DirectX7 and DirectX6 emulation

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dx7fan
Posts: 3
Joined: September 24th, 2014, 2:21 am

DirectX7 and DirectX6 emulation

Post by dx7fan »

I am not sure what happened to my first post. I guess it got lost. I am not able to contact the administrator here about it. So I am revising it and posting again. I would like this posted ASAP so I can get comments from others to help me with a DirectX7 project I am working on. Contact me immediately if there is a delay in having this posted.

I am very interested in projects like this. I am surprised that something like this was not completed years ago. Is there some way to accelerate the development of a full DirectX7 (Direct3D and DirectDraw) emulation? SwiftShader works for DirectX 8 and 9. There seem to be a few similar projects for DirectX 7 and maybe a few for DirectX 6 and before.

I would like to know when DirectX 7 first and then DirectX 6 could be completely done for this wrapper, and I would like to know what else is available, even if they need tweaked (like Pixomatic, Playstation emulator video plugins, etc.)? How could they be properly tweaked? I asked about what else is available since I am not sure if this project has resources or interest to accelerate development, and I am not sure if DirectX7 and DirectX6 can be done in a few months or a year. I need drop in multi-threaded DLLs like the way SwiftShader works, and it must work within virtualization like VirtualBox, which I read has much better OpenGL support than DirectX.

Also, can a simple wrapper DX6-7 to DX8-9 be written? Is it hard to write, has it been done, or what advice can be given about doing it? It may be quicker to complete than this more complex project. I have seen some source code but it does not seem complete.

Finally, how could I make the DirectX 7 and 6 reference rasterizer DLLs work, either tweaked or not? I know a certain amount about this, but not too much. That is why I am asking.
William
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Re: DirectX7 and DirectX6 emulation

Post by William »

Sorry about your post not appearing. New members must be pre-moderated to prevent spam.

Regarding DirectX emulation, development is going along still, but slowly.
To make the reference rasterizer DLLs work, you must install the corresponding SDK. DXGL is completely incompatible with these DLLs because the internal architecture is completely different.
dx7fan
Posts: 3
Joined: September 24th, 2014, 2:21 am

Re: DirectX7 and DirectX6 emulation

Post by dx7fan »

Does this mean there is no way to accelerate development via more resources and a generally useable DXGL is at least several months away?

I know how to install the SDK. How do you make the reference rasterizers recognized by pre-coded games looking for hardware acceleration? Be specific. I know one can program a game to use them, but I think I need to trick or hack the game to do what I want to do. I prefer a wrapper to the reference rasterizers than hacking the game. I still hope for some detailed information on how to get a simple wrapper DX6-7 to DX8-9, modified emulator video plugins, and/or configured tweaked Pixomatic working.
William
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Joined: November 19th, 2011, 5:08 pm
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Re: DirectX7 and DirectX6 emulation

Post by William »

The forcing of the use of the Reference Rasterizer is beyond the scope of DXGL's development. To do so, one must hack the game to replace the GUID of the HAL renderer with that of the Reference Rasterizer.
dx7fan
Posts: 3
Joined: September 24th, 2014, 2:21 am

Re: DirectX7 and DirectX6 emulation

Post by dx7fan »

Thanks for the last reply. I am hoping for more and broad input on all my questions in my post, but only William answers. I am not sure I have the time to help this project, but I would consider it. There were a lot of great games for DX7 and before, and in the recent years of virtualization and advanced Linux, there is a great need for this. I do not have a VT-d system yet, so I can not do video card passthrough. Has Wine for Linux project been asked to help or offered to help this project?

I am still hoping for some detailed information on how to get a simple wrapper DX6-7 to DX8-9, modified emulator video plugins, and/or configured tweaked Pixomatic working.

Also, members here in addition to William are welcome to submit answers to my questions.
Last edited by William on October 5th, 2014, 1:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Merge posts.
Danial Horton
Posts: 11
Joined: August 15th, 2012, 7:22 am

Re: DirectX7 and DirectX6 emulation

Post by Danial Horton »

dx7fan wrote:Thanks for the last reply. I am hoping for more and broad input on all my questions in my post, but only William answers. I am not sure I have the time to help this project, but I would consider it. There were a lot of great games for DX7 and before, and in the recent years of virtualization and advanced Linux, there is a great need for this. I do not have a VT-d system yet, so I can not do video card passthrough. Has Wine for Linux project been asked to help or offered to help this project?

I am still hoping for some detailed information on how to get a simple wrapper DX6-7 to DX8-9, modified emulator video plugins, and/or configured tweaked Pixomatic working.

Also, members here in addition to William are welcome to submit answers to my questions.
Dude... Williamisthe sole developer of DXGL, hes not a member, hes the project owner and is the sole decider on how he takes his project.
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