aranock-online :: View topic

Posted: Fri Aug 19, 2016 12:09 am

Fatal Edge wrote:

So there have been a lot of players coming back to the game recently with new and improved PC's and operating systems. Unfortunately, the newer the windows version the harder it gets to play this beloved oldie.

That being said, there are ways to make it work (without lag) as I was able to get it working perfectly myself and help a few other people achieve the same.

Step 1. Download the program DxWnd, it is free. I got it from sourceforge.net. It is essentially the same sort of software as the normally recommended d3dWindower but it works much better. Not only does it take less configuration, it also gives you the ability to re-size the window on the fly. I play 1080p and granted it is a little grainy but it works great.

Step 2. Go to wherever you have Aranock.exe and right click it. Go to Properties, then click the Compatibility tab. Here set the game to run in compatibility mode for Windows XP (Service Pack 2), you can try sp 3 also. You will want to set the game to run as administrator. Click Apply/Ok.

Step 3. Go to where you have dxwnd.exe. Right click it, go to Properties, go to the Compatibility tab and set it to run as administrator. Changing the compatibility mode is not necessary.

Step 4. Open DxWnd. Click Edit, then Add. On the Main tab, fill in the Name: field as whatever you want, i.e. Aranock. In both the Path: and Launch: fields put the fully qualified path of Aranock.exe. Easiest just to click the button next to the field, manually select and then copy and paste into the other. Then click Ok.

You may be able to play the game at this point without any further configuration. If it is not working or is lagging keep reading.

Step 5. Included in the Aranock download are two folders. One labeled DirectDraw Fix1 and the other DirectDraw Fix2. Now you must determine, through trial and error, which of these two fixes will get the game working. I can say people with Nvidia GPUs have better luck with Fix1, I myself have an AMD GPU and use Fix2. Now, pick your poison (or in this case antidote), select all of the files in the folder of your choosing and move (or copy/paste) them into the same folder as Aranock.exe. Open DxWnd if it is not already and double click Aranock or whatever you named it in the small DxWnd window. Create your character or log-in to your existing one and see if it works. If it does not try the other fix, BUT BE SURE TO REMOVE THE FILES FROM THE PREVIOUS FIX YOU TRIED.

That's all folks! It should be working for you now. If it is not, try going through this guide one more time to see if you missed something. If you are sure you did all of this and it is still not working you can PM me, I will answer and assist as much as I can when I have time.

For anyone who found a different solution, or wants to critique this feel free to leave a reply.

Admin if you feel it would be useful to make this Sticky, please do.

Good luck, and may you pass the last gate.

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 3:22 am

I've gotten aranock working with dxwnd. Changed a setting to make it run fullscreen instead of a window, that's it. Seems to work great except for the fact, that when i alt tab out of the game to do something, i notice in the upper left corner of my desktop it says "dd_flip unknown error". But aranock runs without lag or other issues, i'm just not sure whether to ignore that error or what. It goes away when i close aranock.

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2020 1:05 pm

dd_flip is related to how directx handles switching surfaces. And that's what you do at that point. So it's a combination of old directx and dxwnd, I would say. Not something that could be fixed I would guess.
There is one thing you might wanna try: use alt-enter. That switches between full screen and windowed style. Might give a different result. Only thing I can think of right now. If that works, do what you want to do and use alt-enter to get back to full screen.

If it all works, just keeps showing that message...ignoring it would be fine. Smile

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 11:21 am

running dxwnd at 900x900 and my cursor is offset to the East by 3 squares.

When running at a larger screen area, the cursor can be as far as 10 East/ 4 North or 5 East/ 10 south.

I am curious if anyone has ran into this and what the fix may have been

Posted: Tue Jan 26, 2021 12:17 pm

The game is 800 x 600. If you use a program to stretch it, it may get off. Try using the original settings, for now?

Posted: Thu Jan 28, 2021 5:13 am

that did the trick!!! still need to do some more detail fenegalling to get a good quality but the cursor lines up now.

Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2021 10:52 am

I am now able to get the game up and running and it starts off in a relatively small screen size. when launching I see everything resize to a very low resolution. Get the log in and then when the UI loads the resolution of the desktop reverts back to the original. Resizing the UI is a pain, since the edges are hard to grab.

Any thoughts on the dxwnd setting to fix this ?