From FIRAXIS: Possible Fixes for "Failed to Initialize Renderer" Startup Error

[Chuffy82]

Trip,
I am having the same trouble and I have the file you are asking about in my SYSTEM32. I have used the ATI uninstaller to remove the drivers and reinstalled with Catalyst 5.10. I still get the error. Since some people with the same hardware as I have are getting the game to work, perhaps I still have some lingering 'driver parts'. But I would like some definite instructions that will remove all 'driver parts' before I attempt it again.

Chuffy

 

[JaguarUSF]

I am not missing that file, and I am still having the initialize renderer problems after following all the suggestions made in this post and others.

 

[clipset]

Ok - for anybody who doesn't know how to unistall drivers:

1) Go to control panel --> Add/Remove programs
2) In the list there should be some drivers (it's sorted alphabetically, but I don't know where ATI drivers come in, probably under A) - there may be a few, click remove by them all.
3) Restart your computer.
4) OPTIONAL: Download, install, and run Drivercleaner. This should make sure it's all off the system
5) Install the latest driver (or whichever you want)
6) Restart again
7) OPTIONAL - Reinstall Civ. It might not help, it certainly won't harm. I think I read somewhere that there was a problem in the install log to do with drivers, so it may not be optional.
8) Run Civ. If it works, give Trip a cookie.

Moderator Action: Fixed link to Drive Cleaner.

Tried this along with everything else nothing.

 

[atipii]

I can get to the Init Python, Init XML, Init Engien part... and then my screen flashes black and nothing happens. I've tried uninstalling all driver and reinstalling the Catalyst drivers and I've also tried Omega Drivers. I've also reinstalled DirectX. I have a RADEON X800 SE

 

[Tyranthraxus]

I have that DLL file.

After reinstalling the driver, I tried deleting the civ 4 config ini file but to no avail. I've been trying to get this to run since 2PM eastern time.

 

[warpstorm]

One other thing to try that has worked for me on other Gamebryo games is to run it in Windowed mode. To do that you will need to get to the ini file.

Mine was installed in My Documents\My Games\Civilization 4

Open the ini and search for and change the line to:

; Specify whether to play in fullscreen mode 0/1/ask
FullScreen = 0

I have no idea if this will work, but it's worth a shot.

 

[Librum]

Uninstalled the drivers using the utility, reinstalled new ones fresh, and while it loads _slightly_ more than it did before, it still crashes out to the Renderer error. But now I do get a black screen with a Civ4 cursor for a few moments, which wasn't happening before...

Update: Fiddled with the resolution, the windowed mode in the .ini, still no dice.

 

[Vaporblast]

This has been posted on an other forum... Can you tell if that works

Ok, I had this same problem when I first installed about 2 hours ago. I was getting torqued up about it just like a lot of other folks, but decided I'd work on getting it to run instead of taking the game back, and it turned out to be a good thing. I've gotten it to run on my system. I'm using a Dell Dimension XPS system, Intel P4 3.2 GHz, 1GB ram, WinXP SP2, ATI Radeon X850XT platinum 256 mb graphics card, with the DirectX 9.0c from the game disks. I started with the Catalyst 6.14.0010.6490 (English) drivers. I used the catalyst uninstaller from the link earlier in this thread, then restarted the system, then installed the Catalyst 6.14.0010.6575 (English) drivers and restarted the system again. I normally run at 1280x1024 resolution, but saw something on another forum about the .ini file having resolution set at 1024x768 by default, so I adjusted my settings to that and tried the game and it ran. I then adjusted my resolution back up to 1280x1024 and tried it again and it works there too. I don't know if it would have worked at that without reducing and trying it first or not. Anyway, that's what got it working for me. Hope it helps somebody else. Off to play now.

 

[Chuffy82]

I have tried changing the fullscreen setting in the .ini file to no avail. Keep those ideas coming!

Chuffy

 

[clipset]

where can i get Catalyst 6.14.0010.6575 the one i dl from the ati site is 6.14.0010.6490

 

[McGlu]

I've tried all the suggestions in this forum, as well. Still won't work on my Dell XPS Laptop - Radeon 9800 Mobility 256Mb with 5.10 drivers and CD-supplied DirectX installer.

I've run all the cleaners recommended, too.

Works fine on my 9800 Pro desktop since the first launch.

