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Might and Magic seriesMM9 black screen during night/in water(48 posts)(48 posts)
(48 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted October 02, 2021
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Dashiefan101: I'm trying to apply your suggested fix but I'm unsure I'm doing it right. I'm not familiar with coding or programming, is there a simple explanation for what you did to fix this? I'm having the black screen at night and underwater as well.

I tried to replace the destination file, but now my game won't even start.
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narzoul: Just extract the ddraw.zip file and copy the extracted ddraw.dll to your MM9 directory (where lithtech.exe is).
I guess you already did that since you overwrote an existing file (probably GOG's own DirectDraw wrapper). I hope you made a backup of the original file first. :) Otherwise, you can restore it with Galaxy.

What does "won't even start" mean exactly? Does it crash? Does it show a black screen? Does that close automatically?

Which version of Windows are you using? And what kind of GPU?

If you have G-Sync enabled, you might have to disable it. Otherwise, please copy the contents of DDrawCompat-lithtech.log here. It should be in the game folder now.
Hello,

I know I'm very late to the party but I'm a bit stuck as well. When you say extract the ddraw.zip file and copy the extracted ddraw.dll to my mm9 directory do you mean extract the entire zip file to my mm9 directory or just a particular ddraw.dll file? Because there are three ddraw.dll files in the zip file.
I am having trouble seeing underwater, I was having a problem seeing at night too but that seemed to have resolved itself even though I did nothing so from reading this subreddit I guess I'm luckier than most. Anyway I doubt you'll respond as this conversation started a long time ago but if you do see this any help would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
Post edited October 02, 2021 by icanttiemyshoe
Posted October 02, 2021
It's been a while indeed, there is no experimental version at the moment, but there are 2 new releases. v0.3.1 should work fine if your display supports the 800x600 resolution.

It sounds like you may have downloaded the debug version if you have multiple ddraw.dll's in the zip file. In that case, use the one from the Release directory, the others are for debugging purposes only.

Otherwise, just download the non-debug version, which only has one ddraw.dll file in it. Here's a direct link to v0.3.1: https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/releases/download/v0.3.1/DDrawCompat-v0.3.1.zip
Posted October 02, 2021
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narzoul: It's been a while indeed, there is no experimental version at the moment, but there are 2 new releases. v0.3.1 should work fine if your display supports the 800x600 resolution.

It sounds like you may have downloaded the debug version if you have multiple ddraw.dll's in the zip file. In that case, use the one from the Release directory, the others are for debugging purposes only.

Otherwise, just download the non-debug version, which only has one ddraw.dll file in it. Here's a direct link to v0.3.1: https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/releases/download/v0.3.1/DDrawCompat-v0.3.1.zip
Well I honestly wasn't expecting a response so soon damn man your response time is insane.
And thank you so much, I did as you said and it solved the issue. I can now see underwater and can begin my mm9 playthrough thanks man much appreciated!
Posted October 06, 2021
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narzoul: It's been a while indeed, there is no experimental version at the moment, but there are 2 new releases. v0.3.1 should work fine if your display supports the 800x600 resolution.

It sounds like you may have downloaded the debug version if you have multiple ddraw.dll's in the zip file. In that case, use the one from the Release directory, the others are for debugging purposes only.

Otherwise, just download the non-debug version, which only has one ddraw.dll file in it. Here's a direct link to v0.3.1: https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/releases/download/v0.3.1/DDrawCompat-v0.3.1.zip
Hello again narzoul.

I am reaching out to you again because I have encountered another problem and I can't find anything about it online and you seem to be adept at this kind of stuff so if you know of any fix that would be wonderful.

I am having a problem with the loading screens. Sometimes when I am going through a load door the animated ship that appears on the loading screen that shows you the game is responsive doesn't show up and I am stuck in an infinite loading screen. It happens every now and then but not at every load door but frequent enough for it to be a concern. I then have to open up task manager and restart my computer each time this happens and it is becoming a bit of a pain.

