The Morning After…

So release went pretty well. I hope most of you are enjoying playing the game. It’s great to finally have released it after working on it so long. Thanks to everyone for buying the game and playing!

So whats next? I’ve got a ton of email to get through, as well as support requests and bug reports on the forums. I know people are experiencing some startup issues, and those are going to take priority.

I’m just one person doing all the support and development on Banished, so please have patience while I’m getting through everything. I’d like everyone who bought the game to have a good experience and know that I’m working on any issues.

Some common issues



The main issues I’ve seen deal with the game starting and the game not having audio. I’m posting these few work arounds right here, as they seem to be the most common issue. You can also find more info on the forums.

The main issue with startup seems to be that some video cards aren’t starting up or working properly in DirectX 11 mode. There are some work arounds for this.

To force the game into DirectX 9 mode, you can rename or delete VideoDX11-x32.dll and VideoDX11-x64.dll. These are in the directory that the game was installed to. For steam, these are VideoDX11-steam-x32.dll and VideoDX11-steam-64.dll.These are most likely in Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Banished.

After renaming or deleting them, the game will startup in DirectX 9 mode, which seems to be more compatible with most video cards.

You can also edit the registry to fix this issue.

Run regedit.exe. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Shining Rock Software LLC\Banished\ You may have to create these folders if they aren’t there. In the right hand window, find VideoInterface, or add it by right clicking and selecting New->String Value. Set the value of the VideoInterface key to 0. Try to restart the game.

You can also change the resolution of the game and some video options to reduce the video memory needed for the game. These are the keys and the valid values. All keys are of String type, and can be set just like the instructions above.

VideoFullscreen – can be set to ‘true’ or ‘false’

– can be set to ‘true’ or ‘false’ VideoWidth – sets the width of the output. The lowest valid value is 800.

– sets the width of the output. The lowest valid value is 800. VideoHeight – sets the height of the output. The lowest valid value is 600.

– sets the height of the output. The lowest valid value is 600. VideoInterface – sets the renderer. 0 = DirectX 9, 1 = DirectX 11.

– sets the renderer. 0 = DirectX 9, 1 = DirectX 11. VideoMultisample – sets the multisample AA mode. 0 mean no AA. Higher numbers have internal meaning. Only set to 0 and use in game options to set other AA modes.

– sets the multisample AA mode. 0 mean no AA. Higher numbers have internal meaning. Only set to 0 and use in game options to set other AA modes. VideoShadowScalar – 0 = highest. 2 = lowest. 2 uses the least video memory.

The other issue is for people with the standalone non-steam installer. After starting the game, some of you may not have sound. I missed a module that needed to be included in the installer.

The simple fix is to download and install the DirectX End User runtime. You can download it here.

I’ll be working hard on fixing these issues and anything else that comes up. Again, thanks for playing, and thanks for your patience while I work through these problems.