New widescreen monitor installed and now GCII won't start

Is it necessary to reinstall?

Installed (after much struggling with Stardock's insane design) and ran GalCivII happily for a month. Was using a 19" ViewSonic A90 CRT monitor (on analog cable from my ATI 9600 series card).

Now, I have installed a new ViewSonic VA1912wb wide-format LCD display, using digital D-SUB cable only. This monitor's optimal resolution is 1440x900, but it does support 1280x1024 in an emulation mode.

GalCivII attempts to start, I get a quick black screen, and then the screen is mostly black but with a 2-inch stripe of my normal windows desktop down the right hand side. I am able to move my mouse around and click things in that striped area. GalCivII is no longer active, and I am able to kill the process using Task Manager. There is no sound during this.

Theory 1: GalCivII is still trying to start in a native 1024x768 or 1280x1024 mode (I forget which one I set when I was playing before). It fails to do this and then crashes.

Theory 2: GalCivII is trying to send output via the analog port, even though the only device is attached to digital. It doesn't find a device (or the video card reports there is no such device) and then crashes.

Theory 3: Something else?

I have downloaded the latest patch for GalCivII, and updated my ATI video drivers. Below is the output from debug.err.

I have not yet tried removing the install and then reinstalling: I don't want to do that because I am in the middle of the campaign and have saved games, and also because I installed from online using Stardock, and that process is as painful an installation process as I have ever experienced. I will do it if it is certain to fix the issue and there is no other solution (such as a command-line launch flag that will tell GalCivII how to use the new display?)

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Debug Message: Version v1.2 last updated on: Mon Jun 12 18:04:26 2006
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 7/2/2006, 18:56:48
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: MALICE
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: NVIDIA
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2800+, MMX, 3DNow, ~2.1GHz
Physical Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 285MB used, 2174MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: RADEON 9600 SERIES
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip Type: ATI RADEON 9600 Series AGP (0x4150)
DAC Type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4150&SUBSYS_7C29174B&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: ViewSonic VA1912w SERIES
Monitor Max Resolution: 1440,900
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6618
Driver Date: 6/7/2006 14:09:10
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: SB Audigy Audio [C000]
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0004&SUBSYS_00511102&REV_03
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Provider: Creative
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0244
Driver Date: 3/22/2002 05:09:40
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 multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_6_SAMPLES
Debug Message: Could not create the render device using default format. Switching to 16bit
Debug Message: Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONE
Debug Message: Could not create the render device.
Debug Message: InitializeDirect3D Failed.
Debug Message: Now Fullscreen
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: WM_CLOSE message received.
Debug Message: GameUninitialize start
1,542 views 5 replies
Reply #1 Top
Leperflesh,

I'm having the exact same problem with a Dell Widescreen 2000WFP. I'm using a GEFORCE 7800GS. Hoping to see a response to this one soon.


EDIT: I did manage to change the resolution in the .ini file to the native resolution of the monitor (1680x1050) and game will now start. However, I do get a warning message at start up that video must be set to 32-bit for best viewing (rather than 16-bit), but my system is set to 32-bit. First day using the latest patch, keep up the good work Stardick!
Reply #2 Top
Go to My documents/My games/Galciv2 and edit the resolution lines near the top of prefs.ini, or just delete it. It sounds like it is trying to run in 1280x1024 and failing (it should work fine in 1024x768, stretched or letterboxed).
Reply #3 Top
Success! Thanks man. Game looks great in widescreen format.

PS: My Documents? Why is GalCiv writing to the My Documents folder?
Reply #4 Top
PS: My Documents? Why is GalCiv writing to the My Documents folder?


It's required to be that way so the game can run with limited user privileges (i.e., non-administrator). Not a big deal with XP since most run as admin anyway, but it is an absolute requirement for Windows Vista.
Reply #5 Top
My apologies, I made a genuine typo above, meant to say thank you to Stardock. Could one of the admin's please apply an edit?