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

[drolltroll]

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

According to SRTest, GeForce4 MX 440 does support T & L.

 

[LiquidSword]

Not sure if it helps any of you but I un-installed my AGI drivers then re-installed just like they suggested and managed to get it to work. I used the un-install AGI provides on their website then downloaded the 5.1 catalyst. The first time I did it it didnt work but then I uninstalled everything again and it worked. Be sure to uninstall the game and the drivers. First time I didnt uninstall the game and it wouldnt work so hopefully that helps.

 

[Zombiehobo]

I've tried eveything that has been stated before now and it is not working. The only thing I have noticed is that after I do the Direct X install none of the files in my dxdiag are updated. The most recent one is from 8/29/2005. I'm not sure how to fix that problem and I am guessing it might be related to my problem. I'm not sure if there is a way to rollback and try it agai nor such sicne I hace manually done it from the cd 5 times or so.

 

[Wlauzon]

Is anyone besides KenM missing "D3DX9_26.DLL"?

Those who are still having problems please look in C:\windows\SYSTEM32 and see if that file is there.

See this link about DX9c Errors:

http://www.toymaker.info/Games/html/d3dx_dlls.html

 

[Eastian]

According to SRTest, GeForce4 MX 440 does support T & L.

I believe I saw a post somwhere from a guy who had a GeForce4 MX and was getting dark terrain or something... The card HAS T&L, but it lacks shader, maybe that's it?
I currently have a GeForce4 MX 420, 64MB, and I hope it works! I'm not getting the game for at least 10 more days, and was planning to get a new video card for it (possibly Radeon x700 Pro), but seeing the many problems people are getting with ATI cards, I'm having second thoughts...

 

[Zombiehobo]

See this link about DX9c Errors:

http://www.toymaker.info/Games/html/d3dx_dlls.html

Looked there. I already have those files in my system32 folder. 24-27 and all. However, I tried using the files on that site anyway and when I look at my DirectX files in dxdiag the most recently updated one is quartz.dll and that was 8/29/2005. Anyone else have any idea on why none of my files are updating? I've seen on a couple of places that like 9 of my files should have changed.

 

[rtilley]

Someone's head should roll over this. Does Firaxis realize how many people have ATI cards from Dell, HP, Gateway. There are a lot of upset people who just paid 50 bucks for a game that DOES NOT WORK with many ATI cards. How could this get by QA???

 

[Xemu]

I too have made sure that I have the latest drivers installed (catalyst 5.10) and that I have both run the dxsetup.exe off of the Civ 4 disc and also downloaded the latest DirectX SDK from microsoft. No dice. ATI X800, all the same symptoms people here have been describing.

 

[JXai]

I've done everything, and I mean EVERYTHING mentioned here. To no avail. I've played it just fine on my other computer, but it's slow since that computer is old.

ATI x700 PRO 256MB AGP x 4
AMD 2400+
1024 MB RAM
AC97 Realtec Sound

I've even changed my underwear, and it just doesn't work. Whew. I've been gaming 20 years now and I've never run into this type of trouble.

 

[jdchambe]

...I've even changed my underwear, .... I've been gaming 20 years now and I've never ....

A bit of quoting-out-of-context humor to lighten the mood.

 

[Dr. Broom]

Nothing is working! :-(

It's not working.....



I did the disk cleaner and now Ican't update it...

try to set up your display adaptor with a standard vga driver before running setup... I don't get it

What's going on?!

I have the same problem, I also can't reinstall my old driver from the CD because of some stupid Windows update that makes it so some programs can't run, something about not being able to run in MS-DOS and Windows.

 

[Scoob]

Can anyone explain this to me?? My copy gets delivered tomorrow. I ran srtest just now and recieved this report. It says that I ahave all the req.

req 32mb have 64mb video card
req 3D acceleration, yes I have
Req Transform and lighting, yes I ahve


CPU
Minimum: Pentium III or Athlon equivalent
You Have: Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 2.80GHz FYI: Please review the CPU Speed analysis on the row below to see if you passed. The CPU & CPU Speed are linked as a requirement.
CPU Speed Minimum: 1 MHz You Have: 2.8 GHz PASS
System RAM
Minimum: 256 MB You Have: 447.0 MB PASS
Operating System Minimum: Windows 2000/XP
You Have: Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2 (Build 2600) PASS
Video Card
Minimum: 32 MB 3D Video Card with Hardware Transform & Lighting
You Have: RADEON IGP 345M (RS200M AGP (0x4337))

FAIL: Sorry, your video card does not meet this minimum requirement.
Video Card Features - Minimum attributes of your Video Card Video RAM: Required - 32 MB , You have - 64.0 MB
Video Card 3D Acceleration: Required - Yes , You have - Yes
Video HW Transform & Lighting: Required - Yes , You have - Yes


Video Card Driver Version (DirectX)
Your driver version number is: 6.14.10.6436 FYI: Make sure you have the latest driver for your video card. Click 'Free Driver Update' and we'll direct you to your video card manufacturer.
Sound Card
Minimum: Yes
You Have: Conexant AC-Link Audio PASS
Sound Card Driver Version
Your driver version number is: 6.13.10.282 FYI: Your sound card driver version is provided for your information, but it is not part of this analysis. But proper sound card driver versions are important to the proper operation of your product.