I have not found any fix for this online or anyone else who has shared my experience so any expertise you could part would be greatly appreciated and thank you for your time.
Posted October 06, 2021
It's odd that you haven't found anything about it online. There are multiple forum posts elsewhere mentioning similar issues, e.g.:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/12123
https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/13052
http://telp.org/mm9/tavern/anyboard/posts/41508.html

The TELP patch is supposed to remove the loading screen for this reason, and the GOG release did that too a few years ago, but they added it back since then. I'm not sure if that's what causes this problem for you (I haven't encountered it myself). It could also be a bug in DDrawCompat, if it only happens when using that.

The tool mentioned in those threads (WinRezLT) is still available e.g. here: https://www.moddb.com/downloads/winrez-studio

Coincidentally, a day before the loading screen was added back to the GOG release with a patch, I wrote some instructions on how to put them back manually with some hex editing here:
https://www.gog.com/forum/might_and_magic_series/mm9_guide_to_restoring_the_original_loading_screen
You could also try to disable them again by following those replacements in the opposite direction.

If you think the issue could be related to DDrawCompat, try taking a crash dump from Task Manager when the process hangs (right click the executable under the Details tab and select "Create dump file"), and post it under a new issue here: https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/issues
Posted October 07, 2021
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narzoul: It's odd that you haven't found anything about it online. There are multiple forum posts elsewhere mentioning similar issues, e.g.:
https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/12123
https://www.celestialheavens.com/forum/10/13052
http://telp.org/mm9/tavern/anyboard/posts/41508.html

The TELP patch is supposed to remove the loading screen for this reason, and the GOG release did that too a few years ago, but they added it back since then. I'm not sure if that's what causes this problem for you (I haven't encountered it myself). It could also be a bug in DDrawCompat, if it only happens when using that.

The tool mentioned in those threads (WinRezLT) is still available e.g. here: https://www.moddb.com/downloads/winrez-studio

Coincidentally, a day before the loading screen was added back to the GOG release with a patch, I wrote some instructions on how to put them back manually with some hex editing here:
https://www.gog.com/forum/might_and_magic_series/mm9_guide_to_restoring_the_original_loading_screen
You could also try to disable them again by following those replacements in the opposite direction.

If you think the issue could be related to DDrawCompat, try taking a crash dump from Task Manager when the process hangs (right click the executable under the Details tab and select "Create dump file"), and post it under a new issue here: https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/issues
Ok perfect thank you for the response I will try these solutions and get back to you.
Posted May 10, 2022
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narzoul: It's been a while indeed, there is no experimental version at the moment, but there are 2 new releases. v0.3.1 should work fine if your display supports the 800x600 resolution.

It sounds like you may have downloaded the debug version if you have multiple ddraw.dll's in the zip file. In that case, use the one from the Release directory, the others are for debugging purposes only.

Otherwise, just download the non-debug version, which only has one ddraw.dll file in it. Here's a direct link to v0.3.1: https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/releases/download/v0.3.1/DDrawCompat-v0.3.1.zip
ok i did this. and i am very proud of myself because this is usually something i don't mess with. but i have an issue. i now can not move my mouse to the bottom quarter of the screen. not on a lap top. so i can't hit the 'accept' button to change any of the settings. i also can't access any of the bottom of the chat windows. so i can not level up my character in the bottom space. i am very out of my depth here.

thanks for any help
Posted May 10, 2022
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whitetyger0090: ok i did this. and i am very proud of myself because this is usually something i don't mess with. but i have an issue. i now can not move my mouse to the bottom quarter of the screen. not on a lap top. so i can't hit the 'accept' button to change any of the settings. i also can't access any of the bottom of the chat windows. so i can not level up my character in the bottom space. i am very out of my depth here.

thanks for any help
Now that you mention it, the mouse seems a little limited on the bottom and right side of the screen for me too, but not as much as to prevent applying settings. Anyway, for me it is fixed by applying the ForceSimpleWindow shim via Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit. If you don't know how to use that, PCGamingWiki has a downloadable fix that applies the same if you extract it and run install.bat:
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/6-might-and-magic-ix-fullscreen-fixes/
Posted May 10, 2022
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whitetyger0090: ok i did this. and i am very proud of myself because this is usually something i don't mess with. but i have an issue. i now can not move my mouse to the bottom quarter of the screen. not on a lap top. so i can't hit the 'accept' button to change any of the settings. i also can't access any of the bottom of the chat windows. so i can not level up my character in the bottom space. i am very out of my depth here.

