Wack0
Reuse DirectX7 port for Windows NT4 port on normal x86 PC, if exists (i got hinted about it)
Hello, i got info - https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=1351160#p1351160 that part of this project is DirectX7 NT4 port, Windows NT4, ale limited to DirectX3 officially, DX4 never released and there is DirectX5 unofficial port, more not working than Working and DirectX6 - which not really DirectX6, but only script to fake bad DirecX 5 unofficial build to DirectX6 just exchanging version numbers (no zero features added).
I read project description and but i dont find aby DirectX 7 / Direct3D info there, it DirectX 7 info is real. Could you please make some standalone DirectX7 for Windows NT package?
It would be great deal, because otherwise OpenGL / Glide, even some Glide to OpenGL wrappers are already working and its much more stable OS than Windows 9x.
It would be the great deal, because if you look on DirectX 2-7 list on pcgamingwiki: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_Direct3D_2-7_games
There is like for tens DirectX2 to 5 games, but hundreds for DirectX 5-7.
Its also unclear, if you ported just DirectX D3D + DirectDraw, or full DirectX package - with DirectInpu,DirectMusic, DirectSound etc. Because just port D3D is not enough to make the most games working and even some OpenGL / Glide games, are using DirectInput or DirectSound.
Only ddraw7 and d3d7 are present for now, with rest of DX being DX5 (from win2k beta 1). This is enough to get some games working (some need patches to work around imports/etc not present in NT4 though).
Here's Plants vs Zombies working under NT4 SP6 (this needs a bunch of patches as it imports some functions that don't exist in NT4, and was also compiled against Win2k SDK). It would work on PPC NT on Wii too, the only issue is it requires 800x600 resolution, Wii only has 640x480 and the button to get off the title screen renders offscreen!
That said, there are seperate patched ddraw.dll for NT4 pre-SP3 and SP3+, because some dx-related internal GDI calls changed at SP3 because of the added support for direct3d drivers.
Extract nt4dx5d3d7.ppc.zip from the latest release zip, copy files from system32\wx86\ into %systemroot%\system32, then extract the following zip to %systemroot%\system32. (This zip also includes patched dxdiag from DX8.0, which is the last to support D3D software rendering tests.)
I haven't done anything with later dinput or dsound yet for one reason: I'm mainly testing on PPC NT on Wii, and I haven't finished sound driver yet (and GC controller only works as keyboard + mouse for now, although I do plan to include support for GC controller as joypad in the future too)
May 23 11:40 AM I just realize this is for power pc interesting however this might be help for x86 users.
old comment
https://github.com/orgs/LegacyUpdate/discussions/355 Recent comment https://github.com/orgs/LegacyUpdate/discussions/355#discussioncomment-13188537
https://github.com/FunkyFr3sh/cnc-ddraw/issues/327 https://github.com/FunkyFr3sh/cnc-ddraw/issues/316
This is from Windows 2000 beta 3 1906, in fact ddraw.dll and direct 3d 7 was fully working. except 1 protocol that was included in later builds however I seen no games yet that needs it. i only Test 150+ Educational Games others may Very.
these others might be help far but not included due to wrappers.
d3d8-gl-0.09.exe.zip DXOverride.zip
question is it ok to use some of the code from this project. as I am working with legacy update.
I have incorporated all of Wack0 fixers here, his code is far more stable than that of ddraw.dll from 1906 build. The reason why it said dx9 as this adds support for, d3dx9_24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31. rgb9rast_1 from Windows me from my code. iv upgraded dmime.dll from Windows 2000 Versions. This .dll comes from Wack0, WINTDLL, and WHNTDLL, and I believe is for dxdiag.exe. ddhel.dll this is important for ddraw.dll (5.1.2600.881). If not, it will render NT 4 unbootable i made that mistake with VMware. It is a wrapper for ntdll.dll. Looking at the dependency walker this might even not work under sp6a. It looks compatible with the update rollup.
I have tested all d3dx9_?? with jumpstart world https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1M6d_98fYsfnS0QWPYtcDk1GPCIq3WV0B?usp=drive_link. however, i only got 5-10 fps but opens as for activates what a pain. you really should test this with real hardware. assuming graphics cards can. DirectX 9 you really need windows 2000.
yeah, for pre-SP3 (which is what I care about) I need to reimplement d3d8thk, I didn't even bother looking into dx9 because I figured for my purposes it'd be too slow.
