"Failed to initialize video card"

[Juggernaught203]

I bought the Gold Edition about two days ago from the Steam store, and while Dark Crusade and Soulstorm work perfectly, I just can't seem to get the original DoW or Winter Assault to run. It worked fine the last time I played the boxed version, which was on my previous machine running Vista. My current machine has Windows 8.1 and has an nVidia GeForce GT 640 card.

The problem I have is as follows:
- When I launch the GraphicsConfig.exe, either on first boot after install or manually via the DoW folder, I get the option to select either Safe Mode or Optimal Configuration. Naturally, I selected Optimal Configuration. However, I received the following message when selecting either my actual card or the Default option:
"No suitable display modes were found. Make sure you have a suitable video card and recent drivers."
So, I decided to go back and run it in Safe Mode Configuration. This the program accepted, but when I try and launch the actual game, it gave me the following error message:
"Failed to initialize video card."

I've scoured the internet for possible fixes, and here's what I tried so far:
- Tried all possible compatibility modes, from XP onwards all the way to Windows 8, for both the GraphsConfig and the actual game .exe.
- Run the game and CraphicsConfig.exe as admin.
- Checked for driver updates. They were all up to date.
- Uninstall, delete folders and then download and reinstall the game through Steam.
- Restart the PC.
- Edit the spdx9_config.txt file's content, changing allowdevice from 0 to 1 (even though there was no card listed under the nVidia column)
- Edit the spdx9_config.txt file's name to spdx9_config.old.txt
- Edit the spdx9_config.txt's contents with text from, among other variants, the following link:
http://shootfirstthenjump.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/dawn-of-war-configuration-woes-and.html
- Download a program called 3D-Analyzer to emulate TnL.
- Tried to force the game to use my nVidia card through the Nvidia Control Panel
- Copy the Soulstorm txt files in that game's Drivers folder to the original DoW's Drivers folder after making a backup of the original files.
- Any and all combinations of the above.

To no avail. I still can't get the original game or WI to run for the live of me. As a side note, there were no nvidia.txt or ati.txt files present in the original game's Drivers folder after installing.

I hope someone might have a solution for this, because I was really looking forward to playing through the original and WI campaigns again.

[Chaplain]

i got the same problem.

[ben11113333]

Bump

[Hashishiva]

Yeah, so this problem seems to have no solution yet... I was hoping to play this game again, since I found it in Humble Bundle, so I didn't lose that much moneys :/

[babustango]

This is a SHAME for STEAN and RELIC! I have the same problem with a crossfire hd6970. we need a simple a fix for new gpus... I am a client not a programmer...

[babustango]

??

[thomasgodin]

same problem here!!!!!!!!!!!

[‡ŘΔKŠĦΛĤ‡]

Hi guys

I bought the game yesterday and took me some time to run it, but now it works. I only got Dark Crusade and Soulstorm working by now, but if you start Soulstorm you got most of the other contents to.
Now the steps which worked for me:

1. Go into the drivers folder in the Soulstorm folder, delete the 2 txt files in there.
Now make 3 new txt files and name them "nvidia", "shader" and "spdx9_config".
Those txt files should be empty.
2. Go back to the main folder and start the GraphicsConfig.exe
3. delete the video.ini (dont know if its 100% the name because I deleted mine but you should find it.

Do the same for Dark Crusade.

My Setup is WIndows 8.1 64 Bit and my Grapic Card is Geforce GTX 660 if this helps.
With this I can run the game. If its still not working after this look again for the video.ini maybe it was created again.

Hope this works.
Have fun!

[Hashishiva]

I'll try this, but as I have the Gold-edition, I don't have different folders for the DLC's and they're all in the same place. I reckon you mean the files that are named "shader" and "spdx9_config" are to be destroyed and replaced with blanks? So I'll try that one.

[Hashishiva]

Didn't work. Still doesn't fails to initiate video card.

[‡ŘΔKŠĦΛĤ‡]

I got the problem solved for ya. Works now for me, can play everything now.
I copied the Graphic Config from DoW Soulstorm into the normal DoW Folder and deleted the old one. Also u need to copy the file "dxtc.dll". Now run the Graphic Conifg and delete the video.ini if its created again. The game should start now.
For those who don't have the DLCs I uploaded those 2 files.

http://workupload.com/archive/komHIv2K

Also note that u can't play the game on 1920 solution, only works on 1280 but you can set the details to high, there should be now problem.

Feel free to try it and post results pls.

Have fun!

[Hashishiva]

...not to be rude or anything, but running a random .exe from teh interwebs isn't something I'm going to do. Especially when the guy suggesting I do so has apparently taken his nickname from a hindu demon ;)

[Hashishiva]

Well, I did it anyway, and yes, seems to work. Even at 1920x1080 (the test at least). Thanks! I'm trying the game now.

[Hashishiva]

Yay! The game works! There's a minor issue with some of the objects (buildings, troops) being slightly transparent (this becomes obvious at the army painter, and with close-ups), but nothing too serious. At least the tutorial works fine.
Thanks a ton ‡ŘΔKŠĦΛĤ‡!

