Failed to Initialize Renderer

[Iolum]

What really bugs me is this trend in pc games. It has become acceptable to release a half baked product and then patch it. For example black & whit 2, they had the patch out even before the game hit retail shelves, and by patch I mean a really big, 100mb patch. No wonder pc game sales are going down the drain.

 

[Mekosq]

People should keep in mind that most of the problems mentioned here are the responsiblity of the publisher and not the developer (ie. 2kgames and not Firaxis), the french map problem, and the bad CD Holder most notably, and while contracts vary from game to game, normally compatability testing for PC games falls on the publisher. While fixing the problem falls to the developer, this problem should have been caught by the publishers testing.

So go easy on the Firaxis guys, I can guarantee you they are as unhappy about this as we are.

 

[cotychristopher]

Got a 9600 P4 2.8gig latest drivers, no working either

 

[BleckLord]

I understand that the people at Firaxis are working on this, I just want a little info:

1. Have they been able to recreate the problem in a controlled enviornment? (that's the first step to fixing this)

2. Have they tested pre-"going gold" baseline builds to see if the problem is there too?

3. What contact have they had with ATI and Microsoft?

I just want to know whats going on. As far as the French tech tree, I was hoping to get one as a kind of badge of Civ4 leetness (no luck). On the other hand, the CD mis-print seems like either: A. the release was rushed, or B. there is a process controll issue @ developer or publisher. Both A & B would explain our woes.

 

[Iolum]

I understand that the people at Firaxis are working on this, I just want a little info:

1. Have they been able to recreate the problem in a controlled enviornment? (that's the first step to fixing this)

2. Have they tested pre-"going gold" baseline builds to see if the problem is there too?

3. What contact have they had with ATI and Microsoft?

Lol, why on earth will they give us a status report, other than the catagorical "we know a small number of users are having problems with ati cards, and are working on it." Besides, I find it very hard to believe they didnt know about this problem... if you see, *Every* type of ati card seems to be affected. More likely they started working on the patch after sending gold disk for printing.

 

[Al Fredo]

Don't you know? Before "the people vest absolute power in you" you must prove your worthiness. And updating drivers, using rolled back verisions and knowing the inner-workings of T&L are exactly what the people want to see.

Ya see, it's all part of the game. I'm on level 8: Safe Mode!!

 

[MurdockTheCrazy]

So... "Pirates!" uses the same basic 3D engine, right?

Does anyone know if people had the same issue with ATI cards with Pirates?

I mean the 3D engine ["renderer"] is the issue here, right?

Or did I switch to the wrong plane in Atlanta?

 

[Iolum]

I can run pirates without any problems. both use the same gamebryo engine, but one had better testing, the other was tossed out to cover some hot coffee.

 

[MurdockTheCrazy]

I can run pirates without any problems. both use the same gamebryo engine, but one had better testing, the other was tossed out to cover some hot coffee.

Well, at least we know it isn't the engine itself now.

That leaves only like... 5 billion other possible causes.

 

[Silt]

Thought I'd post my results:

AMD 2100+ (o/c to 2700+ speed)
Windows XP Pro SP2 (all current updates)
1.5 gig of RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro running Catalyst Version 5.3 (been lazy in updating this year)

On install, let it install DirectX, even though I had the latest version on my machine.

Game seems to work perfectly so far.

Hope they iron out the issues quickly for everyone!

Edit to add: I have AA and AF set to application preference in the CCC...and Fast Writes on.

 

[Orecets]

This is disgusting.

ive spent hours running after a solution thats doesnt exist.

The incompotent sods responsible for this should pay me for my damn time.

50$ and all i can do is read the damn box.

+1 for pirating

 

[Grifter]

Just to let you folks know.

Installed the game on both my laptop and my PC (both running ATI cards), and the game is running great.

Specs for laptop:

Toshiba P30 (about 6 months old)
ATI Mobility 9700 128mb Vid Card - Latest version of drivers...
1GB RAM
Pentium 4 3.0GHz with HT
Windows XP \ Service Pack 2 + all updates

Specs for PC:

ATI Radeon 9600 128mb Vid - Latest Drivers from ATI site.
1GB RAM (two 512 DIMMS)
AMD Athlon 64 (754 Pins) 3000
DFI NForce 3 LanParty UT 250GB Motherboard
Again, Win XP with SP2 + all updates

Have played for over an hour on both the laptop and the PC with no crashes or the reported DX9 problem. I feel lucky....

