EVERYONE WHO HAS THE "COULD NOT LOAD OPENGL" READ THIS!

Ground Breaking News everyone.

CALL TO HELP:

First I must say everyone who is willing to get rid of this problem should help me in this search for a fix. To those are not willing to help and just “let this problem be” i have to say this. YOU CAN’T RUN AWAY FROM THIS PROBLEM AS LONG AS YOU HAVE XP AND YOUR CURRENT 3d CARD. It doesn’t only affect Medal of Honor, or Jedi Knight II. Any game that runs the quake 3 engine is subject to this same error (which is most of the FPS games). Even if its not, any game who only supports opengl may have the same affect.

So my advice to those who give up on this problem. Know that you are taking a risk of buying any game and getting this same error AGAIN. Until there is a fix, you can’t do anything but install another operating system besides XP, reformat your drive and reinstall XP, or buy a new graphics card. Personally My last resort is to burn all the files on my drive that i want to keep on to as many blank cds that i can and reformat it. But i hope I will never have to resort to that because i have over 38 GB of stuff i wanna keep. For those that dont have a problem with that, then i suggest you reformat your drive and install windows XP or some other Operating system. At the very least you should not have to go buy a new 3d card (unless yours is really really old). That being said. Lets get on to the problem.

THE PROBLEM:

When you run a game that uses a quake 3 you get an error says something of the like of:
“Could not Load OpenGL subsystem”
Games that usually have this error and use the quake 3 engine that are know of are Jedi Knight II, Return to Castle Wolfenstine, and Medal of Honor Allied Assault. There is probably more but thats what games ive heard have this problem.
In my Case I get this sort of error:

— Common Initialization —
Medal of Honor Allied Assault 1.00 win-x86 Dec 6 2001
----- FS_Startup -----
Current search path:
D:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA\main\pak6.pk3 (104 files)
D:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA\main\Pak5.pk3 (259 files)
D:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA\main\Pak4.pk3 (593 files)
D:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA\main\Pak3.pk3 (669 files)
D:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA\main\Pak2.pk3 (4722 files)
D:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA\main\Pak1.pk3 (772 files)
D:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA\main\Pak0.pk3 (11175 files)
D:\Program Files\EA GAMES\MOHAA/main


18294 files in pk3 files
execing default.cfg
execing menu.cfg
execing newconfig.cfg
Config: unnamedsoldier.cfg
couldn’t exec configs/unnamedsoldier.cfg
couldn’t exec localized.cfg
execing autoexec.cfg
Unknown command “fov”
couldn’t exec custom.cfg
…detecting CPU, found Intel Pentium III

------- Input Initialization -------
Initializing DirectInput…
Couldn’t set DI coop level
Falling back to Win32 mouse support…
------- Input Initialization Complete ------- 56
You are now setup for easy mode.
----- Client Initialization -----
Called FadeSound with: 0.000000
----- Initializing Renderer ----
----- R_Init -----
Initializing OpenGL subsystem
…initializing QGL
…calling LoadLibrary( ‘D:\WINDOWS\System32\opengl32.dll’ ): succeeded
…setting mode 3: 640 480 FS
…using colorsbits of 16
…calling CDS: ok
…registered window class
…created window@0,0 (640x480)
Initializing OpenGL driver
…getting DC: succeeded
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…failed to find an appropriate PIXELFORMAT
…restoring display settings
…WARNING: could not set the given mode (3)
…shutting down QGL
…unloading OpenGL DLL
…assuming ‘3dfxvgl’ is a standalone driver
…initializing QGL
…WARNING: missing Glide installation, assuming no 3Dfx available
…shutting down QGL
GLW_StartOpenGL() - could not load OpenGL subsystem

This is on a Pentium III 1.1 ghz, 256 Ram, Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS/ Pro 64mb (updated with the newest detonator drivers), running Windows XP. That is the problem.

WHAT CAUSED IT

Ok I havent heard this brought up but for those with Nvidia GeForce 2’s and running WinXP and have tried everything and still cant get their game to work here is what probably caused this error in the first place. Im not too sure but i believe its the closest theory. At some point you must have downloaded or had an application (one that sticks on start up) that messed with the configurations in WinXP. Ive heard alot of programs like some anti-virus programs or downloader accelerator programs most likely cause this.
In win95 and win98 you can easily fix this problem by commenting out a line in win.ini that says DVA=0. Or deleting the whole line itself will do, then save the changes and reboot. Problem is that WinXp does not have the same win.ini and you cannot find the DVA line. In WinXP the DVA line or something similar to that is probably placed somewhere else. Where, I have yet to know. If you freshly reformat your drive and reinstall your Operating System, your game should work. Although not all of us wish to do that, so there has to be a fix. If you can fix this meddling with win95 and 98, then you can fix it with XP.

