I try to run the game, the screen flickers black then i get a message saying that it's unable to initialize direct x.

I've tried running in compatibility but to no avail :'(

Download and install DirectX9 from Microsoft. It is not included in later versions.

The suppport page for the game had this: https://support.gog.com/hc/en-us/articles/213039385

I've got the same problem. "Unable to initialize DirectX"

Downloading directX 9 does not help. The downloader just tells me I already have newer version.

i just started playing on linux and wine .. sid meiers pirates runs very good, no problems
which windows version do you use ?

Windows 10, Intel I7-7500U Laptop. 16GB ram, onboard intel graphics.

my only advice is create 100's of help tickets (since its the only way to contact them) and demand a refund on each one.

It wont solve the problem but it seems to bother them the same way getting ripped off bothers me.

In windows 7 also does not work. The game does not start.

you can try adding "Fullscreen = 0" to the config.ini, but not really nice to play that way

I also had problems to get the game running. I always had a Black Screen with an endless turning ship wheel.
Stuck at that point I don't had a Config.ini file to edit.

1st step I made was renaming the Sid Meier's Pirates/miles/win32/mssa3d.m3d to msaa3d.m3d.old

With this change the game goes a step further and after a while I could hear sound but the game always minimized after a second, but in the background I could hear it is still running.

So I checked if I had a documents/My Games/Sid Meier's Pirates/Config.ini now. And yes the game made one now.

Now I was able to edit the Config.ini file with the extra line Fullscreen = 0

This solved the Problem for me and I can at least run it in window mode.


P.S.: For all who dont have a Config.ini at the documents/My Games/Sid Meier's Pirates folder, here is a copy of the ini file.

[User Settings]
Gamma = 1.000000
KeypadStatus = 1
DisplayShadows = 1
TrilinearFiltering = 1
DisableShaders = 0
AdvancedLighting = 0
WindowWidth = 1280
WindowHeight = 960
WaterDetail = 2
WorldDetail = 5
ObjectDetail = 2
MasterVolume = 1.000000
MusicVolume = 1.000000
SFXVolume = 1.000000
DanceVolume = 1.000000
IsSlowMachine = 0
Fullscreen = 0
MyName = Incognito
3DAudioDriver =
CustomSail =
CustomFlag =

What solved it for me is to remove my config file