 

[Andruski]

my game also will not start. same problem. did the driver thing as well as all the tips...i've got a
Saphire Radeon 9600XT w/256MB

sorry guys i have to admit im rather unimpressed thus far. i got stuck with the french poster goof, the game itself wont run and it crashed my fathers computer when i tried to see if it would work on his....and in my 22 years of gaming, this is the 2nd time i've ever seen a major game mess up on the playdisc label. neat.

 

[Heliotic]

..........

 

[Traelin]

OK I got it to work...

If you have a Dell, and if you have a Radeon X850 XT PE, do this:

1. Go to:

http://support.dell.com/support/dow...&s=gen&osl=en&SystemID=DIM_PNT_P4_8400&os=WW1

2. Click "Video Drivers".
3. Click "ATI 256MB RADEON X850 XT Platinum Edition".
4. Download it and follow the instructions, and voila you should be good, assuming you installed Civ's DX9 updates correctly.
5. Oh, and remember to reboot please.

The new driver specs are:

Version: 6.14.10.6525
Release: 3/29/2005

Hope this helps anyone that was as miserable as me...

 

[Dafizman]

I have tried the uninstall old drivers, reinstall new. I have the directx from the cd. I have tried running in windowed mode. Still nothing.
Raedon 9600 256Mb

 

[icecool]

FIRAXIS - wow guy's why didn't you test these drivers and cards more.

What went wrong??

 

[drolltroll]

I think I may have a different but related problem. First, after installing game, when I trried to play it told me to insert the correct CD. I had CD2 in the computer - the manual says to use CD2 to play the game, and the CD itself says Play on it. Anyway, i swoitched CD's, and the gane seemed to load. I selected tutorial, and got an animation of Sid, which said, "hello, my name is Sid" then the game crashed back to the desk top. This was on my Gateway AMD64 3200+, with 1M ram, and ATI mobility 9600, 64M graphics card.

Then tried to install on my deswktop. It's an older Systemax machine P4 2.4, with 512M RAM, and a GeForce4 MX 440, 64M video card. On this machine I also got the insert correct CD message, changed to CD1, Started the Tutorial. This time I was able to go through a few action, but, although the sound was turned up to maximum I could barely hear Sid, and the terrain was completely black - well maybe not completely, I could see the units, and I could see the little village up to the northwest, but I couldn't move units.

I'm sure your working in it guys, but this sure is frustrating. Particularly for a 61 year avid gamer, who really is not too conversabt with a lot of the things you are discussing

 

[Vaporblast]

Then tried to install on my deswktop. It's an older Systemax machine P4 2.4, with 512M RAM, and a GeForce4 MX 440, 64M video card. On this machine I also got the insert correct CD message, changed to CD1, Started the Tutorial. This time I was able to go through a few action, but, although the sound was turned up to maximum I could barely hear Sid, and the terrain was completely black - well maybe not completely, I could see the units, and I could see the little village up to the northwest, but I couldn't move units.

I'm sure your working in it guys, but this sure is frustrating. Particularly for a 61 year avid gamer, who really is not too conversabt with a lot of the things you are discussing

GEforce 4 MX doesn't support T & L as far as I know

 

[jdchambe]

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/default.asp?deptID=894&task=knowledge&folderID=27

3. REBOOT
4. Retry launching the game

I have done exactly what you stated.

It does not fix the problem.

I've tried using the add/remove control panel to do the uninstall of the existing drivers. I've also tried using ati's tool to do the uninstall the existing drivers. In both cases the end result was the same: once I reinstalled the new drivers after the full unininstall, the problem remains the same.

my specs: 2.8GHz P4, 2GB RAM; Radeon X800 XL, 256MB RAM.

 

[jdchambe]

Additionally, the DirectX version included with Civ 4 should be installed as there are additional updates besides DirectX 9c included.

When I run the DirectX install program on the CD it does nothing. It checks to see if anything needs to be copied, but decides not to copy anything. I had directx 9c installed BEFORE I purchased Civ4. If there is anything on civ4's directx files that wasn't in my previous install of directx 9.0c, they are not getting copied because, rightly or wrongly, the installer does not think that they need to be.

Unfortunately, there is no way for me to uninstall directx or to roll back to a previous directx version aside from a 3rd party hack, which I do not want to run.