[Ultimate_brawler]

Hello,

After using retail FRED for a week, I decided to try FSO because retail FRED is that bad.  When I went to run it, I got the "Unable to get proper pixel format for OpenGL W32!" error. Yes, I tried the two suggestions:

    * Make sure that you have (the newest) graphics card drivers and chipset drivers installed. Note that on Vista (and any other Windows) you must install the latest drivers provided by the graphics card manufactuter, not the latest offered by Windows Update.
    * Make sure that you're using 32-bit colours for both your desktop and the game itself (can be changed from the Launcher's Video tab).

Neither one worked. I ran the debug version and got a debug log. I attached it to this post. This is the second time I tried to install FSO, I used the manual instructions, so I don't think it was me installing it the wrong way.
I have a Nvidia GeForce FX 5200 graphics card that has worked well ever since we got it. (Which was a while ago)
I searched through the forum for another instance of this problem but I didn't find any.  I probably missed one because I'm sure this has happened before. If there is such a post, please direct me to it.

Thanks in advance.

[attachment deleted by a ninja]

[Jeff Vader]

Well, the only thing that comes to mind immediately is to completely uninstall and then reinstall your graphics card drivers. Googling for "Unable to get proper pixel format for OpenGL W32!" and limiting the results to the hard-light.net domain will produce more threads about the subject.

Also, for reading the FAQ. Not all people do that.

[The E]

Not exactly sure, but given the FX series' general craptitude, and the 5200 being crap even for that series' low standards, not to mention its age (The chip was released what, 8 years ago?) I would recommend buying a new GPU. Even the bargain offerings you can get today should be working better than that old thing.

[JCDNWarrior]

Wasn't the Geforce FX 5200 a AGP-card? If so you may have to upgrade/replace your entire PC, I'm not certain if there's any better AGP cards still to be found.

A dxdiag may be in order in that case.

[Colonol Dekker]

Also, a hearty

From us all.

[headdie]

Wasn't the Geforce FX 5200 a AGP-card? If so you may have to upgrade/replace your entire PC, I'm not certain if there's any better AGP cards still to be found.

A dxdiag may be in order in that case.

they are rare but a few GF7950 cards came in AGP8 flavour, though not officially AGP some manufacturers have built the card with AGP, 8xxx and beyond AGP was dropped by everyone

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p3984.m570.l1313&_nkw=GeForce+7950+AGP&_sacat=See-All-Categories

[Ultimate_brawler]

Not exactly sure, but given the FX series' general craptitude, and the 5200 being crap even for that series' low standards, not to mention its age (The chip was released what, 8 years ago?) I would recommend buying a new GPU. Even the bargain offerings you can get today should be working better than that old thing.

Yeah, I kind of thought that might be the problem.  I needed an excuse to buy a new one anyway.  Would an Intel 965 work?  I think i saw something about not using Intel cards, but I'm not sure.

Also, a hearty

From us all.

Thanks! I appreciate it.

Thanks for the super fast response.  Jeff Vader wasn't kidding on the FAQ when he said that there were ninjas waiting for new posts.

[headdie]

Not exactly sure, but given the FX series' general craptitude, and the 5200 being crap even for that series' low standards, not to mention its age (The chip was released what, 8 years ago?) I would recommend buying a new GPU. Even the bargain offerings you can get today should be working better than that old thing.

Yeah, I kind of thought that might be the problem.  I needed an excuse to buy a new one anyway.  Would an Intel 965 work?  I think i saw something about not using Intel cards, but I'm not sure.

* headdie recoils in horror at the mention of intel graphics

[LordMelvin]

Intel does some things well. Graphics are not one of those things.

Go with AMD/ATI or Nvidia, as you prefer, but stay clear of the HIS/ATI agp cards because they're horribly lousy and require custom drivers that were never maintained past the first release. Be warned, though, even that will only keep up with top end stuff for a little while - you'll probably not be able to play shadow builds at all, for example, unless you go ahead and get something new enough that it's running on a PCI-E port.

this newegg page has some choices.

[The E]

Yeah, I kind of thought that might be the problem.  I needed an excuse to buy a new one anyway.  Would an Intel 965 work?  I think i saw something about not using Intel cards, but I'm not sure.

No. Intel does not release graphics chips that are in any way usable for gaming. As stated, go with ATI or Nvidia; Getting a reasonably recent card by one of them is always preferable. Recent in this case meaning anything produced in or after 2009.

[Colonol Dekker]

Thanks for the super fast response.  Jeff Vader wasn't kidding on the FAQ when he said that there were ninjas waiting for new posts.

It's what we do.

* Dekker disappears in smoke bomb fashion.

[technopredator]

I'm not Intel fan at all but to be fair they do mediocre at best graphics chips, they recently announced that their latest graphic chip will support GPGPU computing at a decent level compared to ATI/Nvidia, so they're getting mediocre+, so not that bad but don't expect much, any ATI 5xxx Series will do fine (I'd recommend 5870) and I think they're on the cheap now, since the next ATI generation is out (7xxx Series).