Having problems with an application that required DirectX

[Timon]

Hi Mac users.

I have an application, which is use to create holiday light shows, that I have been working with and it's been doing quite well under Wine. The problem is that I need to use it's Preview module, which uses Direct X, and it's failing.

First let me state that the application is not written under dotNet, thank god. The developer wrote it in standard C++ and user mostly the standard Win32 API. For DirectX he include the D3DX9_43.dll.

Before I explain my problem have a look at the results when the Preview module is running.



The problem is that the arches in the photo should be thin lines and not big fat ones. That so far is really the only problem. It does show the lights but inside those huge fat lines. Its strange that simple line drawings are causing some much trouble.

Note: I've been using WineBottler so I could help others run the app without installing full Wine but until I get this solved I'm launching the application directly under Wine.

I've tried to use WineTricks to set different version of DirectX including the MS native version but so far I've had no luck getting it to work. I'm hoping that someone has seen this and has an idea why it happens and how to fix it.

The only thing I can think of which could be caused by the application is if it's making a API call with some parameter either incorrectly set or is uninitilizied but windows will still work with it.

My system configuration is as follows:

• iMac 8,1
• 6GB Ram
• OS X 10.8 (I really want to go to 10.9 but I understand that Wine has a problem with 10.9)

BTW, if any of the Wine Developer wish to try this on a Mac I can get you a zip that contains the application and the files to repeat my test. To get to the point where you can see the problem is very easy.

The developer is a great guy but he does not know the Mac and unless I can come up with something he can look at has basically said "Have fun, you're on your own".

So can anyone help me find out what happening because at this point I'm lost?

[Timon]

Ok, I've tried this using Crossover and I'm getting the same thing. I still need to try changing what DirectX is being used with crossover but I think there is something going on that I don't have the tools or the understanding of Wine and the Mac to trouble shoot this.

[Timon]

Looking at this more closely it seems that the basic problem is the size that the pixels are drawn. Instead of being say 3x3 it's more like 60x60. The pixels are layered so the first one is a full square and the following ones are partially covered up by the previous one. BTW, when initially drawing the straight line pixels they are quite small but one the lines is finished they jump to big. This implies that it can draw smaller ones but at some point during the call parameter may be out of whack. Still if it was an api call issue, that windows handled without a failing, you would expect wine running with the native windows directx dll wouldn't fail. This is really strange.

[Timon]

Is there a way to trace the DirectX calls? The pixel size that should be drawn is "D3DFVF - D3DFVF_PSIZE = 10".

I understand keeping the spammers out but having to wait for the post to be cleared is exasperating. Oh well.