Alright, let's post the exact behavior of the render problem.

[timekillr]

I think we should all just post a very detailed report of exactly WHAT happens.

I've had 2 instances:

Upon starting the game, the progress window pops up. When it gets to Initializing Engine, I instantly get a "Unable to render" message.

The other one is a bit longer
I get to the same step as my other report, but I can actually see my desktop switch resolutions and see the game cursor in the middle of my screen. The screen stays black, however, and after 2-3 seconds it returns to my desktop.

BT, system specs

AMD Athlon XP 3000+
1gig ram Dual channel
Genuine ATi Radeon X800XL 256mb

[Tebriel]

ditto
edit:the behavior, not the system config, though

[Salatir]

Same two situations. Radeon 9550, here.

[timekillr]

Thanks guys. This is actually important as it helps to narrow down the problem.

I used to work in QA (thank god I'm a designer now!) so I'm fairly used to bug reports.

Please also post which video card you have.. It seems to be mostly related to AIW cards and X800XL cards..

[Speaker]

I've got the ATI Radeon 9550 card and have the same problems.

[acratin]

Yeah, same two, though before the first one the screen always switches resolution and goes black.

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by timekillr
Please also post which video card you have.. It seems to be mostly related to AIW cards and X800XL cards..

I've seen a few of my card, the Raedon 9600 around here.

I run civ, and I get the loading splash. The cursor changes to some odd wheel thing, and my reso,ution changes and goes black. The wheel spins. The resolution changes again, shows part of my desktop in the lower resolution, and then changes again (third time), goes black, and then finally changes back and spits back the rendering error.

That's 3 attempts. Can't say it's not trying

[MattUGA23]

Same exact thing.

X800XL

[kbeck]

I get a load screen with a progress bar reading off things like "Check XML" and "Init Python". The final message says "InitEngine" and then my monitor starts to change resolutions several times. I'll flash between my desktop and a loading cursor that looks like a golden propeller on a black screen. After several seconds of this I get the "Render" error.

[timekillr]

Alright..

So far, the following cards seem to be affected:

X800XL
Most AIW cards
9550s
9600s

Icarus, what type is your 9600? Standard, Pro or XT?

**EDIT**
Thanks Icarus.

BTW, I tried a solution I found on another board; run the game in Win2k compat mode. Doesn't work.

[Inverse Icarus]

Standard, sorry.

[Shilfa]

AMD Athlon XP 2700+
1G DDR Ram
Genuine Radeon 9800 Pro 128M

only 1st instance happen to me.

[Cidrick]

My problem is different from what you all are experiencing. My game starts up fine, no errors. However, when it gets to the opening FMVs, I hear the audio, but all I see is a blue screen. Then I get to the main menu and all I see is this. No menu buttons, no text, nothing. I have to task out and close it.

ATI X800XL here.

[Kinjiru]

I get the changing resolutions bit with the game cursor in the middle of the screen.

ATI Radeon Mobility 9800

Started off with the latest drivers from dell, tried the latest catalyst drivers from ATI, and now am sitting with the latest Omega drivers. Exact same behavior in all cases.

[adarel]

I have a Radeon x700 pro. After the Loading screen, I get the progress bar screen, which gets about 70% of the way, but pauses at initializing the "Engine" and then posts the error message.

Ad

[jeff_vandenberg]

Originally posted by Inverse Icarus


I've seen a few of my card, the Raedon 9600 around here.

I run civ, and I get the loading splash. The cursor changes to some odd wheel thing, and my reso,ution changes and goes black. The wheel spins. The resolution changes again, shows part of my desktop in the lower resolution, and then changes again (third time), goes black, and then finally changes back and spits back the rendering error.

That's 3 attempts. Can't say it's not trying

Same Card (Radeon 9600 Standard with 256Meg VRam)

Exact same behavior.

I am at least enjoying reading the walkthrough someone posted of their game of civ4 :-) while listening to the sound track.

[TrashcanMan]

ATI Brand Radeon x800XL AGP 256MB.

5.10 Drivers, Reinstalled Fresh today, DirectX 9.0C from the Civ4 Disk.

PC is an Athlon64 3200+ (2.0GHz), 2GB RAM, Creative Soundblaster Live Audigy 2 ZS.

If I have a chance I may try it on my other Athlon64 which has 1.5GB of RAM and an ATI Radeon x800 Pro 256MB AGP.

[RoBoat]

I am getting the same error.

1- Start game via shortcut
2- initializes to the engine
3- gives error message

I have a S3 Savage/IX running Win2K on an IMB ThinkPad. (Yes, its old but it ran Pirates without a problem). DirectX is the version off the CD, drivers are all updated. I have tried changing the resolution, uninstalling drivers and reinstalling. Basically everything suggested and no luck.

