Failed to Initialize Renderer

[planetfall]

All given solutions fail for me. I may need a new graphics card. Is there a list of cards that work with the game and cards that do not?

 

[Soiboy]

This solution worked for me perfectly, did not even have to remove that art file.
Pentium 4, ATI Radeon 9600 256 Megs

New fix for the renderer error

This fix has been tried for Inverse Icarus and Unimatrix, and got their games fully working, so everyone give it a try.

Requirements:

You have installed Civ4, along with the DirectX update on the CD. You have installed the 5.10 ATI drivers.

Instructions:

• 1. Download, unzip and run this application.
• http://boa.apolyton.net/civ4/files/PakBuild.zip
  
• 2. From the menu, select PAK->Unpack.
  
• 3. Go to your Civ 4 Folder, Assets subdirectory (CivilizationIV\Assets), select the Art0.FPK file, click Open.
  
• 4. You'll be prompted to select an extraction folder, select CivilizationIV\Assets - same folder as above.
  
• 5. Wait. The program may appear to hang with the progress bar at 100%, but it will be done with unpacking in 2-5 minutes.
  
• 6. Move the Art0.FPK file out of your Assets folder so that Civ4 can't find it.
  
• 7. Run Civ4.

Thx to SOLVED.

This is the only thing worked for me, im using RADEON 9800 PRO.

Hope this help someone out there.

Toomylee

 

[Unworldly]

Hey everyone... im having this problem, but with an nVidia Card - a GeForce 4 420 Go (which will run it like a dog, but my other system doesn't have a DVD rom yet and so im trying it on my laptop)... ive tried every solution so far - the drivers are up to date, i kno cos i had to update them for another game that refused to run based on my card type... when i updated the drivers it seems they cover up what the card is - it now believes its a Geforce 4... or something like that. I've done the PakBuild thing, didn't work. I've done the admin account thing, didn't work. nothing worked so far... i wanna play! :'(

Anyway, any ideas?

 

[John Godfrey]

I am getting the following error when I try to run CIV4 on my Dell XPS computer:



Failed to Initialize renderer – check directX version and graphics setting.





My XPS has a Pentium 4 @ 3.2 GHz with 2.0 GB Ram and 2 hard drives in a Raid 0 logical drive configuration.



I am running MS Windows XP home edition, Service Pack 2.



I disabled Norton Internet Security Tool during CIV4 (Express) installation.



I disabled Norton Internet Security Tool when trying to launch CIV4 after the installation completed.



My video card is a RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition (256 MB Memory, Bios = 113-A47403-102). My screen resolution is set at 1152 by 864.



DXDIAG returns: DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904).

 

[sarahjh]

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.

 

[Cylindric]

I'm putting my last hope in the patch that's been announced...

 

[Lov2play]

Not sure if this will help anyone, but here's what happended to me.

Sys:
P4 3.4, 1 Mb ram, Win XP (sp2)
Nvidia 6800

Installed and ran Civ4 fine from last week. So today I replaced the Dell P1110 20" CRT with an Apple 20" cinema lcd. Go to run Civ4 and got the "Failed..." message. Uninstalled Civ and reinstalled and ran fine. Went into options to check resolutions and now it has the new Apple native resolutions (ie:1680x1050).

 

[Lov2play]

Someone asked if I was saying to get a new monitor. No, although that might work, its a pretty expensive solution. I was just saying that it is not necessarily only the card at fault.

If it was me I would mess around with the monitor resolution settings. Maybe uninstall the monitor from the System Device manager and reinstall it and the driver...even rerun the Directx run-time on the MS web site, and try reinstalling Civ. I agree, this shouldnt have to happen. Just some ideas to try.

 

[deleted_scenes]

I have a Geforce 4 MX 440 and am experiencing the same problem. Civ ran fine before, then one day wouldn't startup anymore. Completely stupid.

 

[meghanwithanh]

Hi Everyone,
I'm brand new to the forum, and am a computer MORON. Please forgive me if I'm repeating previous posts; I did my best to scan through the thousands of posts, but gave up....

I'm getting the "failed to initilize renderer error." I have a geforce MX4000 video card, which from what I've read should have at least the minimum specs for the game. I don't want to shell out $60+ for a new video card if there's something I can do to make this one work.

Does anyone know of a fix for this specific card? Again, apologies if this is redundant. Any feedback would be GREATLY appreciated.

 

[K2DK]

I had this problem after two weeks of playing fine on my nvidia card.

However I had recently played the game on another monitor than my current (lower resolution) and the problem occured after switching back.

My solution (worked for me) was to find the civilization4.ini (Theres a link in the Civilization4 folder called _Civ4Config) file and set the screenwidth and screenheight to my monitors current resolution. I noticed they had been reset to zero.

I also ran the above solution, but that didnt work, but perhaps it was the combination?

 

[Unworldly]

w00t! the patch solved it for me yay!

 

[negyvenketto]

w00t! the patch solved it for me yay!

You are lucky. It not solved for me. I know I have no T&L graphics in my laptop, but many people can play without it. But not me.

 

[Sil3nt]

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.

I have ATI 9600 and i downloaded the solution above ( PAkbuild.exe) and it worked for me now... Tnx for the help
PS! I havent installed the patch yet...just so you know

 

[Heminhaw]

I have the GeForce mx420 card and can't get it to play at all...oh the blackness...the despair...I am soooo terribly disappointed in this game, it has funnily enough even killed civ3 so now I cannot get civ3 to work anymore (this may have to do with a patch I took to try to get civ4 to weork, I dunno)...<sigh>

 

[Damokles]

Hi everybody!

I have an ATI Radeon 9600 and I got passed the "initialize" error by letting the "Pakbuild" do whatever it does.

Mind you it took some time wile it seemed totally stucked.

Once it was done I could not see any changes in the assets catalogue but the program started!!!

For some reason however it keeps on crashing after 10 - 15 minutes of gameplay.

Any insights on this?

 

[Zydor]

Have you loaded Patch V1.52 ? Its a must have patch

Regards
Zy

 

[blargh]

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.

I am using an ATI Radeon 9550 successfully here, although I did initally have the renderer problem and some crashing after patching up to 1.52. WHen you unpack that art file it must be moved up one directory or it wont find it.

BTW my 9550 is running...

Catalyst 05.11
2D Driver 6.14.10.6583
Direct 3D Version 6.14.10.0356
Open GL Version 6.14.10.5469
Catalyst Control Center Version 1.2.2128.637

Despite reported to the contrary it obviously is not necessary to go to an old version of Catalyst or drivers.

 

[Damokles]

I tried to use the Patch V1.52 and it simply said that it could not find the game.

The game is legit and paid for so there shouldn´t be a problem.

I have now followed the procedure as descibed on the main site by the letter.

Still the same problem.

One difference though. The wonder movies are now playing... I can' t recollect having seen them before.

I seems as the instability occures as soon as you reach you first country at see.

How this is possible is beyond me.

 

[Damokles]

I might have had the Direct2Drive version of the patch.

I&#180;m downloading the other one now.

Not altogether easy to find the right stuff is it?