Hi Orinoco - there are 2 parts to Direct3D. One part is the runtime which you downloaded and installed.

The other part is the video driver that is supplied by your video card vendor.

It is possible that your video card does not support the features that MoI needs to run - this might be the case if it is a pretty old card.

But some video cards will work if you update to their latest drivers.

Can you please tell me what kind of video card you have? It is listed under Control Panel / Display / Settings tab, under the Display: Entry.

Another thing you can try is to go to Start / Run and type in "dxdiag.exe" - this runs the DirectX diagnostic program. Once inside there, if you go to the Display tab there is a button for "Test Direct3D". If your button is grayed out or does not pass the tests, it probably means that your video card does not support 3D features.

- Michael

The Graphics card is an Intel(R) 82815 Graphics Controller. I'm running a screen resolution of 1280 by 1024, 16 bit color, belay that, 24 bit color. I've run dxdiag on the advice of a friend on another forum, and passed all the tests. I've also uninstalled and reinstalled both DirectX and MoI. I have no problem running Blender.

The driver is Miniport Driver for Intel Graphics Driver, version 6.13.01.3196 dated 7/23/2002.

INTEL(R) GRAPHICS REPORT


Report Date: 09,01,2007
Report Time[hr:mm:ss]: 19:06:58
Driver Version: 6.13.01.3196
Operating System: Windows NT* 5.1.2600 Service Pack 2
Default Language: English
DirectX* Version: 8.1
Physical Memory: 253 MB
Processor: x86 family 6 Model 11 Stepping 1
Processor Speed: 1196 MHZ
Vendor ID: 0x8086
Device ID: 0x1132
Device Revision: 4

I notice the DirectX version reported is 8.1. How do I update this to version 9?
(I just reran the dxdiag tests: it ran and passed the DirectX 9 interface test.)


Edit: I upgraded DirectX to version 9. The version 9 dlls are now being shown in dxdiag, but the Intel Graphics report has not changed, and MoI still can't run. Passes all the tests. Very frustrating.
Thanks.

Hi Orinoco, I found this description for your video card: http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/intel815/sb/CS-009145.htm

It looks like the main problem is that card only supports 16-bit color for 3D graphics work, and MoI requires 32-bit color.

So I'm sorry but I'm afraid that video card just doesn't appear to have the support that MoI needs to run.

If this is a desktop system, it would be possible to upgrade to a new video card that would do the job. MoI doesn't actually need too fancy of a video card, even newer ones around the $40 range will actually work fine.

Sorry,
- Michael

Thanks for pointing that out. I certainly didn't realize the significance of that bit of information. At least I can stop spinning my wheels trying to find a software solution to a hardware problem. You might want to add "Video card that supports 32 bit 3D color" to the system requirements. I'm sure the latest hardware offerings already include it, but some of us don't bother with upgrading working hardware unless some app forces the issue. It would be good to know that on the way in. Or, if MoI is able to determine why it can't create a Direct3D9 device, the error message could be more specific.

Ummm... Am I missing something? MoI is a modeling program. Why does it need 32 bit color? Everything is shades of grey.

Hi Orinoco - MoI uses your video card for more than just display, it also uses some output from your video card for other purposes such as determining selection.

It's this additional usage that creates the 32-bit requirement.

When I was designing MoI, I had kind of a choice - I could have tried to support a wider range of low powered video cards, but then I wouldn't be leveraging the power that is present in more modern video cards. So I decided to go for kind of a balance - basically I target video cards that are about within 5 years old.

Video cards much older than that are quite a bit less powerful than newer generation ones.

Your one came out 7 years ago, and even then it was actually a pretty "low end" card, not actually a independent card at all but part of the motherboard chipset.

- Michael