I've searched all the gog and steam forums for hours to try and get Syberia to play and still haven't had any success. Per some of those posts:

Go to file folder, right click .exe file and compatibility settings:

compatability to WinXP Service Pack SP2
Run in 256 colors
Run in 640 x480 screen resolution
Disable display scaling on high DPI settings
Run as administrator

I even went back to BFG where I bought the game 5 or 6 years ago and read their forums and installed DirectX 9.0 C. I also changed my laptop's screen resolution to 800 x 600. I still get the "3D ACCELERATOR FAILED TO INITIALIZE" error.

I'm on an HP Win 7 EliteBook laptop with a Nvidia Quadro 1000M graphics card. The 1000M Quardro graphics card info says it is running DirectX 11.0 and I was hoping that installing 9.0 C and rebooting would work, but it didn't.

The above fixes seemed to work for some on steam and gog, but not certainly not for everyone (also for Syberia II). Those "fixes" are basically the same as the you tube video referenced in many posts. Has anyone here gotten Syberia to run on their more modern computers?

Thank you for reading.

Our Windows 7 games thread here says that it runs.

I took a look at the Steam information about Syberia and it seems that you have tried all that was suggested. I hope someone will have some ideas for you.

Thank you very much for your response, Marian. I've been trying to re-download some older games and am somewhat dismayed to find half a dozen games that will no longer play on my Win7 laptop.

Well, after we get some possible advice about Syberia, feel free to discuss the other ones that don't seem to work - maybe together we can sort something out.

Windows 7 won't ever display anything less than DirectX 11. That's normal and is not what's causing your problem. Going through the motions of "installing" DirectX 9.0c should add the files DirectX 11 lacks so DirectX 11 is able to play older games that use DirectX 9.0c.

From what I was able to Google, the HP EliteBook with Quadro 1000M uses "switchable" graphics, which is probably the problem. Just because it knows enough to switch to "performance mode" when playing a modern 3D action game doesn't mean it knows enough to switch when playing an old 2D or 2.5D game. See if you have an option in your computer's BIOS or in Windows to force "performance mode" rather than "power saving mode."


The problem isn't the age of the computer -- it's the video card -- or onboard graphics chip in the case of a laptop.
And "switchable" or "Optimus" graphics can be particularly problematic.

Does your laptop have any option to disable the power-saving mode and force the graphics to use performance mode. If it's stuck in power-saving mode, it may be insufficient to run Syberia.

You could also check if there are better drivers for your model laptop's graphics at the HP website. Different drivers may do a better job of detecting that you're playing a game and need performance.

Thank you, Jenny100. You certainly know much more about what's "under the hood" than I do.

I have never looked for "performance mode". I have no idea what BIOS is. I think I might have seen power saving when looking at the Nvidia control panel. I can go look and see if I can find what you are referring to.

I was able to re-download Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper and declined the offer to download DirectX 9.0. It opened and played just fine so I know my directX download a couple hours earlier is working.

A computer co. in a large town nearby built this computer for me three years ago because I didn't want Win10 and I never asked him what graphics card he used and why. I just told him that I play computer games and wanted something that would handle games. Are HP drivers something I could download and not have to be without my computer for a week by taking it to 'the city'? I'm sure my 1000m needs to be updated, but the last time I went to the nvidia site, there was a warning about backing up the computer. I have no external drive, so have nothing to back up to. I was afraid I might mess up the computer since I don't really know what I'm doing and am not in a position to replace this computer.

I'm sorry I'm not very educated about the technical aspects of computers. I'll go look at the nvidia control panel.

Thank you very kindly for your suggestions.

Jenny 100,

My control panel for the computer, not nvidia shows two types of power plans:
1. Custom plan for when the display dims and when the computer goes to sleep
2. Additional plans:
(a) Balanced (recommended) balances performance with energy consumption on capapble hardware
(b) High Performance: favors performance but may use more energy
(c) HP Optimized - (recommended) provides optimized balance of performace with energy consumption on HP Notebook PC

Right now, mine is set to the first option - (a). Should I change it to (b) high performance?

I don't think that's it, but I don't know modern HP laptops.
You can try and see if it gets rid of the error. If not you can always switch it back.
I think what you need is in a graphics-specific area -- maybe in Nvidia settings somewhere -- or in the BIOS, under a graphics or video-related setting.

