Same Problem. I reached out for help. I was told to download some old direct x drivers, update my graphics card drivers and reinstall the game. I see that there is a 1.01 Hotfix but still that doesn't change anything. I messed with the nglide settings and the compatibility as well. It crashes right after the 3dfx logo no matter what changes I have made.

I had this crash similarly and it was caused by having conflicting/corrupted registry key settings (though caused by the fact the game wasn't running as admin and ignoring my registry key edits). I recommend running the game as an administrator (the best way to do this is by changing the shortcut properties) and resetting your registry key settings.

See the attached picture for my own regkey settings (use Decimal mode when changing number keys, but make sure to put back to Hexadecimal after editing!). If these do not work, uninstall the game and then reinstall, and ensure all registry keys are installed! (The registry keys can be found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\WOW6432Node\Sierra On-Line\Cataclysm)

So i just uninstalled it and reinstalled it. You have 16 files in the registry editor. I only have 14. Missing CDkey, and D657E436967616D4

Also my opengl32.dll is pointing to a different directory, but it is pointing to the right directory to where it is located 3dfx\WinNT\

I made all other necessary changes to match yours as well.

Does that make sense? Sorry I am not a big windows guy. I appreciate you trying to help!

The CD key might just be a remnant from the fact I had a CD copy installed and GOG (in their infinite wisdom) installed over them. The OpenGL patch should be correct, assuming you are using the game's default OpenGL mode and NOT the 3dfx option (even if the path looks awkward, the opengl32.dll in 3dfx/WinNT is the game's own OpenGL mode).

That should work though! If it doesn't, post back and I'll try helping further :)

Attached are what my keys look like comapred to yours and I am running it in administrator. I did notice changing the keys shows the 3dfx logo in what appears to be 1080 but it still crashes right after the logo.

Do you use Gog Galaxy? I am installing/uninstalling from that program. Before I have only used Steam for Homeworld. I was super pumped to see cataclysm on here. Now I just want to pull my hair out ;-)

Tried changing glToSelect from "3dfx\WinNT\opengl32.dll" to "opengl32.dll"? (see Shukaku's screenshot)

Nope, and for an old game like this one, I don't recommend you to use GOG Galaxy. What I recommend you to do is to uninstall the game via GOG Galaxy, then install the game using a tool called GOG Downloader: https://www.gog.com/downloader

Once downloaded, sign into the application and have it running. Now go to your games library, select Homeworld Emergence, but click the More drop down and then GOG Downloader Links. The link at the top is the one to select, it will download a simpler installation file via the GOG Downloader. Once downloaded, run the installer, tweak any options and the game should run better.

Then, follow the instructions of my previous post (run game as admin, change to OpenGL from 3dfx OpenGL option and so on) :)

As for the screenshot, your crash will this time be caused by the fact you have the wrong "glToSelect" that does not match the deviceIndex (Index 1 = OpenGL). As suggested, change the glToSelect to just "opengl32.dll", but I'd still recommend reinstalling the game using GOG Downloader for compatibility. :)

You, sir, are a GODSEND! I've been trying to get my old CD copy to work for months and here you are with such a simple (for a techie) solution. I'd tip my hat to ya if I ever wore one.

How do I access the registry?

Start -> Search/Run: regedit. If you don't know where the registry is, or are not confident in editing it, then do not edit it. Editing the registry is risky and you run the chance of corrupting your system. Thus, do it only if you are confident in what you are doing.

Is there any way to fix this that doesn't involve regedit? I've uninstalled and downloaded Emergence five times, three on galaxy and two on the older installer with no difference.

Unfortunately, there is no other way. These older games only stored their data in the registry, and it's the only place to change the data. You have to be running the game as admin to generate and read from the registry data, so make sure you are doing that.

Thanks for all the help and it worked. I just wish they had fixed it before letting the game out.

Edit: Am I going to need to do this again when playing Homeworld and Homeworld 2 original editions?

For HW1, it's the same as Cata. Both games use the same engine, thus the settings storage is the same.

For HW2, it uses a different engine, which automatically supports HD resolutions without registry hacks (you just set shortcut parameters instead), but the game's UI is not properly designed for higher resolutions in mind, which gets very large and obscures much of the gameplay area, regardless of the resolution. This is in stark contrast to the scaling in HW1/Cataclysm, despite the fact that HW1/Cataclysm weren't designed with HD resolutions in mind at all.