Just forget about running DW in windowed mode on windows 8 or 10.
It just ain't gonna happen.

To run DW on windowed mode you need to bring the OS's color depth down to 16bit and microsoft removed that ability on windows 8 and 10.

From windows 8 forward, desktop composition only supports 32bit color.

That is not entirely accurate for Windows 10. I know this wasn't possible in the beginning. Now I do have the option to choose a reduced color mode in the compatibility tab of the executable properties. See image attachment. I haven't tested what the actual result would be with DW or other applications. And I don't know if Windows 8 is any different thesedays.

It doesn't matter. That option has no effect whatsoever!
Win 8 also has that option and I'm telling you, if that worked, the dll wrapper would never have existed because there wouldn't be a reason to.

Furthermore, that option has no effect on desktop composition either, and to run DW in windowed mode desktop composition must be in 16bit color mode, hence why for instance in windows 7 you had to lower desktop color to 16bit before you were able to run DW in a window.

I have found the procedure for running DW in a window on Windows 7 - 10 without using 16-bit color depth. I'm going to test it out when I get home and try and make a video or do a write-up at least.

Dangerous Waters in Windows 10 installation
 

Hello Gents:

I have not been around for over 6 months. Picked up a copy of Dangerous Waters and attempted to install on my Windows 10 sys... no joy in mudville.

Any idea how to even get it to install?

I keep threatening to restart SH5 but I have been fighting my health issues for 6 months... surgery behind left ear into the bone to remove 2 infections.... done. Now fighting infection in my right leg..... hopefully success by Monday.

Remember ... one step forward... two steps back.

Roland

Does installing not work? Or does it not play? If the latter then the d3d8.dll fix should solve that. And don't install it in Program Files. That avoids UAC bothering about saving files into the Scenario folder.

installation problem
 

it will not install on the Windows 10 sys.

Thank you for your reply.

Roland

DW RA works well in my W10 Home Basic with the special dll. I apply Kegety's antilag, too.

Never I can play with some AA with my NVidia Card. AA out. Living with it.

Regards

Fitzcarraldo :salute:

DW 10
 

DW (Steam version) and latest RA mod work just fine in Windows 10, at least for me.

No need to add anything (.dll), latest Steam version comes with it. Iam on W10 x64 and GTX 660 nVidia, i5 chip 8GB ram.

And you can set some antialiasing with the Steam Version? I have the two disc original version and I can"t set any AA with Nvidia Inspector or the Nvidia control panel without have a mess in the menus.

Many thanks!

Fitzcarraldo :salute:

non-steam copy of Dangerous Water
 

Gents:

I was able to install the game onto my hd. It will not start upon "play" selection but receive window notification ... looking for solution.

I am going to review the early posts regarding the d3d8.dll fix ... just need to know where to install and how.

Roland

DW AA
 

What I meant was that you don´t need to look for the "d3d8.dll", it comes in a folder called "Win_8_10_Support" with the Steam version.

To be honest, the game looks just fine as it is to me. The highest res it can go (on my end) is 1280x1024, which is ok. Iam not looking for a AAA game, I played alot of 688i H/K before and still did not to long ago, no fancy graphics there. The same goes for "Fleet Command", all though my screen is 1920x1080.

IMHO It´s one of those games were nice graphics are not needed, just like "Harpoon 3" or "Fleet Command". Sure it would be nice if it got updated to today´s standards, but I can live with that. Nice graphics then SH-5 :03:

So, I havent bothered to mess with AA or the nVidia inspector/control panel. If it works, don´t touch it :D

http://i1189.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8rgugjao.jpg

Sorry I could not help you much there...

Happy hunting! :salute:

--

Just put the d3d8.dll file in your Dangerous Waters root folder...

Care,

Red

DW video problem
 

Gents:

I re installed DW from CD. I dl'ed the 1.04 patch and installed in my E drive. I copies the entire d3d file into "dangerous waters" file. I tried mode 1, 2, 3 and no luck.. will not load. keep getting video loadoing problem.

any idea? Roland

I have win 10, two GTX 970 video cards....

DW
 

Try reading this...

http://steamcommunity.com/app/1600/d...4115199194820/

DW install and play
 

I tried the following:
I copied the d2d8.dll file to the main DW folder ..... then I extracted to the madl DW file.

Right clk on exe file ... ran as admin, (also tried reg without admin) selected XP service pak 2... received messs.. "failed to initialize the graphics display"

I also receive response.... "it appears DW is not installed on this computer.

I also tried with patch 1.04 same results... I have read everything I can regarding this problem'

Roland

the problem with the graphics layer is because you are running the game in XP SP2 mode. change it back to nothing or windows 8 and it should run. make sure you are running the newer version (v.02 or whatever it is) should be dated 8/3/2015

for me, after putting the wrapper dll (d3d8.dll) in the folder, I run the EXE with the following settings:
compatibility mode windows 8
disable scaling for high DPI
run program as administrator

when you need to change resolution, change it through the INI file, don't bother going to the options menu. changing it via options menu = CTD.

DW
 

Thank u I will try now

Followed instructions and still receive FAILED TO INITIALIZE GRAPHICS DISPLAY

Zero: I tried as per your instructions.. no go. I just went back to my 30" Dell monitor 2560 x 1600.

Is the wrapper d3d8 ziped or rar... maybe I am using the wrong unzipping program.... even Notepad++ does not list the items one per line?

Roland

Window mode
 

After reading through the threads and posts here (many thanks for the helpful info) I was able to install from my original CD's to a Windows 10 machine, dropped a copy of the wrapper DLL into the DW folder and the game runs.

Sweet!!

But now I'm being picky and want to run it in a window instead of full screen. I know right?!

I edited the compatibility properties of the shortcut:
- Run in Windows Vista SP 2 (tried Win 8 too)
- 16-bit color mode
- Disable scaling on high DPI
- Run as Admin

And then changed the ModeID and RunInWindow settings in the INI but after starting the game I get the blacked out window and two error messages:

- Failed to initialize the graphics display
- Context Create Error: -2147467259

Looking in the wrapper.log file I see:

029746f8:emu::Direct3DDevice8Emu::initialize windowed mode is currently not supported

Is there anyone that is able to run DW on a Windows 10 machine in window mode?

nope - not that I am aware of, without using a virtual machine. its a limitation of having windows 8/10 and having to use the wrapper. what the wrapper is, is essentially a Direct3D 8 (super old) emulator. D3D8 is from 2000.

i've tried running the game on a side-loaded linux with wine, still no go for me. best case scenario for me (in windows) is I can play the game for about 5-15 minutes, then get a random CTD.

my last option is a Windows XP virtual machine, but I'm not really sure that's going to work either.