Depends on what the issue is.  I use to moonlight as a Tier 3 Tech support for an internet service provider (way back in the day). One of the things were good at was to work out where the customer was at Tech wise and work from there.

My only suggestion is to ask the question and see what answer you get.  If you do not follow the proposed solution then there is no harm in saying so.  We have all been there at some point where we have been completely confused on how to resolve an issue.

What issue are you having specifically?

Yes, i did read that thread.  The replies were along the same lines as I would have posted.  Basically the posts were gathering information about your computer to help narrow down what might be causing the issue.

The best starting point can usually be the log files for the game.  SC:O keeps 2 RunLog files which has some information that might be able to help identify the issue.

So, to get a fresh version of runlog.txt - start up SC:O and play it till it crashes.  Once the game crashes, we need a copy of the runlog.txt

To find this file:
Open up File Explorer
Navigate to C:\Users\<<Your User Name>>\Documents\My Games\Star Control\
Open runlog.txt in notepad and it should look something like this:

Star Control RunLog.txt
Build description: v1.10 (CL53778) - FinalRelease - CookAssets=Off - NetworkAPI=Steam - DX11   - OptimizeNitrousLibsForDebug=OFF
User: <<Redacted>>
INISettings:: DetermineVRAM dedicatedVideoMemory 4043MB dedicatedSystemMemory 0MB sharedSystemMemory 16357MB vendorID 10de deviceID 13c2 
Downloading subscribed items
0 subscribed items found
Scene Mode: Entering MOVIE
Game Loop Mode: Entering LOADING
etc...

(Please note that the logfile will have your user name - so edit that part if you want)

The other piece of the puzzle are the system settings of your computer.  This is a bit more of a gather exercise depending on what computer and operating system you are using.  The 4 main pieces of info we will need to start with are:
- The CPU
- RAM
- Graphics Card
- Operating System

This information can be found in the settings option for the computer.  Now sometimes, graphics card drives have a control panel that has collected this information for you.  For example, I am running a Nvidia graphics card, one of the "features" is the "GeForce Experience" which has most of the information we need for the first pass trouble shooting.

Once you have the runlog.txt and your system settings, post a reply to one of the threads with the information and hopefully we can help work out what is causing the issue.

Hopefully this all made sense, let me know if I need to clarify any of my ramblings.

Yes that does help - as you can see from the Logfile the game is crashing due to the "Swapchain" error which was suggested as a possibility in your other thread.

I have been reading this thread regarding this particular error, from what I can gather it seems like there is a issue with the drivers for the NVidia. Currently sdRohan (aka Sean Drohan - Stardock Customer Service Manager) is working with NVidia to see if they can resolve this issue.

However you are using an on board intel graphics chip (if I read the system specs correctly). 

So at this point in time - the only suggestions i have are the standard fallbacks:
- Ensure that your graphics drivers are up to date.
- Consider opting into the beta version of the game to see if the new build of SC:O resolves the issue.
(Let me know if you are having trouble with either suggestion)

Hopefully one or both of these suggestions will help.
If not, we will draw sdRohan attention to this thread so he knows that the issue is not isolated to NVidia.

And you have   I cant talk about it yet but we may have some news on this (SwapChain / NVidia) soonish - stay tuned.

Again, we really do appreciate everyone's patience and support - truly.

While that is listed, it may not be the only card he has.

@Vondarkmoor.  When the game crashes, it pops a crash report menu to fill out - asking for your email address.  I don't see any submissions under your *****.***@bigpond.com address.  If you are submitting the report under a different email address, click on my username in this post and 'Private Message' me what you are submitting under.  I can tell more from the logs and will get back to you.

Thanks.

----------------
Sean Drohan
Stardock Customer Service Manager

Can you confirm what graphics card you have in your system? Based on the runlog.txt info you gave andthe Nvidia display settings, it looks like you system running of your Intel HD graphics - is that what it is meant to be running from?

Your RAM and CPU are fairly beefy so I'm wondering if you are meant to have a working dedicated graphics in that machine. Is it a desktop or laptop?

This page gives some guidance on how to adjust the VRAM in BIOS for your Intel HD graphics - https://www.pvladov.com/2013/10/increase-intel-hd-graphics-dedicated-video-memory.html

A quick way to see if there is a graphics card in your computer is to look at the back of the computer and see if there are any auxiliary cards installed on the computer.  For example if you see this on the back of the computer, then its highly likely there is a dedicated graphics card in your computer.

Now if you suspect there is a dedicated graphics card on your computer we can confirm its existence by looking at the Device Manager in Windows 10.

Press the windows start button to bring up your menu.
Type "Device Manager" and you should get an icon called Device Manager (Control panel)
Click on the Device Manager Icon and it will bring up a new window. (which lists all the components of your computer)
About 3rd or 4th down there should be a menu group called "Display Adaptors"
Click the grey > and it will expand the list of display adaptors installed in your computer.
This should list all the available components in the computer that can display graphics.

  Yikes ! . . Can i have your computer ? 

Ok we are making progress, we have confirmed that your your computer has two graphic capable chipsets but for some reason your computer and/or game is using the lesser of the 2 graphical devices - We need to change that   

So, next question - is a computer screen plugged into the GeForce GTX 1080 ?

If yes then we need to find out why SC:O is not using the better graphics card - I found a guide that might have a solution.

My display was not connected to the GeForce card , it is now connected.

I have switched over to the opt-in build and i shall have a play and see how everything runs. Thanks

Looking at the RunLog.txt in comparison to the one posted earlier i see.

Dedicated Video Memory has changed from 128MB to 11127MB

Also there was in the Shared System Memory a change from 16313MB to 16349MB

So far playing the game after changing where the display was connected i have not had any problems.

Thanks

Reading to catch-up I was wondering if you had it plugged into the wrong port that probably fixed it.

The integrated graphics is built in to the CPU and the motherboard provides ports to connect this through. Designed so that users don't need to buy a separate graphics card if they don't want to.

Easy rule - If you know you have a graphics card, don't use the ports around the USB or audio jacks. They should be in a row in the PCI card section.