Could not initialize graphics display

[skelley]

I have all modules loaded on my new laptop:Qosmio X505-Q850, Intel® Core™ i7-720QM,

Windows® 7 Home Premium (64-bit), 6GB DDR3 memory, NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 250M with 1GB GDDR5 discrete graphics memory. When I try to start it up I get this error: Could not initialize graphics display. REQUIRED: 1024 x 768, 32-bit color. I changed my screen res to 1024 x 768 through nvidia control panel and got same error. Tried to change the screen res through the game display notepad thing. set it to 1920 1080 0. Not sure what the extra zero is for so I left it zero. Still got the same error. What am I doing wrong? I am running as administrator also. I searched helpdesk but could not find anything. Thanks

[Schrullenhaft]

Do you know what video driver you have installed ? Is it something that came with the Toshiba ? It sounds as if it can't find any OpenGL drivers.

You may want to see if this benchmark, Furmark 1.6.5, will run on your system. If it gives a similar error to CMSF, then I suspect there is something wrong with the video drivers.

You may want to install the 186.03 Driver for Notebooks, however there's a good chance that it won't work since your laptop is pretty new. Otherwise you may want to try the 195.62 Driver for Notebooks, which should hopefully be new enough to support your particular video card. However I don't see it listed in the 'Supported Products', so you may have to use the Toshiba drivers off of their website. Hopefully there is support for OpenGL. It's possible that Toshiba decided not to support OpenGL and contracted for a driver that didn't have it (though that doesn't sound all too likely).

[skelley]

Thanks for the feedback. I ran the Furmark test and it worked fine. The drivers do have to be downloaded from Toshiba. This is what is says at Nvidia: The manufacturer of this system requires that you download the driver for your GPU from their support site.

The GeForce M series and GeForce Go series notebook GPUs use drivers that have been customized by the notebook manufacturers to support hot key functions, power management functions, lid close and suspend/resume behavior. NVIDIA has worked with some notebook manufacturers to provide notebook-specific driver updates, however, most notebook driver updates must come from the notebook manufacturer. Additionally, the desktop GeForce graphics drivers will not install on Geforce M series and Quadro M series notebook GPU's.

All other games are working fine on this machine: Call of Duty WaW and Hearts of Iron III.

[skelley]

My drivers are 187.23

[pcelt]

Im no expert but the 3rd number (0) should be refresh rate (eg 60 ) shouldnt it?

May be of no help .......

Cheers

[Schrullenhaft]

Yes, the third number is the refresh rate, however he was seeing a problem before editing the 'display size.txt' file.

skelley - Return the 'display size.txt' file back to all zeroes ('0 0 0'). It is only necessary to edit this file if you want CMSF to run at a particular resolution that isn't offered 'discretely' in the menus, but you don't want to run it at your desktop resolution either.

Were you able to 'activate the license' when you launch CMSF ? There should have been a dialog box when you launched CMSF to 'license' the game and until you do this the game doesn't launch. So I assume you have gotten past this point already and have 'successfully' licensed the game.

If you have a 'Preferences.pfc' file in your CMSF directory, go ahead and delete that (it may not exist).

What resolution and refresh rate are you currently running at ? Do you have a second display hooked up and running ? If you do, please disable it to see if that helps (which may require a reboot to 'remove' the display).

Have you changed any of the default settings in the Nvidia Control Panel's 'Manage 3D Settings' portion ? Generally the defaults should work with CMSF on almost any Nvidia card.

[skelley]

resolution is 1920X1080 @ 60H. No extra monitor. I changed display file back and deleted pref file, restored all default settings for Nvidia and still same error.

I was able to license each time but instead of launching I chose to quit. Do you have to patch at anytime prior to 1.21? I loaded CMSF, Marine and Brit, on in succession then updated to 1.21

[Schrullenhaft]

We usually recommend patching CMSF to version 1.10 before installing modules, though the Marines module is at this version too. However, even if you missed installing the 1.10 patch for CMSF it should give you an error of "Could not initialize graphics display".

If you have the time you may want to download and try the Shock Force (1.20) Demo. See if this runs or gives you the same error. If it gives you the same error, then there may be some sort of issue with your video drivers and CMSF. If it DOES run, then something seems to be getting messed up with CMSF.

In that case you may want to UNLICENSE CMSF (and EACH module that you used a license key for - unlicense the modules first) and uninstall them. Then follow this order of installing:

1) Install CMSF base game (may be a 1.01 or slightly later version).

