I recently wanted to try GalCiv3 again after a long time (a year or so) and it kept crashing when I launched the game. I went through the guide on this forum and have tried nearly everything. Checking my drivers, verify the files, running as admin, reinstalling the game but it keeps happening when the game is loading to get to the main menu. Between the last time I played it there was the 4.1 update and in december of last year nvidea had some driver updates that broke a couple of other games for me too (Offworld Trading Company was one of them). I got Offworld working again by forcing it to use a previous version of directX. I also noticed when reinstalling GalCiv3 that it made another directory named GalCiv3, the old one was named GC3Crusade. Before reinstalling the game couldn't find the path to the old ini file. Here is the debug file:
Debug Message: Current Time UTC: 02-28-2021 22:41
Debug Message: Version 4.01, Build #10727, last updated on: 02-28-2021 18:12
Debug Message: Product Version 23.0.8.8
Debug Message: Steam Build
Debug Message: Initializing DLC status
Debug Message: DLC0_Founders Owned: 0 Installed 0 PathExists: 0 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC1_MapPack Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC1_5_Registration Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC2_MegaEvents Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC3_Snathi Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC4_PrecursorWorlds Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: EXP1_Mercenaries Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC5_BuildersKit Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC6_RiseoftheTerrans Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC7_LostTreasures Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC8_AltarianProphecy Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: EXP2_Crusade Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC10_MechKit Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: EXP3_Intrigue Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC11_StarControlHeroes Owned: 0 Installed 0 PathExists: 0 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: EXP4_Retribution Owned: 0 Installed 0 PathExists: 0 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC12_StarControlVillains Owned: 0 Installed 0 PathExists: 0 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC13_StrangeNewWorlds Owned: 0 Installed 0 PathExists: 0 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: DLC14_WorldsInCrisis Owned: 0 Installed 0 PathExists: 0 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message: Finished initializing DLC status
Debug Message: Initializing data directories
Debug Message: Checking if data bins needs to be rebuilt.
Debug Message: Loading options binary
Debug Message: Initialize Prefs
Debug Message: Checking data binaries
Debug Message: Loading core binary
Debug Message: Core XML has been changed: Yes
Debug Message: Setting core data
Debug Message: Loading particles binary
Debug Message: Setting particle data
Debug Message: Registering types
Debug Message: Setting data for assets
Debug Message: Activation successful.
Debug Message: Checking virtual memory
Debug Message: Initializing event center
Debug Message: Checking for valid working directory
Debug Message: Entering WinMain
Debug Message: ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message: InitializeResources.
Debug Message: Initializing Shell
Debug Message: Initializing Fonts
Debug Message: RegisterFont: Font with file: BankGthd.ttf, face index: 0, size 16 ALREADY registered, ID of -245753110 with same properties will not be registered separately.
Debug Message: Initializing Fonts - complete
Debug Message: Initializing Direct3D
DebugMessage: Particle Engine Created.
Debug Message: Adding DXSAS clean up function
Debug Message: Initializing device
Debug Message: DrawManager InitializeDevice
Debug Message: Creating renderer
Debug Message: Initializing Direct3D 11 Renderer
Debug Message: Creating FBX animation core
Debug Message: Enumerating device settings
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Preferred adapter is 0
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Creating DXGI 1.1 factory
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Enumerating adapters
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: adapter enumerated
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Adapter 0
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Description: NVIDIA GeForce 840M
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Vender ID: 0x10de (4318)
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Device ID: 0x1341 (4929)
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: SettingsLevel: 3
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Dedicated Video Mem: 2066219008 bytes
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Dedicated System Mem: 0 bytes
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Enumerating outputs for adapter 0
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: 64 display modes found for adapter 0, output 0
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: adapter enumerated
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Adapter 1
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Description: Intel(R) HD Graphics Family
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Vender ID: 0x8086 (32902)
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Device ID: 0xa16 (2582)
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: SettingsLevel: 1
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Dedicated Video Mem: 0 bytes
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Dedicated System Mem: 0 bytes
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Enumerating outputs for adapter 1
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: adapter enumerated
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Adapter 2
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Description: Microsoft Basic Render Driver
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Vender ID: 0x1414 (5140)
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Device ID: 0x8c (140)
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: SettingsLevel: 3
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Dedicated Video Mem: 0 bytes
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Dedicated System Mem: 0 bytes
Debug Message: CD3D11RendererSettings::Enumerate: Enumerating outputs for adapter 2
Debug Message: Selected Adapter Description:
Debug Message: Description: NVIDIA GeForce 840M
Debug Message: Vender ID: 10de (4318)
Debug Message: Device ID: 1341 (4929)
Debug Message: Choosing initial renderer settings
Debug Message: Setting resolution to 1600 x 900
Debug Message: Initializing Renderer APIs
Debug Message: (CD3D11Renderer) Initializing driver
Debug Message: CreateDeviceAndSwapChain
Debug Message: DirectX Feature Level: DirectX 11.0
Debug Message: Device SUPPORTS raw and structured buffers
Debug Message: Initializing 2d screen space effect
Debug Message: Device is now ready
Debug Message: Registering text renderer icons
Debug Message: Creating SDF animation core
Debug Message: FXManager, FXElement size: 720 bytes
Debug Message: Shell initialization complete
Debug Message: Shell Initialized
Debug Message: CGalCiv3Shell::RequestInitializationState from: Invalid to: Uninitialized
Debug Message: Loading texture atlas 0