Using D3D (Retained Mode) to draw frames for DDraw7? Please help!

Hi, I need some help with a problem that has been bugging me for days... I need to draw the frames that I'm going to use in a 2D game before it starts, in 3D. I'm using DX7, and for what I've seen in many code samples the only way to do it is using D3D Retained Mode. The problem is that it draws everything to directdrawsurface4 surfaces instead of 7 (the ones I'm using). It also requires that I initialize DDraw not as DD7, but as DD4! How can I draw the 3D models for my 2D game then? Any idea? It doesn't really have to be retained mode in DX7. I just want to draw some 3D stuff to DDraw7 surfaces.

Still no answer??
Come on people...

Hey Jotaf,

Look what I found:

The Joy of VB: The Interface Workshop

> Getting Started with 3D Graphics

http://www.joyofvb.com/JVB_InterfaceWorkshop.htm

and also this:

http://www.vbfreeware.com/showdld.as...al+Quality+3D+

Hope it helps,
MoMad

why do you use retained mode
just do immediate mode and you should be fine...

Immediate mode doesn't let me draw to a DirectDrawSurface7 does it? Because I need 3D only to draw the ships' frames, that's all...

it doesn't? what does it draw to then?

(I am gonna go over some of my code...)

Why not just use whatever you are going to use (let it draw to a ddraw 4 surface), then copy pixel by pixel to a ddraw 7 surface? That shouldnt be that much trouble.

Z.

I would use DD4, get the DC, copy to Picturebox, SavePicture the .Image, and load it with DD7!

Thanks for all the feedback :)

Misanthrop, for what I've read, the Immediate mode draws directly to the screen (or something like that). That's why I can't use it...

Zaei, I thought about something like that, but can I have an instance of DDraw4 and an instance of DDraw7 in the same project at the same time?

Sas, thanks, but I need to draw it in real time (it's an online game :) )...

See, it's a really tough question, I've been working on this for weeks.

well when I use DX I blit to a DirectDrawSurface7 (in directX7 of course) and I think that should be what you need shouldn't it?

Well you said you need to draw the frames before the game starts, so why wouldn't that method work?

well sastraxi's method should do it, but I don't know where the problem with immediat mode is, but I see another problem in the whole thing: the quality of the frames drawn is dependent on the graphicsboard unless you use the reference rasterizer, so the game will look different on different computers, even though it's a 2d game!