Ok it turns out dgVoodoo2 has nothing to do with registering classes, but instead Windows should have them when needed.

So I decided to put whatever the game queried in each of the places where they are put:

1Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
2
3[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{4516EC41-8F20-11d0-9B6D-0000C0781BC3}]
4
5[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\WOW6432Node\CLSID\{4516EC41-8F20-11d0-9B6D-0000C0781BC3}\InprocServer32]
6"ThreadingModel"="Both"
7@="d3drm.dll"
8
9[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{4516EC41-8F20-11d0-9B6D-0000C0781BC3}]
10
11[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Wow6432Node\CLSID\{4516EC41-8F20-11d0-9B6D-0000C0781BC3}\InprocServer32]
12"ThreadingModel"="Both"
13@="d3drm.dll"

And here's the graphical issue

Could you attach the config file you're using for this game plz?
It seems that there is some problem with handling z-buffers but I cannot reproduce the problem (I tried with dx11/12, forced/unforced resolutions, etc).

Dege wrote on 2023-10-11, 19:08:

Could you attach the config file you're using for this game plz?
It seems that there is some problem with handling z-buffers but I cannot reproduce the problem (I tried with dx11/12, forced/unforced resolutions, etc).

Config for dgVoodoo2? I can't see any config for the game...
Anyways I attached it with the log (just to not be confusing, the CD release and the Steam/GOG release are different)

How did you even get the game to launch? On Windows 10 I'm just getting a crash with this message: "DirectDraw init failed".
I have the original 2001 CD release, not the later released Special Edition (I think that's also the one Steam supplies).

Furztherapeut wrote on 2023-10-16, 14:56:

How did you even get the game to launch? On Windows 10 I'm just getting a crash with this message: "DirectDraw init failed".
I have the original 2001 CD release, not the later released Special Edition (I think that's also the one Steam supplies).

Steam uses a modified executable code that doesn't require D3D Retained Mode. I would just hook the game to DxWnd or attach dgVoodoo2 to it and it would work. I am also talking about the non-Special Edition release.

Maybe the error you are getting is related to a missing class inside registry. The class was missing on Windows 10 and Windows 11. If that's the case, please refer my first 2 posts on what you need to add to registry.

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-10-16, 18:29:

I would just hook the game to DxWnd or attach dgVoodoo2 to it and it would work. I am also talking about the non-Special Edition release.

Well, that's the first thing I tried. Also tried DDrawCompat, WineD3D, cnc-DDraw, d8vk and DXGL but to no avail. I'm getting the crash message no matter what. The crash seems to happen before the game can even load the DLL. You can reproduce this yourself with the demo version: https://www.gamepressure.com/download.asp?ID=549
It has to be a Windows 10 related problem because I can get the game to run in PCem running Windows XP emulating a Voodoo 3000, it just runs very,very, poorly. And unfortunately alternatives like VMware or VirtualBox don't provide 3D acceleration under Windows XP.

I am pretty sure Steam sells the Special Edition version, because that version always ran fine on Windows 10. But it has completely different music, which is the reason I prefer the original 2001 release:

2001 Release: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FEjX7RtDMlk&list= … XAM83TY&index=0
Special Edition: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iVi4-UHVpdg

The Special Edition changed most of the music with ambient noise for some reason.

Do you have the D3DRM.DLL file in the game folder ? -> http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/

You can download it from the dgVodooo2 website. It's not shipped with Windows anymore.

Furztherapeut wrote on 2023-10-25, 19:57:

Well, that's the first thing I tried. Also tried DDrawCompat, WineD3D, cnc-DDraw, d8vk and DXGL but to no avail. I'm getting the […]
Show full quote

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-10-16, 18:29:

I would just hook the game to DxWnd or attach dgVoodoo2 to it and it would work. I am also talking about the non-Special Edition release.

Well, that's the first thing I tried. Also tried DDrawCompat, WineD3D, cnc-DDraw, d8vk and DXGL but to no avail. I'm getting the crash message no matter what. The crash seems to happen before the game can even load the DLL. You can reproduce this yourself with the demo version: https://www.gamepressure.com/download.asp?ID=549
It has to be a Windows 10 related problem because I can get the game to run in PCem running Windows XP emulating a Voodoo 3000, it just runs very,very, poorly. And unfortunately alternatives like VMware or VirtualBox don't provide 3D acceleration under Windows XP.