SOLUTIONS:

Ok guys heres where it all comes together.
I have done alot of research on this (For example going to many forums and searching for a person with similar specs that plays this game perfectly). And heres what it comes down to.

Those that recieve this error running any other card then Nvidia GeForce 2, Im almost certain theres alot of solutions that have proven to fix it. The only solution that hasnt been so widely found is the error occuring to those with Nvidia GeForce 2 and running WinXP with updated drivers and still get the openGL error. If you are not one with those specs, then most of your solutions will be found at the urls at the end of this page.

Now on to those with the same problem as me. (Nvidia updated drivers and WinXp still recieving error). Out of all my searching I have found ppl with these same specs and playing their games smoothly. (yes thats right they are). This is probably because like the theory i mentioned earlier that they havnt encountered an application that messed up thier windows settings so all they have to do is update their drivers and WinXP detects it.

What I havnt found is someone who has this error even after they correctly installed their updated drivers and still get this error and Fixed it.

Wait don’t panic at the thought that you read this long post for nothing. I have found ONE person that has the same specs as me and had the same problem. He didnt post it on the forum he was talking in but he said to email him to know what he did. I did exactly that and am awaiting his reply. Hopefully in a day or two his solution will work and i will post it up on here as well as many other forums. Its a longshot but its a hope.

FINAL WORDS:

I am about to post 2 important urls to forum threads that go into big discussion about this and have many solutions (although none for my setting that i know). Still I encourage anyone reading this post to read these threads and also try to get information from other forums and join me in the search for the fix. Maybe there was something i missed in this forumm threads. If there is then post it here. I want this to have a lot of posts about this problem. WE MUST FIX IT! If the damn companies wont, then we must unite and do it ourselves !

First Url is a thread that has some discussion and some solutions to this problem (plz read): http://www.computing.net/windowsxp/wwwboard/forum/13003.html

This next url is to a return to castle wolfenstine forum that has a BIG discussion (12 pages long) and lots of solutions you can try for this problem. Just because its a different game doesnt matter. All games that use the same engine get this error so its worth a read. Here it is:
http://www.rtcw.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1452

Please post any good info on this thread. Im trying my best to get rid of this problem. For I will not give up. Thx for reading.

I found something that MIGHT be very interesting. This info I got from the lovely ppl getting this prob with return to castle wolfenstine.

Go into the WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE directory and delete OPENGL32.DLL
Go into the WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory and rename OPENGL32.DLL to OPENGL32.OLD
Windows will pop up a dialog saying a protected system file has been modified and to insert your WinXP cdrom. Click Cancel and then Yes.
Copy the file WINDOWS\APPPATCH\ACXTRNAL.DLL into your WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory and rename it OPENGL32.DLL

Now on my computer, for some reason i didnt have a dllcache folder. But i did a search and found the opengl32.dll in windows\system32\mui folder. :stuck_out_tongue: just telling ya incase you dont fine the dllcache like me. anyways do this, but heres where the interesting part comes in. Take the new opengl32.dll (the one you renamed from acxtrnal.dll) and put it in your HOMAA directory. there SHOULD be an openGL32.dll already there. Overwrite it with this new one. Now i started HOMAA and i got a grey screen then kicked to windows BUT LISTEN TO THIS NO OPENGL error! It still doesnt work but this is an amazing breakthrough! I seem to have heard of this crash before. Everyone try it out and see if it works for yours too. Post any info on here. Also when you do this, make sure to keep a backup of your old opengl32.dll just incase worse comes to worse.

I got the game to work. The trick is (and this is with any quake3 engine game) is that inside the MOHAA directory i placed various versions of the file opengl32.dll found in windows/system32 (or windows/system). Testing each one I found that if you place the opengl32.dll in the game directory the game startup somehow takes the opengl32.dll in the directory OVER the one you have in your windows/system file. So you dont even have to change your current one (since this might mess up your card settings for opengl). you just have to place different versions of it in your game directory. For me ive tried different ones from different places and that scitech program i read on this forum ALMOST got it to work. Finally i reached an idea that maybe i can borrow the same file from my friends and experiment with them (all my friends have different comps but working MOHAA on theirs). So i got 2 versions from 2 friends, one had Win98 running and another WinXP. The one running win98 didnt seem to change it one bit. The one running WinXP gave me his opengl32.dll and lol and behold it actually got the game running. Although this is not a happy ending. Now whenever i try to start a game (single player or multiplayer) i get a crash from windows and it closes the game.
well back to the drawing board. Anyways thought you guys might want to know that this open32.dll is the source from where this error pops up from. If its not updated or working it displays COULD NOT LOAD OPENGL on startup. For some reason the nvidia new detonator drivers dont seem to touch this file even though they claim openGL is now supported on it. :stuck_out_tongue:

Ok i am finally playing medal of honor allied assault and like i said in the previous post most games that have this problem are solved the same way. You need a certain version of opengl32.dll and put it in the directory of your game. or one of the folders. if that doesnt succeed back up your current open32.dll in your windows/system32 directory and overwrite that one with your new version of the file.

