Possible Fixes for "Failed to Initialize Renderer" Startup Error

[acratin]

I'd just like to say right off the bat that QA and -anything- related to publishing is entirely in the realm of 2K games. I'm angry at -them-. Not Firaxis. Don't believe me about QA? Look in the back of your manual.

[crimsonmage]

There is a simple thing that Firaxis COULD have done

Its called DEMO version.

Oh... or are we too big to do that anymore?

CrimsonMage

[Inverse Icarus]

Originally posted by Salatir
Further, the fact that 2k or Firaxis is not publically owning up to this error that has impacted a significant portion of its buyer base speaks of nothing but a contempt for the people that keep them in business. Behind the scenes, people might well be searching for a fix - but that's their job.

... So did you just not see all the Firaxis posts ranging into the late hours last night, or are you purposely ignoring them to make a "point"?

[Salatir]

On a forum, not owned by Firaxis or 2k. No offense to the denizens here, but that hardly qualifies as publically owning up, in my book. Their proprietary sites need to alert those concerned with their game that there's a problem - and to give those with these particular cards that have NOT as yet bought the game fair notice.

A tech is not the public voice of his or her company. And until that public voice does something more than says "Hey, we have new wallpapers, guys!" they're not admitting anything.

[trip52]

'Further, the fact that 2k or Firaxis is not publically owning up to this error that has impacted a significant portion of its buyer base speaks of nothing but a contempt for the people that keep them in business. Behind the scenes, people might well be searching for a fix - but that's their job. I'm not going to applaud them or be mollified by the fact that they're doing something that should have been adequately tested weeks, if not months ago. Nor should anyone else.'

i completely agree - this not acceptable. i have an ATI x700 pro, and apart from completely re-installing windows (which i refuse to do and is NOT an acceptable solution) i have gone backward and forward thru drivers, the direct x install, reinstalling civ, etc. nothing is working. i am not waiting 'days' to get a fix. every game i have bought runs just fine on this setup- so i can run FEAR but i cant run civ4...oh wait, monolith actually tested their product on hardware that was relevant. i would not be nearly as pissed if, sometime last night, after hours of people complaining and NO response from tech support or firaxis worth a damn, someone had said (as others have said) 'we acknowledge a problem and we are working hard to correct it' - instead i see 'well, you guys are basically idiots and you need driver version xxxx because you dont know what you are doing. still, no posting on the civ4 site..however, civ4 wallpapers are available for download AND if you got the french tech tree that was an adorable and mildly humorous mistake and we'll correct it post haste.

whatever- i give em 24 hours, then everyone should just return the POS till they fix it proper.

[acratin]

Unfortunately, this kind of thing typically falls in the hands of the publisher. Hopefully we'll see a patch or some other fix soon. I'm impatiently waiting to play this as are all of you...and I have an essay due tomorrow on top of it! Can't even focus on that right now.

[Solver]

They are posting on a forum that has the most purchasers of this game. They are doing this because the goal isn't to say "We have a problem with the game, sod you", but because the goal is to fix the issue, and the best way of doing that is reading and posting the forum where actual people with actual problems are.

Activision once pulled a "public apology". What they said then was, basically, "We're very sorry about the incomplete things about this game, we couldn't do better under the circumstances, but we are now ceasing support, thre will be no more patches, go screw yourselves".

[Philotas]

It would be nice to see this particular thread dedicated to trying to fix the problem instead of complaining about it. I'm sure that many, like me, are monitoring these particular posts in hopes that Trip or someone else from Firaxis will have additional information for us to get the game working.

[JFJohnny5]

Ok so here's news that will drive you crazy. I posted earlier that I could not get it to run on my PC. Still can't. But I then installed it on my brother's PC and it works beautifully! I would have posted this last night, but I got too hooked up into playing once I finally got it running. Now for the rub.

My system is an Athlon 64 3000+ with 1Gb RAM and ATI X800XL AGP. Did NOT work on this one.

My brother has a Dual Xeon (yes, Xeons...he works IT and got them cheap), not sure of clock speed, with 2 Gb RAM and an ATI X700 PCI-X. It DID work here.

Obviously this is not a good lab test, as there are so many variables. But notice they're both ATI cards, mine was AGP, his was PCI-X. Can anyone confirm evidence along those lines??

[Philotas]

Mine is a 9600 AGP, does not work.

[trip52]

and ill accept a 'screw you, no patches, blah blah blah' - then i can take it back and never buy another firaxis product. if they designed this game for hardware t&l, which is a mostly outdated function on cards within the last 2 years (while i know it is implied, who knows since most new games dont really use it in favor of shaders), then all of us with top tier cards are screwed. there wont be a fix, just a colossal waste of time. way to screw the pooch in development firaxis, way to screw firaxis screwing the pooch in development 2kgames. did you q/a this on windows 3.1 or 98?

[Solver]

So you'd rather have a "screw you, no patches" message than another day without a message, but then a working fix the next day?

The problem isn't that the game's designed for hardware T&L, which is supported by just about every card except the integrated ones, the problem is that there's a compatbility issue with otherwise good Radeon cards.

[ghostkiller2.0]

relax

Originally posted by Salatir
Sorry, there is no excuse for this shoddy merchandise. And, as there is no excuse, there is no reason WHATSOEVER to be an apologist for a company that has no qualms in distributing a pisspoor product - I have a French techtree, I have mislabelled CDs, and I have a program that does not work.

Further, the fact that 2k or Firaxis is not publically owning up to this error that has impacted a significant portion of its buyer base speaks of nothing but a contempt for the people that keep them in business. Behind the scenes, people might well be searching for a fix - but that's their job. I'm not going to applaud them or be mollified by the fact that they're doing something that should have been adequately tested weeks, if not months ago. Nor should anyone else.

I agree that this needed to be said. However, I do understand that it could be done a bit more tactfully. Sure we are having problems. BUT it was pointed out that the non-retail versions were not having the same problems. The fact that the websites have not updated I do not think is a problem with Firaxis or 2k.

The people that were working on a response (dev Team) were posting here WHERE WE WERE TALKING ABOUT THE PROBLEM. Also, having worked with corporate websites and the like, things take time. (also they were done with their work day when the bulk of the problems arose) They need to mind their P's and Q's with press releases and the like so take it easy. Sure we are upset, we can not play the game we love.

So give them a little time. I for one am not going to rush and return the game cause of a few bugs. That is a risk we take by buying the game on the day it comes out. Patience is a virtue, and unfortunately becoming less and less common

[trip52]

Originally posted by Solver
So you'd rather have a "screw you, no patches" message than another day without a message, but then a working fix the next day?

The problem isn't that the game's designed for hardware T&L, which is supported by just about every card except the integrated ones, the problem is that there's a compatbility issue with otherwise good Radeon cards.

yes, i would. because its going to come to that. if they had worked all night, there would be rumblings (at least) of a resolution in the works. i have a sinking feeling there is no resolution, at least not one a few days out- maybe more like weeks. i know current cards support hardware t&l- but how often does a current gen game use that? if you look at the setups working, its mostly slightly older, low-mid range cards. there is no reason why when you own a rig capabale of running any graphically intense game presently on the market that this game should not run. it indicates to me a lack of planning, possibly of coding in general. the kicker is pirates runs fine and its the same engine- so, somewhere someone at firaxis screwed that part up.

[jadelith]

releasing games that works on all systems is a virtue too. so is doing a comprehensive beta testing BEFORE releasing the game.