DirectDraw emulation still broken in Windows 10

Anonymous
2015-08-17T12:32:58+00:00

Hello, Microsoft, please fix DirectDraw, considering Windows 10 is your last OS, and loads of people have complained about this in Windows 8, and it's STILL NOT FIXED IN 10. most games DX8 and below run horrible thanks to this, either screwed up colours and/or a very bad framerate to other problems such as sprites not loading. This is odd considering it was fine in Windows 7. 

An example is Red Alert 2, it's unplayable unless you use a 3rd party directdraw emulation such as WineD3D.

Another example is Commandos 3, the graphics are corrupted and it crashes on some missions making it unplayable.

And no compatibility settings don't fix any of this.

All we need is Windows 7's DirectDraw emulation back since that was fine.

Cmon microsoft fix this!

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Gaming

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  1. Anonymous
    2016-01-07T07:38:35+00:00

    Thanks! I'll take a look at the ones with frame rate issues.

    Kevin, thanks for looking into things. I've been researching and can't seem to find any response or update from Microsoft other than your lovely comments and bug report, so I thought it would be best to respond to this thread.

    Are there any updates or a potential timeline for a fix for the issue with sprite based/2D/older games? Does it seem to actually be an issue with DirectX (e.g. DirectDraw's deprecation), or is there any knowledge available to share with developers to fix the games on their end?

    Is it simply a matter of "these games will never be compatible with Windows 10"? Is there any way we gamers can help solve this? Next time on Dragon Ball Z..

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  2. Anonymous
    2015-12-23T01:08:24+00:00

    Total Annihilation also performs at greatly reduced frame rates in both Windows 10 and 8.x. It appears Microsoft modified or dropped support for ddraw functions which worked flawlessly in XP, Vista, and Windows 7. 

    There are literally hundreds of older gaming communities that rely on programs like Wine or Dxwnd to try and work around the limitations of Win 8-10. A fix for this would immediately prompt me to jump on board to 10, but until then I am quite content to stay on Win 7 as it is far more stable with older software support.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-12-09T04:06:14+00:00

    You do not have to waste money buying DX. You can download the DirectX installer (June 2010) for nix from MS.

    Reinstalling DX would likely be a waste of time however, because Direct Draw is no longer, and has not been included in the DirectX install for years (Including the outdated DX 9.0c installer).

    Download Details - Microsoft Download Center - DirectX Redist (June 2010)


    -   I've not used this particular fix, but there is a fix for Direct Draw  -  http://sol.gfxile.net/ddhack/

    • Problems with games earlier that 2000 in particular, are not new to Win10. People also had issues with Win7.

    It depends on the game. I have several older games that run as well on Win10 as they did on Win7,

    but some of those only ran on Win7 because they had fixes available from fan sites

    (eg- Grim Fandango - Diablo II).

     - Some old games have an option to use software acceleration or hardware acceleration. Selecting software

    acceleration may allow the game to run, but will reduce graphics quality.

    • DOS based games require DOS BOX to run (Good old Games has a lot of DOS based games that install

    with DOS Box and run well on Win10... so far. ) -

    D-Fend Reloaded is a user interface that make DOS Box a bit more user friendly, and includes DOS Box.

    D-Fend Reloaded: Overview


    • It is interesting that MS advertises Win10 as the best Windows for gaming ever. Yeah! Right.

    Worse than the Direct Draw issue (I believe is affects far more people) is the introduction of DRM blocking.

    Nothing more than an extortion attempt at getting people to toss out their disk based games and buy

    again from download sites, I reckon.

    My full rant on DRM blocking  ---- here ----

    .

    .

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-12-08T16:31:46+00:00

    So i have bought the online version of Hollywood Monster on FXinteractive, When i press play it says to me: That there is some problem with the direct draw and i should re install directx. What i have to do? I waste money on buying it?

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  5. Anonymous
    2015-12-02T13:42:59+00:00

    just upgraded to windows 10. direct draw error. welp.

    restoring windows 7. windows 10, you suck!

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    6 people found this answer helpful.
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