How do you get the new version? Well I dont know an answer to that except that you can try the file that i used and see if it works on your computer.

To get the file. Just email me at AALANIS@satx.rr.com
and ill email you the open32.dll file. If this one doesnt work for your card i recommend you keep trying different versions of open32.dll til you find one that works. I got this file from one of my friends who had Windows XP and a different 3d card then mine.

Hey X I’ve been following your posts and I too share the same problems you have. Everytime I would try to load MoH it would give me an could not find opengl error. My system is very similiar to yours in the fact that it is a pentuim 4, win xp, 256 ram and geforce 2 gts card (visiontek).

I was also wondering if you get display drivers errors when running other programs. Becasue I continually get display driver errors (comp says it has trouble with direct draw) when I run other programs such as movie files and when I try to play dvd on my comp. 
Although I can now play medal of honor (swicthed display driver to 21.8.3) I still get display driver errors when I run other applications. So I was wondering if you can supply me with the number of display driver you are currently using. It would help me out a lot. Thanx.

This applies to all .dll files. Windows first searches for the the file first in the dir of the app and afterwards in the standard paths.

  • XAssasinX

I tried your version of opengl32.dll and it didn’t work as i suspected. You have windows ep and i have windows 98. Can you ask your friends, that have managed to get wolfenstein to work, what version of opengl32.dll they are using and if they can email it to me. And when i do get the correct version of opengl32.dll, what exact folder(s) do I put the file in? I have windows 98, remeber so the folder names and preferences are different from 98. And to anyone following up on this post thathave gotten their windows 98 to work, please reply with a post that you have gotten it to work and tell me how you did it. Now another issue it do I use the beta version of opengl from www.glsetup.com? becuase when i installed the drivers onto my computer my screen turned GREY everytime i tried to open wolfenstein. I have a MatroxG200 in my pentium III. so can ANYONE HELP ME OR THUROUGHLY EXPLAIN TO ME WHAT TO DO? Thanks, i apreciate anything you give me.

~Smoky123 (Brent)

Darn, next time i should proof read my post next time, heh. In some parts of the post i meant to put in “XP”.

Hi
I acted upon your recommendation , specifically i copied the opengl32.dll file from system32 folder to my Medal of honor folder,and it worked. thank you all.
avi
avicon@netvision.net il

I see that you all have XP, but I have Windows 98 and i get the message and i was wondering if anyone knew how to fix the problem?

assasin can you help me w/ this what directory folder do you put opengl32.dll un der in your MOHAA directory?

i have a NVidia TNT 2 card

See what i dont get is i have the same thing happening but i DONT have XP? Its crap

downlaod gl setup and let it get the latest drivers for your card, if you get the option to keep or force, force it, because this updates the video card drivers you have got to open gl.

here was the fix for my problem
i am running a geforce 2 GTS from a company called Leadtek the name of the card officially is : Leadtek WINFAST GeForce 2 GTS
i simply needed THEIR drivers and not the nvidia ones as the card needed the manufacurers www.leadtek.com

What about those of us who don’t have the Nvidia card? I have an Ati RAGE and D/loading A Nvidia won’t work

yeah hoodlum, I use a Creative Riva TNT2 Ultra ! and it won;t work neithe, I’ve downloaded a new WinXP driveer for it and now I get the following error message:

Q3 1.11 win-x86 Nov 24 1999
----- FS_Startup -----
Current search path:
C:\Quake 3 Arena\baseq3\pak1.pk3 (7 files)
C:\Quake 3 Arena\baseq3\pak0.pk3 (2964 files)
C:\Quake 3 Arena/baseq3


execing default.cfg
execing q3config.cfg
couldn’t exec autoexec.cfg
…detecting CPU, found Intel Pentium III

------- Input Initialization -------
Initializing DirectInput…
Couldn’t set DI coop level
Falling back to Win32 mouse support…
Joystick is not active.

