Ricochet Xtreme (2001) - problem with hooking
Window hooker to run fullscreen programs in window and much more...
Status: Beta
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You can find this little Breakout-style game on Myabandonware. The game has a native resolution of 640x480 (16-bit), and the .exe file launches Ricochet.RWG. I haven't found any parameters for Ricochet.RWG, and it cannot be run standalone. DxWnd doesn't hook the game, and with Ext. inject, the game crashes. Could someone take a look at this? I'm sending both logs: the crash log with Ext. inject and the normal log. I haven't figured anything out yet.
This is probably a very difficult case. Despite the apparent simplicity, these Reflexive games appear to be very well equipped to avoid cheating. My suspect about the existence of two executable is that the first checks the integrity of the second. Another suspicious thing is the fact that during the game you can see in a small square the advertisements of other Reflexive games as if the game was linked to some web site that pushes them. I'll try to do my best to understand better, but I can't assure results.
Oh! The game works perfectly in Mixed mode. Why didn't I think of that yesterday? I think the problem is solved, at least here.
Can you share your profile?
Sure, but I'm not home right now, you'll have to wait until I get back this evening.
I'm curious too. I tried Mixed mode + Extend inject & shared hook + acquire admin caps but it didn't work here on Win11. I didn't think to mixed mode because the two executable files don't appear to be obfuscated, but there must be something ...
OK, here's my profile. Maybe some flags aren't necessary, but it worked here so I didn't bother. I don't know if this will work in Win11.
profile works, but game is not in a window
Wait, everything is wrong.
I forgot the files from cnc-draw in the game folder. So the profile doesn't work, I take it back.
Last edit: huh 2026-03-23
Update:
OK, the only thing that worked for me was to create two identical profiles for Ricochet.exe and Ricochet.RWG (you can use the one I posted, without "Mixed mode"), enable "Allow multiple hooks" in the DxWnd menu, and then run Ricochet.exe from Desktop while DxWnd is running. It works here.
Last edit: huh 2026-03-23
Sadly, on win11 a dialog box appears (before any window creation) telling "Couldn't set resolution".
I think that happened to me during testing too, but I don't remember what I did at the time.
The game apparently launches three files, also RAW_003.wdt.
Anyway, it's working now. Here's the log, in case it helps.
Curiously, the logs are similar up to a given point, where your exe reads configuration data from files in the ReflexiveArcade folder and my exe searches data from the registry. But I see that your log didn't include the "Registry op." topic, maybe the difference is hidden in the missing log lines.
P.s. did you install the full game or the trial version?
Full game, but after installation I didn't find any entries in the registry as far as I remember.
Its the noshims flag getting the resolution error. Anyways, removing it doesn't make the game windowed. Allow multiple hooks is enabled
I tried it now in Win10 and with these profiles and running Ricochet.exe outside of DxWnd it works here too.
@BEEN_Nath_58
I also tried it in Windows 11 25H2 (even though it doesn't have the latest updates) and it works there too. If you run Ricochet.exe outside of DxWnd from its own folder or a shortcut (not from DxWnd) and have "Allow multiple hooks" enabled, and it still doesn't work, then I don't know what the problem is.
Outside....
Okay that works!!!