 

[tristangreer]

ATI users probably should NOT download the newest catalyst 5.10 drivers. I had the 6.14 drivers installed, and the game played, although it slowed down toward the endgame. In hopes of fixing this, I downloaded the new drivers, and guess what? I get the renderer error that everyone else is getting! Word to the wise, try the 6.14 drivers instead of the new catalyst 5.10 drivers.

 

[jinif]

ATI users probably should NOT download the newest catalyst 5.10 drivers. I had the 6.14 drivers installed, and the game played, although it slowed down toward the endgame. In hopes of fixing this, I downloaded the new drivers, and guess what? I get the renderer error that everyone else is getting! Word to the wise, try the 6.14 drivers instead of the new catalyst 5.10 drivers.

I hate to show my ignorant newbness, but where can I get the old 6.14 drivers? (I assume they will work with my ATI 9550)

 

[lebowski]

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.

I feel the same way. I haven't bought a game in years because I got fed up with the 500 things you had to do before getting it to work - most of which was buying a whole new system just so you can play the game at the minimum threshold (I'm looking at you Quake). I got stuck with the French poster (I want the Freedom Poster!), mislabeled disk, and inability to play.

I'm slowly working through this process, but I'm extremely tempted to take this game back. $55, hours of updating, uninstalling, reinstalling, praying for what - a game that consumes every free (and not so free) moment of my existence?

MONSTER F-UP Firaxis.

 

[4204tarbal]

I have a Radeon ATlantis 9200SE. Has anyone been able to get that model working??? Please reply.

WinXPpro
DUAL AMD1800's ~~ 1.5GHz
512 MB RAM
Radeon ATlantis 9200SE 128MB AGP



Also, I've done the following:


Updated DirectX from the CD
Re-updated DirectX from Microsoft.com
used ATI uninstaller then
installed Omega Drivers 2.6.75a --- No Good
installed 5.10 ATI w/ control panel --- No Good
smoked some sp!nach
uninstalled/reinstalled Civ IV fully ~~ 20 more min ~~ then prayed --- STILL NO GOOD!!!


PLEASE HELP!!! thx!

 

[Sir Joe]

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

Finally someone has the same problem as me, 1st I had the hole CD disk 1 one thing. Second every time I load the game most of the time the screen is either Blue or Black. The Difference is that I can't see the menu to start the tutorial or anything, somehow I push a few keys or click the mouse in the right spot and I'm having same problem with being unable to do stuff in game I can sometimes build cities and move units. Also the game sometimes crashes.

Here are the Specs

Video Card: Asylum Geforce FX 5600 (256 MB VRAM, AGP)
Processor: P4 2.8Ghz
RAM: 512 MB (DDR PC3200)
Operating System: XP Pro

(I put together a year or two ago)

 

[EvilDrummer]

I have absolutely no luck with games. My recent track record should speak for itself:
Civ 4
Act of war
Morrowind
if you haven't got it, Not working for me either; after doing everything possible. Sea World Tycoon is looking a lot better now.

 

[Rotluchs]

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

This has not worked for everyone who tried it on the 3 forums ive been searching. Please just patch whatever we need.

 

[4204tarbal]

Hi all,

I worked on getting this installed for 5 hours -- not unlike many of the rest of you. FORTUNATELY, I was able to get it working **finally**. I wanted to just play it, but I HAD to come back and let yous guys know what I did to get it working.

refresher:

WinXPpro
DUAL AMD1800's ~ 1.5GHz each
512 MB RAM
Radeon ATLantis 9200SE

tried:
updating and reinstalling everything -- ATI drivers (both Omega & OEM 5.1) and DirectX9.0c (both from Civ CD and from Winblowsupdate.com) -- also completely wiped/reinstalled Civ IV (just to try it). I had also done a lot of praying, cussing, and toking during this time.

Then I read the post about DirectX9.0 removal tool on MajorGeeks.com.

I remembered that the brandest-newest version of DirectX took a dump on me when installed bundled w/ other games, so I tried it. YOU NEED YOUR WINXP CD HANDY!

Go to www.majorgeeks.com and find the directx removal tool and then extract it to THIS FOLDER C:\DXTEMP

that folder. THAT one. Then reboot in Safe Mode. According to the readme, you MUST do this in Safe Mode.

Once in Safe Mode run the file called DX9UN.BAT in the DXTEMP dir. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS WHEN PROMPTED.

I went through it and rebooted to normal desktop. I went to Control Panel and the DirectX util now said I was running DirectX 8.1 I then went and tried it.........

.....the opening movie was a sight for (really red) sore eyes!! I can't garauntee this is going to work, but it is definately worth the effort once you get it working!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I'm off to conquer the world! Good luck!