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Can anyone help? A teacher in Kansas downloaded all my freeware programs from my site at www.freewebs.com/robslearningfun/ He got them ok but cannot run them. He gets the message, "System Error: ERROR 165 [..000. & Direct3D HAL] Failed to create a D3D Device from BackBuffer Surface"
The programs were all written in DarkBASIC classic on a PC running XP with SP1 and have been tested on a PC with SP2 and on Windows 95 and 98. The teacher in Kansas is running XP with SP 2.
I am lost here, programming is hard enough. I'd appreciate any help. Even if you don't know what is wrong but can download some of my programs and let me know if they run then that would be a great help.

Thanks,

Rob

Downloaded and Tested, all seems to work fine here.

Make sure the PC is up to date with Graphics drivers, and the latest DirectX version ( either 9.0c or 9.0b will be more than fine ), and that his system specs aren't really, really bad ( DBC isn't aimed for PC's of the older days ).

Jess.

Thanks Jess,

I've emailed your reply on to Jason in Kansas and have asked him to check out his system and let me know.

It is good to know that the problem is not with my programs but I'd still like to help Jason to get them working.

I'll let you know how we get on.

Thanks,

Rob

Teacher = Laptop + no PC smarts

Most likely their onboard video card is set to something like 4MB of RAM use.

Have them bump it up to 8 or 16 MB depending on how much RAM is available in the XP laptop. If 256MB RAM or less, then only bump it to 8 MB video.

"Teacher = Laptop + no PC smarts"

I think that I was wrong and Jason is not a teacher but since I am a teacher then that just proves how correct your comment is!!!

Jason sent back these specs, he is checking which version of Direct X he has.
Win XP - SP2
Dell OptiPlex GX1 - PII - 350
256MB RAM
Video Adapter has 4MB RAM --- Is this the video card that he should bump up to 8MB? and, if it is how does he go about it?

Sorry but not only am I only a teacher, but I was brought up on Macs (is that word allowed here?) and have only just started learning REAL computing.

Thanks for your help, even cheeky comments are OK, as long as they are true!

Rob

I used to run DBC on a laptop with a Celeron ~466MHz, 64MB RAM, and a 4MB video card.

(Note to heartbone: Only newer laptops allow you to change the amount of system memory used as video memory. Some really old ones (like my one) use dedicated video memory, which should improve performance, but it was just way too old.

All: If this laptop did support this feature, you would normally restart it, and as it boots up (grey writing, i.e., BIOS screen) you would normally hold down the 'DELETE' button, and browse through several menus, etc. If a machine says 'F2=SETUP' for example, then you would press 'F2' instead. If a machine doesn't show the BIOS screen, then it's just too quick, so hold down the 'DELETE' key as the system turns on.

Rob: You *CANNOT* swap a video card inside a laptop. Not yet, anyway, although NVidia are working on something, and it's not going to be too long before other companies join in.)

Unfortunately, on my other PC, with a Pentium III ~450MHz, 64MB RAM, and a Rage II 8MB video card it didn't run at all. In fact, it had that same error message.

The problem is within the fact that DBC is trying to create a Direct3D Device (read: 3D window), but the computer doesn't support those specific settings.

DBC *ALWAYS* creates a Direct3D device, a DirectDraw device, a DirectSound/DirectMusic device and 1 or more DirectInput devices. No way to stop it without rewriting most of the compiler.

Set Display Mode doesn't work, as DBC always *STARTS* with the same settings. SDM mearly changes it afterwards.

My advice: When I ran a trial of DBPro on my system, it worked perfectly. So I recommend you download a trial of DBPro, tweak the code to get it to work, and compile & send him the resulting EXE. See if it works!

Yeah Blanky, if the poor guy has a PII @350 MHz (running XP!), the video card on that mobo is probably fixed at 4MB, and that system can't run the software. If he's lucky it's a desktop system and the guy can probably find a 16 MB Vanta or TNT2 PCI for about $10. A laptop is SOL.

I've run DBC .exes on a 4 MB nVidia RIVA 128 card, but the programs were always in 2D.

See if the computer can run INTERSHIP. A 2D DBC program. It says 8 MB, but I think it may run in 4 MB. Rob from Scotland, please inform of the results if you decide to try it on that 4 MB system.

I have had the same problem on my crap computer


Does not have a 3D graphics card
or is not using directx

Thanks everyone,

I don't know if Jason's PC is a laptop or not but perhaps everyone else does know. I'll ask him.

Blanky - I like the idea of tweaking a DBPro version and sending him that. However I actually bought DBPro and could never get it to run on my incredibly cheap emachines Celeron 900 MHz Celeron PC. I couldn't even run the DarkBASIC demos on the CD on my PC or the school where I was working's Windows 95 or 98 PCs.

When I bought mine I thought that all I wnted to do was to learn a little bit about programming Windows, probably in C, and then I discovered DarkBASIC.

heartbone - I'll ask Jason to try intership and I'll let you know if he can.

Thanks everybody,

I'll go ask Jason now.

Rob

Jason tried my DarkBASIC programs on two PCs at his work.

On PC#1 my programs did not work. It was running DirectX 8.0 and had a Display memory of 4.0MB.

On PC#2 my programs worked. It was running DirectX 9.0b and had a Display memory of 64.0MB.

Jason then went home and checked out his home machine, a DESKTOP which,as we know, will not run my programs.

It is running DirectX 9.0c and has a Display memory of 4.0 MB.

