DW:U Windows 10 Start-Up Issue

[SRNae]

Ok I see a lot of these threads going around and I have gone through and tried every option.

Issue:
I am able to see the small square splash screen for only about 4 seconds until the first "feeding giant kaltors" message shows up and then it crashes with no error message.

I have looked through here: tm.asp?m=2414049

I have:
Run the exe from file location with admin rights
Set the exe to Compatibility mode for Win XP (SP3)
Turned off the Intro Video
Tried in Windowed Mode
Updated all audio and video drivers
Run run DirectX 9.0c
Run XNA Framework 4.0
Repaired .NET Framework 4.0
Run the .NET Framework Repair Tool
Tried disabling background processes
Checked for quarantined AV files
Checked the exe was whitelisted by AV
Checked that Windows Management Instrumentation Service is running
Verified WMP and IE were enabled and active



I am able to see the following in the crash dump:

System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
at DistantWorlds.Types.GraphicsHelper.ScaleLimitImage(Bitmap image, Int32 maxWidth, Int32 maxHeight, Single alpha)
at DistantWorlds.Types.HabitatImageCache.LoadImagesSmall()
at DistantWorlds.Types.HabitatImageCache.Initialize(String applicationStartupPath, String customizationSetName, Boolean initialLoad)
at DistantWorlds.Main.TVL61JGBdk2SGP1e2dA(Object , Object , Object , Boolean )
at DistantWorlds.Main.OTktGLVhMl()
at DistantWorlds.Main.x7utj98t4m(Int32 , Int32 , Boolean )
at DistantWorlds.Main..ctor(Int32 width, Int32 height, Boolean windowedMode, Splash splashForm)
at DistantWorlds.Start.cMuXzKteVu(Object , EventArgs )
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.Form.SetVisibleCore(Boolean value)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.set_Visible(Boolean value)
at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoopInner(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
at System.Windows.Forms.Application.ThreadContext.RunMessageLoop(Int32 reason, ApplicationContext context)
at System.Windows.Forms.Application.Run(Form mainForm)
at AdeiSmFbbeZGrsmmeB.Xe3uDLq1SwUX40GKys.INgFbvooxBc2H9Ov8Ick(Object )
at AdeiSmFbbeZGrsmmeB.Xe3uDLq1SwUX40GKys.SofRtfIJrGO()



Is there anything I have not tried yet that I can? Really sort of at my wit's end here.

Thanks in advance.

Edit: Added dxdiag.

~Nate

[VPaulus]

The only post I saw in this forum reporting this error, was a long time ago and the player fixed by reinstalling the game:
fb.asp?m=3627014

[zakblood]

my only comment is

a upgrade to windows 10 can take errors over and cause issues, where as a fresh install of windows 10 with the correct drivers works better

always used signed none beta drivers and keep them up to date

378.92-desktop-win10-64bit is the latest version

once run, ask it to do a clean install, even better is to download the removal tool and do a fresh install, if it's an upgrade from a previous version of windows which you upgraded etc.

a clean profiles with the least amount of apps and programs running, gives less chance of conflicts and errors than a full profile with a lot of junk and clutter loaded each and every boot

[rjord2021]

Have you been able to play yhe game before and suddenly it is not working?
If so.....

What I do is go into Documents\My Games\Distant Worlds Universe and rename the file defaultOptions to defaultOptionsOld

Restart Distant Worlds and it will rebuild the file and hopefully fix the issue.

If tghat does not work uninstall Distant Worlds and reinstall.

[SRNae]

Yeah, I never got to get it to run at all.

I will try the reinstall of the game first. Not stoked about having to reinstall windows to play, but I'll try it after. Thanks for the messages.