No shadows

Yes, some low-spec video cards (those not designed to the DirectX9 specs) will often not render some graphic effects properly (or at all).

Try adjusting the "Ambient Light" setting in your Video Options screen.  Turning it down will cause there to be more darker areas.

I thought this post was going to be about somthing interesting like the shadow vessels in Babylon 5!

I did actually find babylon 5 player mod ships for galciv1 some time ago, but i couldn't figure out how to make any of them work. I don't even know how players could even make them in the first place - perhaps they are just 2d figures i dunno?

Yes, some low-spec video cards (those not designed to the DirectX9 specs) will often not render some graphic effects properly (or at all).

I thought as much I do need a new graphics card, I think at the moment Im using a Radeon 9800 pro. When I bought the game it wouldn't actually work but downloading that driver made it work. The game runs quite well, I get problems in the largest galaxy types particularly in the late game however Ive had a lot of fun with this game and hopefully it will work even better when I get a new graphics card after christmas.

I thought as much I do need a new graphics card, I think at the moment Im using a Radeon 9800 pro.

A Radeon 9800 is a bit dated, but it's by no means low spec as far as GC2 is concerned--if that's what you have, you should not be having this issue for any technical reasons (A Radeon 9600/9800 series card should display everything GC2 throws at it with little or no trouble). I used to use a 9600XT myself and it ran the game at a solid 60fps with all the goodies on and turned up.

You should check the ambient light slider in the game's options like CodeCritter advised (setting it lower will let light sources in the game stand out better and cast shadows more visibly), and doublecheck that you have the latest drivers available from ati.com.

Note everyone how quick Kryo was to respond! He surely does deserve to be an Avatar!