I am pretty sure Steam sells the Special Edition version, because that version always ran fine on Windows 10. But it has completely different music, which is the reason I prefer the original 2001 release:

2001 Release: https://youtube.com/watch?v=FEjX7RtDMlk&list= … XAM83TY&index=0
Special Edition: https://youtube.com/watch?v=iVi4-UHVpdg

The Special Edition changed most of the music with ambient noise for some reason.

As xcomcmdr mentioned d3drm.dll is needed. I also wrote above the non-Special Ed uses D3D Retained Mode

TBH I don't know what to say about this game. I have both the DVD and gog version and both works perfectly with dgV dll's. D3DRM.DLL is not included in any of them and it is not registered in my registry.

I can't try the steam version but you can check out if theres is an error message about creating a z-buffer or providing it as a D3D device target (hw 3D devices needs hw z-buffers while software (HEL) devices need sw-zbuffers) if it doesn't work with dgVoodoo.

Dege wrote on 2023-10-27, 12:53:

TBH I don't know what to say about this game. I have both the DVD and gog version and both works perfectly with dgV dll's. D3DRM.DLL is not included in any of them and it is not registered in my registry.

I can't try the steam version but you can check out if theres is an error message about creating a z-buffer or providing it as a D3D device target (hw 3D devices needs hw z-buffers while software (HEL) devices need sw-zbuffers) if it doesn't work with dgVoodoo.

I have the CD version. That uses D3DRM.DLL.

Here's what DxWnd did for the OP with 4090Ti (who asked on SF):

By some bad (or good luck), a lot of games that ran on dgVoodoo2 stopped running for me too, like this one (fortunately it output an error ZBUFFER_NEEDS_SYSTEM_MEMORY) so DxWnd blindly added an option to force to make surfaces on System memory, and it fixed his GOG/Steam versions. This led to the phenomenon that all the versions wanted System memory to display correctly: dgV2 seemed to be using video memory always and for some reason it worked briefly for a few days when I created the thread and posted the screenshot. The OP on SF ran it natively and the driver was wrongly using video memory and forcing system memory fixed it.

xcomcmdr wrote on 2023-10-25, 21:29:

Do you have the D3DRM.DLL file in the game folder ? -> http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/

You can download it from the dgVodooo2 website. It's not shipped with Windows anymore.

Unfortunately putting the D3DRM.DLL there doesn't do anything, still getting the same error message.

Dege wrote on 2023-10-27, 12:53:

TBH I don't know what to say about this game. I have both the DVD and gog version and both works perfectly with dgV dll's. D3DRM.DLL is not included in any of them and it is not registered in my registry.

I can't try the steam version but you can check out if theres is an error message about creating a z-buffer or providing it as a D3D device target (hw 3D devices needs hw z-buffers while software (HEL) devices need sw-zbuffers) if it doesn't work with dgVoodoo.

The crash can be reproduced with the demo version I linked above.

Furztherapeut wrote on 2023-11-17, 17:14:

Unfortunately putting the D3DRM.DLL there doesn't do anything, still getting the same error message. […]
Show full quote

xcomcmdr wrote on 2023-10-25, 21:29:

Do you have the D3DRM.DLL file in the game folder ? -> http://dege.freeweb.hu/dgVoodoo2/dgVoodoo2/

You can download it from the dgVodooo2 website. It's not shipped with Windows anymore.

Unfortunately putting the D3DRM.DLL there doesn't do anything, still getting the same error message.

Dege wrote on 2023-10-27, 12:53:

TBH I don't know what to say about this game. I have both the DVD and gog version and both works perfectly with dgV dll's. D3DRM.DLL is not included in any of them and it is not registered in my registry.

I can't try the steam version but you can check out if theres is an error message about creating a z-buffer or providing it as a D3D device target (hw 3D devices needs hw z-buffers while software (HEL) devices need sw-zbuffers) if it doesn't work with dgVoodoo.

The crash can be reproduced with the demo version I linked above.

Did you try the registry installation? I had the problem.fixed with the class installed

BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2023-11-17, 20:05:

Did you try the registry installation? I had the problem.fixed with the class installed

I feel dumb for not trying that earlier. I created the regfile based on your post earlier, double clicked it and now the game finally runs like it's supposed to. Thank you so much.