By any chance is the game "trying" to go online? My firewall is pretty nasty at times... bastard AOL and their forced McCaffee. I really need to get a new email provider, but too lazy to teach the wife how to use the internet.

I have downloaded Stardock Central and it updated a few more files including the GalCiv2.exe... did not fix problem.

By any chance is the game "trying" to go online?

I don't think so. I never have any problems running it on a machine that is not connected to the net at all. I'd guess that it only goes online if you use the Metaverse.

Did you download v1.11 or v1.2 Beta? I doubt that'll make a difference but you never know.

I wonder if the startup applette is having issues. When you ran directly from "C:\....totalgaming\galciv2", did you run the GalCiv2.exe file or GC2Loader.exe? (silly question im sure, but jsut making sure)

Also, check your root directory and make sure eveything was installed correctly. IIRC, the total game size was around 900 megs to 1.2 gigs, so if it's substanially less than that, perhaps something got screwed up with the install.

The game shouldn't be trying to go online. It'll only do that once you've gotten into the game and initiate a "metaverse" game.

Check your display settings and make sure it's displaying at 32bit color, just to be safe.

But the not creating a debug.err simply has me stumped

I too I'm having problem get my game to start
The game screen come on for but has soon as i more my mouse the screen shut down
I have tryed uninstalled it and reinstalled it but the same problem is still happening

Well I completely uninstalled the game and reinstalled it.

Game started after installing from discs. Horray!
Installed patch... Game Started. Horray!
Have not installed CollectorEd content yet.

My DVD reader drive has been acting funny lately. I used the DVD writer this time to install the game so maybe something went wrong in installation.

One thing I did notice though is that the "movie" files don't run smoothly or stop midstream.

Thanks for the help. I have a new reader drive awaiting to be installed, just haven't got around to doing it. 1st time it really caused a problem, normally it just refused to read a disc.

If one of your optical drives is faulty it could effect overall system performance.
You could try unplugging the power cable from the suspected drive and seeing how things work.
You may need to disconnect the data cable as well.

And thanks for jogging my brain by mentioning that. I have been having a sporadic problem on my computer as well.
So I thought to take my own suggestion and unplugged my writer. Windows hung on loading when the data cable was still connected but booted fine once I disconnected it. I'll have to let it run for a while to see if the problem resurfaces, but so far it has not.