Please Help w/ DirectX Problem!

[VladRM]

Hi,

I get the "Warcraft III is unable to initialize DirectX" error.

I installed W3 on a dell inspiron 1501 laptop with Vista Ultimate and the latest video drivers.

DX info: v10, DDI 9Ex
videocard: integrated ati radeon x1150 (with the latest drivers and catalyst installed)

PS: W3 is running smoothly on my desktop where i have the same build of vista installed and the same directx (but different hardware and drivers)
A firend has a laptop almost identical to mine and is running w3 on XP sp2 dx 9.0c

Please help, I'm stuck!

[razzzor007]

Read THIS (http://www.eurobattle.net/showthread.php?t=56761). You should find a solution.

[VladRM]

I did all that and double checked. I also read all the threads i could find in this forum about this topic and more (google search) before asking for help.

In the mean time i installed Heroes V and it works fine.. (and i belive it requires more resources and up to date drivers than WC3) so i belive it must be WC3 specific problem (or maybe some freaky OS/drives/WC3 compatibility issue).

If anyone else has this problem please post, especially if you have a solution :).

Thank you for the reply razzzor007, i should have mentioned in the first post that i did my homework.

[perito]

then try reinstalling from another CD?

[VladRM]

I did reinstall but from the same cd. I guess i could ask a friend for his copy... but i doubt it will be any different.

I will try anyway, 10x for the sugestion perito.

Note: i'm running this copy of w3 on my desktop and had no problems.

I will post the outcome of the reinstall.
If you guys have any other suggestion, please post.

Thank you for the replys!

[perito]

if the copy is working on another pc, then the problem is not from the cd...
so you're saying, the copy is fine, and the drivers are fine since other games are running fine?
this is weird... I would ask the question in a forum that discusses your VGA... they might help you more than we do...

[VladRM]

I reinstalled from another cd but still no luck.
I'll focus on vista drivers next. The friend i got this copy from has an almost identical laptop (same proc, video card, mb); the diff is that he runs XP sp2. The plan is to search for a solution (in this direction) in the next few days, in time for the next lan party - friday after work. Hopefully i will have a solution by then (if/when i do i will post it here)

[VladRM]

I uninstalled Catalyst AND the video drivers from device manager. Vista automaticly decided to load a somewhat generic driver for the video card and labeled the display adapter "RADEON XPRESS 200 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM)".
Note: My card is X1150

Running out of options i decided to try and run W3 with this somewhat obscure driver. Much to my surprise, it worked!

I am not pleased with this solution because there is a known, dell specific, issue with that driver: display flickers in some situations.

[perito]

try to run other games (heros or something) if they all work, then congratulations :)