The only time I've had trouble is with Win9x. DirectX versions after 7.0a can cause instability particularly after quitting a game. Games may refuse to launch again until the system is rebooted. Also it seems NVIDIA drivers contribute to this instability. But stay with 7.0a or older and no trouble.

Way, way back in the day, I came across a shareware (maybe freeware) Bust-a-Move/Puzzle Bobble knockoff that – according to its own documentation – would apparently only draw properly under DirectX 3 and not DirectX 5. But maybe that could ultimately be attributed to bad graphics drivers too.

swaaye wrote:

The only time I've had trouble is with Win9x. DirectX versions after 7.0a can cause instability particularly after quitting a game. Games may refuse to launch again until the system is rebooted. Also it seems NVIDIA drivers contribute to this instability. But stay with 7.0a or older and no trouble.

This has happened to me sometimes when using DX8 or 9 cards under Windows 98. I would exit a game then try to load another and get a dialog box telling me "No 3D accelerator found" until after I reboot. I think Windows wipes the driver for the video card from memory when it exits the previous game then can't see anything other than the vanilla VGA driver that Windows defaults to when you first install it.

swaaye wrote:

DirectX versions after 7.0a can cause instability particularly after quitting a game. Games may refuse to launch again until the system is rebooted.

Hmm... I had something like that once, but in my case, it was a result of having >512 MB RAM. I so far have had zero issues with DirectX 9.0c under Windows 98 SE, even with older Nvidia drivers. (Again, that's as far as I know. Also, I use the April 2006 redistributable, but researching it again, I think W98SE was supported all the way up to December 2006).

maximus wrote:

Hmm... I had something like that once, but in my case, it was a result of having >512 MB RAM. I so far have had zero issues with DirectX 9.0c under Windows 98 SE, even with older Nvidia drivers. (Again, that's as far as I know. Also, I use the April 2006 redistributable, but researching it again, I think W98SE was supported all the way up to December 2006).

It's not RAM. I never use more than 512MB. I've seen the DirectX problems with different CPUs, motherboards, sound cards and maybe other video cards too. I did a bunch of experimentation a couple of years ago so it is a bit foggy. I was mainly working with Homeworld at the time. Also tried a wide range of NV drivers. The only sure thing for stability was DX7A.

I don't play games newer than DX7 on 9x anyway, but I had been in the habit of installing DX9c because of the video cards I often use. But DX8+ cards seem fine on DX7.

I doubt it's an actual incompatibility but Dark Reign will insist on using DirectX 3 over newer versions.

my rig has win98 with dx9c newest update(for win98), and i havn't encountered any problems except the savage3, which crashs at anything involving any 3d features, including just checking opengl driver info.
i tried two savage3 cards and they showed the same problem, so its unlikely that both cards are defective. its said that savage3 drivers would only function with dx7 or older installed.

I remember people having trouble with force feedback joysticks after upgrading from Direct 7.0a to Direct 8.0 e.g.
https://lucasforumsarchive.com/thread/13325-directx8

Edit: Replaced link to dead website with link to website mirror.

noshutdown wrote:

my rig has win98 with dx9c newest update(for win98), and i havn't encountered any problems except the savage3, which crashs at anything involving any 3d features, including just checking opengl driver info.
i tried two savage3 cards and they showed the same problem, so its unlikely that both cards are defective. its said that savage3 drivers would only function with dx7 or older installed.

That's interesting. I have only superficially used my Savage3D card but it works ok for 3D. It's likely I have used it only with DirectX 7.0a.

I don't know if you would include this as a "compatibility problem," but here it is:

https://web.archive.org/web/20001218100700/ht … port/index.html

November 28, 2000 […]
Show full quote

November 28, 2000

TalonSoft Customers:

Since the release of Microsoft’s DirectX 7.0, conflicts between it and certain Install Shield scripts have been identified. As a result of changes in DirectX operation, many TalonSoft products created prior to the release of DirectX 7.0 are unable to install properly without a workaround.

Direct X 7.0 and later versions will cause installation problems with East Front II, West Front, West Front Battlepack, West Front Elite Edition, West Front: Operation Sea Lion, Chickamauga, and the entire Operational Art of War series.

For Problems Installing TalonSoft games with DirectX 7.0 or higher versions installed:

Symptom: The Install Shield either crashes or fails to complete when it attempts to install versions of DirectX included on our game CDs after the user has already installed the latest release of DirectX. This results in no installation of game files. To remedy this, follow these instructions to bypass the installation of DirectX:

Step 1: Download this file, Dsetup.Dll to a secure location on your hard drive or Desktop.
Step 2: Open up your Windows/Temp folder using My Computer or Windows Explorer. Select all of its contents and delete them from your hard drive. Do not remove the Temp folder itself.
Step 3: Insert the game CD and begin the installation process.
Step 4: As soon as the installation process begins, minimize the Install Shield window and locate your copy of Dsetup.Dll, right click on it and select Copy. Go into the Windows/Temp folder and Refresh its contents. You will notice a new folder inside it called _istmp. Open this folder, right click inside it and select paste to put Dsetup.Dll in it, overwriting the one that was already there.
Step 5: Maximize the Install Shield program and finish the installation process.

Alternative Installation Method:

For the Battleground Series and Campaign Series: Copy the game folder from the CD directly to your hard drive either by dragging between open windows or by Copying and Pasting. You must then run the game using the .exe file included in the program folder you just copied. You may make shortcuts on the desktop to the .exe files, but you must fill in the Start In: section of any shortcut made to include the path to the game files on your hard drive. You may also make shortcuts on your Start Menu following the same procedure.

I am attaching the Dsetup.dll file that is unfortunately no longer available from the TalonSoft FTP site. I remember fishing out the other two files for some reason related to this issue, and it may be that they are DirectX 8 files (I'm on a Linux machine at the moment).

Oh, DSETUP.DLL. I think the installation of Star Trek Borg had a similar problem.
Re: Star Trek Borg on Dos Box HELP!!

And Antietam:
Sid Meier's Antietam! on Windows XP (SP2)

DirectX 7 was the last version with several old DX dlls (ddraw16.dll, dsetup.dll etc). So - potentially any DX1-DX7 game may fail.
M1 Tank Platoon 2, as the example. No "Back" and "Exit" buttons in the main menu with DX8-DX9.

I posted once about how many of Popcap's games are dependent on a particular DX7 call – but it still sometimes works correctly if you use the right video card drivers, and I doubt you could solve the problem just by downgrading to DX7.