I recently downloaded the game (windows, collectors edition) and whenever I start the game, I get the menu backround and nothing else. As soon as I click, the game crashes. What’s going on?
For starters: Can you look into the following folder: My Games/Gratuitousspacebattles/debug
and look at the errors.txt file? The contents of that file should give a hint as to what is going wrong. The debug.txt file may also have some info.
There is no debug folder inside the game files. Is it only created when an error is detected? I don’t get an error message, just ‘Gratuitous space battles has stopped working.’
UPDATE: An error message has appeared complaining of a ‘missing federation outpost hull’. I believe this is caused by the absence of your station hull, AceParalum. As the mod has been updated, I cannot retrieve this hull. If you could perhaps add a link to it, it might fix the problem. Really weird set of problems, but yeah.
Do you have hull designs that use the old version of the Federation Outpost hull? Try removing those designs from the game folder and see if that takes care of it. (I’d give you a link to the old file but it is no longer available. Sorry.)
I can’t seem to find my designs. Where would they be located?
Here is a quick shot of the GSB folder in My Games:
You can see the debug folder listed. Your ship designs are in the “ships” folder. If you have saved orders for any of your designs, they will be in the “orders” folder (I’m not sure if orders saved for a nonexistent design will cause the game to hiccup - better safe than sorry).
Try removing any designs with the offending hull and see if that fixes the problem.
That did it! Thanks so much. I probably would have simply given up trying to figure it out by myself by now.
No worries, that’s what we’re all here for. 
Nicely done, Ace. Modest though you may be, you’ve certainly lived up to your forum signature. 
Well, when one messes around with the game long enough, it becomes hard to find a part of the game one hasn’t broken (and thus learned how to fix). 