I turned on logging and this is the result:

[15912.831] DBG: FILE Cat Init
[15935.193] DBG: Using XML cache
[15935.233] DBG: Game Init
[15935.243] DBG: Multiplayer Init
[15935.564] DBG: Audio Init
[15937.887] DBG: ArtFileMgr Init
[15937.887] DBG: Python Init
[15950.265] VERSION: CIV Version: 0
[15950.265] VERSION: Save Version: 100
[15950.265] DBG: Input Init
[15950.265] DBG: Engine Init
[15951.947] ERR: Initialize Renderer failed - parameters:
- width = 1024
- height = 768
- flags = 0xc
- hwnd = 0x21021a
- adaptrid = 0
- deviceid = 3
[15951.947] DBG: Failed to Initialize Renderer - Check DirectX Version

[GoodRevrnd]

Originally posted by Cidrick
My problem is different from what you all are experiencing. My game starts up fine, no errors. However, when it gets to the opening FMVs, I hear the audio, but all I see is a blue screen. Then I get to the main menu and all I see is this. No menu buttons, no text, nothing. I have to task out and close it.

ATI X800XL here.

My problem is most similar to this. When I get to the FMV's, (diplomacy, founding religion) I get a brief lock and the ATI VPU recorver pops up. I can close that and then go back into the game and everything more or less works fine. Some of the FMVs have heavy distortion on them though.

I am running a 9700Pro, 5.10 drivers, shows 8.18.0.0 in display properties, HOWEVER they are dated 9/14, not 10/12. I also have that d93d_26.dll file in my system32 folder.

[warlordship]

Get's to init the display (past the XML and python inits), changes resolution 3 or 4 times, then craps to desktop with "Failed to Initialize Renderer - Check DirectX Version and Graphics Settings"

I have an AMD 64 3200+ with an X800 PRO card. I have another computer here that's basically the same 'cept for the vid card, which is 9800 PRO.

Ashamedly, I have NOT tried the simple troubleshooting steps (YET! I plan to!), decided to post on the forums here first to list my symptoms.

I will try my other computer(s) (I also have a P4 w/ 9800 Pro that I'm using for a server that I can troubleshoot also), and post back here.

[warlordship]

Am using, currently, CAT 4.12 drivers. Haven't found a need to upgrade. As I said, will try that next.

[Tebriel]

You know, I set my resolution up to 1280X1040 and I now get a lot more black screen before the crash, and I also see a blip of the resolution going down to 1024x768. Definitely takes longer than a native 1024x768 to crash.

[codechino]

when i set my desktop resolution to 1024x768 it takes significantly longer for the startup to give me the render error. i actually see the mouse pointer turn into the wheel thing and turn for a second or two, then i get the error. i get no mouse pointer change when at a different resolution, and i error almost the instant it attempts to initialize the renderer.

[Sydney_Bristow]

Same problem here. Using Radeon X600 Pro .

I've tried newest ati drivers and omega drivers, as well as many different older versions of drivers with no luck.

[jadelith]

using ati radeon mobility 9800 256mb ram here.. (dell inspiron)

the reason it switches resolutions is because after the first try, the computer gets stuck in 1024x768 (and even if you try to switch it back to your default resolution, it asks for a reboot), and if you try to run it again, it won't have to switch resolutions

one more thing; after the first try, the computer (windows explorer to be more precise) slows down dramatically, and whenever you try to move opened up windows around, it eats around 50-60% of your computers resources (and 50-60% of 2 gig ram / 3.4ghz p4 is a lot :P). this also happens when you disable/uninstall your video card drivers and run on vga (though, you cannot use 1024x768 on vga).

hmn. I dunno, just making some suggestions here I hope the debuggers are reading these ;p

edit:typos

[Tebriel]

I hear 3 distinct clicks of my monitor screwing resolution or whatnot. Also, I played with the refresh rate, to no avail.

[brill]

Mobility Radeon 9200 64 mb doesn't work either. I get the same thing cedrik gets the blue screen followed by the menu. I can get past that to the game, but then I just get blown out back to the desktop. Its pretty stupid.

Break on memory allocation order #
BreakOnAlloc = -1


is that normal? Should an ini file have a setting of -1? What does that mean?

[timekillr]

One more question:

Is everyone who is having problems running an AGP card? This mostly applies to X800XL users, as the pre-X800 cards prolly don't have PCI-E support..

I ask this because I've seen on other forums people with X800XL PCI-E cards that ran the game.

[Inverse Icarus]

My 9600 is an AGP, obviously.

[grov]

For those of you with FMV problems - have you tried disabling the WMV acceleration in the ATI driver properties?

I think all you have to do is uncheck "WMV Acceleration" on the "Options" tab for the Advanced Settings dialog (click the "Advanced" button on the settings tab of the "Display Properties" to get there). It seems to be checked by default (it is on my settings after installing the latest 5.10 Catalyst drivers).

Just a thought - I'm rather glad I've got a week's respite before my copy arrives - time for all these niggles to be sorted out

Ian