in this case, I play actually completely alone. To try different things.

and.. i just realized, that's the error.
when the automatic generation is disabled and no empires set manually, the game crash.

with at least 1 other empire, it works.
lol -_-

sorry for late reply. did not get a mail.. damn it

@Nyku
Jap, mehrfach. Auch mehrfach neu installiert. Keine Chance.

@Toffi
It's not a mod. It's a normal custom pirate game.

<r> Hello <br/>
<br/>
looks like a nasty bug made it through the quality assurance.<br/>
<br/>
try to play a custom pirate game with this settings:<br/>
Galaxy: Ellipticial<br/>
Star Ammount: 1400<br/>
Physical Size: 15x15<br/>
Expansion: Prewarp<br/>
Aggression: Normal<br/>
Difficulty ...

<r> Still unable to play custom game here. at galaxy creation / loading screen i get that every time:<br/>
<br/>
<IMG src="http://i.imgur.com/aye7khW.png"><s>[img]</s><URL url="http://i.imgur.com/aye7khW.png">http://i.imgur.com/aye7khW.png</URL><e>[/img]</e></IMG><br/>
<br/>
anyone have an idea ...

<r> hello, just installed the Steamversion but can not load a custom game with pirates.<br/>
at loading screen i get that:<br/>
<IMG src="http://s1.directupload.net/images/140818/ythkbxly.png"><s>[img]</s><URL url="http://s1.directupload.net/images/140818/ythkbxly.png">http://s1.directupload.net ...

<t> That looks like a problem i had with another version.<br/>
are you using a non-english envirovement?<br/>
<br/>
i have the german Version of Windows 7.<br/>
Try to change the Time/Date Format to the US-Style (MM/DD/YYYY)<br/>
and add the US Keyboard Layout.<br/>
that did the trick for me ...

think it would be helpful if you post your error log here.
the file is normaly in C:\Users\<your username>\AppData\Roaming\Code Force Limited\Distant Worlds\<version>(1.9.0.11 for Shadows)\DW_Crashdump.txt

Post it here with the quote function.