(you don't need wintdll and whntdll under x86, that's just patched emulator thunks to add an export that wasn't included)
what is d3d8thk I've seen games like Finding Nemo: Nemo's Underwater World of Fun. request for it but others do not. they are not enough info on the internet. to be honest d3d8thk.dll is barely working with NT, it has issues but works.
as for wintdll and whntdll I'm working with https://legacyupdate.net/. I'll let them decide to remove it or not. that will supersede https://www.windowsupdaterestored.com/. as it is messing 70% of updates big time past sp6a.
This might interest you to play open GL games. however, only 10-20 fps this won't play nice.
open gl 2.1 for Windows NT 4.zip (This is OpenGL 2.1 software rendering backport) please use Nvidia this will not be playable.
This may also be of interest for anyone watching this thread: https://github.com/orgs/LegacyUpdate/discussions/355
This is a hotfix release that adds no new features; it is intended for cnc-ddraw and SwiftShader to work more harmoniously with each other. It also addresses other issues, such as problems with ddrawex.dll, other fixers in read me are here.
This is a hotfix release that adds no new features; it is intended for cnc-ddraw and SwiftShader to work more harmoniously with each other. It also addresses other issues, such as problems with ddrawex.dll, other fixers in read me are here.
Is somewhere some guide how to install and text if some the scratch? Assume that user, has standart PC with NT and NT compatible 3D card.. or maybe 2D card with some working Vesa driver, if such thing exist.
this will be a nightmare somebody needs to find a way to make in installer, I have really pushed NT 4 to be 2000. the
Support files are here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/174QbFIlDnE3_wsRa7VUpJxyetPYiDkvI?usp=drive_link
advice to move to windows they are a bug with newer games with WINNT might not work without innervation from user. this also effects windows 2000. so, this is not the fault of Windows NT.
install sp6a Wack0 code should work with pre-sp3 however majority of the code will not. than install internet explorer 6 with active desktop.
go to C:/Temp/lxp000.tmp/iesetup.cif
open with notepad (internet explorer 4 with active desktop is passable but it breaks a lot of code from NT4dx9.nep.
than find
Install minimal, or customize your browser.
from here you can't install without a Majer fight or might damage the system badly time for partition
From here reinstall Windows Start, programs, Administrat tools (common), and Disk Administrator. Format free space. Then reinstall Windows NT 4 to drive E. This time due to minimal installation and only install sp6a.
Install VMware tools to enable, to enable shared folders.
install NT4dx9 under system32 for C/xxx/system32.
make sure to install internet explorer 6 it will break or up to date windows. I advise https://archive.org/details/wnt40-upd not https://www.windowsupdaterestored.com/ (they are messing tons of updates) that I've got reports that Swift Shader Does odd things for lack of updates. then, press unzip and then restart this should work, but it is a nasty workaround
you have installed NT4kdx9.zip this is the easiest way but not ideal. again, they must be an easier solution.
or use this Windows NT 4 Work (x86) This is using compatibility mode with VMware workstation 10. so, Pentiums 2 & 3 should work as is.
or use this Windows NT 4 Work (x86) This is using compatibility mode with VMware workstation 10. so, Pentiums 2 & 3 should work as is.
Link seems dead.
Setup above seems a lot of frankenstein for me, i still not fully understand some point. The most users want to just DirectX 5 games to run, by easiest possible way.
We would need some redux setup easy easy as possible. Start of guide would be for sure this:
- User has NT machine (a) physical b) Linux KVM (Qemu,Proxmox,Unraid, Vmware ESX - old card passthrough c) 86Box or PCem with 3dfx card ) with supported working 3D card for OpenGL and Direct3D and tested some old OpenGL games and attached basic early Direct3D test for NT4 (problems is there very, very few Direct3D 1 to 3 working.DX1 has not D3D available, DX 2 3D - Caeser II,HyperBlade, Microsoft Soccer, NHL97, Pod: planet of Death, Monster Truck Madness Bruce Jenner World .. and even of them works in NT4 or have Demo with 3D already ). There is like 25 Direct 3D 3 games, you can find them here, list could be sorter by Direct3D version: https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/List_of_Direct3D_2-7_games#:~:text=This%20page%20lists%20games%20which,834%20games.&text=eGames%20Inc.
