Could not initializa Direct Draw wrror on SC4 startup. New AMD 7870

[Legosim 14]

I been having this problem with Sim City 4 with my new graphics card. It is an AMD 7870 Ghz edition.

before I explain more, my specs are:

Windows 7 Home Prem 64, 8Gb RAM 1333 mhz, Intel i7 2700K, AMD radeon 7870.

before my graphics upgrade I had an AMD system with a AMD 965 CPU, which ran SC4 perfectly with the AMD 6870.

then upgraded my PC to an INtel i7 2700K w/ 6870 and in hardware mode the cities would load incredibly fast, but buildings would disapear when I move the view and reappear again. Very annoying so I stuck with software mode.

Now my current problem is my new graphics card, the AMD 7870. When launching SC4 I an greeted with an error.

Says Hardware Driver Error on the top bar and Could not Initialize Direct Draw in the white box. I press ok and the game starts fine.

Any clue on how to fix this error? I read a tutorial on adding my graphics card to the Video Cards SGR file, but no luck.

Uninstalled and reinstalled SC4 and my 7870 drivers and no luck.

I know it is a minor error and an old game on a space ship PC, but any help on how it can be fixed will be appreciated greatly.

[nukeu123 307]

update Direct x ? or incompatible video out put

[Legosim 14]

update Direct x ? or incompatible video out put

Direct X is up to date, even installed the Direct X 9 files.

[PBGV103 729]

What resolution are you playing at? I've received that message when playing at resolutions greater than 1920x1080, ie., 2560x1600 or 3360x1050 (across two monitors). From what I can tell the Directx 9 driver can handle the resolution so it switches the game to software rendering.

[Legosim 14]

What resolution are you playing at? I've received that message when playing at resolutions greater than 1920x1080, ie., 2560x1600 or 3360x1050 (across two monitors). From what I can tell the Directx 9 driver can handle the resolution so it switches the game to software rendering.

In desktop and other games Im at 1600 x 900. In SC4 I run it at 1024 x 768. All the other resolutions produce the same error

Also Ran SC4 with my Intel graphics, and the same. Maybe Direct X is corrupt? I'll have to look up how to get rid of direct X and so a fresh install.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Did you try it with openGL? -d:opengl

[Legosim 14]

Did you try it with openGL? -d:opengl

How I do that?

[jdenm8 362]

You add -d:opengl to the shortcut path after the ""'d file route. It tells the game to start in OpenGL mode, not DirectX mode.

Also, the buildings disappearing and reappearing on the 6870 is something I have too. It's nothing major and as graphics cards move further away from SC4 it'll get worse and worse.

All it is is the game loading the other rotations. That's it.

[Legosim 14]

You add -d:opengl to the shortcut path after the ""'d file route. It tells the game to start in OpenGL mode, not DirectX mode.

Also, the buildings disappearing and reappearing on the 6870 is something I have too. It's nothing major and as graphics cards move further away from SC4 it'll get worse and worse.

All it is is the game loading the other rotations. That's it.

So I add " -d:opengl" after where it says start in: C:\PROGRA~2\Maxis\SIMCIT~1\ or in the target box ?

When I right click the icon and select properties

  Edited June 18, 2012 by Legosim  

[jdenm8 362]

In the Target box after the " character at the end.

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Remember that each option you add is separated from the preceding ones and the pathname by a single space, and each option starts with a hypen (-). Example:

"C:/Program Files/Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe/Apps/SimCity 4.exe" -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -d:software -CPUcount:1

All on one line, of course.

  Edited June 19, 2012 by A Nonny Moose  

[Legosim 14]

Remember that each option you add is separated from the preceding ones and the pathname by a single space, and each option starts with a hypen (-). Example:

"C:/Program Files/Maxis/SimCity 4 Deluxe/Apps/SimCity 4.exe" -intro:off -CustomResolution:enabled -r1920x1080x32 -d:software -CPUcount:1

All on one line, of course.

Thanks I can run SC4 in better resolutions now. Even with OpenGl I still get the same error on start up though.

  Edited June 20, 2012 by Legosim  

[A Nonny Moose 8,262]

Clearly, the game splash screen wants directx but you avoid the problem by running with opengl once the command line interpreter kicks in. Says something about the poor programming of the command line scan.