thanks for any help
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narzoul: Now that you mention it, the mouse seems a little limited on the bottom and right side of the screen for me too, but not as much as to prevent applying settings. Anyway, for me it is fixed by applying the ForceSimpleWindow shim via Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit. If you don't know how to use that, PCGamingWiki has a downloadable fix that applies the same if you extract it and run install.bat:
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/6-might-and-magic-ix-fullscreen-fixes/
ok this did nothing. lol i might have to save the original version of the game with the night and water black screen and load that any time i am in town or talking to people and load the fixed version for when i am adventuring.
Posted May 10, 2022
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whitetyger0090: ok this did nothing. lol i might have to save the original version of the game with the night and water black screen and load that any time i am in town or talking to people and load the fixed version for when i am adventuring.
Oh, I thought you have the cursor issue without DDrawCompat too. Strange, it doesn't do anything with cursor clipping (at least not yet). Maybe you have DPI scaling set above 100% in Windows? You could try setting it to 100% to see if that helps.
Posted May 11, 2022
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whitetyger0090: ok this did nothing. lol i might have to save the original version of the game with the night and water black screen and load that any time i am in town or talking to people and load the fixed version for when i am adventuring.
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narzoul: Oh, I thought you have the cursor issue without DDrawCompat too. Strange, it doesn't do anything with cursor clipping (at least not yet). Maybe you have DPI scaling set above 100% in Windows? You could try setting it to 100% to see if that helps.
ok i don't know what DPI scaling is or even where i would find it. yup i am showing my total ignorance at many functions of my computer.
Posted May 11, 2022
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whitetyger0090: ok i don't know what DPI scaling is or even where i would find it. yup i am showing my total ignorance at many functions of my computer.
https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/how_to_change_dpi_scaling_level_in_windows_10.html
Posted May 11, 2022
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whitetyger0090: ok i don't know what DPI scaling is or even where i would find it. yup i am showing my total ignorance at many functions of my computer.
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narzoul: https://www.majorgeeks.com/content/page/how_to_change_dpi_scaling_level_in_windows_10.html
ah thank you. yea i have mine set to 300%. i am using a 48" flat screen for my monitor and had to set it that big so i could read things properly. it should be labeled DPI on the computer so i would know these things.
Posted May 11, 2022
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whitetyger0090: ah thank you. yea i have mine set to 300%. i am using a 48" flat screen for my monitor and had to set it that big so i could read things properly. it should be labeled DPI on the computer so i would know these things.
So does setting it to 100% fix the issue or not? I can't reproduce the issue this way either, because if I use anything other than 100%, the game immediately minimizes itself and cannot be maximized at all. It behaves the same way with or without DDrawCompat (except without it, it also crashes a few seconds after minimizing). The DPI related compatibility settings don't do anything to fix this either. But I can launch the game by setting the "Run in 640x480 screen resolution" compatibility setting (right click on lithtech.exe -> Properties -> Compatibility tab). I still don't have any mouse clipping issues that way, so maybe you can try that also as an alternative solution.
Posted May 11, 2022
Ok, I managed to reproduce the issue now. The minimization must have been caused due to interference by some other app. I closed most other apps and now the game starts with >100% DPI scaling too. At 300% you indeed can't click the Apply button, presumably because the (invisible) window borders/caption become too large.

However, this issue is definitely fixed for me by the Might and Magic IX fullscreen fixes I linked from PCGamingWiki earlier. Are you sure you installed it correctly? It should show up in the list of apps where you can uninstall them, as "Might and Magic IX fullscreen fixes". Type "add or remove programs" in start menu search, open the result and search in the app list there. Also, make sure the executable file is called lithtech.exe. Maybe try launching the game directly with that.
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This is my favourite topic
Community
Might and Magic seriesMM9 black screen during night/in water(48 posts)(48 posts)
(48 posts)