- Also assume that he fully update system with - service pack 6 and install updates from - https://windowsupdaterestored.com/
- If newer Internet explorer IE6 is needed (im not quite sure, if some services pack, or DirectX instalation or media player installation does not request it anyway), it has to be installed. If active desktop has to be enabled, easiest way how to do it. Same if GDI+ or some other framework is needed.
VideoTest-Direct3D-32bit-DX3-Or-Lesser-Portable-Win9x-WinNT-upTo-Win10.zip
After we can add some optimal chapter, what supporting tools should dedicated tester to use to help report bugs, it would be very similar to consoles emulators testing. Again as fool proof and descriptive and simple as possible - quality of such things guides, is often defining project success or failure.
Frankenstein installer I do agree it is very hard to follow that guide it is the easiest possible way over 30 people tested. With NT 4 it might not be possible, as I said before I have been backported Windows 2000 functionality like
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/ddi/hidsdi/nf-hidsdi-hidd_flushqueue https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/ddi/hidsdi/nf-hidsdi-hidd_getphysicaldescriptor https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/ddi/hidpi/nf-hidpi-hidp_translateusagestoi8042scancodes
i even backported winmm.dll from windows 2000 to please DirectX 8 more so with 9. even fixed tons of games that is expecting something from Multimedia Functions, that exist in windows 95-ME but not windows NT 4. i did try to backport windows 95 like the case with msimg32.dll it is a mast have for DirectX 6-7 games or NT 4 will fail.
or things like https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/wingdi/nf-wingdi-transparentblt & https://doxygen.reactos.org/df/d83/msimg32__main_8c.html
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/combaseapi/nf-combaseapi-dllgetclassobject https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/dhcpsapi/nf-dhcpsapi-dhcpcreatesubnet https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/dhcpsapi/nf-dhcpsapi-dhcpgetserverbindinginfo
And a lot more to make NT 4 a gaming OS, This is the reason why FunkyFr3sh does not want to add support for NT 4. Yes, technically the developer is if he breaks, he will fix it, unlike other developers FunkyFr3sh fixed even yesterday despite not updating GitHub for 5 months. I'm having doubts about the DXGL developer for one thing it is OpenGL 2.0 only which boots a lot of hardware, even software rendering support is unclear. I do agree that we need more wrappers than FunkyFr3sh, which is barely supporting it, while other developers are kicking NT 4 out of the code. I hope other developers might reconsider.
Also, unlike Wack0, the developer is basing it on this project https://archive.org/details/nt-4-dx-5. I am basing this on https://web.archive.org/web/20250110234813/http://falconfly.3dfx.pl/directx.htm, which includes every DirectX version by Microsoft.
Yes, my code was based on DirectX 8a, but don't be fooled I backported tons of DirectX 08 Dec 2006, another factor why I am adding Windows 2000 functionality. Even XP at times which is a nightmare to backport to NT 4. I think the easiest where is to port my Sorce from a DirectX installer if it is passable, i did seen form directx 8a they was reference to NT 4, but could not figure out how to install it, or rewrite the installer for NT 4 support. also, ruthan unlike me and 30 others, we are not focusing on DirectX 3, we are mostly targeting Directx 7 & 8, as we are trying to make NT 4 act like windows 95 in adequate functionality. I do agree that we have to get Direct3D running, but the community is targeting things like cars Pixar games. I also DO agree they have to be a more sample installer. as in its current state people will be discouraged.
I did fix Windows NT 4 Work (x86) it was private by accident, by trying to fix mesa 7.3 for OpenGL 2.1 support.
