Skyrim is giving me the error 'Failed to initialize Renderer'

[teh_ghost]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum. I'm hoping someone can help me fix the issues i'm having with my Skyrim.

Let me start by saying I've had Skyrim for over a year and have had no problems running it in the past. I haven't played it in a while and when I tried to run it today these issues presented themselves.

My specs are an i7 3770k, 8 GB DDR3 1600, Radeon HD 6950 2GB. I am running Windows 7 64-bit. I also have a 128gb SSD that I use just for windows and some programs. My steam games are installed in a second hard drive.

When I click play on the game, the launcher comes up. I click play and get the following error message. - "Failed to initialize renderer.
Your display doesn't support the selected resolution. Please set a different
resolution in Skyrim's Launcher under 'Display Settings'."

I click play again and bring up the launcher. I click on 'options'. The default aspect ratio is 16:10 and the default resolution is 1024x640(letterbox). The windowed mode box is not checked.

I change the aspect ratio to that of my monitor 16:9 and resolution to that of my monitor 1080p. Then I click 'ok'. I then click play and again get the same error message.

I bring up the launcher again and noticed the settings are back to the default. I change them again to the correct ones then click ok. Just to test I click options and I see they are back to the default.

Whatever changes I make in the options don't work. They revert to the default settings.

I also tried checking the windowed mode box to see if that works but no, that change also doesn't work. It just goes back to the default and then when I click play it gives me the error message.

I tried going into the SkyrimPrefs.ini file and made the following changes. bFull Screen=1
iSize H=1080 iSize W=1920

After doing that I hit play and again same error. changing that file does nothing.

Please help.

[wBaRaTo]

hi guys this happen to me when i uninstall the nvidia driver....i was already using and amd video card

then i install the ati driver, and it works ok

[Zefram Cochrane]

"Failed to initialise rendereer" is caused by the game not recognising either your monitor, resolution or your graphics device...

Open the game Launcher, goto Options, click "Default" button and let it re-detect your hardware.

...just incase someone else googles this.

[SLUGGERJF]

hey guys, I recently had this issue with every game on steam, it was extremely annoying and nothing helped, I knew for a fact my mods had nothing to do with it and that I had never tweaked any files, after about 11 hours of downloads tutorials and kissing my beautiful Alienware X51 goodbye, I remembered. I had recently downloaded windows 8.1 and it screwed up compatibilities concerning monitors (I used to use a TV as a monitor via hdmi) now the only way to take off windows 8.1 is to reset your computer, this will remove all apps such as McAfee, but will not remove your games on steam or their saves, you will be able to get apps like McAfee back and to their original state by redownloading them and using the password that you were given. to reset your computer simply go to Settings-Change PC Settings-General-Remove Everything and Reinstall Windows, click get started and choose one of the options (remove all files or keep some, I don't remember the options) and wait for it to reset, set up your existing Microsoft account, redownload steam, open your existing profile, redownload your games from your Library. its a long process but if you cant get rid of this issue then its your only option, hope I helped because I know this issue almost brought me to tears

[★Kelvy★]

Double clicking on game twice may cause this, because the computer is now reading and trying to load the game twice, remove icon at bottom of window page and let game load the second time, should be fine.

[ohhellno13]

Publicado originalmente por teh_ghost:

I don't have any mods installed. Also, I already confirmed the DirectX
install as well as the vcredist and dotnetfx. This didn't solve the
problem.

However, I was able to solve the issue yesterday.

The problem was the SkyrimPrefs.ini file was set to read only. But not the
one in my steamapps.The file located in - steamapps>common>skyrim>Skyrim, *was not* set to read only.

The file with the problem was located in - documents>My Games>Skyrim. Both
files SkyrimPrefs.ini and Skyrim.ini were set to read only. I unchecked the
read only box from both files and the problem was fixed.
I then was able to change the aspect ratio and resolution and the changes
were saved. I can now play the game with no issues.

Thank you so much for your help!

Thank you so much for this I realize that it is a year old but after updating my graphics card I had this issue and I spent two weeks trying so many different (And complicated) solutions and your simple fix worked like a charm. THANK YOU!!!!!

[Jujsjtjijn]

i have the same problem but use mods with MO. this only recently started happening and i have no idea how to fix it. but i run it though SKSE


help pls

[Circe Invidiosa]

Has anyone fixed this yet I've tried all of the above?

