11 replies to this topic

[me_boxer_dude]

Recently I upgraded my computer and got myself a dual core 2.8 ghz processor, Intel original 945 motherboard, Windows XP SP2, 512 Mb ddr2 ram , and an XFX GEforce 7600 gs card. Now the problem started when I tried to launch F.E.A.R it gave the message. "unable to initialize the renderer to a valid video mode". Now I know that most of my friends who are on lower configuration machines can play this game alright. I tried to google for some sort of resolution and what I've got to know so far is that it coule be some issue with Windows drivers or the Graphic card itself isnt capable enough (which I dont think ) Moreover, I can play most of other games w/o any issue . Still I am clueless as to what to do. SO I would appreciate any help.

[serverph]

maybe a graphics card driver update will fix the problem... have you tried it yet? or maybe a higher version of DirectX. or even perhaps a bigger RAM. or there could be some interference if you have any onboard graphics which is still showing in your Device Manager other than the 7600.

just rambling about possibilities here since i haven't tried playing F.E.A.R. as of date.

[fffanatics]

I would update your video driver to the newest one out there since your system should be able to play FEAR. I know my P4 laptop can play it since i did. The only thing that would limit your system from dominating the game will be your RAM. Also, if this does not work, go to run and type dxdiag and make sure that it has your DirectX version at 9.0c

[dre]

So your previous video card on this computer did not produce the error? Try running tests and benchmarks on your pc and see if you can find a problem that way. Once you've done that and it didn't help, isolate the components by switching them (if you can). For example, try taking out 1 stick of ram and running on one, then try the other. Similar steps may be taken for the other components. Also, did you google the exact error message? Perhaps someone has found the same error and can provide help. Try changing your desktop resolution and then trying to run the game; for some reason this made Underground 2 work on one of my older pcs by switching desktop resolution from 1024x768 to 800x600. Weird, but it happens. Lastly, you can try to reinstall all drivers, including your motherboard drivers, as there may be some conflict between devices. For some reason this makes me think of hardware acceleration (of the screen, can't seem to remember exactly what it's called, just poke around in DirectX and video settings )

Good luck with your debugging

[me_boxer_dude]

As an added note , Yeah I did Google the entire error message to find out any possible fix for it but didnt get any working resolution to be precise. I tried changing the Desktop resolution to all available resolutions and it dint work either, I have already tried increasing the RAM from 512 to I GB to no avail. And yeah I have tried uninstalling the graphic card's drivers as well. I ran the dxdiag utility to see if there was any possible direct x issue and it told me that a certain "qasf" file was old and it might create problems so the next thing I did was downloading the latest available component but it dint work as well. And I have tried fiddling with the 3d acceleration utility in graphic card's control panel as well. I know I should be able to play the game w/o much issues because my comp meets all system requirements but still dont know what to do next. The only thing that comes to my mind now is that it has to be some sort of an incompatibility/driver issue rather than my system not meeting requirements.

[dre]

Yea but incompatability isn't always limited to software, and I have no doubt your pc meets rqd. stats for the game. I guess you could try and reformat the hd and start over. Btw did you try installing older versions of the video card drivers just in case? It's hard to pinpoint a problem like this without actually being there, and tends to get very annoying (especially when the problem was a simple one).

Also, you didn't say if the game had worked prior to the upgrade, which is imporant to know. If it did, perharps you can use your old pc components but with your new video card? Using the same manner you can isolate the problem if it is in fact, a hardware problem.

[me_boxer_dude]

I think I am close to find a working resolution, after long hours of fiddling around with all the possibilities it turns out that it was the directx version 9.0b which was creating all sorts of issues. F.E.A.R and most other games would only run on directx 9.0c. The fact is if you have to install Windows Xp professional SP 2 then you get the directx 9.0b installed with it and the problem comes up when you try to upgrade the directx version to 9.0 c. There appears to be a major bug in the installation package which when run checks the already installed version of directx on the comp and if it is 9.0b then it stops the updation there and then coz it only checks the first part i.e, before the decimal therefore it assumes 9.0b to be perfectly allright and doesnt update it.
Now coming to the problem that comes after discovering the resolution to the initial issue. How do I update the directx version to 9.0c, as I said that if you have directx 9.0b its pretty hard to upgrade it to 9.0c because of the bug in the installation package. The only working resolution would be to uninstall directx 9.0b and revert back to directx 8.1 and then run the update to get the directx 9.0c, but this procesure requires the Windows Xp CD for the rollback/backup process and I seem to have misplaced mine. The other resolution which I got from somewhere apparently is to download both the directx 9.0b and directx 9.0c distribution packages and extract them in separate folders and then copy the 'cab' files from the 9.0c extracted folder to the 9.0b extracted folder and then run the dxsetup from the 9.0b folder and it should install the directx 9.0c. I am gonna try both the resolutions as soon as I get a chance.

[me_boxer_dude]

Hi all, The issue was fixed after long hours of trying every possibility. I wasnt able to update the directx from directx 9.0b to directx 9.0c, so I did something which might seem a bit illogical but it worked great for me. I got hold of windows Xp service pack 3 and installed it in the D drive(C drive already has windows Xp service pack 2) So now my system is essentially a dual boot now. Yeah and about the service pack 3 it does come with directx 9.0c inherently(good for me). Now to sum it all up, the problems I started facing while trying to play F.E.A.R were because of incorrect version of directx all the time. Though I had to make my system go dual boot but quite honestly it was worth it.

[Galahad]

I'm sorry I haven't seen this topic earlier, as I had problems with DirectX 9.0b, with practicaly every game...

Fortunately, I had by XP installation disk, so I could remove that wretched DX9b... I am happy to say, that my GeForce4 MX440 runs every game I try (not that I try these new games )...

Though, there is another matter I have noticed, when it comes to games... SP2 kills the performance, so you need to buy more powerfull hardware... Now, I have this tested on several computers (not mine personaly, as I will NEVER put SP2 on my computer) of my friends, and every time they upgraded to SP2 (and I kept downgrading to SP1), they're game performance with SP2 would be lower than performance on SP1...

Coincidence? I don't think so

Anyways, don't know why I said all this, but it might come in handy

DirectX 9.0b should be avoided at all costs, and if you can, avoid Service Pack 2 also

[WhoAmI]

Hi, all ..

Im new to this forum ... i have a similar problem while running F.E.A.R...

I get the same error 'unable to initialize renderer to a default video mode'

This is my PC's config (required config for this issue)

Intel core 2 duo E6300 (2 X 1.86ghz)
Nvidia Geforce 7600 GT (256 mb)
1 GB DDR2 Ram.
WinXP professional with SP2.

I do have directx 9.0c installed along with the latest video drivers. But this doesnt seem to fix the problem. Any other suggestions that could help me? it'll be great if any one can me help me out on this.