DCI = Display Control Interface. It was, apparently, a standard developed by Microsoft and Intel for video drivers and was succeeded long ago by DirectDraw. According to Microsoft's MSDN database, driver writers were instructed to not write support for DCI into any drivers for Windows 98 or higher. There may be a Microsoft Application Compatibility Toolkit option to emulate DCI -- check it out.

Thank you for your explanation - it really seems like those folks at Microsoft are dead set against "backwards compatibility". I would very much like to check out that option, but I'm *really* in strange territory here. Is that something I'd have to look for in my system? If so, where? Or something I have to download? If so, is it shareware/freeware? Is it some application, eve, or something else entirely?

Errr, I would hardly say Microsoft is against "backwards compatibility". It's something they have to focus on all the time.

What your looking for is here: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/ … ty/default.mspx

Ok, I'll check it out. And as regards to my "backwards compatibility" comment, I apologize. That's what happens when I talk out of my arse about many different things - I was lumping together this and every other little random thing that makes some games unplayable in XP.

EDIT - Well, it looked prosiming, but no go. It has no specific DCI emulation, and I tried EVERY compatibility option it offered, with no luck. Specifically I started the COmpatibility Administrator, created a new "fix", and set that one as Win95 (Sonic CD is for 95) and started turning on some likely compatibility thingies. When they didn't work, I started turning on unlikely ones. Eventually I just turned them ALL on - still the "DCI compliant" error box. Any other ideas?

It's for Win95? Did you try simply setting the game's shortcut properties to run in Win95 compatability mode?

Try vmware or VPC.

HunterZ - yes, I did (I said so in my "edit", too).

DosFreak - Yes, about that, could you tell me what the official page for those emulators is, if there is one? I«m sorry, but I couldn't find one just Altavista'ing. If you could be so kind as to link me, or - even better - show me where I should have looked to find it, I'll give it a go soon as I can.

http://www.vmware.com/
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

Hah, that explains why I didn't find VMWare - I was looking for VWware. But, am I reading this wrong or do I then need to install the operating system I want to do the emulation in, in this canse Win95? 'Cause I don't have that. This is a lot of information, and VMware Workstation 5 seems to be the one that I need, and seems to "split" the PC in more than one "PCs", each with its own OS - but if that's so, it won't do me much good, since I haven't got any other OS... or am I missing something here?

You aren't missing anything - except perhaps the money to buy Win95?

Ah. Well, no, I wouldn't like to buy Win95 (don't even know where I can find it) for one single game in an attempt that might not work...

Thank'yall, I guess it's rather hopeless. I'll change my strategy, see if I can find anyone who also has a SegaCD and copy his Sonic CD, if they have it. It's technically illegal, but since I already paid for a PC version I don't get to play...

Again, thank'yall for the quick and informative responses.

No, I wasn't talking about the compatability administrator's Win95 mode. I'm talking about the compatability tab that every shortcut in WinXP has.

Yes, I did. ANd btw, the CA's win95 mode apparently is exactly the same thing as the one in the tab. Which makes sense. And anyway, I did specify in my first post that I've messed around with that tab. Thanks anyway.

I usually dual boot an older operating system for these problems. Even if you do get it working, it about 50% of the time will crash your OS.