Discussion:
Graphics Problems
(too old to reply)
Meredith
2006-05-06 22:02:03 UTC
Permalink
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make sure you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX, restarted my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Cari (MS-MVP)
2006-05-09 17:08:08 UTC
Permalink
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make sure you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX, restarted my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Meredith
2006-05-09 23:45:01 UTC
Permalink
This is Zoo Tycoon 2.
It says that the chip type is ATI RANGE Mobility, if that helps.
Post by Cari (MS-MVP)
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make sure you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX, restarted my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Bill Smiff
2006-05-10 02:24:58 UTC
Permalink
for a laptop?

You can try going to ati.com and downloading the newest driver for it but
most likely it won't do the trick if you're trying to play it on a laptop.
Post by Meredith
This is Zoo Tycoon 2.
It says that the chip type is ATI RANGE Mobility, if that helps.
Post by Cari (MS-MVP)
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make
sure
you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX,
restarted
my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Paul Ballou
2006-05-10 06:22:47 UTC
Permalink
Bill,
What does a laptop have do with it? I have Zoo Tycoon installed on My
laptop and have no problems....
--
Paul Ballou
MVP Office
http://office.microsoft.com/home
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.ballousgiftshop.com

Life would be easier if we could view the source code
Post by Bill Smiff
for a laptop?
You can try going to ati.com and downloading the newest driver for it but
most likely it won't do the trick if you're trying to play it on a laptop.
Post by Meredith
This is Zoo Tycoon 2.
It says that the chip type is ATI RANGE Mobility, if that helps.
Post by Cari (MS-MVP)
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make
sure
you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX,
restarted
my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Bill Smiff
2006-05-12 02:57:29 UTC
Permalink
Because most laptops can't support games because they use an integrated
graphics card and unless you are lucky enough, or paid the price, you will
end up with a 32 meg card that will use part of your memory if it needs more
memory but doing that usually means poor game performance if you can get it
installed.

Just like all PC's are not the same, goes the same way for laptops. I have a
laptop that can run Doom 3 but that doesn't mean that every laptop can,
infact most won't. So in general laptops are not recommended for gaming
although they now have new technology that instead of having an integrated
video card, they make the video card external and therefore upgradeable. Of
course these laptops are not exactly cheap.

Plus as of right now, games themselves, in general, do not support the
graphics chipsets found in laptops.
Post by Paul Ballou
Bill,
What does a laptop have do with it? I have Zoo Tycoon installed on My
laptop and have no problems....
--
Paul Ballou
MVP Office
http://office.microsoft.com/home
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.ballousgiftshop.com
Life would be easier if we could view the source code
Post by Bill Smiff
for a laptop?
You can try going to ati.com and downloading the newest driver for it but
most likely it won't do the trick if you're trying to play it on a laptop.
Post by Meredith
This is Zoo Tycoon 2.
It says that the chip type is ATI RANGE Mobility, if that helps.
Post by Cari (MS-MVP)
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make
sure
you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX,
restarted
my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Paul Ballou
2006-05-12 07:20:44 UTC
Permalink
Bill,
The way you posted implied that games can't be played on laptops.....I
work on laptops everyday and I know some laptops will not play certain games
but do not believe in saying a game can not be played on laptop without
knowing the specs of the machine and having tested the game with a machine
of the same or similar specs....
--
Paul Ballou
MVP Office
http://office.microsoft.com/home
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.ballousgiftshop.com

Life would be easier if we could view the source code
Post by Bill Smiff
Because most laptops can't support games because they use an integrated
graphics card and unless you are lucky enough, or paid the price, you will
end up with a 32 meg card that will use part of your memory if it needs
more memory but doing that usually means poor game performance if you can
get it installed.
Just like all PC's are not the same, goes the same way for laptops. I have
a laptop that can run Doom 3 but that doesn't mean that every laptop can,
infact most won't. So in general laptops are not recommended for gaming
although they now have new technology that instead of having an integrated
video card, they make the video card external and therefore upgradeable.
Of course these laptops are not exactly cheap.
Plus as of right now, games themselves, in general, do not support the
graphics chipsets found in laptops.
Post by Paul Ballou
Bill,
What does a laptop have do with it? I have Zoo Tycoon installed on My
laptop and have no problems....
--
Paul Ballou
MVP Office
http://office.microsoft.com/home
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.ballousgiftshop.com
Life would be easier if we could view the source code
Post by Bill Smiff
for a laptop?
You can try going to ati.com and downloading the newest driver for it
but most likely it won't do the trick if you're trying to play it on a
laptop.
Post by Meredith
This is Zoo Tycoon 2.
It says that the chip type is ATI RANGE Mobility, if that helps.
Post by Cari (MS-MVP)
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make
sure
you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX,
restarted
my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Cari (MS-MVP)
2006-05-14 18:31:12 UTC
Permalink
I can play Sims2 on my notebook and we all know the graphics requirements on
that one.

Updated drivers for graphics chipsets in notebooks should always be obtained
from the website of the notebook manufacturer as each one is built
specifically for the notebook manufacturer and (for example) an ATI chipset
on a Dell notebook may be different from what initially appears to be
exactly the same chipset on a Toshiba notebook.