Adding virtualization and another not very know yet API - Swiftshader into mix adding new level of complexity, its better to start with simplest guide and adding complexity in separate guide. Its great to have such option, im all for it, possibility of choice is nice thing. BTW its 2D - Virtualbox / Vmware driver for these old OS good enough to or it has some major bugs, i mean, it would be blocker because there its not open source to fix. If im not wrong SoftGPU is / was based on Bear windows VBE drivers, which has a lot of issue and afaik also not source code or active developement - i was thinking about crowdfunding its improvement in the past, but nobody else cared..
Look at SoftGPU main page its nice example of quite good guide - https://github.com/JHRobotics/softgpu Its stim have some complexity issue give by its gui wizard be part of installer, not just some configuration utility or even pavel Windows control panel item. Best guide is simply - point what to download, where to copy it and why.. and how to test if its working, its it could be checked before whole guide process is finished.
unlike me and 30 others, we are not focusing on DirectX 3, we are mostly targeting Directx 7 & 8, as we are trying to make NT 4 act like windows 95 in adequate functionality.
Point of whole this discussion from my perspective is of course run newer DIrectX 3 on Windows NT4.
Make machine with working DirectX 3 is just essential starting point to test unofficial enhancements.. Because it ensure that machine is properly setup and graphics drivers are working, that is all otherwise you get some false bug reports.
Windows 2000 already has quite great 3D support, especially thanks to BlackWingCat - backported drivers, there is even some DirectX 10 stuff etc and there some basic 3D in Vmware.
If community will do good job, BlackWing maybe could help us too, his/her skillset is amazing, only problem is that you have to use browser translation for his pages, but he / she communicated fine on MSFN in english.
Already 30 testers, that is good, but it would be really nice so centralize testing reports / proven list of games, that is why i created that tested sheet, its proven solution.. and its not too complex to discourage people its writing few strings one 1 line excel sheet, its better some data, with empty columns that nothing at all.
Otherwise virtualization has some different traits.
Because there is much more games for more modern DirectX is make sense to aim on the more modern version of DirectX and fixing older ones later.
What make things complicated, is research to find out why particular games is not working.. aim of this project should be to find games which are not working just because missing Direct3D implementation.
One level would be fixing games which not working because of other DirectX part missing - DirectSound, DirectMusic, Direct Input.
Next level would be fixing other used middlewares and libraries and the last is fixing Windows NT core to adding function which are missing in it are available in Windows 9x or Windows 2000. Im not sure what would be easier.. make something like os windows compatibility mode as is for older software available in WIndows XP+.
There much more games which are running in Windows 9x + Windows NT, that games which are running in WinNT and Windows 2000, so from this perspective would make sense to start with Windows 9x games.. Other reason to do it, its that in game Windows 9x there was much more game demos, free of charge, demos where in the decline in age of Windows 2000 / XP. Other nice feature of Windows 9x era of games, is demos of these have usually very friendly filesize, majority of them has great demos are like 20,50, 100 MB, its not Crysis which you can make to run on Win2000 or which has like 2GB..
So you can download as test my Win9x demo package which has 20 GB of installers and there is 320 games, so average game has 60 MB, because there is some big ones like Ultima 9, but median size of game installer is like ~30 MB and installed size is like doubled, so you games nice data 50 GB disk providing lots of fun, 50GB its small enough to put it on fast SSD, or some virtual disk and shared in between - multiple virtual machines as im doing .
Windows 9x demos has other advantage that they usually does not need some per machine registry keys etc, so works in the portable mode on other machine even without installing.. or its possible export and import these keys much easier than in era of Windows 2000 / XP, which are more registry and file structure and installers data heavy and make them portable is much more complex.
Once more Windows 98 collections download links - summary of links: https://winraid.level1techs.com/t/windows-98se-on-modern-hardware/34540/257?page=13
FTP by MrWho from Vogons: ftp://retro:[email protected]//GameDemos ftp://mrwho.duckdns.org username: retro ; password: drivers
Its on archive.org to - im not sure if not older version (less games), i dont have good memory: https://archive.org/details/win-98-games-a-d.-7z https://archive.org/details/win-98-games-e-j.-7z https://archive.org/details/win-98-games-k-o.-7z https://archive.org/details/win-98-games-p-z.-7z
I still have some version (probably older) on my Mega account too: https://mega.nz/file/JI5j2Z6T#JV3uA0fJfk2Ub2Yg8h940oW9m5v-oH7q2GePSy8Wqp8 https://mega.nz/file/gcoS1CBL#qsq32tHL_20wVQS6xMfFstSbB7Q4tJfDvLKWg2hrMKU https://mega.nz/file/dRhBDYwS#f0Tyw88iLbz45GCJ-PKQlNL_iUUsCBTKVm1v2tLM2Qc https://mega.nz/file/sdZEGARS#-J6xxg-oq9Ppc04CnFTcXLfkBKi7QBclPUn2Szhukd4
This link is now fully public once more it was 5 years ago. we had to make it private due to google scanners seeing it is a virus and other factors. we did leave it open for 1 hour only 18 games were caught. some games may have password of 802734.
