GalCiv2 Dread Lords crashes on game start

Since no one has chimed in yet, and I can't see anything in particular that would cause that kind of exception except the very obvious stuff - I'll mention the very obvious stuff.

Current Display Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.6921
Driver Date: 12/5/2007

Debug Message:  Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message:  Running in windowed mode.

Debug Message:  Refresh rate: 0

Is there some reason why you don't have current video and monitor drivers installed?

And is there a reason for running windowed at 1024 x 768 instead of full screen at 1440 x 900?

That may not be your problem, but it is the first thing I would attend to. If it still crashes after making those changes, let us know and post the new debug info.

The reason I'm running in windowed mode is because the game crashes in fullscreen anyway, which makes it impossible to alt-tab out of once it's crashed, forcing me to turn off my computer. If it's in windowed mode, I can easily close out of the crashed program.

I'll let you know what happens after updating my video drivers. The reason I've been reluctant to upgrade is because the latest drivers for my card actually make it *slower* by about 10-20%...

The issue is due to an improperly set language setting in the registry (rather than being either set or just not present, it is there but blank). Save this reg file and merge it to solve the problem.

I updated my video drivers, and it still crashes. By the way, I still think there's something wrong with my campaign, because I remember that when I first installed this program a year or two ago, there was a "Dread Lords" campaign. Now nothing is showing up in the "Available Campaigns" list.

Debug Message:  Version v1.53 last updated on: Tue Nov  4 11:55:35 2008
Debug Message:  Checking DX Version.
Debug Message:  *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 8/1/2009, 13:05:43
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
Machine Name: CTHULHU
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090206-1234)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: AWARD_
System Model: AWRDACPI
BIOS: Award Modular BIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3200+,  MMX,  3DNow, ~2.0GHz
Physical Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 577MB used, 1882MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce 7600 GS
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_02E1&SUBSYS_0380196E&REV_A2
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Display Mode: 1440 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: Plug and Play Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0011.9038
Driver Date: 7/14/2009 14:54:00
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
 


Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Realtek AC97 Audio
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_10B9&DEV_5455&SUBSYS_AE011458&REV_20
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: ALCXWDM.SYS
Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.6160
Driver Date: 8/18/2006 14:52:00
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:  Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message:  Using hardware vertex processing
Debug Message:  Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_4_SAMPLES
Debug Message:  Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message:  Running in windowed mode.
Debug Message:  HAL (hw vp): NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS
Debug Message:  D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_IMMEDIATE
Debug Message:  Refresh rate: 0
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:  Border size reported as 6 by 30
Debug Message:  RGB in format 6:6:6, Masks reported as ff0000:ff00:ff
Debug Message:  Now windowed.
Debug Message:  Shell initialization complete
Debug Message:  GalCiv2 is activated.
Debug Message:  ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message:  No string tables in ./Data//ToolTips.tips
Debug Message:  Timer Frequency is 0 369e99
Debug Message:  No string tables in ./Data//*.str
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\Michael\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.xml
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Documents and Settings\Michael\My Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipcfg
Debug Message:  Danger Will Robinson, no Stars!!!!
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask ./Data//Tutorials/*.xml
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask ./Data//Campaigns/*.gc2Campaign
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask G:\GalCiv2\Mods\Default\Data\CustomMaps\*.gc2map
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask ./Data//Scenarios/*.GC2Scenario
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask G:\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: 7.
Debug Message:  Creating Random Map... Planets
Debug Message:  Creating Random Map... Anomalies
Debug Message:  Num Anomalies: 42
Debug Message:  Creating Random Map... Resources
Debug Message:  Creating Random Map... Done
Debug Message:  Setting Game Options
Debug Message:  Creating Civs
Debug Message:  Terran Alliance: Intellence -> 30
Debug Message:  Drengin Empire: Intellence -> 30
Debug Message:  Yor Collective: Intellence -> 30
Debug Message:  Dominion of Korx: Intellence -> 30
Debug Message:  Creating Civs... Done
Debug Message:  Updating ZOC.
Debug Message:  Updating ZOC.
Debug Message:  Galaxy Create... Done
Debug Message:  UIBeginGame called with g_ulLocalPlayerID = 1
Debug Message:  UIBeginGameHelper: New Game Started
Debug Message:  UIBeginGameHelper: Mods are Disabled

It looks like Kryo's registry fix did it. Now I have tutorials, campaign, and the game works. Thanks!

After fighting my vista 64 machine for the past few hours thinking it was multiple corrupted installs or something with vista. The game never generated a debug.err file, it just crashed right after i created my race and hit start.

After reading this thread i loaded the game and noticed, the tutorials were greyed out and the campains were missing. I ran Kyro's reg patch and BOOM im back in the game. Thanks kyro, i just wish you had a magic fix for broken lcd monitors too (loooong story)

Woo back in the game!

void

Thanks for this! The devs should really look into it, because it's really a major bug and the solution so simple. What causes this anyway?

I had also the same issue on my game, installed today.

It's not that much something developers should look into (I mean, the only thing they could eventually do would be to force language to english if there is no language key in registry).

The issue is on the installer side, actually, so on Impulse, since for some reason it didn't add the registry keys it should have.

Anyway, thanks a lot for this fix

Sweet, I just installed this morning and had the OP's symptoms.  Kryo's reg fix worked nicely.

Gnoupi, if you've got a text editor, take a look at the kryo's reg file (I'd never install a .reg file without inspecting it first).  It just sets:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Stardock\Drengin.net\GalCiv2]

"Language"="English"

For all three versions of GalCiv2

So it's entirely within the realm of something the developers could fix.

Thanks kryo. Installed GalCiv2 on Windows 7 32bit today and it crashed when starting a new game. The registry fix solved this problem. This is definitely something the developers should fix. This could very well be an installer problem but the program should not crash when the regkey is not set.