When I start up the game it seems to run fine. All the intro stuff works fine (including the kubrickian pastiche that is the intro film) but when the game actually tries to load I get this:

http://i48.tinypic.com/2dj8cb8.jpg

I have no idea what to do about it. Any ideas?

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU Q8400 @ 2.66GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.7GHz
Memory: 4096MB RAM
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
Card name: ATI Radeon HD 4850

Did you try changing the compatibility mode? To win xp or 98?

Just tried XP and the problem persists. The game doesn't even start if I try 98.

I did a test on my computer and I suspect you may have old video card drivers. Update them and see if the game works.

But first you can try something faster: alt tab the game (while it's still running) open the task manager - processes - RMB on startopia.exe - affinity - choose only one core.

Tried setting the affinity, still didn't work. Will update drivers ASAP. Thanks.

I really think the problem is drivers related so I hope it will help. Changing the affinity was, however, faster so it was worth to try ;)

Well I tried updating my drivers, both through the AMD catalyst (which is a pile of crap) and by right clicking on the driver itself through the device manager...both showed that the drivers for my graphics card were up to date. I tried Startopia again and nothing has changed :(

Should I contact GoG directly?

Windows Device Manager is the biggest pile of crap so NEVER trust it;)

Download it directly from the AMD web site. That should be here:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/legacy/Pages/legacy-radeonaiw-vista64.aspx

Did exactly that and I am afraid it hasn't worked :(

If it helps, I have put on the semi-official patch.

Well... I'm running out of ideas... There is one more but not the best one. Download and install Windows XP as a Virtual Machine. With your system you can do it for free:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx
But I admit - it's not a very convenient solution.

Contacting GOG.com support sounds like a good plan ;)

That seems like WAAAAY too much hassle for a game that is supposed to work on Windows 7. Thank you very much for your help though!

I'm well aware of it ;) That's why I suggested contacting GOG.com since they are obliged to help.

If I think of any other possible solution I'll let you know.
I've just got an idea. Open your video card control panel (you should have something like that, check the tray icons)

Find a tab about 3D settings (the name may vary but it will be something about 3D settings) there you should find something like "Program settings". Find StarTopia there (or add it if it's not listed) and... well... you are on your own from this moment because different video cards have different options (nVidia here) but experiment a bit a see if you can get the game running.

Complete shot in the dark... but since the error message comes from MS Visual C++ RL, could it be you don't have the correct version of that installed at the moment?

How to know what is the needed version? Hmmm... :) There was a recent discussion on the general forum how GOG games should include the needed prerequisites, or at least list which ones are needed for each game so that people know which they'd have to install before running the game.

As said, I'm completely guessing here... Someone might dig out that earlier discussion, I think it was last week.Or someone might be able to tell which are all the different thingies you'd need to install on your system.

Bit of an old "bump" but I was looking around in topics if there was any news of the 1.0.2 patch working on the gog version before making a new topic, and then I found your reply

Guess no windowed mode possible for Startopia then :(

But the 1.0.1 installs fine? (before I start messing around with gog-startopia)


nvm, I see its the 1.01 version already, the gog file said 1.008 so I thought that was the version XD