Just bought, downloaded through the GOG downloader, and installed via the exe. I attempt to run via shortcut, screen goes black, and a Fatal Error window pops up with the message, "Could not initialize HAL."

I'm stuck now, any ideas? Video card is a Gigabyte 280X.

Try running the config utility so it can recognise your card. The problem seems to be that it can't load the D3D renderer. You have DX9 installed, right?

I'm having the exact same error with an ATI Radeon 5850 and an AMD Phenom II X4 965 processor, on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit with DX11 installed. By "config utitlity" do you mean the "Analyze Your Computer" (i.e. dxdiag) and "Change 3D Video Card" buttons in the launcher? It identifies my Video Driver as "Primary Display Driver (Driver: D3D)" and gives me no other options. I've updated my video card drivers and the DirectX end-user runtimes, with no luck. Any other ideas? Thanks.

You've updated DX11 or DX9? Keep in mind, you need to have this installed explicitly: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109

And yes, "Change 3D Video Card" is what I had in mind, but the values you quoted seem correct. Other than that, it may be that the game simply doesn't recognise your card. If you have two cards, or a card and on-board gpu, try forcing the game to run on one or the other. Also, check that the registry values inside HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\LucasArts Entertainment Company LLC\Rogue Squadron\v1.0 are:
VDevice=Primary Display Adapter, Driver=D3D and DefVidID=0

Can you tell me what dll files there are in your RS folder? GOG tend to throw in extra ATI ones, which sometimes screw things up.

If none of that works, you can try using nGlide or the Windower

Thanks for the response! I had a longer reply but the forum wouldn't post it for some reason...anyway, I can now start the game with the D3DWindower, but it won't respond to keyboard input, which means I can't create a character or enter the settings menu. Any thoughts?

Try a few different settings in the last tab in D3DWindower, Direct Input. They might unlock something. If you have some extra peripherals (pad, stick) could they be interfering with the detection of the keyboard?

Hello, i have a problem with star wars rogue squadron.

When i try to start the game via the shortcut, a error message pops up 'could not initialize hal'.

When i try to start the game via the ROGUE.EXE i get the error message, please reinstall the game files from CD .... I have only one option in hardware configuration for grafic card. Primary display driver D3D.

I tried starting the Rogue Squadron.Exe in Win98 compability mode and in admin mode.

I checked the registry for missing entries.

I tried to install the Microsoft DX paket from their website. But it only installs install files to a temporary location. Something i am missing here. I do not know what version is the right one. And i would prefer not to downgrade my working system to dx6 if possible.

I use windows 7 64 bit on a AMX FX 6100 Six Core Proc 3,3 GHz, 8 GB Ram, DX 11. Grafic card gforce 780 latest driver.

I cannot attach a dxdiag file because the browse function here prints an error 'wrong file format'. I tried xml and txt format.

I am a little disappointed that gog.com releases not working games again. The last bad experience i had was Star Wars Tie Fighter and Star Wars X-wing. The win 1998 version did not work properly. It was a similar to the problem i have now.

If someone knows a solution to my problem and could post it here, that would be very nice.

Have a nice day

First, instaling DirectX 9 from this link http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=8109 is not a downgrade, you will still have DirectX 10 & 11 in your system as well.
Second, it doesn't install files to a temporary location, that's just a part of procedure to correctly install DirectX. You then need to go to this temporary location and start the final installation by running dxsetup.exe.

As triock said, you need to install the package you've downloaded. Don't worry, it won't downgrade anything. Also, you can only upload jpg and png formats, but that won't stop you from renaming your dxdiag.xml to dxdiagxml.jpg and uploading that ;)

Your problem is related to the game not being able to work with your D3D drivers. Ideally, DX9 (the above download) should fix that. Just to be safe, try to remove any compatibility settings on your shortcut, or changing them. If none of this helps, try the nGlide or D3DWindower.

Thank you @triock and @Spinorial, edit the same problem occurs on star wars galactic battlegrounds. I will try the dxinstall in the temp folder. I was a little confused by the amount of files inside the folder.

Have a nice day

Edit: After installing the dx package i got a step farther. I use 1280 x 700 to start the game, all resolutions above trigger the incompability with hal message. The game starts, i can start a mission. But my whole computer crashes when the game engine tries to load the level. Experimenting with other options is kind of dangerous. I do not like to crash my pc on purpose several times in a row.

Have a nice day

Edit2: The problem seems to be the power management safety system. The grafic card is massively stressed. A shame that i can't play this game. Would have loved to.

Update: after unjustifiably whining about GOG, I retried the DX9 install and restarted my system a couple more times, and now the game starts fine. I still get the "ship flies away from the camera" issue, but the startup issue is now gone, so it seems the fix above is probably good. Apologies to GOG and anyone who I may have led astray.

I am having the same HAL error, but I'm also not showing any options for the "Change 3D Video Card" option. I've tried installing DX9, the June 2010 pack, and it still isn't working. When I run dxdiag though, from the "Analyze Your Computer" option, It shows as running DX11. Is there any way to change that, or is it only going to show DX11?

I know that the photo isn't great, but it was the best I could do with print screen and paint.

I appreciate any and all help, since this is one of my favorite games from childhood.

Hi all,
I don't know if You managed to solve this issue, but here "my" solution.

I had the same issue, with the HAL popup when starting the game and the blank space in the video driver selection. I opened a ticket with GOG support, in the meanwhile roamed the net to finf something.
I managed to pinpoint the problem to directX related. It is quite complex, with win 7, 64 bit, directX for 32 bit and brand and drivers of video card, so it's an elusive bug, to track and to solve.
I tried the usual, running as admin, re-installing the directX runtime, disabling antivirus, etc, to no avail.
As a workaround, I find that nGlide worked for me, with the added bonus to set the resolution in 4:3 (as original) without stretching.
Then came the GOG support answer (good old GOG ;-) ).
Most suggestions I already tried, but a link to a Microsoft page did it:
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_7-gaming/direct3d-acceleration-is-not-available-in-windows/4c345e6e-dc68-e011-8dfc-68b599b31bf5
You need to edit the windows registry, so be careful.
There is more than a solution listed, some people had to set the "SoftwareOnly" key to 0, mine was the "EmulationOnly" key. They are in different place in the registry, it's explained in the link.

Hope this helps, credit goes to the GOG support team.