Dege wrote:I've fixed the bug: However I found one in the DX8 renderer of the game (unrelated to the terrain). In pre-DX8, one had to tell the D3D draw methods how many VERTICES they want to render. In DX8, number of the PRIMITIVES has to be given to the draw methods.
When Giants renders a screen quad by 2 triangles, it calls DX7 with 6 vertices to draw. The DX8 renderer passes to the drawing method that same 6, resulting in drawing 6 triangles. When somebody ported it from DX7 to 8, it escaped his notice. Unfortunately it can result in flashing extra waste polygons in the game. I cannot do anything with that, the game should be patched instead.
I don't really know why it works natively. One more observation: In GoG version, the DX8 renderer dll is renamed to gg_dx7r.dll, and no DX7 renderer is available. Also, it looks like there are some other hackings in the game because, for example, I cannot see the bank of the river (neither via dgVoodoo, nor natively) at the beginning scene but only a black area. The terrain also looks somewhat uglier compared to the patch that Firtasik linked here, not to mention that bump mapping bug doesn't come with that.
Steam Aquanox still crashing @start (no problem with DXWnd and basic settings). Oldbie Posts: 843 Joined: 2014-12-20 @ 01:30. Dege wrote:My tip is that D3D impl of Win95/98 slightly(?) differs from the NT-based versions. There are two possibilites: - Either figuring out the game internals, how it handles the execute buffers, what it exactly wants to do, and then patch it to make it compatible with NT-version D3D, if possible at all - Or reverse engineering the parts in question of 95/98 version of D3D3 and make dgVoodoo to be compliant with that. I did the reverse engineering on Win7, so dgVoodoo has a DX implementation nearest approaching to an NT-based MS DX version. I have both JHGP and Grand Prix Championship 2, which is (as mentioned) a tweaked version of the JHGP engine, to the point where if you place the executable and several other files from GPC2 into the JHGP folder, the game will work, however it inherits changes that GPC2 made, such as no chrome, black skid marks on grass, a very visible racing line in fog and changed camera positions in-car and behind-the-car. I'm happy to supply both *if* you would ever have time to look at this (as the dgVoodoo fixes should take priority!).
My tip is that D3D impl of Win95/98 slightly(?) differs from the NT-based versions. There are two possibilites: - Either figuring out the game internals, how it handles the execute buffers, what it exactly wants to do, and then patch it to make it compatible with NT-version D3D, if possible at all - Or reverse engineering the parts in question of 95/98 version of D3D3 and make dgVoodoo to be compliant with that. I believe these different implementations of D3D, might be the key to some other bugs in other games. Take Splinter Cell 1 & 2, for example, i dont remember seeing so many game bugs when i played these games, on Win98/Me, back then. (wow.how time flies ). One day i will reinstall win Me on my ancient machine a give it a try. Manual For Starbucks Barista Aroma Grande on this page. Member Posts: 200 Joined: 2015-1-11 @ 12:19.
Tafferwocky wrote:Should this software work for 2D directdraw games? If so, I tried American Conquest: Divided Nation (I believe it runs on the Cossacks engine). I get sound but a black screen with dgVoodoo and a crash without (probably because without dgVoodoo it tries to use my laptop's Intel card). Yes, it definitely should, but I never tested this game.
Warning: Do NOT overwrite your system ddraw.dll! Warning: Windows likes to 'virtualize' the config file if it resides within the 'Program Files' directory. You may also like DxWnd, dgVoodoo 2, WineD3D (builds), or Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit (ACT) Note for developers: improved 'wrapper'. GSC Game World - Developer of STALKER and Cossacks.
But, black screen with sound in the background is a typical symptom of the game rendering to the window with GDI (it's not yet supported when dgVoodoo is in fullscreen). To check this, try forcing the game into windowed mode through dgVoodooSetup and see if it works.
Oldbie Posts: 1038 Joined: 2003-9-04 @ 11:06. Tafferwocky wrote:Should this software work for 2D directdraw games? If so, I tried American Conquest: Divided Nation (I believe it runs on the Cossacks engine).
I get sound but a black screen with dgVoodoo and a crash without (probably because without dgVoodoo it tries to use my laptop's Intel card). Yes, it definitely should, but I never tested this game. But, black screen with sound in the background is a typical symptom of the game rendering to the window with GDI (it's not yet supported when dgVoodoo is in fullscreen).
To check this, try forcing the game into windowed mode through dgVoodooSetup and see if it works. I set it to this (so the game starts fullscreen then very quickly switches to a window), but it's still just blackness. I'm at my wit's end trying to get this game to work Newbie Posts: 10 Joined: 2015-9-23 @ 13:07.
Tafferwocky wrote:Should this software work for 2D directdraw games? If so, I tried American Conquest: Divided Nation (I believe it runs on the Cossacks engine). I get sound but a black screen with dgVoodoo and a crash without (probably because without dgVoodoo it tries to use my laptop's Intel card). Yes, it definitely should, but I never tested this game. But, black screen with sound in the background is a typical symptom of the game rendering to the window with GDI (it's not yet supported when dgVoodoo is in fullscreen). To check this, try forcing the game into windowed mode through dgVoodooSetup and see if it works.
I set it to this (so the game starts fullscreen then very quickly switches to a window), but it's still just blackness. I'm at my wit's end trying to get this game to work OK, I've just did a quick test on this game and indeed, I got a black screen too.
It must be a bug in the wrapper, I'll try to fix it in the next version. Download Gundam 00 Movie Sub Indo 720p. Oldbie Posts: 1038 Joined: 2003-9-04 @ 11:06.
On Wed, 15 Apr 2015 17:56:29 +0000, PhilipMallard wrote: I purchased a Windows 8.1 computer today and wish that I hadn't! It is a pain to use (I had a windows 7 computer previously). None of my Cossacks games work on windows 8.1 either and I've tried them all in compatibility mode. Is it possible to install Windows 7 on my new computer and replace the disastrous 8.1 version? Let me point out something that you perhaps don't realize: Windows 8 has two interfaces; the Modern/Metro Interface (which may be all you've looked at) and the traditional Desktop Interface. You can use either one or both.
That traditional Desktop Interface is almost identical to Windows 7's interface; the biggest difference is that there is no Start Orb to click to bring up the Start menu. But note that you can get the Start Orb back by using one of several third-party programs, either free or very inexpensive (Classic Shell at and Start8 at; my personal preference is Start8, but they are both very good).
And going from one interface to the other is very easy; there are several ways, but simply pressing the Windows key is perhaps the easiest. Simply installing one of those two and using the traditional desktop interface may be a better choice for you than going to Windows 7. I use Windows 8, almost exclusively with the traditional desktop interface, and with Start 8 installed. If you were to look at and use my computer, you might have a hard time realizing that it's not Windows 7. I also recommend that you read 'How to Make Windows 8 or 8.1 Look and Feel Like Windows 7' at I can't address the issue with your games, other than to say that whenever you move to a new version of an operating system, some of what used to run on the old one won't run on the new one. And that's much more likely with utilities and games than with business applications.
Ken Blake - Microsoft MVP since October 2003.