Hey everyone...I just downloaded GC and tried to play it, but when I click the shortcut the screen goes blank and I get an error "Ok" box that says D3DXERR_INVALIDMODE and then the windows crash reporting window pops up.
I'm running XP Pro SP3 on a Lenovo laptop which has a Nvidia Quadro FX570M video chipset
Any ideas?

Hi,
you can try to apply windows 98 compatibility mode to the game's shortcut.

Does the game have any .ini or .config files you are able to open with notepad? I suspect a resolution or refresh rate problem but unless it has a start menu graphics setup or a file we can configure it will be hard to tell.

Sorry no dice on either of those things. I've tried all the different compatibility modes, and all I can see in terms of cfg and ini files are uninstall information and something about displaying ads?

New versions were installed when I installed Red Faction Guerrilla...I don't think it gets more up to date than that.

The only mentions i'm able find of that particular error are either DirectX or resolution related problems.
Unfortunately in this case there doesn't seem to be a config or ini file that allows to manually change the resolution from outside the game.
What resolution is the laptop using ?

To test this resolution theory out go back into the compatibility mode and force 640x480 resolution in the game. The game support this resolution so if it is a resolution set to high problem this should start the game up. Then you can try 800x600 and turn this forced setting off.

Forcing the 640x480 resolution doesn't seem to do anything, my whole screen still goes black before giving the error.
A weird thing happened, I was trying to play Left 4 Dead with a buddy and I got a similar error for no reason...I had to fix it by telling it to start in windowed mode and then adjusting my display properties.
Also Ground Control 2 works just fine.

Are you forcing aspect ratio or anything like that in the nvidia control panel?

Seeing how you got the same error with a modern game that should have no problem booting in full screen, maybe the problem ins't just Ground Control.
I would definitely start by making sure DirectX and Graphics Card drivers are up to date.
Edit: I know you said Red Faction Guerrila installed DirectX, probably a recent version, but i'd make sure anyway.

You can try deleting the file gcvideo.dat from your \Ground Control and Expansion\data folder, as this will make the game reset it graphical options and provide a renderer and resolution selection window the next time you start it.
Try with the lowest resolution first, of course.
You can always play in software renderer mode, but that makes it look ugh.

Hm, I can't seem to find that file...I looked in the folder you mentioned and there is no sign of it, is it possible that the installer was messed up even though it did the "check file integrity" when I first ran it?

Hardly possible. That file is responsible for saving your video settings, and as such, I'm pretty sure it is generated on the game's first run.
You didn't mention whether you've actually managed to start the game at least once or not. If not, that's the reason the file is missing, and I could post my gcvideo.dat file for you to download and place in the /data folder, maybe yielding some results (even a different error message :P ).

I think I've fixed the problem. I had the same issue myself to some degree (No error message, but) and what I did was:
>Redownload the installer
>Set the compatibilty to windows 98 ON THE INSTALLER
>The game should play as normal.