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First post, by LoneKiller

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Hello to all, I would like to ask for some advice for a compatibility tool for old Directx 9 games that are not working anymore due to hardware/driver issues.

Here some examples:

Fahrenheit
Infernal
You are empty

Of course I always use Dgvoodoo for Dx up to 8.1, and sometimes switch to PCem when the game is old enough, but I still have some games (mainly Dx9 requiring more advanced hardware) where the only tool I have is VMware, and I am not very happy with it since many games still do not work. Anyone has some suggestions for a tool/program I can use in these cases, like a Geforce 4 emulator?

Many thanks in advance.

Lone Killer

Reply 2 of 7, by stranno

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DX9 should be almost fully supported by new systems and hardware.

As far as i remember:

- You are empty worked fine in W10 64-bit, except some problems in main menu (it was not rendered in D3D9 i think).
- Fahrenheit worked fine in W10 64-bit. But, if you have any problem, there's a remaster for Steam, with almost zero changes.
- I think Infernal also worked fine, could be a protection problem, it was a Starforce or SecuROM game IIRC.

There's a wrapper for D3D9 called WineD3D, you can try it. It fix some D3D9 games like Scarface.

Reply 5 of 7, by LoneKiller

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Thanks to all for your feedbacks. I will try WineD3D and add it to my retrogaming software for future usage too.

Just for info here is the list of problems I have for the games I used as references.

1)You are empty -> In win7 I was able to reach main menu and select New Game, then it froze after the movie. Now in Win10 I get error when I try to install OpenAl and when I launch the game nothing happens. Using Xp under VMware is similar to Win7
2)Fahrenheit -> I used this just as example, I have new steam version and this is OK, I am just keeping my old disc for testing of retrocompatibility methods. For info, GOG version is different than latest patch I can find on the net for old retail, so probably problems were solved by GOG
3)Infernal -> Setup is not compatible with 64bit OS, I get error when I try to install it. I found a workaround by installing game in VMWare and copy/paste but I get a lot of graphic glitches

My specs:
WIN7: Intel Quad Core CPU 2.4Ghz, 8GB RAM, ATi 5780, Win7 Pro 64Bit
WIN10: Intel Quad Core CPU 3.6Ghz, 16GB RAM, gtx 670

I would say You are empty is the game that is more interesting now since I can somehow play the others, so any idea is more that welcome.

Reply 6 of 7, by stranno

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I have installed You are Empty and it works perfectly out of the box in W10 64-bit Creators Update. Videos worked fine (after installing the WM9 redist), menu worked fine and ingame worked fine. I havent even installed any of the patches, but 1.2 and sound 1.1 are probably highly recommeded, it was a super duper glitchy game back in the day.

Videos

2017-06-22_17-12-16.png

Menu

2017-06-22_17-12-10.jpg

Ingame

2017-06-22_17-12-03.jpg

Be sure to have installed DirectPlay under Control Panel, Programs and Features, Turn Windows features on or off and Legacy Components.

The game crash when you exit to Windows. But thats probably Starforce related.

Reply 7 of 7, by LoneKiller

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Hi Stranno, thank you very much, I tried again and... it simply worked in VMWare. This is very strange, I used the same virtual machine, I only changed the drivers in my host and now the game is perfect. Still errors in Win10 but I do not care much.