Failed to Initialize Renderer

[CrazyBS]

I was stuck like many others here with ABOSOLUTELY nothing fixing the Initialization problem. However, my computer inept Wife found a solution that worked! I have a Raedon X700 and DFI Athlon 64 mobo/cpu combo. I'm running WinXP Pro with service packs.

She went into the control panel and clicked on the DirectX options. For some unknown reason a little check box in the Direct3D tab was unchecked that said Hardware Acceleration. I clicked it and the game worked?! That seems odd since I was able to play Doom3 and Halflife 2 during the same day with no changes. BUT CHECK YOUR CONTROL PANEL DIRECTX options if you've tried everything else and CLICK ACCELERATION!

Well, hope this works for more people than just me. I also hope that the programmers can solve this problem in the future. I hate reinstalling drivers I know already work just to fix a problem.

-CrazyBS

 

[Neon Deon]

Tried all the suggestions

My suggestion is
This game does not run with the ATI 9550/9600
I have not seen one person to have the game running with these cards
Unpacking the ART just crashes out at the same point as it previously "failed to render"
It's not a driver problem
It's not a DirectX problem
It's a developers who can't be bothered to check their games work problem

Don't waste your time, get a refund.

LOL now you know at least one

 

[dretske]

Hi,

As all of you I got the "failed to Initialize renderer" error.
I tried all the fixes that were mentioned here.
Mainly installing the patch and the PakBuilder solution.
But still I got the same error.

Then I switched monitors, and suddenly it worked!
At first I was using my widescreen LCD TV.
When I switched to my Dell flat panel it miraculously worked!!!

I hope that may help that last couple of frustrated Civ fans.

Happy gaming!

 

[wadshae]

ok every one
i have the nvidia mx 440,
i spent like one week trying to fix this silly problem, i did every thing that we were told to do, install the updates of every thing, nvidia drivers, direct x drivers, the game updates, the game fixes and nothing worked all gave the same error.
i formated my hard disk installed just my hardware drivers and the above also did not work,, yesterday i installed the game on my outdated labtop for the fun of it and it worked
some people with the same graphics card as mine the nvidia mx 440 got the game running so i decided that it is going to work with my pc even if it is going to kill me.and i managed it.
i have 2 cds for win xp pro sp2, one for my laptob and the other for my pc,, i installed the one for my laptob on my pc,, installed nvidia drivers, updated directx and installed the game with the 1.5 patch and it worked.
again formated the pc and installed the other win xp cd and did the same i got the error again.
i noticed that win xp sp2 comes with direct x 9.0b ( this is the case in both cds)- but in one of them when upgrading direct x ,, it does not actually copy the files... you start install, the progress bar that shows files bing copied goes strait from 0% to 100% in a flash (this is the one which does not work)
... while in the other windows you can see the progress bar sliding slowly from 0% to 100% in something like 15 seconds ( this is the one that works)

the issue is not the hardware at all, the issue is that some versions of win xp or some versions of direct x 9.0b do not want to update to the newist direct x 9.0c..... if you manage to totaly remove all traces of your direct x then install it from scratch i bet it will work,,,,,, but god help you all in doing that.
or get another windows cd with dx 9.0c pre installed. orrrrrrrr with an older version of direct x like dx 8 or something.. just try to avoide 9.0b

the game is running now very fine on my pc,, fast nice and not one single crash so far :S

 

[snizzake]

I'm willing to bet that most of the people here are having problems due to their monitor... is it older? What refresh rate is it running?

I'm running a 9800 pro and I've never ever had a problem with the graphics on either catalyst or OMEGA drivers. I have a brand new (relatively) 19" samsung monitor though.

 

[diogo.bercito]

I was really upset when this message popped up since I bought my Radeon 9550 just for this specific use: Civilization IV.

I read here that no one could play using ATI drivers and then I got very nervous. But, fortunatelly, it was soon fixed up and now I can play it perfectly;

My specs are actually very simple, so I believe its all about configs and latest drivers (i just got the last one from ati's web site):

1.8 ghz
Radeon 9550
512 memmory
DirectX9
Old Monitor (StudioWorks 775N, I dunno the exactly model, but its mine for three or four years).


RESUMING: I believe it is not about MONITORS and neither ATI VIDEO CARDS. Try downloading the last drivers.

I wish you all good luck



See ya

Diogo Bercito,

Brazil

 

[Dubzilla8]

Hi all, just thought Id run this situation by everyone since it seems like mine is a completely new case. Of course, I didnt have time to run through 20 pages of posts so I could be wrong.

