Far Cry is a game I've owned for a long time now. But I hadn't yet tried it with my new computer (specs below), so I installed it today, congifured my graphics settings (all to High) and loaded up the game.
It wasn't until I got into the game that I noticed Far Cry isn't detecting my video card (found this by swearing my head off and going to change the otpions, which I assumed had somehow defaulted themselves all to low, but instead noticed that the game will only let me select the Direct X renderer).

This is fairly annoying for me, since on my old computer the game ran relatively well on just the High settings, and I want to run it on the 'Very High' settings. But instead, I get all of the lowest settings by default, which obliterates the entire mood of the game because everything is bright and boxy, I get no shadows and no detail.

At first I thought it was to do with my G.card's drivers (9.1.3.1), which apparently are causing a lot of trouble with some games because the drivers were simply banged out before they were ready, but now know this not to be true as I rolled back the drivers (8.3.9.0) and the game is still DEFAULTING to the DirectRender3D and low graphics settings, with no leeway at all; it completely ignores any attempt to alter the graphics settings.
Below, as I said, are my computer's specs. Maybe it's my graphics card, maybe it's not. Maybe it's something else, maybe it's not. Either way, perhaps someone reasing this will know what the *censored* is going wrong here.

Operating System: Windows Home Edition XP (SP 2)
Mainboard: nVidia/ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 XP 3000+
RAM: 512 DDR, unsure of operating frequency
Hard Drive: 72 GB SATA, unsure of make/model
Sound Card: Creative SoundBlaster Live! 24-bit (INTERNAL)
Onboard Sound: Realtek AC'97
Speakers: 5:1 surround sound (five satellite speakers and a subwoofer)
Video Cards: nVidia GeForce 7300 GS
Other Cards: 2x USB 2.0 with midi joystick port, and 2x Firewire insertGo to start, run, and type in dxdiag. On display, try the two TESTS. Do they work? Try another 3d game... does that work?I can tell you yes to both without even having to try those steps.

I've been playing X3: Reunion with no troubles, not to mention Pariah, and Stolen.I looked in my Far Cry configuration tool and it shows video options...
Renderer: Direct3D9
Is yours the same, mine displays perfectly.
You on DirectX 9.0C ?Yup. Got that.

So the problem isn't with DX then.On Call of Duty 2 I can choose between Direct X 7 and 9 graphics... 7 runs about 80 fps faster than 9 (but looks a little worse)... Is it possible to choose which Direct X to use in Far Cry? Try changing it if you can.I find the video options in Far Cry very poorly written, as if the designer was an ex microsoft employee.
Are you very familiar with them, I remember screwing AROUND with them for ages to get it right.
Some changes you have to re-start the game to get them to 'take'.I'm familiar enough with them, yeah, but not at all patient. I can't even PLUG my old video card inl the only reason I had to buy a new one (a further £80 gone, even if my friend did buy everything so that I could have a computer on credit with no interest) was because the motherboard has no PCI slots, just PCI-E.

Bloody technology, eh?Did you check the game website for fixes & patches or version updates?
I sort of remember doing it, I do remember also getting a no-cd patch.
I'm on Build 1337, Patch 1.3.Ah, there we go. I now have full graphics and no troubles, except for the fact that I had to download three separate patches just to achieve it.

Thanks Fed, once again my over-stimulated mind completely forgot to think about the simple solutions first.Happy you're all fixed up, the no-cd patch makes life easier too.