After investigating the issue, this ‘renderer error‘ might occur due to several different reasons. Here’s a shortlist of potential culprits that might be responsible for this game-breaking error: Now that you know the potential causes, here are several methods that other affected users have used to fix the issue:
Method 1: Disabling GPU Texture Decode
As it turns out, this issue might be caused by a GPU setting that is enabled by default inside the game options. Some PC gamers that have encountered this issue have managed to fix the issue by disabling GPU Texture Decode in Video Options. Game crashes caused by this particular GPU setting can be identified by the fact that the cursor remains on screen while the error occurs. If you haven’t tried this yet, follow the instructions below to disable GPU Texture Decode from your game settings in order to fix the renderer error inside Civilization 5: If the same error code returns, move down to the next potential fix below.
Method 2: Set Nvidia card to ‘Prefer Maximum Performance’
If you’re using an Nvidia GPU, you might experience the ‘Renderer Error’ with Civilization 5 due to the fact that your GPU is unable to handle the rendering of certain elements in the game. This is fairly common among low-tier GPUs. One solution affected users found in this case is to force the GPU Manager (Nvidia Control Panel) to allocate the maximum amount of available resources when the system is rendering the game – This fix was confirmed to be effective by a lot of users that were facing this problem. If you’re unsure on how to switch your GPU mode to Maximum performance, follow the instructions below: If you’re still encountering the same ‘Renderer Error’ when playing Civilization V, move down to the next potential fix below.
Method 3: Running the game in Windowed mode (Workaround)
As it turns out, there is one workaround that a lot of affected users have successfully used to avoid any new instances of the Renderer Error with Civilization V. It involves modifying the game’s shortcut to run in Windowed mode – This might be a little inconvenient for some players, but it’s still better than having the game crash every few minutes. If you don’t know how to force the game to run in Windowed mode, follow the instructions below to configure its shortcut to do launch in this mode at every startup: If the same problem is still occurring, move down to the next potential fix below.
Method 4: Installing every Missing DirectX Package
According to some affected user reports, this issue can also occur due to a severely outdated DirectX version – this is only applicable if you’re encountering this issue immediately after you attempt to launch the game or if you recently upgraded your GPU card. If one of the two scenarios outlined above is applicable, you should attempt to update your DirectX version to the latest available using the web installer. If you don’t know how to do this by yourself, follow the step-by-step instructions below: In case the same problem is still occurring, move down to the next method below.
Method 5: Update GPU Driver to the Latest Version
If you ensure that you’re running the latest DirectX version and you’re still encountering the same Renderer error, you should start considering a GPU driver issue. If your graphics card capabilities are more than enough to run the game in a stable manner, the most likely cause of the Renderer Error is a partially corrupted GPU driver or corrupted dependency. In this case, you should be able to fix the problem by forcing your operating system to update your GPU driver or installing the most recent version by yourself. Here’s a quick guide on how to perform a GPU update on a Windows computer: Note: The instructions below are universal and will work regardless of your GPU manufacturer or the Windows version that you’re using.
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