Tags: application, based, cant, code, continually, d3drmdll, directx, displayed, due, dx7, error, graphics, haulting, message, microsoft, missing, msdn, prior, run, software, versions, vista

Graphics issues for DX7/8/9 code, application can't start due to missing d3drm.dll?

On Microsoft » Microsoft Vista

8,000 words with 11 Comments; publish: Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:19:00 GMT; (30078.13, « »)

After some testing with code based on versions of DirectX prior to 10, I continually run into this error message being displayed and haulting the application. Simple C++ (DX 7/8/9 SDK) stuff, so it's strange this occurs. I'm wondering if it might actually be driver related or something. Does anyone know what the d3drm.dll is and why Vista would report it's missing for legacy applications? Thanks.

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  • 11 Comments

    • Looks like no one else has encountered this or knows about it yet. Any recommendations on where I could ask about this problem?

      It seems Vista just doesn't yet know how to handle DX7/8/9 applications/games by using DX 9.0L for them instead of DX 10 or something...

      #1; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:20:00 GMT
    • Ok, after further investigation, it turns out this is related to Windows Vista dropping support for ALL retained mode applications. Why this was done, who knows. But if you get this error message, you can restore compatibility for most retained mode applications by simply placing the D3DRM.DLL file (available on any modern Windows XP setup in the \system32 directory) in the Windows\system32 directory. This allowed the retained mode applications I had to work again with Beta 2. If Microsoft wants to avoid users reporting this problem, they can simply include that DLL with the operating system like they did with previous versions of Windows.
      #2; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:21:00 GMT

    • I get same mesage. But my app does not use DX, I think..

      I am still investigating...

      #3; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:22:00 GMT

    • I also had received the error message "missing d3drm.dll" with my brand new notebook using Vista, trying to complete installation of proprietary 3-D modeling software. I called the software company, they said that sometimes the updated "Video Card" driver was not installed with current versions. That is to say my video card company did not have the most current driver for VISTA. So through DELL tech support, I went to : http://www.driverskit.net/dll/get/494.html and downloaded the "d3drm.dll" and placed the file in the following path as directed by DELL tech support: c:\windows\system32 . IT WORKED!!!! Good Luck everyone! another problem solved!

      #4; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:23:00 GMT

    • I see that no one has figured out why d3drm.dll is missing from windows vista.

      Well i've decided to try something different. I downloaded it from the a website i'm not to sure where I should place the missing part.

      If any one know I will try it all let everyone know if it worked or not.

      #5; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:24:00 GMT

    • Didn't work for me, the game starts now but quickly crashes.

      The game in question here is Motocross Madness 2. Midtown Madness 2 also has an issue not sure if its related, but it doesn't even start, the exe is running as seen in the task manager, but never actually starts and it just sits there until i kill it.

      then again, i have a very unsupported configuration, i have a Geforce 4 ti 4200, and im using 2k/XP forceware drivers (81.98).

      Oddly enough, the games in question worked perfeclty fine on a previous install, before i formatted and reinstalled Vista and all apps again. and never had an issue with the dx file in question before today.

      Also, no issues with other directx games, except with doom95 where it requires dplay.dll to be in the games main folder.

      I use these old forceware drivers, as for one, Nvidia does not support my card under Vista, and as it's the latest one that works from nvidia, later drivers blue screen when playing movies, and games either refuse to run, or run slow. and i get full hardware opengl support, allowing games like return to castle wolfenstien, doom3, and quake 4 to run, where as those games won't run with the default Vista inbox drivers, even OGL 1.0 games wouldn't work, others games using OGL 1.1 worked fine though, oddly...

      #6; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:25:00 GMT

    • Hi

      I have run into the same problem with my motocross madness 2 on Vista of course. I have put the d3drm.dll in the system32 folder but that didn't help much. Now, instead of the message about the missing file (d3drm.dll), I just get nothing at all - hardly even a flicker.

      Buuutt what the .... By now we are used to microsoft's callous and uncaring attitude towards their users.

      But if anyone has a solution for this one please......

      #7; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:26:00 GMT

    • I am kinda upset about this myself. I have some real mode games that I wish to play on Vista and was assured by the store where I bought my Vista notebook from that those games were compatible with Vista. Now I find out that they are not.

      I have tried installing the d3drm.dll file in the windows/system32 directory and the game actually starts, but crashes out soon after it starts. This is not acceptable. Microsoft should have gone the extra mile to make sure that all games back to the Windows 95 days would work on Vista, or at least any many as possible.

      #8; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:27:00 GMT
    • The game I was trying to play was Star Wars: Rebellion. After downloading the the dll file from the website Seclymer provided and tossing it in C:\Windows\system32 like SFSW said, the game seems to run fine, so this is worth a try for anyone getting this issue.

      I'm wondering if the exclusion of this file was Microsoft being callous and assume no-one should be playing legacy games, or if there was a compatibilty issue that might be indicated by the other persone who tried this not being able to get it to work with his game...

      Personal opinion, and it seems to be shared by this crowd, I think Microsoft should try its best to maintain compatibility with legacy games. While there would be little use for anyone to use a legacy app like Office 97 since there are newer and better versions of this, there is no such thing as a newer or better version of, say, Dark Forces, which I beleive is a part of gaming history much as Pong or Pacman. To this day I still enjoy playing Dark Forces as well as all the other legacy games I played as a kid when I still had to know the IRQ and DMA for my SoundBlaster.

      #9; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:28:00 GMT

    • I had also this problem.

      By using Microsoft Photodraw (2000) the following message appears : "For this program d3drm.dll is recommended, which is no langer member of MS Windows" (since Vista).

      Search online for solutions. Then, no solutions available yet. Contact microsoft to solve this problem.

      I have copied d3drm.dll from Windows Xp, and put it in system32.

      Till this moment the errormessage did not appear again.

      #10; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:29:00 GMT

    • I don't have Vista yet (holding out until I absolutely have to get it...) but I think that once you get past the missing Direct3D DLL, you're running into a missing Indeo Codec issue.

      This happened on Windows XP systems before Service Pack 1 or 2 (I can't remember which decided to include the Indeo codec...)

      The symptom is that you launch the game, and before it gets to the main menu, it dumps you back to the desktop without any warning or error message. If this is the symptom you're encountering... Try downloading the Indeo Codec and see if it fixes the problem.

      http://www.wan-party.com/files/iv5setup.exe

      http://www.wan-party.com/faq.php

      The reason it's required is because the intro movie to the game requires that Codec. What's funny is, you can disable that movie in the options from the main menu, but you can't get there until you get past the movie during the initial launch after installing.

      I haven't checked yet, but there may be a registry setting to disable that movie as well... if there is, you won't have to download the codec (as it may not function properly under Vista either...)

      Anyway, try those and see if that gets you into the game. Good luck! Hope it helps...

      That One Guy (Team FNG)

      #11; Wed, 05 Sep 2007 21:30:00 GMT