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Fatal error: Could not initialize Video !

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eon 2

eon 2

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Jun 3, 2003
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Hi!

I often get "Fatal error: Could not initialize Video !" when I try to start EU2 again after I have exited EU2 normally (?).
After that I get a CTD ! (Pagefault at 017f:0040b94b in EU2.EXE.) Repeating the try repeats the error.
Then I have to restart Windows to fix it.

I have patch 1.07 installed. (Installed original in an empt dir + installed patch 1.07 in the same dir.) Win 98SE.
(This happened also with patch 1.05.)

What could the the cause ? It's very irritating... :mad:

(This happens both when everything seems to be normal at exit from EU2 and when the "Surrender" takes me directly to desktop.)

TIA
Thomas
 
Support issues belong in the support forum!
*Moved
 
Rename your AVI folder to AVI_back.
This should help big time.
If you reboot your system after exiting it will also clear the problem.
Others have reported playing with the resolution can aslo help any lingering problems.
 
No Problem.
 
I'm sorry to say, but it seems it was just a coincidence that the fix helped (or not the only problem), I just got the error again !

I'm using 1280x960 as desktop resolution and 1024x768 as EU2 res. Could that have something to do with the problem ? Is there any connection to which graphic card or driver I use ? (GeForce 2 GTS.)

TIA
Thomas
 
Make sure you have the latest drivers for your card.
Resolution can make a difference, The AVI disable does cut down the apearance of the problem, but may not cure it on all systems.
 
IMO the problem is that EU2 is having trouble terminating DirectX. One thing that helps is having the right OS.

We always had more video problems on win9x than the 32-bit MS OSs. If you have any possibility of going to win2000 I'd go ahead with that.
 
If you are going to upgrade XP is probalely the better bet. :)
 
Maybe eon could try upgrading to DirectX 9.0a

I have done this myself recently (wanted to play Rise of Nations :D), and played EU2 in a new GC yesterday for a couple of hours.

When I was playing using DirextX 8.1, I was unable to terminate EU2 after such a lengthy play session (running on Win98SE). It always gave me three types of failure:

1) Screen goes black, and only a hard reset gives back control.
2) Screen resolution stays at 800x600, the resolution of the last EU2 screen before you quit to the desktop.
3) Some type of exception deep inside DirectX DLL's

In all cases, the system needed a reboot to be able to restart any DirectX enabled game, otherwise I got a failure initialising the video.

To be honest, I must add that this was my first play session with the 11 may beta. For previous sessions, I used earlier versions (be it 1.04, 1.05, 1.06, 1.07 or one of the earlier 1.07 beta's. All these had the same temination problems. So either my DirectX upgrade has fixed the trouble, or Johan has found the cause, implemented a fix in the last beta, and forgot to tell us about it. My bet is on the DirectX upgrade. :D

Jan Peter

PS: I also tested reloading from inside the game several dozen times in this game session. Previously, and espesially at the start of a new GC, after a couple of reloads EU2 would CtD without fail. This time, the game remained stable throughout :D
 
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Good to know, I would have thought with a low end system you would have more problems with DX9.
 
Well, my system is far from low-end, so DirectX 9 gave no trouble. I guess it depends on your graphics board+drivers, if it is supported or not, as that is where most of the new features in DirectX can be found.

As for fixing the cause. As I said, previously it was a sure bet that EU2 would not quit gracefully after playing a couple of hours continuously from the start of a new GC. It did yesterday, so it looks promising. However, this is not proof that the problem has been fixed, as such a case cannot be proven. You can only proof that something is broken, as you get to see when it breaks.

Jan Peter
 
Originally posted by jpd
To be honest, I must add that this was my first play session with the 11 may beta. For previous sessions, I used earlier versions (be it 1.04, 1.05, 1.06, 1.07 or one of the earlier 1.07 beta's. All these had the same temination problems. So either my DirectX upgrade has fixed the trouble, or Johan has found the cause, implemented a fix in the last beta, and forgot to tell us about it. My bet is on the DirectX upgrade. :D
Click to expand...

Definitely the DirectX upgrade... I'm still running on 8.1, and it does the resolution trick about 1/3 of the time (Win98). I'll run off and try 9.0 immediately :)
 
Ran it for a while, did the DirectX crash again (this is with 9.0a). So I don't think upgrading to 9.0a reliably fixes the problem, whatever it is.
 
Have you tried seting the EU2 resolution to 1280x960 ?
 
A small report of my (lack of) success:

* I installed DirectX 9.0a. First it seemed to help, but then the error started to appear. :(

* I downloaded and installed the latest driver for my ASUS 7700 Deluxe (Geforce2 GTS). First it seemed to help, but then again the error started to appear. :(

* But at least I can now restart EU2 on the third try. (First "..not initialize Video!" + page fault :( , next retry just page fault/abend :( and finally success at the third try. :)
 
If anyone else has a similar problem, especially if it says fatal error failure to initialize video. Try this. Right click on the Victoria.exe file > Properties > Compatibility > Select reduced color mode 16 bit
 
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