Could not initialize direct3D

[_Itchy]

Hi,

All of a sudden (!) CMBB and CMAK have stopped working on my Win7 Pro 64Bit, Nvidia GTX 485m laptop. I am getting the 'classic' "click to accept this graphics mode" messages for 640 x 480 resolutions at different refresh rates before the programs bomb out and give me the message "Could not initialize direct3D". I am running at a desktop resolution of 1920 x 1080 and all my other 3D games including CMBN run just fine. Deleting the prefs files (both in the program files folder and the virtual store) makes no difference.

It has been a couple of weeks since I played CMBB & CMAK, which have run very happily on this machine until today, I suppose there have been some windows updates in the meantime - but I have not installed any major software and I imagine that if a windows update was to blame I would not be the first person reporting this. Rolling back/updating the video card driver has had no effect. All hardware diagnostics & Dxdiag suggest everything is working as it should and direct 3D is enabled.

Can you advise as to what might be responsible/how I might be able to fix this?

I still play multiple PBEM battles with these great games so I am very keen to get this sorted and return to the battlefield!

Thanks in advance.

[Streety]

Hi Itchy, Until/unless you get a more expert reply, it sounds like your computer is OK so I'd merely suggest you re-install CMAK or CMBB and see if that cures the problem. And/or try changing your desktop resolution. Have you installed any other games or programs since you last played CMAK or CMBB? This could have altered an obscure graphics setting somewhere that's hard to find, or changed your direct 3D version. Otherwise a .dll file or other file somewhere just got corrupted or lost (I lost my OpenPlay.dll file once, without which the games won't play at all) but an uninstall and fresh re-install of the games should fix that. Hope that helps but I'm not on Win7 so can't consider other specific technical aspects without having the same machine and going through every possibility etc. Good luck with things, Streety.

[Schrullenhaft]

That is a bit strange to happen all-of-a-sudden.

When you launch the games, do you right-click and select "Run as administrator" from the popup menu or possibly have the shortcut modified to "Run this program as an administrator" ? This should have the Prefs file written to the game's folder (which I assume is within the '\Program Files' directory).

Double-check that your security software isn't interfering. You will want to set an 'exception' or however your security software may term it to make sure that some sort of 'active protection' is not interfering. However most of the time when security software interferes it usually prevents the game from running whatsoever.

When you launch the game and you're prompted to select a resolution you say that you're only being offered resolutions in the 640x480 range ? Technically CMBB and CMAK can't run below 800x600 since that would interfere with the display of the menu. Neither game should offer 640x480 to my knowledge (though CMBO will - as a 'software rendered' resolution). It would seem that the games can't "see" your 3D video card. Does your laptop by chance utilize the 'Optimus technology' where there is an Intel graphics chip for most day-to-day 2D tasks and then your Nvidia GTX 485m for 3D/video tasks ? Either CM game should be able to utilize either GPU (though it would run faster on the Nvidia). What may be possible though is if the GPU that the game normally runs on is no longer 'active', then that MAY confuse CM. You may want to double-check your settings within the Nvidia Control Panel for the CM games and make sure that they are 'forcing on' the Nvidia hardware (I believe you can specify that within the 3D Management > Profiles, but not sure).

I don't know if it will help in any manner or not, but you may want to update your DirectX 9.0c files. I believe this will cover somewhat older DirectX files (it will NOT affect your DirectX 10/11 files):

Microsoft DirectX 9.0c updater

[Blazing 88's]

Yeah Schrullenhaft I think you are correct, 640x480 res is not an option.

Itchy, I assume you have deleted your CMBB and CMAK prefs files prior to starting them again?? Sounds like you have done that though, since the games are requesting a resolution. Even if you have, do it again and select the proper setting again. See if that helps, you never know.

What prompted the resolution request in the first place? A re-install?... I only get that request when I delete the pref file from the CMBB or CMAK (CMETO) install folder.

[_Itchy]

"That is a bit strange to happen all-of-a-sudden."

I agree with you there!

Thanks for the replies.

DirectX says "a newer version is installed" when running the 9.0c update.

Running as administrator makes no difference.

Deleting prefs files makes no difference.

No 'Optimus' technology in play, so I don't think that is it.

It appears that CMBB and CMAK are just not detecting the graphics card, whereas all my other games are.

I will try Streety's suggestion of uninstalling and reinstalling next...

[_Itchy]

Re-installing CMBB has made no difference...

[Streety]

That is all very, very odd. Just a few ideas, in the order I'd suggest you try and then check whether the problem fixed before trying the next one. But I'd recommend you first always try anything that Battlefront tech-support say themselves before doing any of the following. And please note, I am not setting myself up here as an expert and the following is entirely at your own risk - I'm just saying what I'd do in your place, given that you still have a problem. And if you are under 18 or not computer-savvy I'd strongly recommend letting an adult who knows about these things do them for you:-

1) Check your disk for errors: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Check-a-drive-for-errors

2) Run Windows update and any other update system that your computer manufacturer provides.

3) Look for and install a newer graphics driver or Directx update - this might auto-fix any glitches with your current versions.

4) Before re-installing CMBB, did you remove any new software that you've installed since you last played the game successfully, or undo any changes to your graphics settings that you (or another game you installed) altered since you last played CMBB successfully?

5) Did you thoroughly uninstall (restart computer afterwards, delete any remaining folders, and run a registry cleaner to remove any remaining hidden files) before installing CMBB again?

6) When you rolled-back your graphics driver, did you roll back to an old enough version? (you may have been unlucky if the last roll-back only took you to an update that just happened to occur after you last played the games ok).

7) Make sure you don't have two different antivirus or spyware programs running at the same time. You may have had a free-trial version of say McAfee or Norton that you let lapse in favour of a didfferent program but they didn't uninstall properly. Then update the program you have, and check to see if there is any advanced setting within the antivirus that now stops certain programs (i.e. CMBB or CMAK) from running.

8) (or possibly first if you already have one) - use a registry checker/cleaner.

9) If all else fails, I hate using System Restore but try using it to go back to the most recent point before the day you knew the games worked ok. If this works, then either your registry got corrupted or another new program or program update messed things up and you'll need to figure out by trial and error which one it was.

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Before attempting the next steps, just try leaving your computer be for a few weeks - it may be that an automatic update of some sort didn't install properly or had some glitch or oversight that the next update patch could fix it. This happened with my brother's Dell (running Vista) last year.

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10) Consider re-installing your system (if you are competent enough and know how to do this yourself) from any back-up or original installation disk.

11) Consider that your graphics card or its cooling management (either software or hardware) may be developing a fault. Graphics cards in laptops can get too hot (I've lost one that way and they're hard or impossible to repair if they are integrated into the motherboard). Look for a BIOS update for your computer or other fixes from your computer manufacturer's website, especially if you think the graphics card is getting too hot because the BIOS usually controls cooling. BUT IF YOU HAVE NEVER FLASHED YOUR BIOS and your computer is still under warranty you should let the shop you got it from do it, because if you screw up your BIOS you can kill your computer.

12) Take it to an engineer.

[_Itchy]

Problem solved!

Blame logmein. I was running the logmein client. This has an option to blank the client machine's monitor when a remote session is running. To do so required installing a driver. Whilst not a GPU this did appear in the display adapters list. It was obviously confusing the games as they sought the display adapter. Uninstalling it solved the problem.

My apologies for the hassle, thank you all very much for your help, it was very much appreciated!

[Streety]

Yay! Glad you found it!

[Blazing 88's]

Good stuff.