Game fails to start with "run with /safe mode" message

[Shaureith]

On forum there are few topics that are related to this error, but I wasn't lucky with any of them.

Spent a bit of time on google and finally was able to find solution here [www.matrixgames.com]


Turns out this game doesn't like all screen resolutions - but it's using them by default :)

Just go to /data folder, find file ufo-et.ini and open it with some editor (for example notepad, or notepad++)

In file find lines for width and height and modify them for example like this:

height=600
width=800

After saving the file try to run the game again

In my case it worked :)
Note: don't worry, you don't have to play in 800x600 resolution - you can change it later inside the game - I switched to windowed mode after starting the game and it still works :)

Hopefully this will help somebody in future :)

[NUTATCO]

How did you managed to run it in windowed mode?

[Shaureith]

Originally posted by Savage Garden Hose:

How did you managed to run it in windowed mode?

1. change the width and height settings in the ufo-et.ini
2. launch game - but don't use Steam app to start it! As far as I noticed Steam app is changing those values back which again - breaks starting the game. Find UFO_ET.exe in the folder above `data` folder and start it
3. In my case I got a full screen mode with very bad resolution - with such settings I'm open in game Settings (in the main menu just after starting the game) and there I have Screen Resolution options - I click "+" button to maximum and there I got a windowed mode

I will try to make some graphics to show it

[Shaureith]

I uploaded some artworks (screenshots) to my profile which shows in more visual way what to do - hope they will be usefull :)

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2396907819
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2396901648
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2396906814
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2396909265
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2396911773
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2396914021

Additional idea - after customizing settings to your liking - close the game, go to data folder and clone ufo-et.ini file - either to different file path not related to game settings or duplicate it in the same folder with some prefix / sufix in name - for example ufo-et-updated.ini

This way even if you accidentally start game using Steam App you can quickly copy whole file from different location and overwrite the one in game folder, or copy paste it's content :)

[tachpost]

Well I found something interesting. I got at Start the message:
"Failed to initialize graphics engine. try to run UFO: Extraterrestrials with parameter "/safe"

I tried all tipps and tricks. Nothing worked. Till I read that the game has trouble with widescreen monitors. I uninstall all tricks (just DX9 I let it installed) switch my monitor to some older and the game runs perfect with the old 16:9 HD Screen. I changed the resolution to 1920*1080 and switch back to the other Monitor and the game starts...