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When I launch the game from the desktop icon, it gives me the launch screen (black screen, red graphic of a galaxy, words "Firaxis Games"), and then the system always hangs. I never get beyond that screen.

This is after a fresh install of Alpha Centauri from the latest GOG file: "setup_sid_meiers_alpha_centauri_2.0.2.23.exe".

My system specs:
Intel Core i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz (4 cores)
9gb DDR3 RAM
1gb AMD Radeon HD 5850
Windows 7 64-bit
AMD Catalyst Version 12.10

None of the following troubleshooting steps have helped:
-- explicitly running as Administrator
-- choosing any of the compatibility options in the shortcut properties
-- running at a lower resolution
-- adding any of the following to AlphaCentauri.ini:
"DirectDraw=0"
"ForceOldVoxelAlgorithm=1"
"DisableOpeningMovie=0"

Any ideas?

(I'd send this to support, but they want a DxDiag file, and for some reason "Save All Information..." in DxDiag.exe never completes, and therefore never produces the file.)
This question / problem has been solved by gweltyimage
Well, it seems as if I've solved the problem. First I did a 'clean boot' of the system, which Microsoft details at "support.microsoft.com/kb/331796/"

Essentially, you boot your machine with all non-essential services and startup items turned off. AC ran fine then. I then used msconfig.exe to turn back on all the services and startup items, and then I selectively turned off just some of the services that I determined I didn't need. In my case, these were:

Dragon Age: Origins - Content Updater
Nero BackItUp Scheduler 4.0
Secunia PSI Agent
Secunia Update Agent
Skype Updater
UMVPFSrv

I rebooted, and now AC works fine. Maybe this will help someone else in the future. The 'clean boot' method is really a good start to the troubleshooting process.
Post edited July 24, 2013 by JudasIscariot