re-install still crashes

disabling mods in pref fill doesn't work

Edit

Turning off Beta preview allowed the game to load to main menu.

Thank you for reporting this. It is crashing initializing your graphics. Can you make sure your graphics drivers are updated?

Updated to graphics driver to NVIDIA Geforce 461.09-WHQL (I think the old driver was from Aug 2020 452.06)
Restarted machine- fought new drivers to return to my preferred settings..
Confirmed EnableMods=0
Started Steam and set BETA to none (wait for download to finish)
Started Game and after getting to main screan I confirmed in options that Mods are turned off
Loaded current mega game successfully (Ludicrous with 20 nasties with almost 99 hours of playtime)
Exit to main menu and then Exit game
Changed BETA in steam to OPT_in_updates - v4.1 Preview (again wait for download to finish)
Started game and it crashes. resubmitted report  (P.S. esupport.stardock.com always returns ERR_CONNECTION_TIMED_OUT) )
A while later.. tried again and same result.

Checked debug.err and all but the first two lines were the same. (Time stamps different)

Cheers Bakka

Bakka we updated the optin to fix your crash. Please switch back to the option and let us know if it works for you now.

And thank you so much for helping us with this! 

Having almost the exact same issue. Freshly reinstalled, purged the whole array of Stardock folders, switched Beta branches (from "none" to the "hotfix" branch) and no luck whatsoever. No mods are installed nor enabled.

PC specs: 3900x, 16gb RAM, 2080ti, driver version 466.27. Rather frustrating to install a game well over 6 years old to find it has issues that go back just as long.

Mind you, my debug.err stops even earlier than the first post:

Debug Message:  Current Time UTC: 05-15-2021 13:20
Debug Message:  Version 4.1, Build #10730, last updated on: 05-15-2021 01:49
Debug Message:  Product Version 23.1.4.7
Debug Message:  Steam Build
Debug Message:  Working Directory: D:\SteamLibrary\steamapps\common\Galactic Civilizations III
Debug Message:  Initializing DLC status. Online: 1
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: 0 Installed 0 PathExists: 0 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: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message:  EXP4_Retribution Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message:  DLC12_StarControlVillains Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message:  DLC14_WorldsInCrisis Owned: 1 Installed 1 PathExists: 1 Enabled By Default 1
Debug Message:  Finished initializing DLC status
Debug Message:  Personal folder located at C:\Users\bmaer\OneDrive\Documenten
Debug Message:  Personal folder located at C:\Users\bmaer\OneDrive\Documenten
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:  Attempting to login using persistent auth.
Debug Message:  No existing persistent auth credentials were found for automatic login.
Debug Message:  [EOS SDK] Login Failed - Error Code: EOS_InvalidAuth
Debug Message:  Disabling persisent auth.  User will need to login manually.
Debug Message:  No existing persistent auth credentials were found for automatic login.
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 30 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:  Social overlay is disabled due to overlay setup failure (EOS_UnexpectedError).

I reinstalled and still getting error 

Debug Message:  Attempting to login using persistent auth.

Debug Message:  No existing persistent auth credentials were found for automatic login.

Debug Message:  [EOS SDK] Login Failed - Error Code: EOS_InvalidAuth

Debug Message:  Disabling persisent auth.  User will need to login manually.

Debug Message:  No existing persistent auth credentials were found for automatic login.

Are these the only fixes for this error? 

Hello Sean,

Yes still get the error going through steam. 

I reinstalled steam, the game, even installed on a fresh image of operating system. 

But I can play the game if I launch only the game from the local executable. 

Is there something else I can do to play through steam?