No, control panel/hardware and sound/Power Options - changing to high performance did not help.

I'll go look at the nvidia control panel. It's not easy for me to understand.
And I'll google what and where BIOS is. Thank, Jenny 100.

Jenny,

Nvidia control panel has a "manage 3D settings" tab.

Power management mode:
nvidia driver-controlled (current setting)
Adaptive
Prefer maximum performance
Prefer consistent performance

Does that sound right? (choose maximum?)

I googled BIOS but I'm sorry - that's all Greek to me. 0.0

That sounds more like it.

As long as you can adjust the performance through Nvidia settings, you don't need to worry about going into the BIOS. I think in older laptops that was something you had to do.

You might have to reboot for settings to take effect. I'm not sure.

If you're going somewhere with the laptop where you're going to be off the power adapter and on the battery, you may want to switch it back to "nvidia driver-controlled" while you're on battery.

Well, shucks, I was hoping that would work. But unfortunately I still get the "3D ACCELERATOR FAILED TO INITIALIZE" error. Thanks ever so much for trying, Jenny 100. It seems I might have to just wait for Syberia 3 without replaying the first two. But I do appreciate all the help.

Did you try reinstalling the game after making the change?
There's a slight chance that might make a difference.

No, a reboot and uninstall/reinstall this morning didn't work, I'm afraid - same 3D accelerator error. But thank you for the suggestion. We tried. Even the steam and gog versions are glitchy in certain areas for different players and computer specs who were able to download and play, and those versions were probably updated, compared to my 6 yr. old bfg version.

Since you were kind enough to look up my HP laptop and graphics card, may I ask a slightly unrelated question? I have no idea how to compare my card and specs to game specs these days. Based on what you have seen in this thread, is it unlikely that I will be able to play Obduction, even though I am entitled to a free copy from the kickstarter campaign?

The nVidia control panel allows you to select which gpu to use on a per game basis.

Under Manage Settings click the Program Settings tab. If your game does not appear in the drop-down then you
can add it via the Add button and then set which GPU you want to use.

You could also try and install the game somewhere other than Program Files - Documents is a good place to try.

Thanks mj2c,
I don't have a recent laptop so I don't know how Nvidia is handling the switching these days. It's certainly better to choose performance on a per game basis if the option is there.

I'm not sure where the Big Fish version installs by default. I have my Big Fish Games Manager set to install games to C:\Games but it may originally have been set to install to C:\Program Files.

Thank you mj2c, for your reply. I've seen that drop down menu but never understood it until you explained it so well. I added the program but still got the same error. I haven't yet uninstalled and tried to reinstall somewhere else. As Jenny100 mentioned, (and thank you, Jenny100) BFG has its own default, and I've never tried to change the download location.

But this may all be a moot point. I got a yahoo tech email in my gmail this morning about windows 10 installing itself on computers after the one year anniversary. If I read that correctly (?) none of this may matter if everything changes in the near future. My heart sank as I never wanted to upgrade to win10. So I may have a steep learning curve ahead. *sigh*

If you don't want Windows 10, you can always run Never10.
https://www.grc.com/never10.htm

I think this Yahoo tech was smoking something funny. According to all the tech websites and bloggers I follow, the free upgrade option is 100% over for very good reasons. Even if you had the old absolutely HORRIBLE nags and threats about upgrading, they will have been immediately disabled. If you want Windows 10 now, you WILL have to pay for it. And it will no longer be downloaded without your knowledge. Now in 3 years, you WILL have to take your Windows 7 computer off the internet as it will no longer be supported. But you won't have to go to Windows 10 until then.

Ed Bott has a pretty comprehensive article on the subject. Free Windows 10 Upgrades Over - Now What

But to completely cover yourself, do what Jenny says and run Never10.

Thank you, Jenny100! I'll certainly check out that link!

Thank you very much for that info, Draclvr! I was jaw-dropped at the idea that Win10 would be forced on me like that. At least I'll have a year or two to make changes or get a new laptop. Perhaps by then, game devs and game portals will make games more compatible with the newer operating systems. I can't count how many forums complain about their new games not working on Win10, which is why I have resisted taking the plunge. But as your linked article mentioned, in the future I'll have no choice. For now, I'll enjoy playing games in Win7 as long as this laptop lasts, even if I can't play some older games.

Thanks for your help, everyone.