civilization 4 stopped working. I'm getting an initialize renderer failed error. Check directX installation. Invalid 3d device type.

civilization 4 stopped working. I’m getting an initialize renderer failed error. Check directX installation. Invalid 3d device type. I tried reinstalling the game and the error came back. !](https://d2r1vs3d9006ap.cloudfront.net/s3_images/1733490/civ_4_error_inline.png?1527961653)](https://d2r1vs3d9006ap.cloudfront.net/s3_images/1733490/civ_4_error.png?1527961653)

Hi Pat,

Thanks for reaching out to us, I am sorry this is not working as expected.

I am not 100% sure on your configuration however based on the attached image and your description of the behavior it sounds like Windows is mistakenly trying to use a USB graphics adapter as a 3D accelerated graphics processor. We recommend against using our USB graphics adapters for gaming as they do not support many low level 3D acceleration technologies such including many DirectX and OpenGL.

Sometimes this can be bypassed by running the games in Windowed mode on the native monitor and dragging the window to the external display however this may result in performance degradation.

Another alternative is to disable or disconnect the USB graphics adapter before launching the game. When the game is up and running the external monitor can be reconnected however it will still have performance penalties compared to the native display.

Please let me know which USB graphics products you are using and which displays ( native attached display or USB attached display ) you are running the game on.

Thank you,

Pat
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support

Hello Pat,

We’re closing this thread due to inactivity, but if you have any further questions please feel free to contact support@plugable.com and we’ll be happy to help.

Thanks,

Pat
Plugable Technologies
www.plugable.com/support