Since you're on Windows 7, I assume you're hitting a known bug with vertical synchronization that only affects Vista and 7. There is a quick fix for it in this comment: https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/issues/104#issuecomment-869168178

I just checked Commandos on Windows 10 and there is another issue as well that I haven't noticed before, which was introduced in v0.3.1 (v0.3.0 works fine). I think that issue is specific to Commandos though, I wouldn't expect a lot of other games to be affected. I will fix it in the next release. Thanks for the report!

Yes, I didn't think of using archive.org, good idea.

This one also works perfectly on my computer. So this is a modified 0.3.1 if I understand correctly ? So this should be the best one for me currently until you release a new one ? Will future releases include this Vista/7-specific bugfix as well ?

Thank you, your work on this dll is invaluable for old games !

Yes, it is a slight modification compared to v0.3.1. You can see the exact source code diff in the same comment. As a side effect, it does restrict refresh rate to ~60Hz (not the monitor refresh rate, just the rate at which DDrawCompat updates the screen and applies v-sync if requested by the game). But that probably make no difference for the mentioned games. The next release will have a "proper" fix without such restrictions. You can use whichever version works best for you until then.

I have a small question.

I was playing around with Commandos 2 and noticed that when I quit the game, all the window's positions are messed up because of the game menu's low resolution, so I tried your wrapper with the game to see if it changed something, however I noticed that alt-tabbing the game keeps the desktop at the resolution that the game has. And since modding the game's resolution above 1440*900 is unstable, this messes the desktop quite a bit. Can something be made about that ?

Thank you.

This is the game's native behavior also. I guess this is why the GOG setup adds the IgnoreAltTab compatibility shim for it (which DDrawCompat overrides). From what I remember, the game watches for WM_DISPLAYCHANGE events and force-changes the resolution back to its internal one, screwing up its own alt-tabbing too.

The next release will have a "fix", as in it will have an option to override display resolution, preventing the game from changing it. Release date is probably still a couple months away, though.

This fixes the invisible cursor in Salammbo: Battle for Carthage. Thank you very much!

0.3.x.x
Extremely laggy for me on Win7 x64 Sp1 and Nvidia 950m 2 Gb with some older driver (starting from 4xx they drivers are sucks! even BSOD for many people incl me).
Every old games i tested tested - less than 1 FPS. 2-5 minutes to close the game (depand on intro sequences duartion).

0.2.x.x - work like a charm in every old game i test.

The Win 7 perf issue is known for v0.3.x. There is a quick-fixed version here:
https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/issues/104#issuecomment-869168178

It will be fixed properly in the next release.

Hi narzoul.
I just wanted to let you know that I tried your latest (0.4.0) wrapper on 2 games (Anno 1602 and Total Annihilation) on a Win 7 x64, and both crashed on startup. I had to revert to the 0.3.1 bugfix for the Win 7.

Here is the logfile :

14:00:02.940 Process path: D:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Anno 1602\Eng\1602.exe
14:00:02.940 Loading DDrawCompat statically from D:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Anno 1602\Eng\DDRAW.dll
14:00:02.940 Environment variable __COMPAT_LAYER = ""
14:00:02.940 Loading global config file: C:\ProgramData\DDrawCompat\DDrawCompat.ini
14:00:02.940 File not found, skipping
14:00:02.940 Loading user config file: C:\Users\Pouyou\AppData\Local\DDrawCompat\DDrawCompat.ini
14:00:02.940 File not found, skipping
14:00:02.940 Loading directory config file: D:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Anno 1602\Eng\DDrawCompat.ini
14:00:02.940 File not found, skipping
14:00:02.940 Loading process config file: D:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Anno 1602\Eng\DDrawCompat-1602.ini
14:00:02.940 File not found, skipping
14:00:02.940 Loading overlay config file: D:\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ubisoft Game Launcher\games\Anno 1602\Eng\DDrawCompatOverlay-1602.ini
14:00:02.940 File not found, skipping
14:00:02.940 Final configuration:
14:00:02.940 [default] AlignSysMemSurfaces = on
14:00:02.940 [default] AltTabFix = off
14:00:02.940 [default] AlternatePixelCenter = off
14:00:02.940 [default] Antialiasing = off
14:00:02.940 [default] BltFilter = point
14:00:02.940 [default] ConfigHotKey = shift+f11
14:00:02.940 [default] CpuAffinity = 1
14:00:02.940 [default] DesktopColorDepth = initial
14:00:02.940 [default] DisplayFilter = bilinear(0)
14:00:02.940 [default] DisplayRefreshRate = app
14:00:02.940 [default] DisplayResolution = desktop
14:00:02.940 [default] DpiAwareness = permonitor
14:00:02.940 [default] FontAntialiasing = app
14:00:02.940 [default] ForceD3D9On12 = off
14:00:02.940 [default] FpsLimiter = off
14:00:02.940 [default] FullscreenMode = borderless
14:00:02.940 [default] LogLevel = info
14:00:02.940 [default] PalettizedTextures = on
14:00:02.940 [default] RemoveBorders = off
14:00:02.940 [default] RenderColorDepth = app
14:00:02.940 [default] ResolutionScale = app(1)
14:00:02.940 [default] ResolutionScaleFilter = point
14:00:02.940 [default] SoftwareDevice = rgb
14:00:02.940 [default] SpriteDetection = off
14:00:02.940 [default] SpriteFilter = app
14:00:02.940 [default] SpriteTexCoord = app
14:00:02.940 [default] SupportedResolutions = native, 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768
14:00:02.940 [default] TextureFilter = app
14:00:02.940 [default] ThreadPriorityBoost = off
14:00:02.940 [default] VSync = app
14:00:02.940 [default] WinVersionLie = off
14:00:02.947 DPI awareness was successfully changed to "system" via SetProcessDPIAware
14:00:02.947 DDrawCompat loaded successfully
14:00:03.097 DDrawCompat detached successfully

It's a known issue, there is a temporary fix for Win 7 here:
https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/issues/149#issuecomment-1271986474