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So, my new expensive video card doesn't work right

So, I bought a new machine to use as a server.  Needless to say, this required an expensive video card so that I could play the occasional video game on it (an ATI 8500XT Platinum blah blah blah).

I wiped out the existing OS, installed Windows 2003 Server, and installed all of the important software.

At the end, I then threw on a bunch of games.  Didn't really test them or anything, until I got to Age of Mythology, which I've played and completed a number of times, and tried to play it.  The opening video would play, but when you got to what should be the options screen, nothing but black.

After a while, I ran dxdiag, and found a problem.  Direct3D was not enabled, and there was a message saying I should check to see if I had the final driver for my card.

I then spent a day or so hunting down and installing various versions of various drivers, but nothing would make Direct3D enabled.  Finally, I checked out the display control panel applet.

By default, Windows 2003 turns off all but basic hardware acceleration.  Duh.  Once hardware acceleration was set to the maximum, everything ran hunky dory.

So, always check your control panel settings.  It might save a lot of time hunting for drivers.

posted on Sunday, June 04, 2006 8:26 PM
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