DALaunch.exe had stopped working

gc2launch.exe has stopped working

from GalCiv2 Forums
I wasn't sure whether to put this into beta report or bug reports but...

Since I tried to install the newest beta I have been unable to play the game. When I click run from Stardock central I get the error messages DALaunch.exe has stopped working or gc2launch has stopped working.

I uninstalled the game. Reinstalled the game, same problem. I uninstalled the game, and then uninstalled Stardock central, and then deleted the Stardock folder from the programs directory. I then reinstalled and reregistered everything. Still no luck.

I'm running Vista Ultimate and had no problem running the game prior to attempting the upgrade. I've also reinstalled the game on a couple of different installations previously (I was fiddling around when I first got Vista and installed on the same machine 3 or 4 times) and had no issues.

Anyone have any ideas, I'm going through withdrawal.

Cheers

10,246 views 15 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
This is a known issue with Vista (the launcher cannot be run with the same permissions as SDC, which is what Vista tries to do). The only solution for now is to just run it through the start menu shortcut/games explorer/run it directly, rather than via SDC.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Hello,
I am having a problem launching Dark Avatar.

There are 2 accounts on my PC. I installed the game from the admin account, and am able to play there no problem. In fact, I could play the game from both accounts on the PC without trouble. Last night I logged into Stardock Central and updated the game. I can still play Dark Avatar no problem on that account.

The problem is the other account. When I switch accounts (the account I let my roommate use), I can't play Dark Avatar from there. Whether I double click on the desktop icon, or start up Stardock Central and then select the game and select the Run button... I get the same results... a dialog pops up titled "DALaunch.exe" and the text is one of those Send Error Report to Microsoft or Don't Send hings. DALaunch.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close.

I don't know what to do, any suggestions? Thank you.
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
p.s. I even tried copying over my prefs.ini file to my roommate's account so the game prefs were the same. no luck
Reply #4 from GalCiv2 Forums Top


Okay, I just gave my roommate computer admin privileges and restarted the pc, and I was able to launch the game from his account. I then switched his account type back to limited (took away admin privileges), restarted pc, and game didn't work again. What's going on? Also, whatever is happening isn't writing anything to that debug.err file.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The launcher doesn't read prefs.ini. In any case, it's likely either a permissions issue, or a registry issue. The simplest solution though is to just make a shortcut directly to GalCiv2.exe or GC2DarkAvatar.exe and skip the launcher entirely.

Edit: you replied while I was writing--your experience shows that it is indeed a permissions issue. You'll need to give him admin then, or just skip the launcher and go straight to the game as above.

For future reference, the debug.err isn't started until the launcher hands things off to the game itself.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Thank you for the fast reply.

I went to c:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar in the windows explorer, and double-clicked GC2DarkAvatar.exe.

Result: A dialog popped up saying "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the item."


I see what you mean about a permissions issue. I don't know why this problem was not happening until today. The only thing that changed was that last night I logged into Stardock Central (while on my own account) and updated the game.

Any more ideas?
Reply #8 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Now this is interesting... I am able to launch c:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\GalCiv2.exe

I wonder what happened to the DarkAvatar directory....
Reply #9 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Curious. What version of windows are you running?
Reply #11 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
The only thing I can think now.. is that last night when I logged into Stardock Central and updated the game, I only selected the Dark Avatar thing and hit Update. Just now, again from my own admin account, I logged in again and this time selected the whole game, Galactic Civilizations II, and hit Update. Now I am curious to see if from roommate's account, if I can even execute ..\GalCiv2\GalCiv2.exe

RESULT: okay it is something that is happening upon me updating from Stardock Central. because now I cannot execute the GalCiv2.exe from the roommate's account, where I could before doing the update.

now what is Stardock Central doing to my permissions?
Reply #12 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
It might be getting reset for some reason. Since you've got XP Pro though, you should be able to just go into the folder properties and give his account full access.
Reply #13 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

c:\Program Files\Stardock\TotalGaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar

Well, Program Files isn't a nice directory for user with limited access on XP. It would have been wiser to install the game in a Shared Documents subfolder.

Reply #14 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
how the heck do i find the galciv.exe" cheat i cant seem to find it and i probally wont know what to do if i do so can someone help me?
Reply #15 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
leave it to microsoft to do something stupid sounds like 2 seperate launch.exe commands but thanks kryo I've been tryin to get this thing working finally got it lol