Fix: No Suitable Graphics Card Found

The error “No suitable graphics card found” occurs mostly when playing games on Steam. The client software is unable to detect a graphics card for gameplay processing. This error happens either when playing a game or when trying to launch one.

The workarounds for this issue vary from system to system as each computer has its own set of hardware and configurations and there is no ‘universal’ fix for this issue. Nonetheless, we will go through all the workarounds one by one and see if any fix the issue for us.

Note: Before you move on with the solutions, make sure that you Power Cycle your computer at least once. Power cycling a system means completely shutting down the computer and taking out the power cord attached to the system. Let it be for ~10 minutes before turning it on again.

Solution 1: Deleting “config.dat”

Each game has an external file saved locally on your computer which contains all the settings and configurations needed by the game when it boots up. There are several examples where this config file gets corrupt and because of this, the game fails to load and utilize the existing hardware present on your computer.

When you delete the file and launch the game, the game client will automatically detect that the configuration file is missing. Then it will create a new configuration file by loading default parameters. We will try this process and see if this does the trick in our case.

1. Press Windows + E to launch the file explorer and navigate to the following directory:

C:\Users\*Your Username*\Documents\My Games\Terraria

Here the *Your Username* signifies your profile’s name on your computer.

2. Once in the directory, right-click on the file “config.dat” and select Delete.

3. Restart your computer completely and perform a power cycle. Now try launching the game and see if it launches successfully without any problems.

Solution 2: Changing Resolution and using borderless window

This workaround targets a part of the dialogue of the error message. We will change the resolution of your Windows and then try launching the game. This will, in turn, prompt the game to launch in the set resolution and hopefully, solve the problem. Also, try launching the game in either windowed mode or in a borderless window.

1. Right-click anywhere on your Desktop and select “Display Settings”.

2. Now select a lower resolution other than the one already set.

3. Save changes and exit. Now try launching your game and see if the problem got solved.

Solution 3: Installing .NET and XNA

Steam has a directory of software which is used to ensure that the game has all required components for its proper running and operation. There are some cases where the software involved is not automatically installed on the computer and thus this causes the game to assume that the required graphics card is not available. We can try manually reinstalling the software and check if this proves to be useful.

1. Press Windows + E to launch the File Explorer. Now navigate to the following address:

D:\Steam\steamapps\common\Terraria\_CommonRedist

Here the directory where Steam is installed is “D”. This may vary for you if you have it installed somewhere else. Make changes to the file path navigate to the directory.

2. Once here, open the folders one by one and manually install all the packages

3. After installing all the packages, restart your computer and check if the game runs without the error message.

Solution 4: Installing DirectX 3D 9

DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (API’s) for handling tasks related to multimedia especially gaming. It is used extensively to run high-end games with maximum performance to ensure that the end users get the highest quality.

It is possible that you do not have the required component (DirectX 3D) installed on your computer. If this is the case, we have to install it manually and see if this solves the error message under question.

1. Navigate to the following link and download the “d3d9.dll”. If you have a 64-bit architecture, download the file “x86-64” and if you have a 32-bit architecture, download “x86-32”.

2. Copy the downloaded file and paste it to the directory listed below:

C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/assembly/GAC_32/Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics/v4.0_4.0.0.0__842cf8be1de50553

3. If the file is already present in the linked directory, replace the file (it is also safe to copy it to another location just in case).
4. Power cycle your computer completely, launch the game and see if the error message goes away.

Solution 5: Checking Graphics Drivers

If all the above methods don’t work, we can try either updating or rolling back your currently installed drivers. We can do that either automatically (using Windows update), or manually (downloading the driver from the manufacturer’s website).

Note: You can also consider rolling back your drivers to a previous build. Sometimes older drivers are more stable than the newer ones. You can easily download the older ones from NVIDIA’s website.

1. Boot your computer into safe mode, press Windows + R, type “devmgmt.msc” in the dialogue box and press Enter. Navigate to the device manager, locate NVIDIA hardware, right-click it and select Uninstall device. Now reboot your computer.

2. In most cases, the default drivers will be installed against the hardware. If not, right-click on any empty space and select “Scan for hardware changes”.

Now check if the error message still persists. If it still does, follow the steps listed below.

3. Now there are two options. Either you can search online for the latest driver available for your hardware from the NVIDIA’s official website. (and install manually) or you can let Windows install the latest version itself (search for updates automatically).

First, you should try updating the hardware automatically. Right-click on your hardware and select “Update driver”. Select the first option “Search automatically for updated driver software”. Choose the second option if you are updating manually and select “Browse for driver” and navigate to the location where you downloaded.

4. Restart your computer after installing the drivers and see if the error message still pops up.