Can not initialize 3D engine

[Ula Jolly]

That's what I get. I've been playing SH3 fine, most dandy, for the last couple of years, but today I retried it. I got a weird little error, the SH3-has-had-problem etc, at first that kicked me back to the desktop, so I reinstalled it all. I entered the editor and the game well enough, and didn't play for a while.

I went back to playing the game after I installed Notebook Hardware control - that's the only change I can think of. Upon entering, I now get the message "Can not initialize 3D engine" or something like that. When trying to open the Editor, I ALSO get a SH3 has had a problem and must be shut down-message. This happened also after patching to 1.4b.

Can anyone lend a hand? A search on the forums for this failure message gave me nothing that seemed of value.

(I forgot my hardware-software specs, sorry. Oh, and look at my avatar!)
3-year old Inspiron 6000, 1.6GHz with 1Gb RAM. XP SP2, ATI Mobility Radeon X300 - 128Mb. I also have the June 2007 DirectX9 update.

Further edits, after I googled "can not initialize 3d engine silent hunter" - I run at 1280x800 @ 60Hz, but have tried 1024x760 @ 60 as well. I do not have two monitors, I attempted to delete the two movies in the Intro folder, none of this worked.

From a quick study of the failures people are experiencing, this error message certainly displays for a range of different engine-related issues. This does not particularly help me, but is an interesting bit of information.

[panzer 49th]

Ummmm I have an Inspiron 9300

Specs

Processor: 1.86 Ghz

Video Card: ATI Mobility Radeon X300 64Mb

RAM: 2 x 1Gb

HDD: 74.67 Gb 7200 RPM HDD

It runs fine for me it could possibly be the Direct X update you got
Or it could be video card problem(try updating the drivers)

I get about 60 FPS with GWX 2.0
and about 100 FPS on stock.
If reinstalling it didnt fix it Im dont really have any more ideas what could be causing it.

[Ula Jolly]

I now restarted the computer under safe settings, then restarted again as normal - only this time with a 1024x760 resolution. Now SH3 works. I just set the resolution to 1280x800 and had the editor open. Works. Upon attempting to turn on SH3, this does not return the error - but I haven't tried to actually enter the museum or any such place.
WHY. DOES. A PROGRAM. SUDDENLY rebel against my resolution settings?

As if that wasn't enough, I also lost my avatar.

[Blacklight]

I had this very same problem when I first got SHIII. What I was advised to do by Ubisoft tech support (after about 4 weeks of bantering back and forth) was this:

Try switching yur desktop resolution to 1024x768 in the display properties in Windows, and then try running the game again.

This caused the game to work perfectly and ironically, once it started working, I was able to pop my screen resolution back up to what I had it at and the game still worked. Go figure.

[Ula Jolly]

Originally Posted by Blacklight

I had this very same problem when I first got SHIII. What I was advised to do by Ubisoft tech support (after about 4 weeks of bantering back and forth) was this:

This caused the game to work perfectly and ironically, once it started working, I was able to pop my screen resolution back up to what I had it at and the game still worked. Go figure.

What is your current resolution? I will try one more thing, tomorrow, which is to start the machine in 1024x760, start the game, exit and turn the computer off, and then turn on again to change the setting. Was this what you did? Because to increase the resolution before rebooting did not help me. Thanks for all help.

[AVGWarhawk]

The only time I see "can not initialize 3D engine" is when I get new drivers for my ATI X1300. Perhaps a refresh of your drivers will cure this. I cured the problem by getting a Nvidia card. I never saw that awful message again.