DxWnd v2.02.91 is out and it's incredibly fast!
Window hooker to run fullscreen programs in window and much more...
Status: Beta
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The only news about this release is a brand new way to handle the AERO desktop environment, that you can turn on by setting the new configuration flag "Optimize for AERO mode" in the DirectX tab.
I'm not talking of a little thing: handling AERO in the proper way, we can get more that 10x performances! It's enough to start fiddling with bilinear filtering without much performance concerns!
This mode was tested and should work for 2D ddraw games in primary surface emulation mode or i bilinear filtering mode, but maybe there could be imroovements in other situations as well. But for sure do not expect differences in D3D8/9 or OpenGL.
So, if you are tired of slowdowns, try this!
Last edit: gho 2014-09-14
First problem with "Optimize for AERO mode" flag: it seems that a DirectX 7 game such as "Battle Realms" can't cope with part of the optimization schema (the usage of DDSDCAPS_SYSTEMMEMORY surfaces) while the new blitting sequance seems to improve FPS of a 2X factor.
Then, for this type of games, it will be necessary to adapt the hacking to take advantage of the possible improvement, while overtaking the offending part.
A new release may come...
Hi,
new build not work properly with Total soccer 2000, minimize window and the game will crash.
Ugh... why one earth that i must check 'set aero' and 'optimize aero' to make Emulation feature working, while i'm running XP
Uncheck that flags make the color and texture messed up ;(
I'm sure Aero function in new build is the reason make the game crash. Still don't know how to get rid of that thing. Gone back to build 90..
Last edit: Anonymous 2014-09-15
build 91 is immature, and TS200 not tested with it. Nothing wrong with the code itself, but the effect that the new capability dispositions has on the game is quite unpredictable.
First needs for an upgrade came right soon (see above, about "Battle Realms"), so TS200 is in the list.
What's a little strange is that unchecking the flag colors are messed up, but it's possibile and has to be fixed.
Be patient and wait for news. It's wise to stick to build 90 in the meanwhile.
Hello, can you look up into the problem from Fifa 99? As default the game will run on Software Renderer mode, and Dxwnd will not handle the color while the match begin, color very messed up when it suddenly change to 8 bit. I notice that on fullscreen the color look beauty and no problem so far.
Last edit: Anonymous 2014-09-18
Ah ha, Fifa 99 also one of few games that will hang if you try to enable 'Show FPS on title'. So far Overlay mode work beauty, i don't know why.
Two interesting points. I'll give them a look...
*** update ***
Curiously, Fifa 99 seems to work perfectly with FPS on title and/or on overlay. The game is quite old and received a lot of patches and cracks, so maybe this also depends on the game version. Maybe some release simply rely on what's written on the window title and doesn't manage an updated info properly.
About the colors, I didn't see anything like what you described. Maybe the video card, maybe the game release, who knows? Can you send a screenshot?
The game also works as a beauty (actually, much much better) on accelerated mode, but only using a patched version of dxwnd.dll and if you set emulation to "Primary buffer". See the screenshots: one was taken with the game in wireframe mode, just for curiosity. The only drawback is that acceleration turns AERO off.
I'm uploading the patched dll to replace in the DxWnd v2.02.91 folder and also the two exported configuration. Be aware that they both point to the same executable, so you shouldn't let them be activated both on the DxWnd game list, otherwise you can't predict which setting will be applied.
Last edit: gho 2014-09-18
Look like i forgot to tell you D3D renderer work beauty with both build so the problem remain only on sw renderer. And i'm running XP so no AERO stuff here. Now back to the main subject:
So far, build 90 is the most stable and work perfectly with most of games but damn, it had big trouble with Fifa99 (sw renderer), "Primary Surface" give black screen; "Primary Buffer" ruined the color. Even the FPS display in title is total wrong.
http://i.imgur.com/lyA9gPJ.png
Talk about the good news, build 91 now handle the color beauty on FIFA99(sw renderer) when use "Primary Surface" flag. "Primary Buffer" flag still ruined the color. Look above for the picture.
Talk about the bad news, build 91 bring new feature for people use AERO but also BROKE some games use Direct Draw on XP.. Games only run at HALF SPEED without checked two flags: 'set aero' and 'optimize aero'. Now TS2000 and FIFA99 only run at 22FPS thanks for new mode. And some game like TS2000 will crash if minimize window.
But i never lost any hope about gho, he will get rid this problem soon.
Regards
Last edit: Anonymous 2014-09-19
>>> Even the FPS display in title is total wrong.
Ehi, 311 FPS, at least you can't complain about speed!!! ;)
>>> build 91 bring new feature for people use AERO but also BROKE some games use Direct Draw on XP
To be honest, not only on XP... see comments below.
Proper fixes are required.
just a note on new version v2.02.91 BOTF opening videos are scrambled unless "optimize for aero mode" is checked. videos are very low quality (due to required codec) videos use cvid codec. (v2.02.90 video played normally)
And both new flags are required to prevent mouse lag in windows 8. (v2.02.90 prior settings corrected mouse lag)
thunderchero
Last edit: thunderchero 2014-09-19
Thank you for your comments.
To be honest, I expected things as such, because the "Optimize for AERO" flag is the sum of several single changes on the surface handling that I tried not to leave separated, but I concentrated in a single flag for ease of configuration.
Unfortunately, this approach has it limits and one of the drawbacks is that some games are not working any more with all features off, while the best is reached with some on and some off, depending on the case.
