Immediately after the release of the first version of Grand Theft Auto, the game became an instant bestseller and continues to be so for more than two decades in a row. During this time, four generations of the game itself and several generations of gamers have changed, and this fact speaks for itself. Despite numerous upgrades, the GTA game engine remains distinctive and easily recognizable, so that generational changes of the program itself and the players have practically no effect on the popularity of the game.
True, things are not so good with stability, and the latest versions always turn out to be quite “raw”, containing many bugs.
One of the most significant drawbacks of GTA 5 is the problems with the launch of the game, accompanied by the display of the warning “DirectX 9 initialization is impossible.” By the way, this problem does not arise on consoles, but in a Windows environment, launching can be problematic, even if you have a licensed copy of Grand Theft Auto, not to mention pirated copies.
There are many reasons for this error, as well as ways to get rid of it, from extremely unlikely to very effective and efficient. We will talk about them today.
Updating DirectX Package to the Latest Version
Since the inability to launch the game is directly related to the inoperability of DirectX, the obvious way to solve the problem, which should be resorted to in the first place, is to download and install the current version of the graphics package.
So, go to the official Microsoft website and download the latest version of the package, you can follow this direct link . After the download is complete, run the installation file and follow the instructions. As soon as DirectX is installed, we restart the computer and check if the error of the inability to initialize DirectX appears again when starting GTA 5.
If the problem persists, then the package itself has nothing to do with it, the reason lies elsewhere.
Reinstalling video card drivers
It is possible that the conflict arose due to the fact that Grand Theft Auto uses DirectX capabilities that do not correspond to the parameters of the video card used. Then it is worth trying to update its drivers – perhaps you are using a long-outdated version. Since most likely you have a graphics accelerator from the NVIDIA brand, which is one of the leaders in this niche, or from AMD, we will consider the process of reinstalling graphics chip drivers for these brands.
NVIDIA Card Option:
- go to the manufacturer’s official website in the “Drivers” section ;
- in the section “Loading NVIDIA drivers” we sequentially indicate the type, series, model range of your video card, the operating system used (here it is important not to be mistaken with the bit depth, for this we start “My Computer” and click on the “System Properties” tab, detailed information about the components will be displayed OS, including its bit depth). In the column for the type of download, we indicate Game Ready (an option for ordinary gamers), and, finally, select the language;
- press the button “Search”, and then – “Download”;
- after downloading, run the installation file.
For AMD video cards, the driver update algorithm is as follows:
- go to the official AMD website in the “Drivers and Support” section ;
- if you have a Radeon card and a version of Windows 7 or higher, you can leave out the rest of the details, just click the Download Now button;
- after downloading the installer, run it, it will independently determine which video card is installed in your computer and install the appropriate drivers .
After you’ve updated your drivers to the latest version, restart your PC and try launching the game again.
Reinstalling the Steam App
Since GTA 5 uses the Steam service , which allows only legal copies of the game to be used, the launch problem may be due to the incorrect operation of this built-in module. To get rid of the error, you must adhere to the following recommendations:
- launch the “Control Panel” in any convenient way;
- click on the “Remove Programs” tab;
- in the list of installed programs that opens, look for Steam and remove the client using the right mouse button;
- go to the official website of the Steam community , click on the button “Download Steam”, making sure that this is the version for Windows (this will be indicated by the icon with the horses on the button on the right);
- We launch the client after downloading, after which we try to launch the game itself.
If she did not go again, we move on.
Reinstalling the game
It also happens that problems have arisen due to the incompatibility of the game with the operating system or at the hardware level, as well as due to damage to the installation file. In this case, you need to re-install GTA 5, after removing the old non-working version. Most often, this problem occurs if you are using a pirated version. In this case, it is recommended to change the assembly to another.
Installing fresh updates
If all the previous solutions to the problem were unsuccessful, it is worth making sure that you do not ignore system updates. To do this, go to Windows Update Center and click on the “Important Updates” tab. The service will find updates that are not installed on your computer and display them in a list. You should prioritize those related to Visual C ++ and Framework packages. If they are listed, be sure to download and install these updates.
System Restore
The method is, to a certain extent, cardinal, but because of this, it is reliable. If you are ready to accept the fact that the programs installed on your PC after the error with the inability to start the game began to pester you will be removed, you should try this option.
The main thing is that you remember exactly when you started having problems with the launch of GTA 5, and chose the date prior to this event. To roll back the system, press the “Start” button, type the word “Restore” in the search window, and in the displayed list – the standard ” System Restore ” procedure .
A new window will appear listing the available restore points. We select the date we need and click “Next” and then “Finish”.
As a rule, after such a step, the problem with the launch of Grand Theft Auto 5 ceases to be relevant.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are many ways to fix the error, and we have given far from all the options – only the most common ones. But it is possible that after you have eliminated the problem, after a while it will not appear again in a different guise. Well, modern games are characterized by the complexity of the code, which they strive to optimize by all means. This inevitably leads to errors that are difficult to identify with testing.
So, if the problem reoccurs, you should again check the relevance of the drivers, especially those that are at least indirectly related to the gameplay. Do not forget to also check for new and not installed updates on your computer.
