I just installed a new graphics card and also installed BOTG following the installation. When I try to run the game, an error comes up saying the game is only compatible with Pixel Shader 1.1.

Surely a graphics card this new can support old tech like Pixel Shader. But how?

Thanks,
Don't know what to do

The 4850 have pixel shaders 4.1 so it should handle it. I'm assuming that you have either DX9 or DX10 installed.

One thing to try is to go into the game directory for BoTG and in the Data folder open the graphics.config file with Notepad . Then add a line for 4850 with the values of 3,0,3.

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Visit Kayssplace for your B&W download needs.

I edited the graphics.config file, but it still won't work...

And I am running DX10.

Also tried changing the value in graphics.config to 4800 3,0,3 but to no avail.

I downloaded the EA Easy Info app, and according to that, my brand new video card is running Pixel Shader as well as Vertex Shader at 1.0.

What's there to do?

Just a thought have you got DX9 installed as well?
I had issues with another game when running DX10 alone, installing DX9 for the onboard graphics card cured the problem for both cards (A690 chipset and HD4670)

Just installed DX9, no luck. Same error. Thx though.

Any more ideas, anyone?

Also, I'm running vista. Saw something about a DX 9.0 L for vista. Downloaded that after 9.0c didn't work. It's been initializing the installation for about 10 minutes now...


Well, it turns out 9.0L won't install because it detects "a newer or equivalent version of DX." So, that's not going to work. Next step, uninstalling BoTG and going from there.

Also, frustratingly enough, B & W 2 won't run either now. Worked fine until I installed BoTG. Weird. Weird and frustrating.

Try reinstalling the graphic driver. AMD/ATI Catalyst 9.7 is the latest version!

Do you have an integrated graphic card on the mainboard as well? If so, you may want to change the priority of the initial display device. Although I think that modern mainboard graphic chipsets support Shader model 3.0 or later, you can never be sure what is really going on with more than one graphic adapter running. So enter the mainboard BIOS and change the priority to PEG, PEG1 or whatever slot the main card is installed to (PCI-express interface can host up to four cards depending on the mainboard design). Or disable the integrated graphic card completely in the BIOS which would be the safest way to make sure there are no conflicts.

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"*** the World and drop the Neutron!"

I went into the BIOS on this computer, a Dell Optiplex 320. As you would imagine, the BIOS has minimal changes available. The only change to be made to the one PCI-E slot (ie. the video card slot) was either to select "Onboard" or "Auto." Auto is and has been selected.
I'm pretty sure I have the latest Catalyst version since I dled it from ati.amd.com, but the About page in Catalyst didn't give a version # like 9.7  ("Version 2009.0702.1239.20480".

Still, no progress. Sheesh. Between Vista and DX 10, I wonder if I'll ever play this game again.
The strangest part is that BWII worked right up until I installed BoTG.

A long detailed post I've written went ot hell when the site did an automatic refresh. So long story short:

I think it really is a problem of the graphic card used to start which seems to be an integrated Intel chipset. They are not for anything and do not fully support Shader Model 1.1 (only Vertex or Pixel Shader, dunno what it was).

1. Disabling the onboard graphic might be possible through hardware jumper or switch on the mainboard. Look it up in your manual.

2. I looked through the game files and found the "settings.ini" in the user profile directory. The content should look similar to this:

Settings.ini:

// Black & White II Main Settings File
// DO NOT MODIFY!


Adapter = "NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT "
PingServer = "bwping.bwgame.com"
ScreenW = 1024
DefaultProfile = L"_G_a_m_b_l_e_r"
ScreenH = 768

As you can see the file defines the graphic card used, as well as the initial ingame resolution and a few other uninteresting things. Although I always wondered why they need a PingServer if the game has no online mode. 

Anyway, change hte graphic card string to the string for the 4850. Don't ask me how it would be though. I guess it is the string identified in the dxdiag display tab. For me it would be "ATI Radeon HD 3800 Series" for example so I guess it could be "ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series" for you. Try it out!

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"*** the World and drop the Neutron!"

Haven't checked for a switch on the mobo, but I did look into the settings.ini. I found this:

// Black & White II Main Settings File
// DO NOT MODIFY!


Adapter = "ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series "
PingServer = "bwping.bwgame.com"
ScreenW = 1600
DefaultProfile = L"_I_c_e_M_a_n0020_D_a_n"
ScreenH = 1200

In other words...BW2 is recognizing my graphics card, but incorrectly determining its Shader version.

Not sure, but I think there is an equal file for BOTG as well. Other directory because the addon installs parallel to the original game. Double check if it is recognising the card also.

Other than that, have you tried reinstalling the graphic driver?

I am a bit out of ideas right now. Maybe you could force using Shader 3.0 or 2.0 with the help of a tool such as RivaTuner or maybe ATI Tray Tools. Dunno though if those softwares support reverting back, but I ams ure there was such software to force it. This may also be a bit heavy forcing the hardware to prevent any damage. Anyway maybe the game can not handle or identify Shader Model 4.

What makes it strange is that you say it worked before you installed BOTG. Have you tried reverting to B&W2 only? Does it work again than?

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"*** the World and drop the Neutron!"

Something so obvious that it hasn't been mentioned or maybe I missed the post on a scan through......
But I seem to remember  a problem with early versions of vista and BOTG but that was cured with SP1.
Your Vista is up to date?