[Robifox]

Originally posted by Juggernaught203:

I bought the Gold Edition about two days ago from the Steam store, and while Dark Crusade and Soulstorm work perfectly, I just can't seem to get the original DoW or Winter Assault to run. It worked fine the last time I played the boxed version, which was on my previous machine running Vista. My current machine has Windows 8.1 and has an nVidia GeForce GT 640 card.

The problem I have is as follows:
- When I launch the GraphicsConfig.exe, either on first boot after install or manually via the DoW folder, I get the option to select either Safe Mode or Optimal Configuration. Naturally, I selected Optimal Configuration. However, I received the following message when selecting either my actual card or the Default option:
"No suitable display modes were found. Make sure you have a suitable video card and recent drivers."
So, I decided to go back and run it in Safe Mode Configuration. This the program accepted, but when I try and launch the actual game, it gave me the following error message:
"Failed to initialize video card."

I've scoured the internet for possible fixes, and here's what I tried so far:
- Tried all possible compatibility modes, from XP onwards all the way to Windows 8, for both the GraphsConfig and the actual game .exe.
- Run the game and CraphicsConfig.exe as admin.
- Checked for driver updates. They were all up to date.
- Uninstall, delete folders and then download and reinstall the game through Steam.
- Restart the PC.
- Edit the spdx9_config.txt file's content, changing allowdevice from 0 to 1 (even though there was no card listed under the nVidia column)
- Edit the spdx9_config.txt file's name to spdx9_config.old.txt
- Edit the spdx9_config.txt's contents with text from, among other variants, the following link:
http://shootfirstthenjump.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/dawn-of-war-configuration-woes-and.html
- Download a program called 3D-Analyzer to emulate TnL.
- Tried to force the game to use my nVidia card through the Nvidia Control Panel
- Copy the Soulstorm txt files in that game's Drivers folder to the original DoW's Drivers folder after making a backup of the original files.
- Any and all combinations of the above.

To no avail. I still can't get the original game or WI to run for the live of me. As a side note, there were no nvidia.txt or ati.txt files present in the original game's Drivers folder after installing.

I hope someone might have a solution for this, because I was really looking forward to playing through the original and WI campaigns again.

Hello , I have this problem and trying to solve the problem as you mentioned .

This is a copy of file.
;
; spDx9_config.txt : configuration for the Dx9 PC spooge driver
;

; allowdevice : allows cards to always fail initialization
allowdevice 1

; allowhwtnl : allows hardware TnL to be used
allowhwtnl 1

; allowtfactor : allows the TFactor to be used as a constant colour
allowtfactor 1

; allowhwcursor : allows the use of the Dx8 cursor system
allowhwcursor 1

; allow32bitdisplay : allows 32bit display modes
allow32bitdisplay 1

; disableslowalpha : when alpha flipping is not available, don't allow dest alpha
disableslowalpha 1

; allowrgba4np2 : allows D3DFMT_A4R4G4B4 for NP2 textures
allowrgba4np2 1

; isslowcard : used as a hint to automatic configuration to use lower numbers
isslowcard 1


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; 3dfx
;
;begin vendor 0x121a
; Disabled cards (below min-spec)
; allowdevice 1
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; ATI
;
;begin vendor 0x1002
; allowlookupdudv 0
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; nVidia
;
;begin vendor 0x10DE
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; Matrox
;
;begin vendor 0x102b

; G550
; begin device 0x2527
; allowdevice 1
; end

; G400/G450
; begin device 0x0525
; allowdevice 1
; end
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; Intel
;
;begin vendor 0x8086

; 810 (and 810e)
; begin device 0x7121 0x7123
; allowdevice 1
; end

; Intel(R) 82810E
; begin device 0x7125
; allowdevice 1
; end
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; S3
;
;begin vendor 0x5333

; Savage4
; begin device 0x8a22
; allowdevice 1
; end

; ProSavage
; begin device 0x8A26
; allowdevice 1
; end

; ProSavageDDR
; begin device 0x8D02
; allowdevice 1
; end

; begin device 0x8D04
; allowdevice 1
; end

; Savage 2000
; begin device 0x9102
; allowdevice 1
; end
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; SiS
;
;begin vendor 0x1039

; 315/315e
; begin device 0x0325
; allowdevice 1
; end

; xabre
; begin device 0x0330
; allowdevice 1
; end

; 630/730
; begin device 0x6300
; allowdevice 1
; end

; SIS (M)650, 651
; begin device 0x6325
; allowdevice 1
; end
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; Trident
;
;begin vendor 0x1023
; Blade XP
; begin device 0x9910
; allowdevice 1
; end

; CyberBlade XP
; begin device 0x8820
; allowdevice 1
; end
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; PowerVR
;
;begin vendor 0x104A
;end


;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
; VIA/S3G
;
;begin vendor 0x1106

; UniChrome Graphics, KM400/KN400
; begin device 0x7205
; allowdevice 1
; end

; UniChrome Graphics, KM400/KN400
; begin device 0x9910
; allowdevice 1
; end
;end


However, since I'm not an expert in these things you tell me where I went wrong ? Because it still no run the game
Game Soulstorm Steam

[Robifox]

Hell yeaahhhh i find the way Thank you ‡ŘΔKŠĦΛĤ‡!, it was the last beach