Initialize Renderer failed / Windows 7

[SuperBlindGuy]

Hi all,

I recently bought two of the civ4 games: the vanilla and BTS. I went through, installed all three, patched them all, I don't have the exact patch numbers on me, but they are recent if not the most recent. Now, when I go to play it, everything is working fine untill almost 3/4 the way through the loading bar, on both.

From what I have read, the 'fail to initialize renderer' message is quite common throughout the users. However, I believe I know what is wrong, but do not know how to fix it. I have tried all of the solutions offered on these forums, but none have worked.

I am running the windows 7 RC, release 7100. I know that the Vanilla isn't supposed to run on Vista/7, I have heard it does, so I thought I tried it, and anyways, BTS is having the same problem. When I checked the dxdiag func., I found that I am running DirectX 11. This is a problem. The special 9.0c that is supposed to be installed with civ isn't being installed, thus, I can't play civ. I'm wondering if it's possible to get this specific DirectX on, and overwrite my current one. If there's anyone that is also running windows 7 and has civ working, it'd be great if you could share how you did it, or anyone else.

Thanks,
SBG

 

[ori]

Welcome to CFC

I changed your thread title to reflect that this is a Windows 7 problem
Now: Vanilla should work on Vista with the 1.74 patch - and since you installed BtS that patch should be installed. You can try to install DirectX 9c from the link below - but My hunch is more that this is a problem with a graphics driver not yet working correctly with 7...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&DisplayLang=en

 

[SuperBlindGuy]

Welcome to CFC

I changed your thread title to reflect that this is a Windows 7 problem
Now: Vanilla should work on Vista with the 1.74 patch - and since you installed BtS that patch should be installed. You can try to install DirectX 9c from the link below - but My hunch is more that this is a problem with a graphics driver not yet working correctly with 7...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...38-db71-4c1b-bc6a-9b6652cd92a3&DisplayLang=en

Hi ori,

Thanks for the title change.

Yes, there seems to not be any problem of compatability with the Vanilla, I just thought that I should include it. No, I tried that download, and installed it, but it said something like 'There is a newer version of DirectX on this computer, version 9.0c does not need to be installed. Furthermore, I went to do a search on what version I have, and I can't find anything in add/remove programs, and also when checking it on dxdiag.exe in either run on Windows 2000/XP users or the search bar for Vista/7 users, it says I am using DirectX 11, which actually isn't out.

As for my graphics driver, I have no clue what I'm using, or if there is one. I got the computer on sale at factorydirect.ca as the one I was using earlier was broken, and unfixable. I found that when I first bought it, it had no sound/audio driver, so I am using realtek '97 or similar, I am not sure. For reference, my computer is this one, if it helps.

If there is anything else you need to know, ask.

 

[ori]

please post your dxdiag results file as a file attachment

 

[SuperBlindGuy]

Here, hope it helps.

 

[ori]

this:
Card name: Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Manufacturer: (Standard display types)
Chip type: Intel(r)865G Graphics Chip Accelerated VGA BIOS
DAC type: 8 bit
is your problem - you either have no graphics card in your machine - or no driver for it installed. Without one this game will not work on any operating system...

 

[SuperBlindGuy]

According to this:

"-No driver disc included - drivers may be obtained from the manufacturer's website"

It means that there is a graphics card, just no driver.

 

[ori]

Do you have any information on what card it is?

 

[SuperBlindGuy]

I can check tomorrow to see what it is, but it's getting late in my timezone. Thanks for all your help, I'll post back with my results.

 

[SuperBlindGuy]

Well I found out my graphics card:

Intel Extreme Graphics 2.

I don't know much about it, so I'm looking if I can find a supported driver for it.

 

[ori]

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/

 

[SuperBlindGuy]

After doing a driver search, I found I am using:

Standard VGA Graphics Adapter
Current Driver Installed 6.1.7100.0

which is not supported by 7. I'm just looking to find a higher version.

 

[SuperBlindGuy]

Okay so I did a driver search and found out that I'm using 'Standard VGA adapter' or similar, which is what Microsoft puts if it doesn't know what it is exactly.

Intel puts the Extreme Graphics 2 as the 82865G, which I then looked up the drivers for here:
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/fil...+XP+Professional&lang=eng&strOSs=44&submit=Go!

It says that it is only supported for Win 2k and XP. When I tried installing it, it gave an error saying 'this operating system is not supported, setup will close'. So basically I'm left with the option to go back to XP, which I'm leaning towards, or buying a new graphics card.

On a side note: Rise of Nations Gold says that my computer is running in 256 colors (it's not) and I need to switch to 16-bit or higher, any ideas? Not really important, but I thought you might know.

 

[ori]

this is probably also a problem with the generic windows driver - it is okish to display the operating system but really not suitable for a lot of games - and some games that check for a working driver do get upset when you try to run them on "unknown" drivers...

 

[SuperBlindGuy]

So my options are just to get a new graphics card?

 

[ori]

look here:
http://vinf.net/2009/01/12/windows-7-and-the-intel-855gm-video-driver-solution/

(don't know how legit it is - sounds good though)...

 

[Zero V]

I was gona post a thread about BTS in here as well. I am using Win 7 and it used to run fine, now it WILL NOT go into my window mode. I only play in window cuz I just take turns here and there. Other than that it works fine except for maybe some odd collors while it first starts. But I have a pink like in the right side of my screen(gpu issue?) which is another reason I want a window, So I dont have to see it.

 

[ori]

how do you start it in windowed mode? did you force that in the .ini file?

 

[Zero V]

how do you start it in windowed mode? did you force that in the .ini file?

No, I just went into the options in the game and unchecked the "Fullscreen" option. Always worked till last night. I was like? WTH. Tried about 80 times.

I think the normal game, and Warlords both would work fine though. Something about BTS.

Is there a way to force it?

 

[ori]

try the following: open my games\beyond the sword\civilizationIV.ini
and check what the setting for:

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

is

if it is
FullScreen = 0
then change it to
FullScreen = ask

if it is not change it to
FullScreen = 0