d3d9.dll used for SH3 widescreen mods

[zakarpatska]

Hi All,

I'm having a problem with the SH3 wide screen mods. The problem is that if I install either the "Widescreen MaGui v3.4" or "Conus' SH3GWXWS 2.3" mods my frame rate goes through the floor. I tracked this to the "d3d9.dll" that is distributed in the mods.

By chance I discovered that if I use the d3d9.dll distributed with the "WideScreen_complete_GWX&StockSH3" mod I suddenly get high frame rates in wide screen. This is with either Conus' or MaGui wide screen mods installed and overwriting only the d3d9.dll file. The down side is that the splash screens are no longer stretched to full screen with the left hand side of splash screen images against the left side of the display with a large black area on the right since there is no stretching.

Does anyone know what is going on here? What is the origin of the d3d9.dll files used for the mods?

The "broken" d3d9.dll with the low frame rate is dated ‎Sunday, ‎May ‎09, ‎2010, ‏‎1:04:16 PM and is 190 KB (195,072 bytes) in size.

The "working" d3d9.dll with high widescreen frame rates, but where the splash screens are not stretched is dated Friday, ‎March ‎19, ‎2010 and is 185 KB (189,440 bytes) in size.

I searched the forum for the origin of d3d9.dll but couldn't find any explanation of where this dll comes from. I was hoping that I might just be able to download an updated version of the dll and this would fix both problems.

Thanks.

[fitzcarraldo]

I use MaGUI 3.4 WS with her d3d9.dll without problems, and high FPS.

Try only MaGUI 3.4 WS, not overwrite with another GUI.

Regards.

Fitzcarraldo

[zakarpatska]

Hi fitzcarraldo,

Thanks for your reply. If I only install the MaGui 3.4 WS mod without any other mods I already have the problem.

If I overwrite just the d3d9.dll with the older version then the frame rate problem is gone. Instead I have the problem with the splash screens not being stretched (which I can live with).

I understand that not everyone has this problem. My suspicion is that it is some kind of interaction between the d3d9.dll and my graphics driver (Catalyst 13.4 running on a Mobility Radeon 5870).

This is why I am looking for the origin of the d3d9.dll. I'm hoping that maybe there is an updated version? Can a debug log be turned on and if yes where is the log file? Is the source for the dll available?

Thanks,
Zakarpatska

[Seeadler]

Here is a newer (wip) version of the DLL that I made for a non-released widescreen mod. You must set the resolution and settings for the loadscreens in the ini file as they are for the MaGUI versioin because the included ini has presets for 1680x1050 which is not supported by currently released widescreen mods

...
DisplayWidth=????
DisplayHeight=????
FullScreen=true
Refreshrate=59

[LOADSCREENS]
Enable=true
Tx=???    
Ty=???
...

download:
http://www.mediafire.com/?6c8cdr8hz7hp8r4

Note:
This DLL is not a universal solution for widescreen. It needs a widescreen mod which is designed for a specific native resolution.

[zakarpatska]

Yay!

Thanks Seeadler. With the new d3d9.dll I'm getting both the stretched splash screens and the high frame rate when playing the game.

In case anyone is interested the "d3d9.ini" file that I am using is:

[GLOBAL]
DebugLog=false
Dumptxt=false

[ENGINE]
ForceResOverride=true
DisplayWidth=1360
DisplayHeight=768
FullScreen=true
Refreshrate=60

[LOADSCREENS]
Enable=true
Tx=0.01635
Ty=0.0
Sx=0.0
Sy=0.00
;Tx=0.032
;Ty=0.021
;Sx=0.0
;Sy=0.0
Maxscale=true

[SCREENSHOT]
; 0=BMP 1=JPG 2=TGA
Format=2
; e.g. Path=D:\screens (folder must exist)
Path=.

Thanks again.

Ehm.. I'm not sure what values I should enter at [LOADSCREENS]

if native rez f.e. is 1440x900 ?

[Seeadler]

Originally Posted by Montekidlo

if native rez f.e. is 1440x900 ?

The same values posted by "zakarpatska" because AFIK there is no widescreen mod available that supports 1440x900.

Thank you I'll try and see how does it look.

Edit: Nop. it looks bad on my monitor. Picture doesn't fill the screen. It doesn't work with OLCGui does it ?

[alpha_1]

Hi All;

I'm in the same boat, so-to-speak.....stretched everything. 90 degrees, for example can be out as much as 5 or 6 degrees or more. It takes away from the immersibility of the game for sure. Oval everything and nothing round.

I'm running an ASUS WS monitor with a 1920x1080 optimum resolution and Windows XP Pro, Radeon graphics card, etc. memory isn't a problem for me.

This d3d9.ini and ded9.dll question. Where are these files located? Are they already in the game somewhere or are they in the mods? I have tried MaGui WS myself and noticed no difference, things still look exactly the same. I've also downloaded the WS Dll zip and wonder if it's possible to change the screen dimensions to say 1280 x 960 or something else. I'd sure like to get to a 4:3 aspect ratio. My Uboat is mighty long when looking at it from the side.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

Cheers.

[sublynx]

They are included in widescreen mods and should work with no work from you. They can be found from the main folder (SilentHunterIII, where SH3.exe resides). Have you tried a 1920x1080 GUI mod?

[alpha_1]

Hi sublynx. No I haven't. I found the files in the maGUI SA mod, by the way. The resolution used in the 'ini file didn't match an aspect ratio that I can use with my particular setup. When I tried it I got a CTD. I tried changing the sizes in the .ini file to a size my video card can use that's 4:3 but of course got the CTD. The .dll file won't allow that, I imagine.

I'm gonna try a 1920x1080 mod and see what happens, although I'm not sure how I feel about dragable stuff. It's all a matter of getting my head around a new GUI, that's all.

I've tinkered with infinite screen but really don't have a clue how to set it up other than telling the program that I want the window to stretch to infinity. I tried that and it didn't work, but I imagine there's something else I should've done as well. There isn't a readme out there that I'm aware of. The video didn't help me at all, unfortunately.

No Joy on the 1920x1080 WS mods with GWX already installed. Instant CTD.

Unfortunately for many of these mods I'll have to sacrifice the GWX integrated orders, which I find very helpful. But hey......war is hell and sacrifices sometimes must be made.....there are purple hearts out there waiting.

Thanks for your reply. I'll get back to you on this.

Cheers,

Tried the 1920x1080 mods but no joy. Instant CTD.

[sublynx]

Sorry to hear. It seems different computers work differently despite the same programs. My system has made it possible to use Widescreen MaGui which is 1360x768 although my videocard can only do 1366x768. I just changed the d3d9.ini setting from 1360 to 1366 and had no problems. With the setting at 1360 it crashed, at 1366 quite ok.

Hopefully someone has an idea about what could help. Perhaps copypasting your d3d9.ini here might help, if there happens to be something obviously wrong in there.

[alpha_1]

Yup, as I mentioned below, i tried doing that but the game CTD's before it'll even load.

This computer is only about a year old and has lots of juice so that wouldn't be a problem. My monitor is a 24" WS that's brand new. Too bad that SH3 won't allow us to change resolution and aspects from a menu as some older games do.

It might be the 32-bit architecture of windows XP, too. Gawd only knows for sure. Thanks again for your input, though. I'm hopeful there will be a mod that's workable for dummies like me, sometime in the not too distant future.

Funny thing is I just noticed that my game was out of whack a couple of weeks ago. Up until then I was happy. This is such a good game to play and I spend hours at it. Most enjoyable, but would be so much more so with the right aspect ratio, of course.

Cheers,