cannot get past race selection screen

from GalCiv2 Forums
I just bought this game and the only thing I've seen is the race selection screen. It has crashed on me everytime without fail to the desktop.

Things I have tried so far:
1) uninstall, reinstall, then patched the game using Stardock Central
2) deleted the Prefs.ini
3) modified the ini file to skip intro, no AA, hardware cursor to 1, no sound
4) updated all my drivers
5) set my desktop resolution to 1024x768x32 before entering the game
6) ran the game from the game dir
7) copied the d3dx9_27.dll file from the system32 directory as well as from a download

Anyone have any other suggestions? Thanks!!!!

I have added the cra file from the SmartException program:

[SmartException]
LastEx=GALCIV2.EXE
File=C:\Program Files\Stardock\SmartException\GALCIV2.EXE_1160232775.CRA
LastEx2=C:\games\GalCiv2\GalCiv2.exe
CrashAddr=80c9a8

Stardock SmartException Logging Information
https://www.stardock.com/products/smartexception
-----------------------------------------------

OS version : Windows XP Service Pack 2 - (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519)
Video card : ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 SERIES
Sound card : SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [D000]
Date : 10/07/06
Application Exception code: C0000005 ACCESS_VIOLATION
Crash Addr: 0080C9A8 01:0002B9A8 C:\games\GalCiv2\d3dx9_27.dll

Processor Registers (x86):
EAX:00000000
EBX:01250F10
ECX:00000018
EDX:0017C5C4
ESI:0126B008
EDI:04D06840
CS:EIP:001B:0080C9A8
SS:ESP:0023:0012FC6C EBP:0012FCB0
DS:0023 ES:0023 FS:003B GS:0000
Flags:00210202


Current Application Call Stack:

Addr Frame Logical addr Module Name
---------------------------------------------
0080C9A8 0012FCB0 0001:0002B9A8 C:\games\GalCiv2\d3dx9_27.dll
0080AF22 0012FCC4 0001:00029F22 C:\games\GalCiv2\d3dx9_27.dll


Debug information for each stardock app follows ....

Debug.err info follows
Debug Message: Version v1.31 last updated on: Wed Sep 13 18:41:18 2006
Debug Message: GalCiv2 is activated.
Debug Message: Checking DX Version.
Debug Message: *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 10/7/2006, 09:52:27
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: MEGATRON
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: VIA Technologies, Inc.
System Model: KT400-8235
BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2100+, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.7GHz
Physical Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 312MB used, 2148MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: ALL-IN-WONDER 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_47221002&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (75Hz)
Monitor Name: Dell M770
Monitor Max Resolution: 1280,1024
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.6635
Driver Date: 8/22/2006 20:53:30
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes



Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio [D000]
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0004&SUBSYS_20021102&REV_04
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Provider: Creative
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.1164
Driver Date: 12/8/2005 11:55:46
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_NONE
Debug Message: Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message: Running fullscreen.
Debug Message: HAL (hw vp): ALL-IN-WONDER 9600 SERIES
Debug Message: D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_DEFAULT
Debug Message: Refresh rate: 75
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: ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message: Timer Frequency is 0 369e99
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\rostonal\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.xml
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\rostonal\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:\games\GalCiv2\Mods\Default\Data\CustomMaps\*.gc2map
Debug Message: No files found matching mask C:\games\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: 10.
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Planets
Debug Message: *************** Failed To Place Planet ***************
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Anomalies
Debug Message: Num Anomalies: 42
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Resources
Debug Message: Creating Random Map... Done
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1,187 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Crashes like that are generally caused by a bad download, but as you've already tried reinstalling, it's less likely.

The last line of the debug is rather odd--it's certainly going haywire with rendering something. But i would expect that if the problem were in the DLL that SmartException caught, it would be happening to others as well. So I would be leaning towards saying this may be a hardware issue, and D3D is crashing when it attempts to perform some function your video card is not handling properly.

Do you by any chance have a spare video card laying around you can try?
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I wish I had an extra one lying around but I don't. Any other ideas? It would be nice to know what the game actually looks like....
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Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Sorry, but I can't really tell much beyond that. The devs will be in Monday and I'll tag the thread for them to look at then and see if they have any ideas.
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Well, the debug.err was probably copied directly from the crash log and sometimes the last few lines get messed up, so the weird characters are probably not an indicator of more sinister things.  

Did you try running dxdiag to make sure that everything was all right with DirectX?  The fact that you're crashing only when it starts creating the 3D objects usually means that there's something wrong either with the driver or DirectX.  If you've installed any other games lately, you may have accidently installed an older version of DirectX over whatever you had, which always causes problems. Dxdiag should be able to tell you if there's something wrong with Direct3D though.

My suggestion is to use the driver removal tool here:

http://www.drivercleaner.net/

to remove your video driver and then do a clean install of the latest ATI drivers.

You can also check at http://www.microsoft.com/directx to see if you can update your version of DirectX, which may solve the problem.

Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
I found the solution to my problem. I used the Omega Drivers instead of the ones from ATI. Everything is good for now....Thanks for all the help!