I just saw a link that says if you bought your game in Europe "click here" (if you click on it, it comes up with an internal server error).  Mine came from the UK - any ideas of how this might differ, i.e. is there a different patch for this one?

The update downloads and runs from impulse, and I can get to main menu, which shows the 3 different chapters.  I can run only dread lords.  If I "switch chapters" to DA or TA and try to play the game, both chapters crash, screen flickers a couple of times, message is: "DA or TA has stopped working, let windows check online for a solution and close program"

Have researched and researched on how to get DA and TA running, both across the net and in this forum specifically.  Sounds like lots of win 7 folks are having the exact same problems, so am hoping there is a standard answer for this, or perhaps there is/will be a downloadable fix?

You are very kind, thank you.  I posted the debug.err file on another thread, but I will post again here:

Debug Message:  Version v1.52 last updated on: Mon Sep  8 14:39:01 2008
Debug Message:  Checking DX Version.
Debug Message:  *********DXDiag info follows.*********
System Info
Time: 2/18/2010, 10:07:51
DirectX Version: DirectX 11

Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
Languages: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP-Pavilion
System Model: AY748AA-ABA p6320y
BIOS: BIOS Date: 11/12/09 14:45:05 Ver: 5.13
Processor: AMD Phenom(tm) II X4 820 Processor (4 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Physical Memory: 8192MB RAM
Page File: 1871MB used, 13997MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows


Display Info
Display device 1:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY1
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce 9100
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce 9100
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0847&SUBSYS_2A9E103C&REV_A2
Display Memory: 3821 MB
Current Display Mode: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: HP 2009 Series Wide LCD Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution:
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version: 8.17.0011.9621
Driver Date: 1/11/2010 22:03:33
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
 
Display device 2:
Device Name: \\.\DISPLAY2
Card Name: NVIDIA GeForce 9100
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip Type: GeForce 9100
DAC Type: Integrated RAMDAC
Key Device: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0847&SUBSYS_2A9E103C&REV_A2
Display Memory: 3821 MB
Current Display Mode: 1600 x 900 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor Name: HP 2009 Series Wide LCD Monitor
Monitor Max Resolution:
Driver Name: nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version: 8.17.0011.9621
Driver Date: 1/11/2010 22:03:33
DirectX Acceleration Enabled: Yes
 


Sound info
Sound device 1:
Description: Speakers (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0888&SUBSYS_103C2A9E&REV_1002
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: RTKVHD64.sys
Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5938
Driver Date: 9/15/2009 13:08:00
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 1
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
 
Sound device 1:
Description: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)
Default Sound Playback: No
Default Voice Playback: No
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0888&SUBSYS_103C2A9E&REV_1002
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Driver Name: RTKVHD64.sys
Provider: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.5938
Driver Date: 9/15/2009 13:08:00
Type: WDM
Other Drivers:
Acceleration Level: 1
Cap Flags: 0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
 


Debug Message:  *********END dxdiag info.*********
Debug Message:  Entering WinMain
Debug Message:  ******* Starting Game Shell *******
Debug Message:  Going Fullscreen
Debug Message:  Preparing to change display settings.
Debug Message:  Using hardware vertex processing
Debug Message:  Using multilsample setting: D3DMULTISAMPLE_4_SAMPLES
Debug Message:  Game Resolution: 1024 x 768
Debug Message:  Running fullscreen.
Debug Message:  HAL (hw vp): NVIDIA GeForce 9100
Debug Message:  D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_DEFAULT
Debug Message:  Refresh rate: 60
Debug Message:  Bit Depth: 32 bit.
Debug Message:  *********Checking D3DDevice Caps***********************
Debug Message:  A full-color cursor is supported in hardware at high resolution modes.
Debug Message:  RGB in format 6:6:6, Masks reported as ff0000:ff00:ff
Debug Message:  Now Fullscreen
Debug Message:  Shell initialization complete
Debug Message:  GalCiv2 is activated.
Debug Message:  ***** Initializing Game *****
Debug Message:  Timer Frequency is 0 29b94e
Debug Message:  Initializing sound card.
Debug Message:  initailizing bink
Debug Message:  Create setup screens.
Debug Message:  Clear galaxy settings.
Debug Message:  Clear influence.
Debug Message:  Clear up laws.
Debug Message:  Clear first time events.
Debug Message:  Clear wonders and trade goods.
Debug Message:  Clear sector mapper.
Debug Message:  Set mouse.
Debug Message:  Set update timer.
Debug Message:  Error flipping back buffer to primary buffer.
Debug Message:  Device lost
Debug Message:  Clear data definitions.
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Users\RETURN\Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.xml
Debug Message:  No files found matching mask C:\Users\RETURN\Documents\My Games\GalCiv2\ships\*.shipcfg
Debug Message:  Reading Star Names
Debug Message:  Reading Star Names... Done
Debug Message:  TitleWnd: Quit Button.
Debug Message:  Posting WM_CLOSE message.
Debug Message:  WM_CLOSE message received.
Debug Message:  GameUninitialize start
Debug Message:  Killing Galaxy
Debug Message:  Killing threads.
Debug Message:  Kiling civs.
Debug Message:  Killing ships.
Debug Message:  Killing rallypoints.
Debug Message:  Killing misc objects.
Debug Message:  Killing stars.
Debug Message:  Killing anomalies.
Debug Message:  Killing space resources.
Debug Message:  Killing colonies and planets.
Debug Message:  killing scenario.
Debug Message:  Clearing Turn Event Log
Debug Message:  Clear galaxy settings.
Debug Message:  Clear influence.
Debug Message:  Clear up laws.
Debug Message:  Clear first time events.
Debug Message:  Clear wonders and trade goods.
Debug Message:  Clear sector mapper.
Debug Message:  Clear data definitions.
Debug Message:  Killing Galaxy: Completed
Debug Message:  Shutting down sound system.
Debug Message:  Clearing sound and music handles.
Debug Message:  GameUninitialize end
Debug Message:  Destroying Window.
Debug Message:  Main Shell terminating normally

That is indeed an un-updated retail install, but it should work if you do as follows: Go to My Documents\My Games\GC2DarkAvatar (or GC2TwilightArnor as appropriate), open the file prefs.ini, and make the following changes:

Change
DisplayWidth=1024
DisplayHeight=768
ColorDepth=32
Fullscreen=1

To
DisplayWidth=(Your desktop width)
DisplayHeight=(Your desktop height)
ColorDepth=32
Fullscreen=0

Then save the file and start the game.