Anyway, Im using an Nvidia 5200 graphics card and I just picked up this particular problem yesterday. Strange thing is that Ive had the game since it came out and have not seen this problem at all. After downloading the latest patch, the game was running pretty good with all the top graphics settings; then, at the latter parts of a standard map size with 8 teams, the graphics (except for the land itself) would disappear completely. Then, the game simply shut down. Miffed, and disappointed that all my progress was lost, I set the game aside for the night. I awoke to the problem illustrated in the pages of this thread. Seems like mine is the only one that suddenly picked up this problem out of the blue, rather than not being able to run the game from the onset.

On a side note, I was going to try CrazyBS's suggestion; however, it is rather unspecific and Im not sure where DirectX is at in the Control Panel. Im sure I can find it later when I have more time.

Thanks, hope this helps.

 

[veremchook]

Hi all
I had this error trying to run the game on ATI Radeon X800XL. It's fine now after downloading and installing:

http://www.firaxis.com/downloads/Patch/Civ4v152.zip

 

[johnyyy78]

Hi friends!

I am having same kind of problem with this game. When i try to play i get the message

Failed to Initialize Renderer Check Direct X and graphic settings. I have Windows XP pro SP2 v2096. I have Nvidia Geforce 6200 TurboCache 128+128 MB, AMD 3000+ 512 MB ram.

Can anyone help me?

 

[johnyyy78]

I found the solution of this problem. If you are using WinXP SP2 no matter how many times you update directx to 9c it remains 9b and dont let game run. I swithced to Winxp SP1 and then updated my direct X to 9c and game is running fine. You can check the direct x version start > Run > Dxdiag.exe .

 

[ifiweresolucky]

GUYS! Simple solution!

open the CONFIG file located in the main installation directory... scroll down to the FULLSCREEN option and set to 0, as in disabled.

works beautifully for me now, used to have the Initialization error

g'day

 

[kerm_67]

Breakthrough!!

I was trying to get Fear to work on my desktop, and was getting the same error message. Trying turning off you your hyperthreading if you have it. This worked for me. Please post your sucess.

 

[ShaLouZa]

Hi people

I got the same problem here after reinstalling on a Radeon 9700 using the Omega drivers, on Windows XP SP2. I launched the game in original resolution, 1024x768, switched all the options to fit my optimal settings (1680x1050 AA4), and then the game could no longer initialize renderer at startup.

After playing with the options, I saw that problem was coming from the AA settings. I opened the display properties on the desktop, went in Settings > Advanced> 3D > Direct 3D > Customize, unchecked "application preferences" for the anti-aliasing and set it to 4. Now the game works.

Hope it helps.

 

[otaku419]

make sure you have sp2. thats what made the difference for me. if that fails instail the latest patch and you should be good to go.

patch: http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm

 

[pnau00]

hey their guys http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_ati.htm
go to this site and get the patch worked for me and i am running with a ati radeon 9550.

good luck

 

[Lasse Fisker]

Well, I tried just about everything sugessted, and it still dosn't work. I've downloaded the patch, but when i install, I't says:

Error 1706.No valid source could be found for product Sid meier's Civilization 4. The Windows Installer cannot continue.

 

[Yayo]

GUYS! Simple solution!

open the CONFIG file located in the main installation directory... scroll down to the FULLSCREEN option and set to 0, as in disabled.

works beautifully for me now, used to have the Initialization error

g'day

Just downloaded the game the other day. It's been playing fine until today. I get the same "Failed to Initialize Renderer" prompt ... my question is ... how exactly do I find the CONFIG file?

Thanks to anyone for the help.

 

[CivDude86]

My Documents\My Games\Civilization 4 and My Documents\My Games\Warlords. Its CivilizationIV.ini.

 

[visaman27]

I am running a 3.2G Pentium 4 with 2.5G RAM and ATI Radeon X300 video card. I was playing this game at 1024 x 768 on a 21" Sony Monitor using the DVI input and it worked fine. I then connected to a 52" Mitsubishi WD52725 DLP HDTV using the RGB and it gives me this "Failed To Initialize Renderer", BS!!!! I have tried everything that everyone else has and nothing!!! The television will support 800x600 and 1280x720 with 32bit color @ 60Hz. It seems like the 1280x720 would work but alas it does not.......It seems like no one has a clue in here, except for the person that wrote about quality control at Firaxis...............My guess is that there was not much, either.......

Anybody that does have a clue, please do reply........

By the way that song in the Expedition Borneo commercial on the Science Channel is by Moby. It's called "Lift Me Up".

 

[visaman27]

I just figured out that if you go into the ini. file(_civ4config or something like that) on the first page of the Civilization IV folder,(found inside of the Firaxis folder), you can fix this issue. There is an option where you can "Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode" It gives you the option of "0/1/ask".

It's default value is "1". Change it to "ask". It should read something like this: Fullscreen = ask

Now when you load the game when it gets to the part where it is initializing the engine it will prompt for you to tell it to go to full screen mode instead of displaying this stupid error. Click "No". You will be in a windowed mode. It's not fullscreen but you will still be able to play, at least.