DirectX 7 -> 6 or 5

[Dude1]

Does anyone know if it is possible to convert your Directx 7 code to directx 6 or 5 code? Would it be easy? and are there any tutorials on dx 6/5 or converting?

Thanks in advance.

[Sastraxi]

Might I ask... why? Doesn't seem like a normal request..
But for VB, before DX7, they weren't supported, so it'll be a royal pain finding the classes that allow access to them..

[Machaira]

There was a way to use DirectX5 or 6 (don't remember which was first) with VB. Check Patrice Scribe's site - http://www.chez.com/scribe/en/index.htm

Don't know why you would want to do that though.

[NoteMe]

DX7 was the first DX that was supported by VB. So if you want to use DX6 or DX5 you have to look for some libraries written by someone else in C/c++ or something. And then your code probably won't look the same at all. So you probably don't want that to happen at all....

[Dude1]

I already have the DirectX 5 Type Libraries and 6, but I don't know how to use them. But if you say the code will look a lot different, then forget it, I'll just stick to 7. You are wondering why I would do that? The answer is simple, to get to a wider user base. A lot of people are still running craptacular comps that don't even support dx 7, I'm not even going into 8 or 9. Since my game is all 2d, I thought that I shouldn't require a higer dx version then I need. But this will have to do, people will upgrade eventually.

[NoteMe]

Do you have a type library for DX5/6 that is supported by VB??? A type library from MS??? I didn't know that it existed...

[Zaei]

Originally posted by Dude1
I already have the DirectX 5 Type Libraries and 6, but I don't know how to use them. But if you say the code will look a lot different, then forget it, I'll just stick to 7. You are wondering why I would do that? The answer is simple, to get to a wider user base. A lot of people are still running craptacular comps that don't even support dx 7, I'm not even going into 8 or 9. Since my game is all 2d, I thought that I shouldn't require a higer dx version then I need. But this will have to do, people will upgrade eventually.

You would only need to worry about a wider user base if you happened to be selling your application. If I remember correctly, DirectX7 works on Win95, in which case it is up to the user to upgrade. DX8 works on 98 and up, since 95 is no longer supported by Microsoft.

Z.

[Machaira]

I have a Pentium 233 (yes, a regular Pentium, not a II, III or 4) with 80MB RAM and an 8MB MonsterII card running DirectX8. For 2D games that aren't hard core it works fine. I can't imagine that many people are even running something that old, let alone still using Win95. Therefore DirectX5 or 6 is probably not going to be seen much. Go with DirectX7.

[Machaira]

Originally posted by NoteMe
Do you have a type library for DX5/6 that is supported by VB??? A type library from MS??? I didn't know that it existed...

It's not from MS. It was developed by an individual - Patrice Scribe. Check my link above, although I'm not sure if he still even has it up, as it's so outdated.

[CornedBee]

Z is right. Up to DX7 all windows versions support it (except NT and 3.x and lower). You don't need to worry about your user base.

Beside, I don't know what kind of application you're developing, but if it even touches DX there is a good chance that no computer that hasn't got enough power for DX7 won't have enough power for you app either.

[Dude1]

Corned Bee, you are porbably right. Yeh, I'll stick to 7, people would probably have more problems if I used the Scribe Libraries anyways. And yes, I am shooting for a commercial game

[dafhi]

i have a computer that uses a Cyrix 166. I tried installing dx8 and it said cpu not supported, so i totally understand. that's one reason I wrote my own blitting routine. other reasons: directx is slow if you don't have a decent video card, and i still don't understand the multiple things you have to do to get directx to work.

[Sastraxi]

If you have a CRAP graphics card, yes, it sucks, but I pity those who have no graphics cards (ex. no display, no monitor...)

[CornedBee]

Thanks for your support Sas, I feel better now