Can't start the game via the MO2 launcher

[FlameNoir]

So, first of all, I am not playing Skyrim Special Edition, and I have no plans to (I'm playing regular because not all the mods I like are compatible with SpecEdi). However, I am using MO2, and based on my previous experiences getting help on this forum I think this is the best place to post.

 

Moving on, then, the issue (as the title states) is that the MO2 launcher won't work. What puzzles me, though, is that the regular Skyrim launcher totally DOES, and so too does the Skyrim Skript Extender launcher. The exact error message is as follows:

"Failed to initialize renderer.
Your display doesn't support the selected resolution. Please set a different
resolution in Skyrim's launcher under 'Display Settings'."

 

The issue, oddly, is that there is NOT, in fact, any issue with my display, my resolution, or even my Skyrim launcher... I know this, because when I launch the game via steam (either via SKSE or just the regular skyrim game) the game works fine! I'm using a gigabyte laptop (several years old) with a 1920x1080 display, with a nvidia Geforce GTX 870m and 16 gigs of ram. Also, I have no idea where this "display settings" option is, as there is not actually any part of the Skyrim launcher menu labeled as such... I assumed it just means the "options" menu, which does indeed contain display-related settings, but I'm also mildly concerned there may be some other menu somewhere I'm unaware of.

This MAY have something to do with the fact that a few months ago I had to factory-reset my computer due to some BIOS and driver issues, which consequently resulted in a full wipe of my primary C: drive; all of my Steam games are stored on a separate D: drive (they're both inside the laptop) but I had made the shortsighted error of installing MO2 on the C: drive. Now, all of my C: drive files WERE backed up, and re-downloaded in one big folder that is still sitting on my desktop to this day, simply titled with my comp username and containing everything that was backed up.

 

When I decided to try playing Skyrim again, I couldn't for the life of me figure out where the MO install had saved my mods, so I just took the installer from the backed up files (luckily I kept that) and installed the program fresh, THIS TIME onto my D: drive, and used my NexusMods download history to re-download all of my old mods.

 

So, tl;dr, the MO2 launcher gives me an error that doesn't make sense because it doesn't line up with the results I'm getting when I (successfully, might I add) launch the game via the regular launcher or SKSE.

edit: by the way I did try updating MO, which prompted me to do a fresh install and gave the option to place it in a new directory... I really had hoped this would solve my issue, but it seems it has not. My next step is to uninstall and reinstall skyrim/SKSE. Will update results.

Edited March 3, 2019 by FlameNoir

[Greg]

Before you go that route, does your laptop have built-in Intel graphics as well as the NVidia video card? If so, run Mod Organizer, select a vanilla profile that doesn't have any mods in it, click the puzzle icon with the down-pointing arrow and click INI Editor. When the Ini Files dialog opens, click the skyrimpres.ini tab, scroll down to [Display], and verify that sD3DDevice is pointing to your NVidia card. If it has Intel instead of NVidia,  open "C:\Users\[username]\Documents\My Games\Skyrim\SkyrimPrefs.ini" and copy the sD3DDevice setting to Mod Organizer.

[FlameNoir]

I already tried the uninstall and reinstall route and it did not work. I want to try what you've suggested but I don't know how to check if my computer has built-in intel graphics... I imagine there would be no reason for it to have something like that, since my laptop was ordered custom from Gigabyte--so why would they include a redundant intel graphics thingy? But then again maybe they did. I just don't know how to check.

[FlameNoir]

verify that sD3DDevice is pointing to your NVidia card

I tried this, and it is in fact set to the proper Nvidia card. But, when i created this vanilla file, it told me that an "ini was missing" or something like that, and it said it wanted to copy the ini from the vanilla file. So maybe this means that the ini associated with my normal profile is messed up?

[TechAngel85]

You can try to delete the default INIs, then launch the game from Steam and close it at the main menu. Then delete the INIs from your MO profile. Finally, launch MO. That should rebuild everything back to defaults.

 

Final recommendation is to close MO, and run BethINI on your MO profile before playing.

[FlameNoir]

delete the default INIs

Ok, sorry for the delay (computer issues give me anxiety because I feel so blind and incompetent). I want to do this but I'm not sure where to find the default Skyrim .ini or the MO profile .ini.

[FlameNoir]

Ok, I figured out how to delete the Skyrim.ini files, but I cannot find any .ini files in my Mod Organizer folder at all. I will try going through the application but I'm not an expert in using it beyond the basic "download mods and order them" functions.

 

Edit: Ok, i cannot find any .ini files of any kind inside the download directory of Mod Organizer. There is no AppData folder that I can find in my main C: drive, but even if there were, I'm not sure any MO-related files would be there, as I installed MO onto my D: drive. But the directory it's installed in has no .ini files whatsoever! I tried running MO like you said in an effort to make it "generate" them or something, but it seems not to have done so. I wish I could understand how all this stuff works so I could fix it myself more easily... sigh.

Edited March 8, 2019 by FlameNoir

[FlameNoir]

Update: BethINI is my savior! Thank you for recommending that. I think there was something wrong with my ini files, or maybe they weren't present in the first place. But either way BethINI has solved my woes. I am once again in appreciation of the support on this forum. Thank you so much!