It seems that you're using an outdated browser. Some things may not work as they should (or don't work at all).
We suggest you upgrade newer and better browser like: Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer or Opera

×
Community
Icewind Dale seriesWindows 8.1 DirectDraw Solution for IWD2(17 posts)(17 posts)
(17 posts)
Pages:
1
2
This is my favourite topic
Posted August 02, 2014
high rated
I recently installed Windows 8.1 and had some significant issues with IWD2 I managed to solve, and I thought I would share here. This may not work for everyone, and it is also possible that you may never encounter the issues I have, but I hope I can help someone else out there.

It seems Win 8/8.1 has lost some Direct Draw support that Windows 7 still retained. My previous experience on Windows 7 was a crash on launch, but could be solved simply - running "setup-ddrawfix.exe" in the IWD2 folder and switching from WineD3D to Force Direct Draw Emulation worked great. This wasn't the case anymore on Windows 8.1.

After installing 8.1, I still had a crash on launch using WineD3D, but now using Direct Draw Emulation results in a flashing cursor and open windows on the desktop flashing on the screen while playing, as well slowing down the game, even in the menus. The only way the game was playable was uninstalling ddrawfix, but this introduced the classic error of having the edges of the fog of war being mirrored the wrong way.

The solution was this: http://bitpatch.com/ddwrapper.html
Made by the same guy that made ddraw fix. After uninstalling ddrawfix (run setup-ddrawfix.exe and type u and hit enter) , extract the contents of "ddwrapper.zip" to your game's installation folder and open "aqrit.cfg". Change BltMirror = 0, to BltMirror = 1. Run the game. The fog of war will now display correctly and game was playable for me, with no crashing or flashing. I later installed the high resolution mod and a gui replacement without issues. Running at 1920x1080. It seems like it might be giving me the slightest performance drop when using this resolution (compared to without the ddwrapper), but it is not really noticeable (although I have yet to test during a fight with a lot of spell effects). Running at standard resolution is indistinguishable.

Notes:
I am running an Nvidia GTX670 using the 340.52 drivers and Windows 8.1 Pro x64 fully updated (as of this post), along with a Core i7 - 3770k overclocked to 4GHz.. I can't guarantee the same results for other configurations, and I do not take any responsibility for damages to your system by following my advice. Use at your own risk.
Post edited September 30, 2014 by alexw11
Posted November 05, 2014
high rated
Thank you so much for your post. I was trying to get iwd2 working properly with widescreen mod and a decent resolution (1920*1080 or even 2560*1440) on my windows 8.1 PC. But I had a cursor flickering issue which was really annoying.

I tried the 2 modes (force and wine) of the provided ddrawfix. Forcemode doesn't even work, wine works but with the cursor flickering issue.

I found your post and tried the ddwrapper. With your provided configuration it was a disaster though. FPS were below 10 and the game was a real slideshow. Then I tried the force emulation, same result as with ddrawfix (can't even display the game menu properly).

Then I tried the NoVideoMemory setting, and everything was solved. FPS are maxed even at 2560*1440 (using iwd2 config, I tried forcing 60 FPS, no problem ! Game is bit too fast though, 40 is more enjoyable). Fog is displayed properly, no cursor flickering. I need to test it a bit further but it looks very promising. I changed the resolution to 1920*1080 because the UI was a bit small for my taste, and now it looks really nice.

Here is the config file I'm using :


RealDDrawPath = AUTO
BltMirror = 0
BltNoTearing = 0
ColorFix = 0
DisableHighDpiScaling = 1
FakeVsync = 0
FakeVsyncInterval = 0
ForceBltNoTearing = 0
ForceDirectDrawEmulation = 1
NoVideoMemory = 1
SingleProcAffinity = 0
ShowFPS = 0


Thanks again. And thanks to the author of this wrapper too !
Posted November 16, 2014
Thanks for the help worked for both icewind dale and icewind dale 2 very much appreciated and simple solution.
Posted November 20, 2014
This fix is great. Thanks a lot.
Posted December 12, 2014
Does this also work with IWD1? Also, how do I use higher resolutions?
Posted January 21, 2015
Sadly, no luck at all here. IWD2 simply does not start in Win8.1. Just the notorious "0xc0000022".
Compatibilty mode does not help, either.
Posted August 16, 2015
Worked like a charm.
Thanks a lot!
Posted August 21, 2015
Thank you for sharing this fix!!
Posted May 08, 2016
avatar
AgentMat: Thank you so much for your post. I was trying to get iwd2 working properly with widescreen mod and a decent resolution (1920*1080 or even 2560*1440) on my windows 8.1 PC. But I had a cursor flickering issue which was really annoying.

I tried the 2 modes (force and wine) of the provided ddrawfix. Forcemode doesn't even work, wine works but with the cursor flickering issue.

I found your post and tried the ddwrapper. With your provided configuration it was a disaster though. FPS were below 10 and the game was a real slideshow. Then I tried the force emulation, same result as with ddrawfix (can't even display the game menu properly).

Then I tried the NoVideoMemory setting, and everything was solved. FPS are maxed even at 2560*1440 (using iwd2 config, I tried forcing 60 FPS, no problem ! Game is bit too fast though, 40 is more enjoyable). Fog is displayed properly, no cursor flickering. I need to test it a bit further but it looks very promising. I changed the resolution to 1920*1080 because the UI was a bit small for my taste, and now it looks really nice.

