Possible Fixes for "Failed to Initialize Renderer" Startup Error

[Traelin]

Originally posted by trip52
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.

You're just frustrated right now, but when you get it working you'll be happy, trust me. Keep in mind that bugs, exceptions, etc. happen in S/W all the time. I mean if brilliant guys at Lockheed Martin can mess up some simple math formulas in otherwise awesome NASA S/W, where ppl could have died cuz of it, (believe me it's good fault-tolerant S/W, but I digress), who's to say Firaxis can't mess up with Civ IV?

[warlordship]

I hope you aren't talking about me and that X800 PRO. My computer with that card doesn't work. The other computer I have, with a 9800 PRO, DOES work.

[JFJohnny5]

I understand people are upset. I can't get it to run on my PC either. But it will be much more helpful for all of us, the end users, and the devs working on the issue if we limit our posts to technical tecting and results. Even unseuccessful ones. I've already posted some of the things I've tried and related specs. I encourage others to keep doing the same.

More information = Quicker road to a solution

[warlordship]

Exactly. I just stop fighting the people that are complaining about the game, stop defending fireaxis/2kgames. It leads to nothing.

[PBN]

Originally posted by bionicjames


No dice, I tried it (sapphire radeon 9600 256mb)

so much for that idea

[SirOsis]

I experienced this bug. I have a Nvidia 6600GT. The game worked fine initally. I adjusted some graphics options and when I tried to play again I got that error.

I just removed the program and the Civ4 directory in My Games and reinstalled. It worked again. I did not attempt to repeat this error because I wanted to play.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by ghostkiller2.0
BUT it was pointed out that the non-retail versions were not having the same problems.

what does that mean? Link?

[JimmyTango]

Originally posted by Salatir
In other words, there's no fix.

Quite frankly, the best thing to do is to refund the game and buy it 2 weeks from now. Voila, no more render errors!

That makes little to no sense.If you are wating for it to be patched, why return it in the first place only to buy it later?

How do you know it will take exactly 2 weeks for a patch to fix?

[JimmyTango]

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.

Please post again when you are mature.

[jadelith]

people are pissed off as it is jimmy (including me), no need to push them even more.

[BleckLord]

SirOsis,

I think that we are actually experiencing two diferent failure modes, possibly from the same root cause. But the ATI crowd does not seem to get 'any' gameplay beyond the loading screen on cards that cause the renderer to crash.

All,

I do think that Firaxis is working hard on this. I've been able to play Civ4 on my other computers, so I know that we'll be satisfied when this gets resolved. Until then, I'll limit myself to posting 'helpful' technical info.

[Salatir]

Originally posted by JimmyTango


Please post again when you are mature.

Sorry, I don't speak fanboy.

[codechino]

Originally posted by JimmyTango


Please post again when you are mature.

He was being quite mature, and had a valid point. It *is* their job to deliver a working product. There is absolutely no reason to coddle them and think that they're doing us a favor by fixing all of this. Same business principle that applies everywhere else. If I order a triple with cheese and get a double with no cheese, I'm going to walk back up to the counter and say "Fix this, you got it wrong." Its what I paid them for.

[Prole]

If I can throw my $.02 in, it seems from reading various sources that many people with the failed renderer issue had problems with the DirectX installer. For me for instance it crashed on the first install and didn't run on re-install attempts. When I run it manually it doesn't do anything, it just skips the step where it would install new files. It looks like one of the files ATI cards need wasn't installed, so that when the card calls for it initialization fails. I seem to remember DirectX being tricky about registering one version but existing as another after botched installations of it. Hopefully a patch comes out real quick, otherwise I much rather they'd have made the publisher honor the original release date and iron out these things. Symptoms of a rushed job -- bad installer, French tech-trees (I know replacements are available, but that's an easy thing to get right), backwards install/play labels on the discs.....

PS When I watch the DirectX installer from the disc 'work', it looks like it fails at the cab unpacking step, but registers complete. Could it have changed the registry to show current files when in fact they are old?

PSS I don't think the problem is the drivers. I think it's a bad DirectX install that subsequent runnings of the disc's installer don't fix because the installer itself is bad. It seems like a dll ATI cards need is amongst the files not being installed, causing initialization failure. Please Firaxis fix this soon, or at least keep us up to date on the situation.

[Atmosphear]

Hello all, I am experiencing the same problems as everyone else. I use the Raedon x800, have all the latest drivers and DX files, etc. I am recieving the renderer error upon start-up of the game.

However, I do not want to uninstall and re-install these drivers just for one game. I play other games and fear they will mess up if I try and make this game work. In fact, this is the first game I have ever had problems with. No other game I have installed experienced video card/driver/DX problems.

I am rather upset that I cannot play a game that I payed for (and can not return.) Its unfortunate that this has happened. The forum communities represent only a small number of people who bought this game. Most people who are having similar problems probably don't even know where to start on how to fix it. Instead of developing a patch, we are being told to uninstall and reinstall our graphics drivers, Dx Files, the game it's self, etc. This is unacceptable, I should not have to go out of my way to play a game that was suppose to work in the first place.

If there is no quick fix (patch) to this game in the near future, I would like to find a way to recieve my money back for faulty software. EB will not accept returns for opened software. Is it possible to return the game directly back to the company? If not, I will just sell it to another person who might have a chance of getting this game to run.

Thank you, and I apologize for being harsh, but I don't like it when 50$ goes down the drain because of defected software.