SPWaW ddhack (fix display issues)

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SPWaW ddhack (fix display issues)

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All Forums >> [Current Games From Matrix.] >> [World War II] >> Steel Panthers World At War & Mega Campaigns >> SPWaW ddhack (fix display issues)

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SPWaW ddhack (fix display issues) - 1/26/2021 2:20:25 PM

Red_L.E.D.

Posts: 37
Joined: 4/16/2020
Status: offline

I'm linking here a version of the DirectDraw to OpenGL wrapper (ddhack) that has been modified to work with Steel Panthers World at War:
https://github.com/dippy-dipper/ddhack/releases/tag/1.0

It may be useful for fixing SPWaW display issues on modern hardware. It upscales the 800x600 image to the desktop resolution using OpenGL and bilinear filtering to improve the image quality.

To use it simply unzip the ddraw.dll into your Steel Panthers World at War game folder.

Some notes:
- If you are already using DxWnd this wrapper is not compatible with it.
- The ddraw.dll is just a wrapper not a real ddraw.dll so DO NOT try to put it in your system folder.

Post #: 1

RE: SPWaW ddhack (fix display issues) - 1/27/2021 5:11:23 PM

Major_Mess

Posts: 451
Joined: 2/8/2004
From: The True North. Strong and Free
Status: offline

This works real well. If you're interested at all in having better graphics on your screen you should give this a try.

MM

_____________________________

Click below. You know you want to!!

(in reply to Red_L.E.D.)

Post #: 2

RE: SPWaW ddhack (fix display issues) - 1/29/2021 2:29:37 PM

Red_L.E.D.

Posts: 37
Joined: 4/16/2020
Status: offline

A more advanced DirectDraw wrapper is the cnc-ddraw project available from here:
https://github.com/CnCNet/cnc-ddraw/releases

It is aimed for multiple games but can also be configured for SPWaW. This wrapper requires some configuration file tweaking to make it work but the end result can be quite nice. The advantage of cnc-ddraw is that it makes use of newer OpenGL features to provide even better image quality using so called "shaders". The down side is that it may not work if you have a very old graphics card. It also takes some manual tweaking to get working right and this may be somewhat daunting to the less technically inclined.

If you do decide to use cnc-ddraw you need to extract the files "ddraw.dll", "ddraw.ini" and the "Shaders" folder to your SPWaW directory. After that you need to edit the ddraw.ini configuration file to suit your needs. I found the following changes to produce good results:

fullscreen=true
windowed=true
maintas=true
shader=Shaders\interpolation\cubic.glsl
renderer=opengl

These settings will run the game in a fullscreen windowed mode with the correct aspect ratio and the "cubic" shader using OpenGL rendering.

Note that this project is getting updated quite frequently. For my testing I used version 1.4.0.0 which was the latest one at the time of writing this.

(in reply to Major_Mess)

Post #: 3

RE: SPWaW ddhack (fix display issues) - 1/31/2021 8:45:05 PM

Zovs

Posts: 6668
Joined: 2/23/2009
From: United States
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Red_L.E.D.

I'm linking here a version of the DirectDraw to OpenGL wrapper (ddhack) that has been modified to work with Steel Panthers World at War:
https://github.com/dippy-dipper/ddhack/releases/tag/1.0

It may be useful for fixing SPWaW display issues on modern hardware. It upscales the 800x600 image to the desktop resolution using OpenGL and bilinear filtering to improve the image quality.

To use it simply unzip the ddraw.dll into your Steel Panthers World at War game folder.

Some notes:
- If you are already using DxWnd this wrapper is not compatible with it.
- The ddraw.dll is just a wrapper not a real ddraw.dll so DO NOT try to put it in your system folder.

Hey I just wanted to than you for this simple fix!

It really does work.

The only issue I have is the mouse scrolls kind of too fast. Not sure how to compensate for that.

I may have to try to install the enhanced version now.

_____________________________

Beta Tester for:
Flashpoint Campaigns: Sudden Storm
War in the East 1 & 2
WarPlan & WarPlan Pacific
Valor & Victory
DG CWIE 2
SPWW2 & SPMBT scenario creator

(in reply to Red_L.E.D.)

Post #: 4

RE: SPWaW ddhack (fix display issues) - 2/3/2021 2:05:04 PM

Red_L.E.D.

Posts: 37
Joined: 4/16/2020
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Zovs
The only issue I have is the mouse scrolls kind of too fast. Not sure how to compensate for that.

The "scroll delay" is adjustable from the in-game preferences screen. However the stock game has broken scroll delay in several screens and unresponsive mouse in the artillery screen, etc. These are addressed by the depot patches or the unofficial patcher script I posted here:
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4924101

(in reply to Zovs)

Post #: 5