Game doesn't start up: "Could not initialize graphics system. Make sure that your graphics card meets the minimum system requirements. CreateSwapChain() failed! HRESULT=0x887a0005"

Age of Empires II: DE II - Report a Bug
1

:play_button: GAME INFORMATION

:backhand_index_pointing_down: These details are CRITICAL; DO NOT skip them or your issue may not be reviewed.

  • GAME BUILD #: 101.103.47452.0
  • GAME PLATFORM: Steam
  • OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 11

:play_button: ISSUE EXPERIENCED

Game fails to launch: after seeing the pop-up with the King’s face, I get the error message that something’s wrong with the graphics:

Could not initialize graphics system. Make sure that your graphics card meets the minimum system requirements.
CreateSwapChain() failed!
HRESULT=0x887a0005

I found an old post on steam addressing this:

But this fix doesn’t work any more.

I also updated by GPU’s drivers to the latest version.

My laptop’s specs are:

  • Processor 13th Gen Intel(R) Core™ i7-13700H (2.40 GHz)
  • Installed RAM 16,0 GB (13,7 GB usable)
  • Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Laptop GPU (8 GB)
  • Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics (2 GB)
  • Storage 901 GB of 954 GB used
  • Device ID 734927F1-645D-40DB-B30B-459F27E4DF71
  • Product ID 00342-21206-55193-AAOEM
  • System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
  • Pen and touch No pen or touch input is available for this display

:play_button: FREQUENCY OF ISSUE

  • 100% of the time / matches I play (ALWAYS)

:play_button: REPRODUCTION STEPS

Here’s the steps to reproduce the issue:

  1. Start up the game via Steam

  2. Loading screen pops up and a second after that the following error:

    image
    image709Ă—516 138 KB

:play_button: EXPECTED RESULT

Start the game as per usual. This error has occurred since the latest release, but might also be caused by the (many) Windows 11 updates that constantly fuck up previously working programs.

2

There is a bug affecting some people that have 2 graphic cards in their PCs. Your PC might be prioritizing the integrated GPU instead of your 4070. Even if this happens it should start, but we had some issues in the past with Intel Iris GPU and there might be a regression. I’ll let the team know about it.