If you have the option, in the Advanced settings, it helps to be able to use
as much memory for the graphics card as possible. I have mine set at 128mb.
Granted I lose some RAM (because they are shared) but you can always add
RAM, you can't change the chipset since it's part of the systemboard.
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Paul Ballou
Bill,
The way you posted implied that games can't be played on laptops.....I
work on laptops everyday and I know some laptops will not play certain
games but do not believe in saying a game can not be played on laptop
without knowing the specs of the machine and having tested the game with a
machine of the same or similar specs....
--
Paul Ballou
MVP Office
http://office.microsoft.com/home
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.ballousgiftshop.com
Life would be easier if we could view the source code
Post by Bill Smiff
Because most laptops can't support games because they use an integrated
graphics card and unless you are lucky enough, or paid the price, you
will end up with a 32 meg card that will use part of your memory if it
needs more memory but doing that usually means poor game performance if
you can get it installed.
Just like all PC's are not the same, goes the same way for laptops. I
have a laptop that can run Doom 3 but that doesn't mean that every laptop
can, infact most won't. So in general laptops are not recommended for
gaming although they now have new technology that instead of having an
integrated video card, they make the video card external and therefore
upgradeable. Of course these laptops are not exactly cheap.
Plus as of right now, games themselves, in general, do not support the
graphics chipsets found in laptops.
Post by Paul Ballou
Bill,
What does a laptop have do with it? I have Zoo Tycoon installed on My
laptop and have no problems....
--
Paul Ballou
MVP Office
http://office.microsoft.com/home
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.ballousgiftshop.com
Life would be easier if we could view the source code
Post by Bill Smiff
for a laptop?
You can try going to ati.com and downloading the newest driver for it
but most likely it won't do the trick if you're trying to play it on a
laptop.
Post by Meredith
This is Zoo Tycoon 2.
It says that the chip type is ATI RANGE Mobility, if that helps.
Post by Cari (MS-MVP)
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make
sure
you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX,
restarted
my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Bill Smiff
2006-05-14 23:18:41 UTC
Permalink
I really didn't think this was going to be a debate over weather or not a
laptop can play games. I'm just simply stating that laptops by design were
not intended to support gaming. Yes, they have laptops out there now that
are designed to play games and it's going more and more that direction
everyday, but we still are not there yet. All I'm simply saying is that, in
general, you shouldn't count on your laptop being able to play any and every
game out there.

I too work on laptops, computers, servers, etc everyday. As far as the
"average" laptop out there (when you consider that the average gaming rig
only has a 1.4 or 1.5 cpu in it and the average laptop is even slower), it's
most likely not going to work. Refer to my first post. I said that you can
TRY going to ati.com and getting the newest graphics driver, but it most
likely won't do it if you're already having problems installing the game.
Refer to the error "unable to create a graphics renderer." Pointing towards
the video card. Then later on you find out it's using a mobile video card,
points towards a laptop. So just by teching this through a newsgroup and not
actually having the laptop sitting in front of me, I'm drawing the
conclusion that most likely this laptop is not going to support the game.
Maybe I'm wrong, but usually when you have this type of problem it's
hardware related and on a laptop you can't just simply go in and have it
upgraded. Depending on the RAM on the laptop upgrading that might help but
if the installer is not working and pointing towards the video card, you're
probably screwed.
Post by Paul Ballou
Bill,
The way you posted implied that games can't be played on laptops.....I
work on laptops everyday and I know some laptops will not play certain
games but do not believe in saying a game can not be played on laptop
without knowing the specs of the machine and having tested the game with a
machine of the same or similar specs....
--
Paul Ballou
MVP Office
http://office.microsoft.com/home
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.ballousgiftshop.com
Life would be easier if we could view the source code
Post by Bill Smiff
Because most laptops can't support games because they use an integrated
graphics card and unless you are lucky enough, or paid the price, you
will end up with a 32 meg card that will use part of your memory if it
needs more memory but doing that usually means poor game performance if
you can get it installed.
Just like all PC's are not the same, goes the same way for laptops. I
have a laptop that can run Doom 3 but that doesn't mean that every laptop
can, infact most won't. So in general laptops are not recommended for
gaming although they now have new technology that instead of having an
integrated video card, they make the video card external and therefore
upgradeable. Of course these laptops are not exactly cheap.
Plus as of right now, games themselves, in general, do not support the
graphics chipsets found in laptops.
Post by Paul Ballou
Bill,
What does a laptop have do with it? I have Zoo Tycoon installed on My
laptop and have no problems....
--
Paul Ballou
MVP Office
http://office.microsoft.com/home
http://www.freeserifsoftware.com/
http://www.ballousgiftshop.com
Life would be easier if we could view the source code
Post by Bill Smiff
for a laptop?
You can try going to ati.com and downloading the newest driver for it
but most likely it won't do the trick if you're trying to play it on a
laptop.
Post by Meredith
This is Zoo Tycoon 2.
It says that the chip type is ATI RANGE Mobility, if that helps.
Post by Cari (MS-MVP)
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make
sure
you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX,
restarted
my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
Greg
2006-06-08 02:07:01 UTC
Permalink
Your video chip may not be supported
(http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889368). Also, look at
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889367 - you may just need to update your
video drivers.
Post by Meredith
This is Zoo Tycoon 2.
It says that the chip type is ATI RANGE Mobility, if that helps.
Post by Cari (MS-MVP)
What graphics card or chipset do your have and is this in ZT1 or ZT2?
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Windows Client - Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/Windows
Post by Meredith
Every time I click on the icon on my desktop, a black screen pops up, and
then a grey box will appear saying, "Zoo Tycoon was unable to create a
graphics renderer. Please contact your graphics card vendor to make sure you
have the latest driver." I looked it up, and updated my DirectX, restarted my
computer, but it is still happening. Any ideas?
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