Grifter

 

[Orecets]

Is your 9600 a sapphire, like mine?

 

[Grifter]

Is your 9600 a sapphire, like mine?

No. Just the old 9600 ATI card that was made by ATI itself (and not a third party like most cards from ATI today), about a year and a half to two years old...

And latest drivers mean Catalyst 5.10 for my desktop...

 

[dytexx]

Civ 4 requires a newer version of DirectX 9.0 - "June 2005 redistributable". This version is (at least on the Euro DVD) included and should be installed with the game or manually by starting the DXSetup.exe in the DirectX9 folder.

You could also download this new DirectX version from
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...d1-8d81-40c8-9815-924dcd4cd2c5&DisplayLang=en


Isn't it lovely that Microsoft releases new versions of the most important component in Windows without changing the version number?

 

[RickJay]

Civ 4 requires a newer version of DirectX 9.0 - "June 2005 redistributable". This version is (at least on the Euro DVD) included and should be installed with the game or manually by starting the DXSetup.exe in the DirectX9 folder.

Running the DXSetup on the DVD has no effect on my computer. Doesn't install a single new file that I can see.

 

[ellie]

Firaxis is currently looking into the startup issues people are experiencing.

There appear to be two seperate issues which lead to the "Failed to Initialize Renderer" bug.

-------------------------------

1) When installing Civ 4 you MUST install the version of DirectX 9 that shows up. If you get a window asking you to upgrade you NEED to update to the new version. Aside from Civ 4 this version is only available through the DirectX Development kit and does not come with other games or with the user DirectX you find through Microsoft.

-------------------------------

If you still get the error...

2) People who are receiving a failure to initialize error on startup that own ATI cards should do the following. This has worked on every test case where this problem was experienced.

1. Go to add/remove programs and uninstall the listing titled ‘ATI Graphics Driver’
2. Once uninstalled they need to download the latest version of the Windows Catalyst Driver – 5.10

Windows XP & Windows 2000:
https://support.ati.com/ics/support...dge&folderID=27

3. REBOOT
4. Retry launching the game

 

[Niro]

After following the guides in various boards i must say none of the suggestions worked for me. Neither the official ATI Catalyst 5.10 nor the Omegadriver 2.6.75a with DirectX9.0c and some modification in the civilization4.ini (audio on/off, screenhight/width...) have been sucessful. And yes, i reinstalled Civ4 in each attempt and rebooted the system.
My system: Barthon 2.5+, 1GB Ram, Terratec Mystify 9600 XT (256mb)
No crying, just a short report on my progress

 

[noviere]

I tried both of ellie's suggestions, and neither of them worked.

I ran the DirectX setup on the CD manually and during the install... Both times it said that updating had completed.

When I uninstalled the driver(it was called 'ATI Display Driver'). I had to reboot before I could install the drivers I downloaded(something about needing to setup the card as a standard VGA adapter before it could install). Once it rebooted, I installed the driver and rebooted again. Tried to run Civ and got the same error.

One thing to note is that when I start the game, it runs through all of the little XML Init/etc... and it tries to change the screen resolution about 5 times(the monitor "clicks" each time) before giving me the error message. Oh, and the mouse pointer changes briefly to what I assume is the Civ4 pointer(a golden ball with a squiggle through it).

I have an ATI X800xl(256 MB), and AMD 2400+ w/ 1GB RAM.

 

[Iolum]

I tried both of ellie's suggestions, and neither of them worked.

I ran the DirectX setup on the CD manually and during the install... Both times it said that updating had completed.

When I uninstalled the driver(it was called 'ATI Display Driver'). I had to reboot before I could install the drivers I downloaded(something about needing to setup the card as a standard VGA adapter before it could install). Once it rebooted, I installed the driver and rebooted again. Tried to run Civ and got the same error.

One thing to note is that when I start the game, it runs through all of the little XML Init/etc... and it tries to change the screen resolution about 5 times(the monitor "clicks" each time) before giving me the error message. Oh, and the mouse pointer changes briefly to what I assume is the Civ4 pointer(a golden ball with a squiggle through it).

I have an ATI X800xl(256 MB), and AMD 2400+ w/ 1GB RAM.

I have the same card, x800xl, and have the EXACT same problem. The screen res changes a few times, then boom I get the error.