"Unable to allocate draw-buffer; terminating program"

[Ribannah]

This is what I get when I try to start Civ3. Installing went fine, including DirectX 8. Any idea what needs to be fixed?

I'm running on a Pentium II 266 Mhz with 32MB RAM under Windows 95 (B).
Swap file is 50MB.

I have a Matrox Mystique video card (1064 SG chip with 4MB) with the latest (=final) driver.

Regards,

- Rib -

[Vlad Antlerkov]

I'm getting the exact same problem, except when I'm already in a game. Continues to run, but I can't move units, and the menu icons disappear.

DirectX 8 seemed to install fine, and I'm running an 1.4 GHz AMD Athlon under WinME with either 128 or 256 MB RAM (I can't remember which). Not so sure about the drivers, though.

[Ribannah]

Matrox Diagnostic gives "Old version of DirectX installed" at startup, and "DirectX version: Unknown" from the start menu.

So it seems the problem is with DirectX 8.

I tried to re-install DirectX 7a from another game, but this is refused because a more recent version is detected.

The DirectDraw/Direct3D driver version is 4.10.01.4120.

[Ribannah]

Windows/System/Dxdiag.exe reports DirectX 8 installed and all tests are successful -
but nonetheless here it comes:

"Registry info missed or damaged" for TCP/IP, IPX, Modem, Serial and all applications.

"You should reinstall DirectX to get the latest version".

Unfortunately, the cdrom doesn't give that option.


Where are all the wizzkids??

[Vlad Antlerkov]

Well, since there's a DirectX 8.1 out, I guess downloading that might at least help.

Then again, maybe RAM has something to do with it.

[Ribannah]

Originally posted by Vlad Antlerkov
Well, since there's a DirectX 8.1 out, I guess downloading that might at least help.

DirectX 8.1 is for Windows98 and higher.
I was able to re-install DirectX 8 (4.08.00.0400) from Microsoft's site, but to no avail. The register problem stays.

Then again, maybe RAM has something to do with it.

Why?

[Ribannah]

The Editor runs fine, so the problem must be the movie files.
The uninstall and reinstall buttons don't do a thing.