2) License CMSF (assuming you're using the Battlefront version).

3) Check to see if CMSF runs and check its version (on the main menu, on the bottom-center).

4) If it runs then install the 1.10 patch (for the appropriate distribution - i.e. - Paradox or Battlefront, etc.).

5) Check CMSF again to make sure it is running properly.

6) Install the Marines + British Forces bundle (I assume it is the bundle you have and not individual modules).

7) Launch CMSF and it should ask you to license the bundle, make sure you get a "success" message.

8) Launch CMSF and see if the Marines LAV and British Challenger icons show up in the main menu in the lower left corner. Check to see if you can see and open the appropriate Marines and British battles.

9) Install the 1.21 patch and make sure that the drop-down selection has "Update CMSF + Marines + British modules".

10) Check to see if the icons are still loading and that you can see and open the appropriate battles.

If the Shock Force Demo gives you the same error, then I can only assume that the video drivers are having some sort of strange compatibility problem. If the Furmark benchmark ran I would have thought that CMSF should have ran too (they're both OpenGL applications). Is there only one driver available from Toshiba or is there more than one driver posted on their website for download ? If there is more than one, you may want to download an older driver. You could possibly download and run the OpenGL Viewer which gives you details on your OpenGL driver. Another thing to try may be the Vulpine GLmark, an OpenGL benchmark, though it is quite dated.

[skelley]

I downloaded demo with the same results. I tried OpenGL viewer but there wasn't a version for windows 7. Vulpine GLmark stopped working every time I tried it.

[Schrullenhaft]

Did you download the OpenGL Viewer even though the listing was for Windows XP/Vista ? I believe, though I haven't confirmed, that it should work regardless.

Were you able to install Vulpine GLmark or was there an issue there too ?

Are you right-clicking and selecting "Run as administrator" when you launch these utilities ? It may not be absolutely necessary, but it might help.

[skelley]

I downloaded OpenGL viewer and it worked. My OpenGL version is 3.1NVIDIA 187. Driver version is 8.15.11.8723 Forceware 1, 24-Aug-09. Vulpine quits everytime I run it. I am running as admin on everything.

[bowen42]

Skelly , how did you install and what CM games are on that laptop?I got that same error message because I did not re-install in the proper order.I dld Brits after I was patched upto 1.21 , which sent it back to 1.20 which for whatever reason my computer did not take a likeing too.I uninstalled everything, installed CMsf and Marine to 1.11, installed Brits to 1.20, then patched all to 1.21, that worked for me, Im no genius like Schullencraft, by the way thanks for your prompt answers, but that worked for me. Good luck

[skelley]

I can try reinstalling it, but I am pretty sure I installed CMSF then Marines then Brits then Patched to 1.21. I even get the error running the Demo. I hope I am not screwed for the WWII version. The only reason I bought these 3 was to see the engine working and to support the franchise so that this Normandy could be made. Hopefully Toshiba will update drivers. I can always play them on my Mac Pro but would really rather play on the laptop.

[Schrullenhaft]

Sorry I haven't responded lately. The Vulpine Benchmark seems to be non-functional if you're running anything newer than Windows 2000 (or possibly earlier Service Pack versions of XP). So what you experienced with it seems par for the course at this point and not an indication of a faulty OpenGL implementation in the video driver (as of yet).

Since you're seeing the same problem with the demo, I'm not sure what to recommend. The demo doesn't use any eLicense software, so that couldn't be blocking the functioning of the game (as happens on occasion with the full version). The demo is up to version 1.20, with elements of all three modules in it, but no need for any patches. So it would see that patching isn't responsible for the error.

I don't think off-hand that there is anything in any of the newer patches that would cause problems of this nature. In other words I don't believe an older version of the game would work, whereas a newer version would give an error that you're experiencing.

For the full version have you added some of the executable files to the DEP (Data Execution Prevention) settings ? Here are some Knowledgebase instructions on setting DEP. Making these changes is usually useful for the eLicense code since what it does can specifically violate some DEP guidelines. In the case of the demo, I wouldn't think that it would help, however I suggest adding the demo's executable too.

