Anyone? I'm struggling with this one.

I managed to find an install for the DirectX Media 6 and an SDK, but neither made any difference. 😒 I have an issue under Display, which is nvdisp.drv and is uncertified; an issue under DirectX Drivers, which is opl3sa.drv and is uncertified; and then of course DX Media Files, which is quartz.vxd and that's a Beta Version.

Progress! It looks like I had been installing the wrong display drivers all this time. I decided to try the first drivers listed in Vogon's driver collection. I swear I'd already tried them before, although the installation is different to what I'm used to. So maybe I wrote them off initially. Suffice it to say, the 3D hardware rendering is working! Also, the mouse cursor and sprite flickering in Broken Sword 1 is completely gone! I don't need to disable DirectDraw or Direct3D beforehand. So that must have been due to using the wrong drivers this whole time. The opl3sa.drv error has gone thanks to removing the Yamaha drivers I had on.

However, the quartz.vxd error still remains. I tried installing DirectX 7.0a, but it didn't fix it. I don't have a lot of hope DirectX 8 will resolve it either.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-27, 21:24:

the quartz.vxd error still remains. I tried installing DirectX 7.0a, but it didn't fix it. I don't have a lot of hope DirectX 8 will resolve it either.

Try it anyways. As of DirectX 6, that file wasn't part of "core" DirectX but the separate "DirectX Media" package that HoW made you install. DX7 still doesn't have it in the base package, and DXMedia stopped at v6 so I guess either MS expected you to mix DXM6 and DX7 files (which feels wrong) or considered it entirely unnecessary... however I kept looking and in the DirectX 8.0a setup I have it's included again. (Though it may just be dead weight that made it in by accident, or may only get installed under special conditions, who knows - I didn't check that. Or whether it's in version 8.0 non -a.)

Since you mentioned "DirectX Media", are you using Windows NT 4.0 by any chance? That package was specific to Windows NT 4.0 and not really useful for others.

Windows NT 4.0 doesn't support modern Direct3D hardware acceleration. Only OpenGL can be used to some extent.

If you are using Windows 9x, 2000 or higher you should be able to install full DirectX just fine.
(Up to 8.0a for Win95, 9.0 for others)

EDIT: I think it's not the case since the file in question was a vxd... but I don't think that file is the problem with D3D hardware acceleration. That depends on the video driver you're using along with the installed DirectX version.

So right now the problem is about this "quartz.vxd"?

LSS10999 wrote on 2024-11-28, 02:28:

Since you mentioned "DirectX Media", are you using Windows NT 4.0 by any chance? That package was specific to Windows NT 4.0 and […]
Show full quote

Since you mentioned "DirectX Media", are you using Windows NT 4.0 by any chance? That package was specific to Windows NT 4.0 and not really useful for others.

Windows NT 4.0 doesn't support modern Direct3D hardware acceleration. Only OpenGL can be used to some extent.

If you are using Windows 9x, 2000 or higher you should be able to install full DirectX just fine.
(Up to 8.0a for Win95, 9.0 for others)

EDIT: I think it's not the case since the file in question was a vxd... but I don't think that file is the problem with D3D hardware acceleration. That depends on the video driver you're using along with the installed DirectX version.

So right now the problem is about this "quartz.vxd"?

Windows 98 SE. And yeah, just quartz.vxd. I could be wrong, but it might be doing something weird with Blood. Prior to uninstalling DirectX 9.0c (I thought an older DX would help with some weirdness I was getting with a couple of games), the DOS version of Blood under Windows was running fine. Since downgrading it back to 6, and noticing that error with that file, Blood acts… weird. As soon as you start a new game, the whole thing goes crazy slow and unresponsive. As though the frame rate drops to 1. The DOS version under DOS runs without issue though.
It could be totally unrelated, but I’m not sure what else it could be. The error does mention it could cause problems if not fixed. But I guess I will have to try DirectX 8 and 8.1. Failing that, I might just have to take it back up to 9.0c.

Just tried DirectX 8, 8a, 8.1, and 8.1b. Error still remains. 😕

Okay, I had to use some brute force. I decided to try finding the file with the issue and then delete it. Reinstalled DirectX 8.1 and NOW it’s taken it upon itself to replace it with a more recent and retail version. 🙄

Error gone. 😁

One thing I need now that I've put DirectX 9.0c back on, is I need drivers for my Riva TNT that supports 9.

