Thanks for your reply and sorry for the delay in getting back to you.  No, it's not a laptop, just a Viglen Genie desktop PC.  Running Windows XP SP2.

Found another fix for users running Vista x64 at the very least, would assume x86 as well.

You get the exact same message as above, however the best fix is to enter the properties of the shortcut icon, go to the compatibility tab and click the "Run as administrator"

ya, and it still didn't work

According to DXDiag, my DirectX version is 9.0C (4.09.0000.0904)

I'll try upgrading it.

Gary, I am not a technician but your video card is kind of old and I don't know your desktop brand. I am runnning out of ideas to help you  Maybe if you asked in the forum if anyone is using the same thing ? They might tell you if they are having the same problem or not.

In the mean time, if you still want to model, you could use the trial version of 3d max or install the shareware MilkShape ($20). The work created by them can still be used in gmax (need conversions first).

I'm having the same problem in 3dsmax 7, 3dsmax tell me "3D Renderer init failed..." just after asking me the renderer!

I'm using Win Vista with Direct X 10, ATI Radeon X1400 128 Mo, Intel Core 2 Duo T2300 @ 1.66 GhZ, L2 = 2Mo, 1 Go Ram and its a laptop !

 

Is the problem coming from the non-compatibility of 3dsmax 7 with DirectX 10 ?

 

PS : I've tried to use the Renderer Direct 3D and to select Direct X 10, but there is only Direct X 8.1 and 9...

PS2 : I've tried all the renderes available, but the error message stills appear !

PS453 :) : My computer is a boosted dell Inspiron 9400

ummm... i tried all of them and none of them worked

 

option B doesnt work.

also option C, doesnt let me save.

option A, is in accessible. since it wont startup.

running on windows XP, 256MB RAM, 1.1GHz processor.

Direct X 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

 

I just went through this same hurdle (XP Pro, SP2, not that it matters much in this).

I did the installation as Admin, then switched to my non-admin account to try out the software, and ended up with the "Interactive 3D Renderer initialization failed" message - which would just appear again and again, no matter what I do.

After running gmax once with Admin account, and choosing the renderer there, startup as a regular user succeeded - however, gmax still complains about not having write access to some files (UI_startup.ui upon startup, and UIMAXStart.cui upon exit).

Is there a list of locations for which the gmax user should have write access within the gmax directory tree? I wouldn't like to run gmax with administrative rights, and even less I like the idea of elevating my regular account to admin rights.