DirectDraw emulation still broken in Windows 10

Is it not possible just to revert back to the way Windows 7 handled pre DX9 games? Why was this even changed in 8/10?

Just like to point out that I am talking about SimCity 4, not Sims 4.

Sims 4 is actually a new game, with expansion packs still being released, and I think it requires DX10 or 11.

SimCity 4 uses extended DirectDraw in DX7 (ie: it creates a DirectDrawEx surface, then use D3D7 to draw on it, and uses DDraw to query the video card and do some texture and GUI stuff).

SimCity 4 renderer works by rendering the buildings textures on some box-shaped models (with some exceptions, there are certain buildings that are true 3D models), then it converts those to a 2D texture that is pasted on the screen, since the camera is "fixed" and use a trigonometric projection, scrolling the camera around only moves the buildings, without changing any other details, thus you don't need to re-render their 3D model, you only need to blit the last render again to the screen, thus why the DDraw + D3D combination.

But Win8 and 10 seemly handle that very badly.

This is also visible in all "Infinity Engine" games (Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, Planescape Torment...), Arcanum of Steamworks and Magika Obscura, and some others, usually the symtom you will notice most easily is parts of the screen rendering black (usually UI, or 2D terrain tiles)

People made various Direct Draw wrappers that help, but those are not a real fix (And many users wrecked their windows installs by accidentally replacing the system32 ddraw with a wrapper dll).

By the way: Mech Commander 1, and 2, neither work properly either, but I don't checked if it is a DDraw issue or something else... those are specially aggravating because they are Microsoft-made games, you would expect them to behave better. (also they show the same symtons as the other games: parts of the screen, usually involving 2D rendering, becoming solid black)

I'm trying to put together a list of games here that are thought to be ddraw performance issue that worked fine on WIndows 7 but not WIndows 8/10. I'm not looking for other issues, just this one. If you have a non-related issue to ddraw, start a new post to address.

So far:

Age of Empires I

Age of Empires II -> I'm not seeing an issue on the AOE II HD version from steam, is this from disc version?

Panzer General 3SE -> Where are you playing from? a disc. I see a gog version but it might not be the same, please confirm.

Sims 4? -> This is a dx9c game I believe

Commandos 3 -> I'll give the steam version a try.

more? please add to my list with details to where you are playing from, steam, origin, disc, gog etc..

Thanks.

For Commandos 3 I've tried the cd version and gog version, both have the same issues, the sniper mission is the first level of the Stalingrad campaign, also the mission Get to the engine (which is the 4th mission of central Europe campaign), the graphics are completely screwed up which makes it unplayable, as you can see in this screenshot I uploaded here:

https://i.gyazo.com/06d12c56339f3b8d69eb3ec7412ba06f.png

And as for Panzer General 3SE that is a different game to PG3D on gog, I believe 3SE isn't available to buy digitally at the moment

Can you describe your issues with SWAT 3? It seems to be fine for me. Launches, menu is smooth, game play seems at a decent frame rate.

The software information is as follows:

Operating System: Windows 10 Pro (Architecture: x64, Version: 1511, Build: 10586.71)

Video Card Drivers: AMD Radeon 16.1.1 (Crimson Edition, Hotfix) *

Game: S.W.A.T 3 (Version: 2.1)

* The same issues were experienced with previous drivers as well.

The hardware information is as follows:

Memory: Kingston DDR3 1866MHz 16GB 2x8GB (HX318C10FK2/16)

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme4 (BIOS Version: 2.30)

Processor: Intel Core I5 4670K (IGP Status: Disabled)

Video Card: AMD HD 7970

Everything is running at stock frequencies (i.e. non-overclocked).

The issues experienced relate to poor performance (i.e. low FPS) as a result of the UI overlay being drawn/rendered. If the UI overlay isn't drawn/rendered (it tends to disable itself after using alt+tab), then the performance improves significantly. In addition to this, the UI overlay for the in-game equipment menu (default key: spacebar) doesn't display the icons.

I hope the above helps, but if not, let me know and I can record my screen.

amd atholn x4 3.1 ghz

2 gb ram

500 gb samsung f3

ati radeom hd 4250

intel pentium g3258 4.5 ghz

8 gb

1 tb segate

nvidia 460 gtx 768 mb 296.10 driver ver

windows 7 starter sp1

I tested in all combination (amd + ati, nvidia + amd/intel) i used win 8.x preview then win 10 rc bild, all ended with same result, windows 7 have it under control, but from win 8, it have lag, because it have been locked by something in OS. I really not wish to use glide emulator, cos i prefer dx mode, so please, if you can find reason why it is locked, then i could unlock and use full fps. To bad, it is indeed iritating problem for me, because i'm active player in T2 multiplayer, for 4 year now, and i can't move from win 7.  Good luck , Kevin!