MAME Error, i need some help!!

[Sturmvogel Prime]

Everytime i try to play a game i get this error message: "Unable to create Direct3D device (8876086A)".

How i can fix that??

[Ed Oscuro]

The easiest fix should be to choose a different video output method, via the (in a GUI version of MAME) menus:

Options -> Default Game Options -> Advanced ->

If it is set to DirectX 9, you could try setting it to DirectX 8. If that still doesn't work, you could try GDI and DirectDraw (there may be OpenGL in there too...oddly, I don't see OpenGL in mine).

It may simply be that your graphics card (or its drivers) isn't supporting a version of DirectX newer than version 8.

Depending on your Windows platform, you could try seeing if you have the up-to-date DirectX binaries (this shouldn't apply to Windows Vista and 7 or newer, though), and that you have the video card drivers installed. I would not mess with this if you have other programs (i.e. games, especially) that are working well, and especially if it is up to date.

[null1024]

If you're using command-line MAME, starting it like so:

Code: Select all

mame.exe -video ddraw

should do the trick. Easiest thing to do would be to put that line in a .bat file and run MAME through that [there's a another way involving MAME's INI settings, but I can't remember that off the top of my head].

[Sturmvogel Prime]

The easiest fix should be to choose a different video output method, via the (in a GUI version of MAME) menus:

Options -> Default Game Options -> Advanced ->

If it is set to DirectX 9, you could try setting it to DirectX 8. If that still doesn't work, you could try GDI and DirectDraw (there may be OpenGL in there too...oddly, I don't see OpenGL in mine).

It may simply be that your graphics card (or its drivers) isn't supporting a version of DirectX newer than version 8.

Depending on your Windows platform, you could try seeing if you have the up-to-date DirectX binaries (this shouldn't apply to Windows Vista and 7 or newer, though), and that you have the video card drivers installed. I would not mess with this if you have other programs (i.e. games, especially) that are working well, and especially if it is up to date.

Well, my Windows Vista is using the DirectX 11 and now i'm currently using the MAME Plus 0.120u3 and i still got this error when i try to run a game, i tried the DirectX 8 switch, but the GDI and Direct Draw worked quite well, but it doens't have the same quality than the DirectX.

What could be causing that error? i don't know.

[null1024]

Well, my Windows Vista is using the DirectX 11 and now i'm currently using the MAME Plus 0.120u3 and i still got this error when i try to run a game, i tried the DirectX 8 switch, but the GDI and Direct Draw worked quite well, but it doens't have the same quality than the DirectX.

What could be causing that error? i don't know.

You mightn't have DirectX 9 installed then. 11 and 10 are somewhat separate from 9 and below, and both 9 and 11 can coexist on the same machine. I remember having to install DX9 on my Win7 box.

[Ed Oscuro]

I didn't think that would be the case, but a quick glance at ye Wiki reveals this:

Prior to DirectX 10, DirectX runtime was designed to be backward compatible with older drivers, meaning that newer versions of the APIs were designed to interoperate with older drivers written against a previous version's DDI. The application programmer had to query the available hardware capabilities using a complex system of "cap bits" each tied to a particular hardware feature. For example, a game designed for and running on Direct3D 9 with a graphics adapter driver designed for Direct3D 6 would still work, albeit most likely with degraded functionality.

Citation needed. But MAME Plus 120 should be fairly old now. At the same time, my Shmupmame versions 2 and 2.2 still work fine, as do some other historical MAMEs I've tried. I think I could even get the .35 GUI version found on the Hanaho Games disc version to run just fine.