Here is the config file I'm using :

RealDDrawPath = AUTO
BltMirror = 0
BltNoTearing = 0
ColorFix = 0
DisableHighDpiScaling = 1
FakeVsync = 0
FakeVsyncInterval = 0
ForceBltNoTearing = 0
ForceDirectDrawEmulation = 1
NoVideoMemory = 1
SingleProcAffinity = 0
ShowFPS = 0

Thanks again. And thanks to the author of this wrapper too !
This is a a pretty old thread but, since I just gave up waiting for IWD2:EE, this is precisely what I needed to get the game running decently. I'd like to add that these settings in particular (i.e. NoVideoMemory=1) were necessary to get acceptable performance.

I tried another guy's fix that used the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit to force directdraw emulation, but the results were slow and jerky, just like this fix produces *unless* you also set NoVideoMemory=1.
Post edited May 08, 2016 by circus_seal
Posted October 03, 2016
Dealing with similar issues to those discussed above - cursor flickering, other programs flashing while game is running. Hope someone is still paying attention.

I'm not very experienced messing with config files. First want to make sure I'm looking at the right file: name - icewind2, type - configuration settings.

Where exactly do you add that text? Is there anything you take out of the file that it's supposed to replace.

Thanks.
Posted November 30, 2016
Hi.

In another thread, I posted that BG1 was running fine on my desktop computer without any compatibility fixes whatsoever. Not even DirectDrawFix was installed. I don't have that computer anymore. (Tomorrow I'm actually going to build its successor.) I've installed BG1 on my laptop (Windows 10, latest updates), and it only has one problem: the fog of war is mirrored incorrectly. Even though this laptop has an nvidia card just like the desktop had, it behaves differently. The same problems exist on the internal Intel card, by the way.

All the usual fixes such as DDRAWFix introduce other problems, such as very slow performance, flickering, disappearing cursor, or mouse trails. The fix in this thread works, but you will need to take care of a few things first.

If you have it installed, remove ddrawfix as usual. Just doubleclick setup-ddrawfix.exe in the Baldur's Gate folder and choose to uninstall.

Also, make sure you're not using direct draw emulation behind the scenes. At some point, the GOG.com installer included ddrawfix, but it doesn't anymore; not in the installer I downloaded yesterday. It now installs a compatibility database, which enables DirectDrawEmulation.

Download and install the Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=7352

Start the 32-bit version.

Remove the GOG.com database for Baldur's Gate. Then close the program.

Download the ddrawwrapper linked above in this thread, and put ddraw.dll and acqrit.cfg in the BG folder (where BGMain2.exe is). Open the CFG-file with Notepad, and enable BltMirror by changing the 0 to 1. (To be sure, also disable high dpi scaling by setting DisableHighDPIScaling to 1.) Save the file, and exit notepad.

Now start BG1. It should be working. No other compatibility fixes seem to be necessary.

If there is a setting in the Compatibility Toolkit for this, I haven't yet found it.
Posted November 30, 2016
Addition: The option "BltMirror" seems to introduce a different problem, at least in Baldur's Gate 1 (vanilla). At some random moment, characters stop walking, and they just stand there, jittering up and down.

On Windows 10, with intergrated Intel Grapics (and the nVidia card as well, on this laptop), the options are:

- Play without any fixes, in 32-bit color, accept the graphical glitches
- Play without any fixe, in 16-bit color + mirror blit (set in game options), accept slowdown
- Play with ddrawfix (DirectDrawEmulation), accept flickering cursor in game.
- Play with ddrawfix, set color to 16-bit. Flickering cursor is fixed, but you get cursor artifacts on the edges.
- Use the patch/hack above, set BltMirror, but accept that characters sometimes get stuck. You need to go to a different screen and return to get them to walk again.

There is one option that does seem to work, however, at least after half an hour of playing:
- Use the patch/hack above, and set "ForceDirectDrawEmulation", and "NoVideoMemory", as described by one of the posters earlier in this thread. The first option fixes the graphical glitches, the second option fixes the cursor flickering and windows showing through.

I suspect that this fix would work for BG2, IWD1, and IWD2 as well, if not running in OpenGL mode.
Posted December 10, 2017
I can say that this fix also works on Windows 10. My game was totally black when starting and the message: game does not react appeared.
Thanks for sharing.
Posted December 18, 2017
avatar
Shaliquor: I can say that this fix also works on Windows 10. My game was totally black when starting and the message: game does not react appeared.
Thanks for sharing.
Ditto ICWD2, and for Icewind Dale 1--ddwrapper works great for Win10x64, 1709, build 17025 (Insider's)! Fires right up!

Using Agent Matt's config options for both games!
Post edited December 18, 2017 by waltc
Posted December 20, 2017
avatar
Shaliquor: I can say that this fix also works on Windows 10. My game was totally black when starting and the message: game does not react appeared.
I also has a lot of problems getting this to run on Windows 10:

- WineD3D ran but only displayed in the bottom right corner of the desktop.
- Direct Draw Emulation had a flickering cursor and bits of the desktop randomly showing through.
- dgVoodoo2 worked (so long as you turn off the "force vsync" option), but still had a slightly flickering cursor and a low frame rate.

Using ddwrapper with AgentMat's config file works fine though.

Thanks!
Pages:
1
2
This is my favourite topic
Community
Icewind Dale seriesWindows 8.1 DirectDraw Solution for IWD2(17 posts)(17 posts)
(17 posts)