Is this 4.0 MB Display Memory the 4.0MB Video card that so many of you mentioned and, if so, how does he go abut upgrading it. It looks to me that this is the problem

Heartbone mentioned a 16MB Vanta or TNT PCI for about $10. I s this what Jason should go for, where would he get it and

is it easy to insyll. Of course, Jason might not be as inept as I am about these things.

Below is an abreviated copy of an email that Jason sent about his home computer.

Thanks for all your help. I feel that you have solved Jason's problem.

I hope so

Rob

-------------------------------------------------------
I ran dxdiag on my home PC and discovered that I am running DirectX 9.0c! So this leads me to believe that my

issue is in fact video RAM related.

I have attached the dxdiag information.

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 1/17/2005, 19:03:31
Machine name: HOME-0AE3CCB14F
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
System Model: OptiPlex GX1 350L
BIOS: Default System BIOS
Processor: Intel Pentium II, MMX, ~340MHz
Memory: 256MB RAM
Page File: 100MB used, 518MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode

------------
DxDiag Notes
------------
DirectX Files Tab: No problems found.
Display Tab 1: No problems found. DirectDraw test results: All tests were successful. Direct3D 7 test

results: All tests were successful. Direct3D 8 test results: All tests were successful. Direct3D 9 test

results: All tests were successful.
Sound Tab 1: No problems found.
Music Tab: No problems found.
Input Tab: No problems found.
Network Tab: No problems found.

--------------------
DirectX Debug Levels
--------------------
Direct3D: 0/4 (n/a)
DirectDraw: 0/4 (retail)
DirectInput: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectMusic: 0/5 (n/a)
DirectPlay: 0/9 (retail)
DirectSound: 0/5 (retail)
DirectShow: 0/6 (retail)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: ATI Technologies, Inc. 3D RAGE PRO AGP 2X
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies, Inc.
Chip type: ATI 3D RAGE PRO AGP 2X (GT-C2U2)
DAC type: ATI Internal DAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4742&SUBSYS_00000000&REV_5C
Display Memory: 4.0 MB
Current Mode: 800 x 600 (32 bit) (85Hz)
Monitor: Dell M570
Monitor Max Res: 1280,1024
Driver Name: atidrae.dll
Driver Version: 5.01.2493.0000 (English)
DDI Version: 7
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 8/17/2001 14:56:00, 137216 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
VDD: n/a
Mini VDD: atimpae.sys
Mini VDD Date: 8/17/2001 12:49:00, 75136 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71EE2-0402-11CF-B063-BD29F2C2C835}
Vendor ID: 0x1002
Device ID: 0x4742
SubSys ID: 0x00000000
Revision ID: 0x005C
Revision ID: 0x005C
Video Accel:
Deinterlace Caps: n/a
Registry: OK
DDraw Status: Enabled
D3D Status: Enabled
AGP Status: Enabled
DDraw Test Result: All tests were successful.
D3D7 Test Result: All tests were successful.
D3D8 Test Result: All tests were successful.
D3D9 Test Result: All tests were successful.

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Sound Devices
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Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Let me know if you want to see this section

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DirectMusic
-----------
Let me know if you want to see this section

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DirectInput Devices
-------------------
Let me know if you want to see this section

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USB Devices
-----------
Let me know if you want to see this section

----------------
Gameport Devices
----------------

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PS/2 Devices
------------
Let me know if you want to see this section

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DirectPlay Service Providers
----------------------------
Let me know if you want to see this section
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DirectPlay Adapters
-------------------
Let me know if you want to see this section

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DirectPlay Voice Codecs
-----------------------
Let me know if you want to see this section

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DirectPlay Lobbyable Apps
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Disk & DVD/CD-ROM Drives
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System Devices
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DirectX Components
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Let me know if you want to see this section

I had the same problem on my little Compaq Laptop I picked up for free, it's a PII 450mhz thing - and it was set to 4mb graphics, but then I upgraded the memory and upped the graphics to 8mb and from then on it started running my DBC stuff fine, even Stoked ran nicely.

Most Laptops use the bios to set the graphics memory, it's quite straightforward once you know where it is on your particular bios.


Van-B

When you are (or rather, what DBC automatically does) creating a Direct3D Device, for fullscreen, you have to specify some options - essentially, the width, the height, the colour format (which is a lot more complicated than just 16 or 32), and the Z stencil format (so that thing A which is in front of thing B doesn't get overlapped by thing B).

If they made it so that it simply looked for a stencil format/colour format that complied with your settings and just worked, there would be all sorts of problems, as things would act differently on different computers. So, with both DBC and DBPro, some common formats have been chosen, and are different between the two programs.

The guy who was trying to run your programs was UNLUCKY. The format didn't comply.

:: Bloody hell, I just realised he was using the *EXACT SAME* video card as I was using on my old computer... Well, DBPro worked for me (okay, I only had a chance to try an *ANCIENT* trial out on it.. My computer's gone now..)

. Try DBPro, if you haven't already.

. You can easily run 3D on a 4MB video card, although he may not be able to run it at a high resolution.. I recommend 640x480 for these cards, and if still slow, go down to 320x240.

. If upgrading, I recommend just to get a cheap ~£30 Radeon 9200, if only for now. It'll have plenty of power for a DBC program. If he's got some spare, equally-old video cards lying around, before spending the money, try them in as well, because the Rage3D card seems to be the only non-working one..