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Divine Divinity v1.34 (CD) does not Detect dgvoodoo

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First post, by GrimRiven

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Hi everyone,

I am trying to run Divine Divinity v1.34 (the CD version, not the later Steam/GOG version) with the latest stable dgvoodoo under Windows 10 22H2. Unfortunately, the game does not detect it, as confirmed by the lack of watermark despite being checked. I tried using both my original exe (requiring the CD to be inserted) and a cracked one, but the results are identical.

I followed several guides online, even some dedicated to the game (although they seem to target the Steam/GOG version), but to no avail. Some of the guides in question:

- https://steamcommunity.com/app/214170/discuss … 307711409562985
- https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Divine_Divinity

Here are the steps I followed and things that I have tried:

1) Installed the game in C:\Games to avoid possible issues with admin rights when installed in C:\Program Files (x86)

2) Droped dgvoodooCpl.exe and all DLL files from MS\x86 in C:\Games\Divine Divinity\Run. The Run folder contains the launcher (div.exe) as well as all the essential files for the game to run. I tried dropping them in C:\Games\Divine Divinity\, but it did not work either, and it did not pick up the ddraw.dll file. So I am sticking with the Run folder as the one to contain dgvoodoo.

3) Opened dgvoodooCpl.exe (both normally and as admin), followed the recommended settings for the game (basically default, but chose my Nvidia GPU as the adapter to use (also tried with "best one available"), dgvoodoo Virtual 3D Accelerated Card, 128 MB of VRAM), clicked on the ".\" button at the top, and clicked Apply. The .conf file was created.

4) Made sure to uncheck compatibility settings in the launcher's properties, as per instructions, and launched it as admin. The game's configtool.exe opens and I am immediately hit with an error saying that my ddraw.dll file could not be read.

5) I do a bit of research online and see that it is a current issue that can be solved by using DDrawCompat (https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat). I tried using the .reg file and then replacing dgvoodoo's ddraw.dll file with the one from DDrawCompat. The issue "seems" solved as I no longer get the error message, but the dgvoodoo watermark is still nowhere to be found. I have included the DDrawCompat logs to this topic (one for configtool.exe and one for div.exe).

That's pretty much where I am at. I have no clue where to go from here, so i hope someone can help me! Le me know if you need additional details.

System-Info.png

Thank you in advance!

Reply 1 of 9, by Macron

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Try with fix.

Reply 2 of 9, by GrimRiven

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Thank you for that! I tried, but still no dgvoodoo watermark. However, it looks like the font has changed and that the framerate is more stable. Is that right? Are there other fixes?

Reply 3 of 9, by Flashback

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Replacing dgVoodoo's ddraw.dll with the one from DDrawCompat prevents dgVoodoo from loading because DDrawCompat is a separate wrapper. Restoring dgVoodoo's ddraw.dll should work now that you've added the COM redirection.

Hope that helps.

Reply 4 of 9, by GrimRiven

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Flashback wrote on 2024-10-18, 21:03:

Replacing dgVoodoo's ddraw.dll with the one from DDrawCompat prevents dgVoodoo from loading because DDrawCompat is a separate wrapper. Restoring dgVoodoo's ddraw.dll should work now that you've added the COM redirection.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for your reply! I tried replacing the DDrawCompat file with the dgvoodoo one, but I get the error messages I previously had, In the following sequences:

No ddraw device found!
> OK
> Click Test in the configtool anyway
Installation of this mode failed.

Reply 5 of 9, by Flashback

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If you're getting the same error as before, the COM redirection probably isn't needed since the error also occurred prior to using that fix.

Try removing the COM redirection using UninstallDDrawCOMRedirection.reg from here. Test DDrawCompat again by using its ddraw.dll and check the timestamp of DDrawCompat-div.log to confirm the wrapper is still loading.

At this point, the only other thing I can suggest is to either try using an older version of dgVoodoo or use DDrawCompat instead. The dgVoodoo version here is from the time frame of the Steam guide if that might help. Try dgVoodoo without dgvoodoo.conf to ensure it's using default settings.

Even if you can't get dgVoodoo to work, there are DDrawCompat configuration options that may improve the game. I have several games that work better with DDrawCompat than they do with dgVoodoo. There's no right or wrong way to fix these things, just use what works best for you. 😀

Reply 6 of 9, by GrimRiven

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Thanks! I tried with the older dgvoodoo version you linked, but it did not work. Oh well, I think I will stick to DDrawcompat! As long as the game is playable, that is what matters. 😀

I uninstalled the COM redirection, and put back the DDrawCompat dll file in the game's folder. From what I gather reading the log, it worked, but I am unsure as to what the "file not found" is referring to and if it matters. My assumption is that it is looking for existing .ini files from previous configuration, but could you confirm if that is correct, please? I have attached it.

Cheers!

Reply 7 of 9, by Flashback

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Sorry to hear using the older dgVoodoo version didn't help.

Anyway, don't worry about the "File not found" log entries. DDrawCompat is simply checking for custom configuration files. If you want to tweak any settings, you can create the file "C:\Games\Divine Divinity\Run\DDrawCompat-div.ini" to add the custom configuration.

For example, I use this configuration for viva nonno to double the resolution.

DisplayResolution=1280x960
ResolutionScale=app(2)

Reply 8 of 9, by GrimRiven

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Awesome, thank for your help, I will do that!

Cheers!

Reply 9 of 9, by Dege

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Probably a "bit" late, but

1) You can always use the _dbg version of dgVoodoo to see why the initialization of DX failed
2) You probably only copied DDraw.dll to the game folder and forgot about D3DImm.dll. It's needed because it's not a DDraw-only game.

If I omit D3DImm then I get the same error message in the config tool.

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