The featureas are more or less the following:
o usage of DDSDCAPS_SYSTEMMEMORY on service surfaces
o usage of DDSDCAPS_SYSTEMMEMORY on backbuffer surface
o usage of DDSDCAPS_SYSTEMMEMORY on emulated surfaces
o stretching operation performed in memory rather than on video
You see that 4 options would be difficult to manage, so my hope is to find some "rule" that allow to turn them on or off automatically depending on the case. For instance, I discovered that it's not possible to turn DDSDCAPS_SYSTEMMEMORY on with DDSDCAPS_3DDEVICE, but it's just a beginning.
Some improvements are released in v2_02_92.
Changes may not be so evident, but hopefully there should be XP compatibility again, and some improvements on Win7/8 and AERO as well.
From the release notes:
fix: "Keep aspect ratio" fixed for AERO environment
fix: improved "Oprtimized for AERO mode" compatibility, both when set / unset.
fix: Skip / Limit FPS now acting on full scren blits only. For instance, they no longer slow cursor sprite.
The third one should eliminate some crazy FPS performances when the screen refresh was the sum of several blit operation on smaller part of the screen.
Also, FPS limitation should be more accurate.
Too bad for cloudstr, since TS2000 doesn't seem to blit multiple rectangles, so it doesn't gain any benefit from the fix. On the contrary, Fifa 99 does!
ahem, build 92 now back to build 90 behavior means that the speed should normal now, so does for Fifa99 when 'Primary Surface' give black screen again?!!
Must be some magic from 'Primary Surface' emulation on build 91 that make Fifa99 display beauty color on sw renderrer, but also make the game run at half speed is not very acceptable.
I can sum up that no build is perfect now..
Last edit: Anonymous 2014-09-21
It's worse than this! The magic thing that made Fifa 99 working in Direct3D mode was built in the temporary dll uploaded here, but none of the official dxwnd releases seem able to reproduce the charm.
I'll have to guess what I did before I completely forget it. What a complication!
*** update ***
Phew! The magic is preserved in release 91 with a custom setting through debug flags. That means that I just have to find what's different in the two scenarios and replicate it.
It shouldn't be too difficult.
*** update ***
Got it. on 3DDEVICE surfaces, you should NOT activate SYSTEMMEMORY. Grab this dxwnd.dll and, if it works as expected, I won't make the same mistake again and I will ufficialize it right away.
Last edit: gho 2014-09-21
Tried that file and still black screen here. Note that 'Direct3D' renderer already fully working with all of recent build of Dxwnd, so we should not care about it.
Do you sure you run FIFA99 on software renderer? That setting should be enable by run file 3dsetup.exe on 'setup' folder.
Try new uploaded v2_02_93 fix in the download section ......
Last edit: gho 2014-09-21
oh no, please tell me that you understand what i said above... I said that D3D renderer fully working with dxwnd, so why it need a fix?? while on software renderer dxwnd give a black screen and no fix for it until now? The only build seem to working here is build 91, but the downside is the game run only at half speed.
Remember the mission here is make the game run at fullspeed and display right color while running on SOFTWARE RENDERER.
Please, don't misunderstand me.
Both modes needed fixes, and both were fixed.
Now, on Win7, with both AERO flags checked:
o Fifa 99 configured for sw renderer and dxwnd "Fifa 99 (sw renderer)" file works fine (fast, aero mode, good colors)
o Fifa 99 configured for d3d renderer and dxwnd "Fifa 99 (Direct3D)" file works fine (fast, aero mode, good colors)
I hope but actually don't know if that holds on XP as well.
Beware that starting the game with both configurations in the list may pick an unpredictable one, so to be sure better disable or delete one at a time!
Also, I noticed that performances seem impacted by other programs like flashplayer plugin, maybe...
In any case, I easily get good FPS, above 60.
Last edit: gho 2014-09-21
ok, so it must be not working good with XP here.
Build 93:
Fifa 99 (Direct3D): work great as always
Fifa 99 (sw renderer): black screen (Primary Surface); wrong color(Primary Buffer)
Build 91:
Fifa 99 (Direct3D): work great as always
Fifa 99 (sw renderer): wrong color(Primary Buffer); right color but speed sucks (Primary Surface)
And 60FPS is not that great.. FIFA99 limit the FPS at 85 and my PC can easily reach to 85FPS, it mean fullspeed.
Last edit: Anonymous 2014-09-21
Trust me, i guess you already have one XP version on Virtual machine. So why don't you run the game on software mode and see the problem there? Build 91 totally produce the great color that build 93 can't do. You must be missed something, gho.
Summarizing, Fifa 99 in Direct3D mode is ok.
Fifa 99 in sw emulation mode worked fine in dxwnd 2.02.91, but it's working no more in XP with 2.02.93.
The game uses the 8 bit palettized screen mode, then there's no question about not working in "Primary Buffer" mode: it is not supposed to work this way.
The strange thing is that it is not working in "Primary Surface" mode: it is supposed to work, and in v2.02.91 it is working!
Can you send me the dxwnd.ini config file and a dxwnd.log logfile with a short game section with the black screen? I wish to see what type of error it is returned by the ddraw call.
Here it is
Amazing! The log reports no errors at all.
And the configuration seems ok.
I need to test it on a real XP platform.
Just one possible hint: can you try using in the "Video" tab the "Screen resolution" setting to "Monitor native modes"? It's possible that the fake SVGA modes are not compatible with your real ones.
use 'Monitor native modes' doesn't help me either.
I will send you build 91 log.
Last edit: Anonymous 2014-09-25
Interesting. v91 creates a VIDEOMEMORY+LOCALVIDMEM virtual primary surface, while v93 uses a SYSTEMMEMORY surface. Very likely, this is the point. I should move the primary surface to SYSTEMMEMORY only when AERO compatibility is needed, and leave it alone otherwise. I need to get home and make some experiments. See you later ....