Hmm. This could be a problem. It looks like support was stopped for the Riva TNT around 2000-2002...? And DirectX 9.0c came out in 2004. Unless there are some drivers from around 2002 that supports just regular 9. I suspect I'll have to uninstall DirectX again and stick to 7 or 8.

Not sure what the rest of the system specs are but I would be looking for an alternate way to test the hardware. Do OpenGl games work perfectly? Maybe there’s a lightweight Linux distro you could use to do some basic hardware tests?

BinaryDemon wrote on 2024-11-28, 20:59:

Not sure what the rest of the system specs are but I would be looking for an alternate way to test the hardware. Do OpenGl games work perfectly? Maybe there’s a lightweight Linux distro you could use to do some basic hardware tests?

Windows 98 SE
Pentium III 450MHz (Katmai)
128MB RAM
RIVA TNT 16MB

The only OpenGL game I have installed so far (as far as I'm aware) is GLQuake. That seems to run perfectly fine. Apart from the CD image music not working.

The Direct3D test in the DirectX Diagnostics Tool won't allow me to run the DX9 test, but apart from that, I've not noticed any issues so far.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-28, 20:30:

One thing I need now that I've put DirectX 9.0c back on, is I need drivers for my Riva TNT that supports 9.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-28, 20:48:

Hmm. This could be a problem. It looks like support was stopped for the Riva TNT around 2000-2002...? And DirectX 9.0c came out in 2004. Unless there are some drivers from around 2002 that supports just regular 9. I suspect I'll have to uninstall DirectX again and stick to 7 or 8.

That's not how it works; dlls of newer versions of Direct3D don't remove older ones; 9 would not remove 8, 7, etc; newer 9 would not remove compatibility with older 9s. The installed DirectX package can be higher than what the driver asks for.

P.S. Edit the previous posts to add more info. More posts would just make it harder to track, especially when it goes beyond one page. I had to quote two separate posts even though they're directly related.

eddman wrote on 2024-11-28, 22:29:

That's not how it works; dlls of newer versions of Direct3D don't remove older ones; 9 would not remove 8, 7, etc; newer 9 would […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-28, 20:30:

One thing I need now that I've put DirectX 9.0c back on, is I need drivers for my Riva TNT that supports 9.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-28, 20:48:

Hmm. This could be a problem. It looks like support was stopped for the Riva TNT around 2000-2002...? And DirectX 9.0c came out in 2004. Unless there are some drivers from around 2002 that supports just regular 9. I suspect I'll have to uninstall DirectX again and stick to 7 or 8.

That's not how it works; dlls of newer versions of Direct3D don't remove older ones; 9 would not remove 8, 7, etc; newer 9 would not remove compatibility with older 9s. The installed DirectX package can be higher than what the driver asks for.

P.S. Edit the previous posts to add more info. More posts would just make it harder to track, especially when it goes beyond one page. I had to quote two separate posts even though they're directly related.

No, I meant I have a utility that will uninstall DirectX. I've used it already. So if I need to go back to an older version, I'd have to uninstall it completely and install the needed one.

And sorry about that. As I've not had many replies/suggestions, I've basically had to post updates as they happen. The last one came to me not long after posting the previous one. I guess I should have just edited it instead.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-28, 22:40:

No, I meant I have a utility that will uninstall DirectX. I've used it already. So if I need to go back to an older version, I'd have to uninstall it completely and install the needed one.

There isn't any real need to use such unofficial tools as DirectX doesn't need to be uninstalled; it's not meant to be uninstalled. Constantly doing so will create more problems.

As I mentioned, newer DX do not remove older versions. I install DirectX Feb 2010 and the video card from 1998 still works.

eddman wrote on 2024-11-28, 22:46:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2024-11-28, 22:40:

No, I meant I have a utility that will uninstall DirectX. I've used it already. So if I need to go back to an older version, I'd have to uninstall it completely and install the needed one.

There isn't any real need to use such unofficial tools as DirectX doesn't need to be uninstalled; it's not meant to be uninstalled. Constantly doing so will create more problems.

As I mentioned, newer DX do not remove older versions. I install DirectX Feb 2010 and the video card from 1998 still works.

I know. I was kind of experimenting. I figured a newer version was causing problems for a couple of games and wanted to try using specific older ones. If anything, it did help me troubleshoot/figure out a couple of things, such as that I'd been using the wrong drivers this whole time. ^^;