[whitemorn123]

Did you perhaps change (upgrade) your windows operating system? To me it sounds like your video card may have been adjusted to prevent the game, or you changed your directx version, because if you have not played for awhile, it could be because you installed a new game that changed your directX version automatically. I think either version 9, or 11 is one of the ones you need. 9 works more stablely, depending on your system, but I run 11 just fine.

[R0AHN]

Hello everyone!

I recently ran into this issue myself. I was able to trace my issue down to a piece of software interfering with the renderer.

If you use any piece of hardware that requires the DisplayLink Core software (e.g. an external video card, the HP U160 USB monitor, some video glasses) then you may need to uninstall that software before playing the game. This will show up in your Programs and Features (for Windows 7 and 8/8.1 users) on the Control Panel.

This is a very specific fix and won't apply for most users, but it's definitely something to look out for!

[Shrapnel]

Publicado originalmente por Kelvy:

Double clicking on game twice may cause this, because the computer is now reading and trying to load the game twice, remove icon at bottom of window page and let game load the second time, should be fine.

this is the only time I see this message, and it sounds like its related to the skyrim trying to use resources already in use/ or unrecognized?

[Abyss_Walker]

Publicado originalmente por R0AHN:

Hello everyone!

I recently ran into this issue myself. I was able to trace my issue down to a piece of software interfering with the renderer.

If you use any piece of hardware that requires the DisplayLink Core software (e.g. an external video card, the HP U160 USB monitor, some video glasses) then you may need to uninstall that software before playing the game. This will show up in your Programs and Features (for Windows 7 and 8/8.1 users) on the Control Panel.

This is a very specific fix and won't apply for most users, but it's definitely something to look out for!

I have an Oculus Rift. I don't have DIsplayLink Core anywhere, I don't see it, but would your explanation be relevant to my issue? My TV is only 720p and my Rift is 1080p I think. So is that causing some kind of disruption?

[trok_123]

Hello, guys just had this happen to me, what I did was back up all my files into another Drive (mods and saves) then got rid of everything Nexus and skve and all that good jazz. When nothing was on my C:/drive Skyrim related I reinstalled the game. started fresh. Afterwards, I noticed the thing still kept popping up. I thought mabey turning the computer off might have some effect on it, AND IT DID!. Works fine now

Hope this helps, by the way I did not have to download any of these upgrade your video card.

[Arwo15]

http://help.bethsoft.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/25516
this link might be helpfull

[Toko]

i have had the same error message. i downloaded and installed it from my steam account since i no longer have the game itself.

[Hotshark4]

Publicado originalmente por teh_ghost:

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum. I'm hoping someone can help me fix the issues i'm having with my Skyrim.

Let me start by saying I've had Skyrim for over a year and have had no problems running it in the past. I haven't played it in a while and when I tried to run it today these issues presented themselves.

My specs are an i7 3770k, 8 GB DDR3 1600, Radeon HD 6950 2GB. I am running Windows 7 64-bit. I also have a 128gb SSD that I use just for windows and some programs. My steam games are installed in a second hard drive.

When I click play on the game, the launcher comes up. I click play and get the following error message. - "Failed to initialize renderer.
Your display doesn't support the selected resolution. Please set a different
resolution in Skyrim's Launcher under 'Display Settings'."

I click play again and bring up the launcher. I click on 'options'. The default aspect ratio is 16:10 and the default resolution is 1024x640(letterbox). The windowed mode box is not checked.

I change the aspect ratio to that of my monitor 16:9 and resolution to that of my monitor 1080p. Then I click 'ok'. I then click play and again get the same error message.

I bring up the launcher again and noticed the settings are back to the default. I change them again to the correct ones then click ok. Just to test I click options and I see they are back to the default.

Whatever changes I make in the options don't work. They revert to the default settings.

I also tried checking the windowed mode box to see if that works but no, that change also doesn't work. It just goes back to the default and then when I click play it gives me the error message.

I tried going into the SkyrimPrefs.ini file and made the following changes. bFull Screen=1
iSize H=1080 iSize W=1920

After doing that I hit play and again same error. changing that file does nothing.

Please help.

- Permissions was the problem

1. C:\Users\[user]\Documents\my games
2. right click, properties
3. Security - Advanced
4. Click 'Change' next to owner
5. Find your username, if not there click advanced, find now and administrators
6. Click ok, check "Replace owner on subcontainers and objects"
7. Go back to 'skyrim' folder properties, security then click 'edit' on system
8. check full control box with all groups&users
9. should be done.. lemme know