Educational Games or Abandoned (except 2) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BNX66Gn-9nXta8kugrAdWue04GhnVB5c?usp=drive_link
Viva Madia & HIGHACHIEVERs Collection (This might not fully work as it is d3d9.dll or ddraw.dll and d3d9.dll hybrids. This is lower priority, as we are working with side DirectX components, for 7 & 8, d3d9.dll is not our priority. bit in the works.
National Geographic (2008 Magazines) (This works however Jacub R is in involved with His extended kernel it is not release. to us. It is targeting only for Pentium 2 & 3 processors running on windows Vista x86 (for 2018+ updates) or windows NT 4.
Just small addition i would aim to first level - make to run games which are not working on NT only because of DirectX 2D or Direct3D, and maybe some Direct Music / Input/ Sound stubbs its complicated enough for 1 project.
Unless its really easy to fake Windows version check for specific programs, not whole operating system, because there is quite a lot games which simply refuse to install on NT, but if you copy install from Win9x or game installed on Windows 2000 / XP in Windows 9x compatibility mode - there is optimal column for such notes in my excel too. There would be the same problem which simply block already installed games to run for same reason.
Of course if its easy to fix, some other issue which are blocking some games to run on NT and its easy to fix and someone already done this work it would be great, for some games would be probably possible to reuse Win 2000 / XP compatibility fixes / workarounds.
Otherwise in my vogons thread is linked NTcompatible NT4 compatibility search for games/programs and hardware (drivers) through Wayback machine, the is lots of research which was already done. Ntcompatible - games list compatibility list from 2003 (on newer version of page, i wanst able to se rigth NT4 related filters i you do let me know): http://www.ntcompatible.com/compat.php?cat=ga … indowsNT4&idx=0 Ntcompatible - programs list compatibility list from 2003 (on newer version of page, i wanst able to se rigth NT4 related filters i you do let me know): https://web.archive.org/web/20030821200521/ht … indowsNT4&idx=0 Ntcompatible - hardware / drivers list compatibility list from 2003 (on newer version of page, i wanst able to se rigth NT4 related filters i you do let me know): https://web.archive.org/web/20030821232243/ht … indowsNT4&idx=0 I did no manage to turn of NT 4 filter in present version of this web site..
Otherwise sense of my Excel is unite / merge data from all wrappers too.
This link is now fully public once more it was 5 years ago. we had to make it private due to google scanners seeing it is a virus and other factors. we did leave it open for 1 hour only 18 games were caught. some games may have password of 802734.
Educational Games or Abandoned (except 2) https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1BNX66Gn-9nXta8kugrAdWue04GhnVB5c?usp=drive_link
Viva Madia & HIGHACHIEVERs Collection (This might not fully work as it is d3d9.dll or ddraw.dll and d3d9.dll hybrids. This is lower priority, as we are working with side DirectX components, for 7 & 8, d3d9.dll is not our priority. bit in the works.
National Geographic (2008 Magazines) (This works however Jacub R is in involved with His extended kernel it is not release. to us. It is targeting only for Pentium 2 & 3 processors running on windows Vista x86 (for 2018+ updates) or windows NT 4.
Its still too cryptic, for some reason.
- There are is no simple games list, you need some picture of filelist text file, sheet anything like that, such compatibility list has 0 legal issues, in comparison with binary data.
- Do i understand correctly with all of these games except 2 are working?