----- Client Initialization -----
----- Initializing Renderer ----

----- Client Initialization Complete -----
— Common Initialization Complete —
Winsock Initialized
Opening IP socket: localhost:27960
Hostname: VAST
IP: 62.59.105.17
Working directory: C:\Quake 3 Arena
----- R_Init -----
Initializing OpenGL subsystem
…assuming ‘3dfxvgl’ is a standalone driver
…initializing QGL
…WARNING: missing Glide installation, assuming no 3Dfx available
…shutting down QGL
…initializing QGL
…calling LoadLibrary( ‘C:\WINDOWS\System32\opengl32.dll’ ): succeeded
…setting mode 3: 640 480 FS
…using desktop display depth of 16
…calling CDS: ok
…registered window class
…created window@0,0 (640x480)
Initializing OpenGL driver
…getting DC: succeeded
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…failed to find an appropriate PIXELFORMAT
…restoring display settings
…WARNING: could not set the given mode (3)
…setting mode 3: 640 480 FS
…using colorsbits of 16
…calling CDS: ok
…created window@0,0 (640x480)
Initializing OpenGL driver
…getting DC: succeeded
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…failed to find an appropriate PIXELFORMAT
…restoring display settings
…WARNING: could not set the given mode (3)
…shutting down QGL
…unloading OpenGL DLL
----- CL_Shutdown -----
RE_Shutdown( 1 )

GLW_StartOpenGL() - could not load OpenGL subsystem

So now it can’t set a appropriate pixelformat ! In the users guide is wrote : set your screen mode to 640X480 but at my coputer the smallest screen mode is 600x800 ! Do you know how I can change this?
Reinoud

hi i have tried your suggestion x and i have not got a “WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\DLLCACHE” or OPENGL32.DLL in my WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory,
i have found an OPENGL32.DLL in WINDOWS\SYSTEM\ and i dont have a WINDOWS\APPPATCH\ACXTRNAL.DLL file either

i get this error when i try to play return to castle wolfenstein: it has worked before though but just stopped one day,

Wolf 1.0 win-x86 Nov 13 2001
----- FS_Startup -----
Current search path:
C:\Program Files\Return to Castle Wolfenstein\main\mp_pak2.pk3 (3 files)
C:\Program Files\Return to Castle Wolfenstein\main\mp_pak1.pk3 (308 files)
C:\Program Files\Return to Castle Wolfenstein\main\mp_pak0.pk3 (783 files)
C:\Program Files\Return to Castle Wolfenstein\main\pak0.pk3 (4775 files)
C:\Program Files\Return to Castle Wolfenstein/main


5869 files in pk3 files
execing default.cfg
couldn’t exec language.cfg
couldn’t exec wolfconfig_mp.cfg
execing autoexec.cfg
Hunk_Clear: reset the hunk ok
…detecting CPU, found Intel Pentium III
Bypassing CD checks
----- Client Initialization -----
----- Initializing Renderer ----

Loaded 680 translation strings from scripts/translation.cfg
----- Client Initialization Complete -----
----- R_Init -----
Initializing OpenGL subsystem
…initializing QGL
…calling LoadLibrary( ‘C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\opengl32.dll’ ): succeeded
…setting mode 3: 640 480 FS
…using desktop display depth of 16
…calling CDS: ok
…registered window class
…created window@0,0 (640x480)
Initializing OpenGL driver
…getting DC: succeeded
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…failed to find an appropriate PIXELFORMAT
…restoring display settings
…WARNING: could not set the given mode (3)
…setting mode 3: 640 480 FS
…using colorsbits of 16
…calling CDS: ok
…created window@0,0 (640x480)
Initializing OpenGL driver
…getting DC: succeeded
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…GLW_ChoosePFD( 16, 16, 0 )
…23 PFDs found
…GLW_ChoosePFD failed
…failed to find an appropriate PIXELFORMAT
…restoring display settings
…WARNING: could not set the given mode (3)
…shutting down QGL
…unloading OpenGL DLL
…assuming ‘3dfxvgl’ is a standalone driver
…initializing QGL
…WARNING: missing Glide installation, assuming no 3Dfx available
…shutting down QGL
----- CL_Shutdown -----
RE_Shutdown( 1 )

GLW_StartOpenGL() - could not load OpenGL subsystem

i have mohaa and winxp. at first i had a could not opengl. then i downloaded the newest driver for my geforce graphics card. the game worked then when i went to play the actual missions everything was balck and yellow and u couyldnt see anything

dudes ive found the answer atleast for my problem i was getting that glw warning crap when i upgraded to 98 to xp. Just find out the name of your video card i have a c600 dell kinda of old but i found out the name of the card went to the companys web site they should have the update to change the old to new thanks fellas for the input and with out your input might of been lost for a while play on gamers