Many games with DirectX 7 or lower, which worked pretty smooth on Windows 7, run very slow on Windows 8.1 with the same hardware configuration.
It seems to be some kind of a "FPS limiter" which limits all games to 20 FPS.
Do you know any solution to get back the good Windows 7 performance which works for all games?
AFAIK Windows 8 uses an emulator for older DirectX versions. IIRC you can fix bad performance by running the game in a window.
You'll find more info and fixes in this thread.
XP-era games that have trouble running on Win7/8
Edit: http://www.blitzbasic.com/Community/post.php? … 77&post=1202630
There's no universal solution, things you can try:
1: Wrappers (dgVoodoo2 and DXGL are the most feature complete ones, but there are others worth looking into).
2: Alternate color conversion programs (256/16-bit color is no longer supported and is emulated on Win8) like DXWnd or D3DWindower.
3: Compatibility flags (DXPrimaryEmulation -DisableMaxWindowedMode / NoGDIHWAcceleration).
So far I haven't found a single game that has performance problems after trying all that.
Thanks!
I also noticed that the FPS limiter, for example in MechWarrior 3, can be deactivated by pressing Alt + Tab and (instantly) switching back into the game. Unfortunately, the HUD and mouse positioning is messed up then. Weird.
I guess the problem is not related to the DirectX Emulator Windows 8 might use, it's probably rather linked to the Desktop Window Manager (dwm.exe) or to the Modern UI.
I wanted to just say that in Windows 10, the DXPrimaryEmulation and NoGDIHWAcceleration fixes are no longer needed. It's one thing Microsoft actually fixed!
My PC spec: Win10 64bit, i7-4970K (not overclocked), KFA2 GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER, Creative Soundblaster ZXr, 16GB RAM, Asus Z97-A motherboard, NZXT 410 case, ROG Swift GSYNC monitor
wrote:I wanted to just say that in Windows 10, the DXPrimaryEmulation and NoGDIHWAcceleration fixes are no longer needed. It's one thing Microsoft actually fixed!
They "fixed" the performance because everything runs in full-screen windowed mode on Windows 10, instead of full-screen exclusive mode.
You still need to use the DXPrimaryEmulation fix if you want true full-screen exclusive mode.
They "fixed" the performance because everything runs in full-screen windowed mode on Windows 10, instead of full-screen exclusive mode.
AFIK that's only DirectX12 games that do that, do you have a source that says otherwise?
play-old-pc-games.com
wrote:They "fixed" the performance because everything runs in full-screen windowed mode on Windows 10, instead of full-screen exclusive mode.
AFIK that's only DirectX12 games that do that, do you have a source that says otherwise?
I don't have a source, other than running the games myself, seeing them running at several-hundred FPS without screen-tearing, and having them not respond to V-Sync controls at all.
Then when using the DXPrimaryEmulation fix, they act like proper full-screen applications again.
wrote:I wanted to just say that in Windows 10, the DXPrimaryEmulation and NoGDIHWAcceleration fixes are no longer needed. It's one thing Microsoft actually fixed!
They improved matters but the performance problems aren't entirely fixed.
wrote:wrote:I wanted to just say that in Windows 10, the DXPrimaryEmulation and NoGDIHWAcceleration fixes are no longer needed. It's one thing Microsoft actually fixed!
They "fixed" the performance because everything runs in full-screen windowed mode on Windows 10, instead of full-screen exclusive mode.
You still need to use the DXPrimaryEmulation fix if you want true full-screen exclusive mode.
With Win 10 1809 and 1903 as far as I can see from my experience to re-enable old exclusive fullscreen mode for some games you have to use DXMaximizedWindowedMode DisableDXMaximizedWindowedMode from MS Application Compatibility Toolkit (Compatibility Administrator tools). Should be the same fix you apply when you go to Properties > Compatibility > Disable fullscreen optimizations.
EDIT: fixed DXMaximizedWindowedMode -> DisableDXMaximizedWindowedMode
DXMaximizedWindowedMode - that's an exact opposite of exclusive mode and clashes with Disable fullscreen optimizations checkbox.
As far as I can tell, these two apply only to Direct3D 9.
Exclusive fullscreen functionality has been removed from D3D8 since Win10 1809, need patched d3d8.dll from 1803 to restore it.
DXPrimaryEmulation shim in Compatibility Administrator with -DisableMaxWindowedMode parameter is still needed to restore real fullscreen mode for DirectDraw/Direct3D <= 7.
This maximized windowed mode implementation must be most complete Direct3D 9. You can still normally set gamma, use Game Bar and use Aero Peek to peek at the desktop on the monitor with the running game. You also see screen tearing when VSync is disabled in the game.
wrote:A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.
I have games requiring old fullscreen exclusive (now I'm on Win 10 1903) that required Disable fullscreen optimization to work without issues on the new OS.
Once disabled Disable fullscreen optimizations (DFO) from the icon exe and added instead DXMaximizedWindowedMode DisableDXMaximizedWindowedMode with MS-ACT these DX9 games were fixed as well. Just a coincidencce? I was talking about DX9 games indeed.
EDIT
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/depl … d-windows-vista
Applications that use DX8/9 are run in a maximized windowed mode. This is required for applications that use GDI/DirectDraw in addition to Direct3D.
So it seems is good for games using ALSO GDI/DDraw, and probably you were right as it didn't set full exclusive as I supposed.
Maybe DXMaximizedWindowedMode fixed GDI issues with those games, just like full screen exclusive through DFO indirectly does? I'm puzzled why it works as alternative to DFO with some DX9 games at this point…
CORRIGENDUM: it was 'Compatibility Mode' DisableDXMaximizedWindowedMode the option I used, not DXMaximizedWindowedMode.
wrote:Maybe DXMaximizedWindowedMode fixed GDI issues with those games
Seems likely. They added it for better compatibility with desktop composition. This mode was more problematic at its inception.
wrote:I'm puzzled why it works as alternative to DFO with some DX9 games at this point...
Do the same games work correctly without any fixes applied explicitly? And what exactly happens if they don't? I'm a bit puzzled at how exactly is maximized windowed mode triggered in d3d9.dll.
wrote:A man can be himself only so long as he is alone; and if he does not love solitude, he will not love freedom; for it is only when he is alone that he is really free.
Oh dear… I'm sorry, I just realized I indeed used the Compatibility mode 'DisableDXMaximizedWindowedMode', and not the Compatibility fix 'DXMaximizedWindowedMode'. This makes sense 😉
I'll correct also my previous msgs in the thread…
BTW, it seems is a combo of these 2 fixes…
To download Compatibility Administrator tools: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hard … ted/adk-install