The files to add to DEP would be:

'\Windows\Runservice.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\CM Shock Force.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules\CMSF Marines Module.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules\CMSF British Module.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force Demo\CM Shock Force DEMO.exe'

If your anti-virus offers some sort of 'exclusion list/rules' add the following files:

'\Windows\Runservice.exe'

'\Windows\mmfs.dll'

'\Windows\lcmmfu.cpl'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\CM Shock Force.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules\CMSF Marines Module.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules\CMSF British Module.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force Demo\CM Shock Force DEMO.exe'

[skelley]

I finally got around to trying this. I was able to add:

'\Windows\Runservice.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\CM Shock Force.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules\CMSF Marines Module.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Modules\CMSF British Module.exe'

'\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force Demo\CM Shock Force DEMO.exe'

Opened the CMSF with same results.

I tried to add the virus stuff but in windows 7 I can only add .exe files to the DEP. I can't type in the file paths it makes me pick the files from a pop up window.

Also when I start up CMSF I get a user account control popup asking if i want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer.

[Schrullenhaft]

Also when I start up CMSF I get a user account control popup asking if i want to allow the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes to this computer.

When you launch the game I'd suggest right-clicking on the shortcut/executable and selecting "Run as administrator". Even if your account has administrative-level privileges, this can be necessary. Have you been saying 'Allow' to this dialog box when it comes up ? The "changes" that this program may be making is to write files into the '\Program Files (x86)' directory, which goes against UAC.

I'm not sure if 'Run as adminstrator' will do anything about the "Cannot initialize graphics" error that is the heart of the problem here.

[skelley]

Yes I have been allowing changes. I have Norton 360 installed on it so I don't know whether I need to put that other info into DEP and I don't know how to go about it. Another thing about this computer is that it has a solid state HD 64 gig and and 300 gig normal drive. I have my system on the SS drive which is my C drive. Everything I want to install it tries to install on my C drive and I redirect it to my other drive, so I don't know if it writes to the (x86) directory. I don't know much about PCs because I mainly use Mac... which are a hell of a lot more simple than Windows.

[Schrullenhaft]

Where do you have CMSF installed to ? Typically for a Windows 64-bit version it will get installed to '\Program Files (x86)\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force'. There is also a '\Program Files' directory, but I'm not sure what Windows stuffs into there unless it is native 64-bit applications.

The DEP stuff I've listed will change a bit in that you have a different directory than what I've listed, but the executable file names will be the same. Here's our instructions on DEP (from our Knowledgebase).

Another way to access the DEP Setting is Start Menu > Control Panel > System control panel > 'Advanced system settings' (menu to left) > Advanced tab > Performance section > click on 'Settings..' button > Data Execution Prevention tab.

However you say you're able to license successfully, so DEP probably isn't the issue. I somewhat doubt that the Norton 360 would be the problem either, though it might. If your laptop has Norton 360 version 3.0, then it might have a feature called Norton Insight. You may want to run it and see if it is having issues with any of the above listed executable files.

Norton 360 v. 3.0 Insight instructions

With FurMark running it would suggest that your OpenGL is working properly, but it is strange that you're getting an error where the graphics can't be initialized and it mentions lack of support for a minimum resolution.

You might want to try this additional test to see if it helps, though even if it passes or fails I'm not sure if it is fully applicable to the issue that CMSF is having:

Simple OpenGL tester

Flight Gear - Open Source OpenGL flight simulator (mirror 2 seems a decent speed)

[Marwek77 aka Red Reporter]

Hello,

i have same problem, running fresh new Windows7 64-bit with Ati radeon HD 5870 driver 8.681.0.0 and i think licensing proces was ok. Cannot i simple download some driver for OpenGL?

[Marwek77 aka Red Reporter]

I have it!

I installed base game, later Marines, later Brits and finaly patched to 1.21 to directory of my choice and gave administrator rights with right click on icon. Then license process for Brits started and after i gave license key and launched the game this error pop-up. I played with settings in compatibility part in this right click menu. You will find some option to switch off some DPI settings (5th option from 5 possible) and i checked it. When i started the game another license process for Marines started BUT GAME ITSELF STARTED TOO! Without e-licensing it... strange... I exit the game and finished licensing of Marines and now it starts directly, again some small problem with battlefront video, but it works now...

Try it nad let me know. My Win7 is ultimate so i dont know if this option is everywhere.

Good fight!

[skelley]

I uninstalled and reinstalled into my (x86) folder on my c drive. Now when launching i get an error 0xc0000005. I don't even get to the licensing part of it. What is this error?

[skelley]

I got it to work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just went to compatibility in properties and checked the box disable display scaling on high dpi settings. I haven't even licensed it yet and the game started up anyway. Only problem is that it is really high res.