Failed to initialize Direct Draw on Setup

[Lightspeed]

Whenever i try to run the setup tool it says it failed to initialize a DirectDraw device.

DirectDraw is working and installed properly. Any way around this, since i dont want to run on standard settings?

[Moogie]

Hiya,

A few questions:

1. What are your system specifications?
2. Which version of DirectX are you using?
3. Have you updated your client (using Updater.exe)?
4. Do you have a DirectX compatable 3D-Card?

[Lightspeed]

1. What are your system specifications?

CPU: Intel P4 2.4 GHz (800 MHz FSB)
RAM: 512 MB (2x256 400 MHz Dual Channeled)
GFX: ATI Radeon 9800 (128 MB version)
MB: ASUS P4C800 Deluxe

2. Which version of DirectX are you using?

DirectX 9.0b

3. Have you updated your client (using Updater.exe)?

Yes.

4. Do you have a DirectX compatable 3D-Card?

I guess so :rolleyes:

[Keldorn]

Well, normally not any game should have problems on a system like that.

But planeshift has been known to sometimes cause problems on Radeon cards. I do not know if this is the problem since you can start the game, and directdraw is more related to directx.

Anyway, you can modify the settings manually if you are unable to do so via the setup app.
If you would like to go fullscreen and/or change your resolution you would add these lines to your planeshift.cfg:
ex:
Video.FullScreen = true
Video.ScreenWidth = 1024
Video.ScreenHeight = 768

hmm, these forums don\'t support ascii, be sure to add a block character between them or it won\'t work. You\'ll see what I mean when you open planeshift.cfg.

[kronon]

If you realy can\'t get direct3d to work. Than you can try setting opengl as your 3d renderer.

[Moogie]

In response to Keldorn\'s post, there is a way around that. Instead of opening the config file with Notepad, use Wordpad. The file will be in its proper format and thus the little ASCII characters won\'t be needed.

[Lightspeed]

okay, i\'ve been messing around with the .cfg files and the game is now finally configured properly

Just thought that maybe there might be a way to get the setup tool to work O.o

[Malekor]

I know this is an old thread, but the reason i\'m posting is it seems everyone just says \"Yeah it\'s broke -heres the work around with wordpad\". This is the newest related thread I could find,and I think i have an idea of whats wrong, just not how to fix it.  

When running the psclient.exe in windows ME I get the exact same Fatal Error: Can\'t Create DirectDrawDevice.

After hacking around a bit I found you can get debbugging information from the psclient.exe by typing -verbose.  So by typing at the command prompt:
psclient -verbose -video=software

You get a whole bunch more than just Fatal error, to keep it short the program is trying to use a software 3d driver from crystal space and it cant find these 4 files:

cssgiimg.dll
cswalimg.dll
csjngimg.dll
csddsimg.dll***

I tried to fix this by downloading crystal space 3d and just copying their drivers into the ps directory.  This was a minor success since I managed to eliminate gripes about 3 of the files.  However the csddsimg.dll file is no where to be found. It didn\'t come with crystal space and it\'s not in the ps directory.  I\'m sure that if i could get this file the Fatal Error problem would be gone.  Anyone who sees this and recognizes any of this or has a clue how to fix it, I would love your input.

laters,
Mal

[lynx_lupo]

1. Well on my radeon, I ca play in hardware mode...just ignoring the setup.

Malekor: those files are irrelevant, PS doesn\'t use them, it\'s a \"faulty\" output. It just means that PS doesn\'t use some of the CS\'s functionalities.
The problem is elsewhere.

[Malekor]

lynx_lupo--1. Well on my radeon, I ca play in hardware mode...just ignoring the setup.

Yeah, I know how to work around it with GL, but I hate editing configs with wordpad, especially when i know there is a gui there to do it for me and the setup utility is all I really want to run.

lynx_lupo--Malekor: those files are irrelevant, PS doesn\'t use them, it\'s a \"faulty\" output. It just means that PS doesn\'t use some of the CS\'s functionalities.
The problem is elsewhere.

Ok, I can believe that the verbose output is wrong, but when  I copied the .dll\'s it seemed to fix everything except the errors related to the one dll I\'m missing.  Anyhow if this is \"faulty\" output, could you at least point me to a thread somewhere that explains it?  

Anyway, Thank you for responding so fast.
Mal
P.S. I\'m not a game designer by any means, I just hate having broken things on my computer especially when the program concept is as cool as ps.

[lynx_lupo]

\"faulty\"...the \"\" are important, you misunderstood me. Those files are IRRELEVANT and so are the erorrs connected with them. PS uses none of those libs. IRRELEVANT, so let go, leave it be.