- Binaries, well it depends on country (China and Russian have other views), but afaik most of advanced countries have international agreements about IP protection law, which was now prolonged to 75 years - its called Mickey Mouse law for reason and anything like abandonware does not exists is legal terms.
Even when some company stop to exists, ips are later traded as part of bankruptcy process, or they become property of country of company origin and they have to make them explicitly free to public after. They usually don't, because they are lazy. They usually not enforce these laws after, but they could at any moment.. Its a bit different with trademarks you usually have to pay some fee or keep extending them.
So would take some time to analyze license of per game, emailing their owners and after you can make fraction of these game public, i guess that even most of education games was produced by private companies to make money, not by public sector by some university team or team directly hired and managed by government. Grey zone seems to be archive.org, where people make things public and so far government are ok with it, until some company ask for removal of particular stuff. Also so far i never heard about some tries to remove public demos from the public space, yes it could always get worse, once some lawer starts to see some money to get and even after, where would be some dispute about cover cds with demos, because user actually for it already, yeah but not demo publisher, but magazine publisher, so..
Archive.org it's definitely a bit more trustworthy than some random Google drive link.
That is why demos at least for now are so great, even some education games probably had some demos.
- Ok lets say, that we have gamelist - from point 1 and some NT ready machine with DirectX 3 installed. What use have to do run these games? I expect somelink to install runtime x, or copy some newer DX dlls in some directories / System32 etc. It cant by principle work out of box, because it would mean that any newer DirectX implementation is not needed :) And all this process has to be visible and described somewhere as fail proof as possible to most users to enjoy.
the games for the 500 last were on hold. we are now focusing on RuThaNs-NT4-Windows98-GamesDemos Compatibility Testing Sheet. also, all the iso's in that link are now NT 4 compatible the iso's were patched. except 2 which might work as d3d9.dll DirectX side components are somewhat implemented, some do at less open, but it is incomplete.
that is why it was private in the past we decided to make it public again as we plan to make a list for the .xml. we were for 4 years just backporting newer DirectX and hacking (TLC) games even reverse engineering the code which is illegal or gray. In fact, we can now make new TLC games without the company involvement we will never do it as it is bigtime illegal. our forces is remastering them for windows 11, we are now trying to cater to NT 4 users. that is why we want to GitHub Jecob R want to 10 wrapper developers they are said no, except FunkyFr3sh this developer is not perfect. he gives as in open hand.
Ok lets say, that we have gamelist - from point 1 and some NT ready machine with DirectX 3 installed. What use have to do run these games? I expect somelink to install runtime x, or copy some newer DX dlls in some directories / System32 etc. It cant by principle work out of box, because it would mean that any newer DirectX implementation is not needed :) And all this process has to be visible and described somewhere as fail proof as possible to most users to enjoy.
that will work except RedFactionInternationalDemo-Win98-D3D8.exe, (At this time Wach0 even with Swift Shader. Due to usage of HID.dll and WINMM.dll is to deeply Intergrated to NT 4 that the dll has to be installed offline or 2nd partition. even with NT4DX8 that has the dlls but will be a nightmare for even power users to install. I advise to use windows 2000)
the link might not be public for long as Jecob R said you are endangering our project for 4 long years. my point of view is that they will one day go to archive.org. other than jumpstart I can see they were northing educational about them.
Not all of 500 games which are in my list will not work with NT, as i wrote its Windows 98 demo package list.
On Vogons i added setwin95 - its own MS utility from Windows NT cd, which is mend to fool programs are running on Windows 95.. Im not sure how it fake will work for Windows 98 and how many games actually required Windows 98, if im not wrong WIndows 95 had not Direct 9 support and they ended up with DirectX 8.1 make these to work and ignore DirectX 9 for now would be more than enough, at the start i hoped in DirectX6 support. Also these older games should in theory require less changes.
If we will not find other way how to fool games to run to NT4, make sense ignore sucks games for now and try to make games without this issue.
Otherwise you can add your games meant for use with NT4 in the compatibility list at the end, later we can add education game column flag. Once i would have guide how to use these DirectX upgrades packages with my NT machines, i can start to help with testing, Vogons people probably wait for the same.
