InsideTheCynic: I know it's been a while since this post, but for everyone else passing by: This did the trick for me as well. I haven't managed to run the game in fullscreen mode yet, but at least it works.
Reviving a old post again, this solved my sub 15 fps framerate and got it up to a 30ish fps which is somewhat stable but nowhere near as bad. Fullscreen works for me I did alot of testing trying to find the best settings in DXwind for Apache Vs. Havoc. I have Fullscreen, 30FPS, and it looks pretty good (Not as good as running the game in a super tiny window though lol, You can Increase the games resolution by pressing CTRL+F4 but anything over and sometimes at 720x480 crashed the game on my computer.
Im working on going through every option in DXwind to find which ones results in the best visual quality and performance balance. I just started this a little bit ago and will share my Notes from the notes Section in DXwind I used for recording changes so if I broke something I would know what to revert back to fix it. Here you go - this may not work for everyone. I am sure the FPS issue is related 100% to the game not anyone's hardware unless it is a really underpowered computer, I have a Custom Built by myself Gaming Rig (Its my hobby and my Job, I own my own computer repair and Custom Computer Building business Speedy Computer Repair) so computer parts compatibility with each other and performance is in my area of expertise. I know its the game because after messing with the game and DXwind I got a glitch where the view was messed up and the game ran super good high FPS and everything. I believe the CockPit textures or how its drawn is the issue. I think its a overlay and some of the methods they use or something to display it onscreen is broken by hardware changes/software code changes since the era PCs this game was originally run and optimized for.
heres my settings list for DXwind
Test #1
Enabling "Suppress Overlay Capability" Causes screen to show black outside of the cockpit. though I notice there is no lag, one of the textures must be causing the issue with low framerate.
Test #2
Disabled "Suppress Overlay Capability", test results now
-Outside of cockpit is still black, FPS was around 30. Not sure why its doing that I haven't changed any settings since it was showing the exterior.
NOT FIXED
Tes!#3
Set Z order to "Default" forgot I changed that setting and it was before I started using the notes section here. Attempting test now!
Did not work.
Test #4
Forgot I checked "Don't fix pixel format" befor eusing this notes section to record tests.. Unchecked it, now to test! Scren still black, it's like its not drawing or refreshing.
NOT FIXED
Test #5
Checked "Auto Primary Surface Blit", Checked "Recover Screen mode", Rechecked Aero Compatible Mode" & Optimize for Aero Mode", Set VSync to off",
Unchecked "Trim Texture Formats" forgot to record note when I checked it. Unchecked "Set 16BPP RGB565 encoding" Not sure what it does.
Checked "Enable Gamma Ramp Emulation" Still not working
NOT FIXED
Test #6
Rechecked "Set 16BPP RGB565 encoding" going to try it in windowed mode and see if it begins working!
NOT FIXED
TEST #7 GOING TO RE ADD THE GAME TO DXwind and see what settings I may have chnaged thats causing this! Standby
Checked "Flip Emulation" & "Emulate Win Maximize" Unchecled "Recover Screenmode
FIXED
My theory is that it is the "flip Emulation" that broke it whatever that means/does.
Test #8 Now going to work on changing settings to improve FPS!
Checked
Direct X - Checked "Auto Primary Surface Blit" "Compemsate Flip Emulation"
Direct 3D Set "Force Vertex Proc. / Execute Buffer" to
"Hardware Video"
YESS ITS RUNNING FAIRLY WELL GIVEN 30FPS and below sometimes, working on optimizations!
Test #8 Checked "Locked Sys colors" going to look for the file to delete that i read a while ago that fixed low FPS to try and increase the FPS and Stability more
I just want to finally play the game now it has a bearable FPS and works right, WHOO WHOO YEET!