Widescreen Gaming Forum

Getting an error while starting the game...

----

Initialization Failed
Direct3D initialization failed. Possible causes:
Old or corrupted graphics driver.
Direct3D improperly installed.
Hardware acceleration disabled.
Starting the application with the workstation locked.

Please check the log file for more information.

----

I reinstalled DirectX 9.0C, and I have the newest drivers for my 6800, Hardware Accel is not disabled (of course). But still get the error. I did some looking around, and found that some other people getting the error, also had Widescreen Monitors, and I think (6800's) like me. So that looks to be the problem. There's been a solution floating around, that seems to work for some, but not others....and its....

Create a text file in the - MygamesAO3Startup folder, call it user.cfg, and add the line - xres=1024. Some people have reported that it works, and then allows you to change the res in the game (which seems to support widescreen ironically).

But I still get the error, even with that hack. Anybody else getting the error, and/or found a solution?

Same here. Same error.
I am sure the problem isn't on my side as I could run every Direct3D test in dxdiag utility and did not have any problems with other games.

The weird thing is I am using GeForce 6800 Ultra, same generation as yours
Newest 77.77 driver as well.

Perhaps it is a driver problem... gotta ask nVidia

Ah. I made it worked for me thanks.

In user.cfg I added a line yres=1050 as well

So my Dell 2005FPW can run native at 1680*1050

My user.cfg file has 2 lines:
xres=1680
yres=1050

and that worked for me

Hmmmm...I just tried that, and I still get the error. :( I have a 20" Apple CD...so my res is 1680x1050 as well. But I still get the error.

Found a solution that worked for me....

You have to go into the -

?: Documents and SettingsMy DocumentsMy GamesAge of Empires 3 TrialUsers

...folder, and find the NewProfile.xml file. Open it in WordPad, or NotePad or whatever. Find the line - optiongrfxres, and look at the res there. Mine was set to a weird 1280x768 res, I changed it to 1024x768. And the game booted up fine....then once I was in the game, I was able to change my res to 1680x1050. 8)

I played it last night with my PC at 1920x1200 and worked perfect, very low fps, but playable. All settings to max. Not config file changed, the game accept my native resolution by default.

Athlon 2800+
1GB DDR400 Kingston
ATI 9800Pro (cat.5.8)
Dell Ultrasharp 2405

Can someone help me how to fix this shadow problem, im using an apple 20" cinema display



my spec is :

Athlon 64 3200+
GF 7800 GTX
2GB RAM

Looks like a driver bug. Which driver version are you using? (I think the latest nVidia drivers are 78.03 or something like that...)

Might be an idea to turn shadows off, in the meantime, if changing driver versions doesn't help... ;)

where I can download that driver

The latest 'release' driver is 78.01, and it's on nVidia's website.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_78.01.html

I got to this page by following the relevant 'click the option' dialog at Download Drivers. :)

It's apparently not any different to 77.77, but there is a link to the beta 78.03...

http://www.nzone.com/object/nzone_downloads_winxp_2k_78.03.html

It's up to you whether or not you want to use a beta driver or not. ;)