DLL missing?

Been YEARS since I've dealt with DLL problems but here we go....

from GalCiv2 Forums
Both Sins and Galciv give me the same error.

(blah blah program title) gameexename.exe - Bad Image

(X) The application or DLL c:\windows\system32\.dll is not a valid Windows image. Please check this against your installation diskette

(so 1980's)

Anywho..
.dll, never seen that...great I have no clue why it's a nameless DLL.

The error for GalCiv comes when I'm done picking the options for the map and it goes to the helpful-hint-load-map screen.
The error for Sins comes up right away. Same error just the Sins exe name instead in the title. And so far these are the only two programs I've encountered the problem.

THE only thing I can think of is I think I uninstalled some programs I no longer use. One was (I think) a video codex/player and the uninstallation asked if I wanted to remove XXX shared files. Well I assumed they were safe since I thought they were all in the same folder as what I was uninstalling, and if I did booboo, it seems odd that only Stardock games are affected.

Is there something I need to reinstall or a file I just need to download? Help por favor.

Edit: Also uninstalled some windows blinds stuff...trial thingies that I haven't figured out how to use so I figured I'd mess with them later. Only other connecting issue I can think of but not sure how they would have an effect on the games.

Edit2: sorry tired

The real question I guess is...can I just delete the .dll and move on?  Was it supposed to be something, or is it residue from something else?  Curious if anyone has seen this.  The file is 3characters in size, 3 bytes.
2,447 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
Please open your debug.err file in notepad, and copy/paste the contents into a post here. This will give us some technical information that can help troubleshoot your problem. The location you'll find the debug.err in varies depending on your game version:

Dread Lords, all versions:
C:\Program Files\Stardock\Totalgaming\GalCiv2

Dark Avatar 1.5-1.6 (non-Vista):
C:\Program Files\Stardock\Totalgaming\GalCiv2\DarkAvatar

Dark Avatar 1.6+(Windows Vista), 1.7+(non-Vista):
My Documents\My Games\GC2DarkAvatar

Twilight of the Arnor:
My Documents\My Games\GC2TwilightArnor

Be sure to copy the debug immediately after the error occurs; if you start the game again, the debug will be erased and recreated for the new session.
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top

Well, both Sins and GalCiv2 use Bink, so if it was a video codec that you removed, that may well have caused the problem.  Check to see if the binkw32.dll is in both your GalCiv2 and Sins directories.  Note that DarkAvatar and Twilight each have a subfolder that also need to have the bink32.dll.  If the files aren't actually missing, then all you have to do is re-register them. 

To register a file, go to a command prompt and navigate to the directory where the file is located. Then enter

regsvr32 binkw32.dll

If you don't know how to use a command prompt, you can also just use the full path of the file from where the command prompt opens.

 

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