DirectDraw applications Freeze on Windows 7 anywhere between 1 minute and 3 hours into running them.

Anonymous

Scouring the web, I have come to the conclusion that this is a Windows 7 issue, and there is no link between hardware, or drivers as it occurs on ATI, Intel and Nvidia chips.

Games such as Starcraft may freeze as soon as you hit the first menu screen, or as late as half way through a mission.

Age of Empires * games freeze on a black screen between the last intro video and the main menu (but as tested so far once in a mission will not freeze)

Warcraft 2 BNE is the same as Starcraft.

Worms Armageddon is effected randomly as well.

Heroes of might and magic 1 and 2

Starlancer (between missions or on he main menu)

Blood Omen during during movie sequences

So far i've verified that

Affinity does not fix it.

Process Priority does not fix it.

End tasking or pausing Explorer does not fix it.

Selective startup does not fix it.

Running without drivers will not fix it (don't even bother suggesting it).

This is an issue that doesn't have any correlation to system configuration, The game that gets the most coverage with this issue is Starcraft and though that might get a Patch, its no doubt that the Age of empires games won't.

The freeze is not a hardlock, rather its a freeze of the display and input controls. Processes in the background continue running and if you are in a chat on skype or xfire these continue as well according to some users.

Someone mentioned a Race issue between Ddraw and WDDM, but i've no idea how to verify that.

Specific Starcraft issue is here http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/11659-starcraft-freezes-after-1-5-minutes-playing.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/10190-starcraft-system-crash.html

but Issues for Age of empires and worms can be found across the internet.

theres even on here

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en/w7itproappcompat/thread/bde26b63-e8fc-46ac-8541-7f8154c8328d

Note: All the fixes known to work on Vista, do not work on Windows 7.

This issue only occurs in games that also have the bad colours issue, so basically any 8bit/256 colour titles. 16bpp appear to be fine.

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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105 answers

Anonymous

2009-11-21T00:00:02+00:00
Hi Squall_Leonhart69r,

Welcome to Microsoft answers.

If you have not updated the drivers for the graphic card on the computer, you may try updating the drivers for the graphic card on the computer and check.

Refer the link: Update a driver for hardware that isn't working properly:http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/Update-a-driver-for-hardware-that-isnt-working-properly

If the issue still persists, I suggest that you visit manufacturer’s website for the graphic card and install the latest drivers and check.

Refer the links for more information: Diagnosing basic problems with DirectX:http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Diagnosing-basic-problems-with-DirectX

How can I tell if a game will run on this computer?:http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/How-can-I-tell-if-a-game-will-run-on-this-computer

You may also check if the computer is installed with latest plug-ins for java, if it is not installed, please install the latest java plug-ins on the computer.

For the Age of Empires game you can get support from the Microsoft Games Forums: http://www.microsoft.com/games/en-US/Community/Pages/forums.aspx

Swathi B
- Microsoft Support.
Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forumand let us know what you think.
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Anonymous

2009-11-22T16:42:28+00:00

I get this problem fore Warcraft III and its Expansion. But, when I use the compatibility tool, the problem changes to the program not being able to read the CD-ROM.
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Anonymous

2009-11-23T05:32:06+00:00

It is entirely unrelated to drivers. and Java is entirely unrelated to a DDraw issue.

The problem appears isolated to Running 8bit palette DDraw clients in fullscreen mode, Applications which feature DDraw overlays such as Xfire or Fraps seem to hasten the freeze. It was apparently fixed somewhat for X32 editions of Windows 7.
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Anonymous

2009-11-23T05:34:35+00:00

Your issue is unrelated. Warcraft 3 is Direct3D, not DirectDraw.
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Anonymous

2009-11-24T02:00:40+00:00

Just wanted to chip in as I'm also having this problem, as is one of my friends. I bought Windows 7 and installed it temporarily on a second partition, but this issue is holding me back from switching from Vista for good since my friends and I play Starcraft quite regularly.

We've noticed it actually seems to be caused by having some kind program using audio at the same time as Starcraft. We talk on Skype most of the time we're playing, but my friend has consistently been able to avoid the freeze by not using Skype when we play (and consistently gets freezes sooner or later when he does try to use Skype). He also had it freeze once when he had a media player playing some music in the background while in Starcraft.
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