This is the 2nd hotfix release. This adds support for later Direct3D 7 (software rendering), Upscaling via shaders from FunkyFr3sh / cnc-ddraw even Windows XP functionality dll's. Including other fixers in read me are here
the 1st hotfix will stay as this is considered extremely unstable and only advised for power users who know computers.
Im a bit confused, because name of this thread (x86) and this project, and install.txt (BTW !1install.txt - would be better name it keeps file at the top of the list in both Windows and Linux).
Install.txt seems to be for Power PC - SoftWindows x86 emulator is mentioned, so this release here is for PowerPC, so i could ignore it for now? I dont have Windows NT on my PowerMac, will probably install it too in year or two..
If this is only PowerPC package i will adjust thread name..
To my understanding, Wack0 is using x86 DirectX code and putting it under PowerPC emulation. That is why he is interested in reimplementing .dll files that can't work with Windows NT SP2, which is the last for PowerPC. This is why I'm giving new releases for my project. Although I'm now under Windows XP x86 source and codebase down to NT 4 SP6a, I'm not sure anymore if it is even computable or can be reimplemented anymore with Wack0's PowerPC project. I do agree that some clarification is needed. Are you using x86 DirectX and emulating them? Or are you backporting DirectX so that PowerPC processors will understand?
I'm emulating x86 directx.
The main difference between RTM-SP2 and SP3+ is that SP3 changed some internal GDI function prototypes for Direct3D support. So ddraw.dll patchset needs to be slightly different for each.
I'm emulating x86 directx. Ok but its x86 DirectX emulated on the PowerPC architecture, maybe even adjusted by difference between classic PowerPC cpu for WIndow NT Power pc edition and Wii PowerPC CPU specifics, so for reuse of this code, we would need to add some add build / release target for x86 CPUs.. and as usually x86 implementation could benefit from enabling MMX, 3Dnow and SSE instructions.. and there are even 3 or 4 version of SSE2, SSE3,SSE4.. So it would assume MMX support as minimal requirement, it could still generate up to 6 target build. Unless is some compiler clever enough to compile 1 target for all these possibility and select right code on the fly.
Im not even consider that some code would be better to adjust to actually use these instructions, im quite sure that comiler would use them out of box for some stuff, but for other you would need to do code optimalizations - to improve performance. From experience for example running ATI / Nvidia drivers for OpenGL with and without SSE support have big difference.
NT4dx8.Lite.zip (This will be included in TLC installers) DxDiag.txt
NT4dx9.zip (highly Advised for best experience) DxDiag.txt
Hello, again this Lite version was highly advocated for. I do not advise the lite version, I encourage you to use NT4dx9 for the best experience, specify the 15-memory difference. Here are the limitations:
- This does not include DirectPlay 8, as it has issues with NT 4 without XP functionality updates.
- This does not include any DirectX 9 side components such as d3dx9_31.dll, similar to joy.cpl, which has added Dinput8.dll support.
- This does not include any DirectShow components, which could disrupt old games and rare DX7 games.
- This does not include HID.dll, which is essential for games from Windows XP, due to the risk of failing to boot NT 4.
- Newer MFC versions 40, 42, or 71 from XP are not included because https://www.windowsupdaterestored.com does not provide sufficient updates from ESR from 2004-2007, which could potentially disrupt NT 4, such as audio and graphics cards, as reported.
- Winmm.dll from the 2000 beta 1906 is not included. While Windows NT does have it, it is known to produce disordered and strange sounds with newer games, as well as background music issues with newer games using dsound.dll.
- Dmusic is not included because even if a game requires it, it will produce an error and still open, or it has some sort of fallback. Additionally, dmusic is unstable even with NT9dx9.zip due to requesting something from NTOSKRNL.EXE, which I couldn't fully work around.
There are more than 100 DLLs that have been removed due to their inadequacy for games or their minimal support for functionality, such as issues with the game not operating correctly or videos being corrupted. In these situations, incorporating XP functionality could complicate matters, so the answer is no. Once again, most games will function as they are; however, DirectX 9 has been entirely removed to free up 15 MB of memory. Even games that do work are facing challenges with the NT 4 kernel, which are difficult to troubleshoot. I highly recommend using DirectX 9 with Windows 2000 or later.