Ok - I just got DX8, hearing that it is the best to use nowadays. All I want to do is 2D tile-based games, and I knew that DirectDraw was incorporated into the whole structure of DX8, but no longer a separate entity in its'' own right. Anyway, I had a quick gander at the DX help file, intending to learn stuff by going through their tutorials etc... but where the heck is the information on the DDraw components?! There''s no information whatsoever on 2D graphics. No information at all, on those functions that are included, but were updated from DirectDraw in DX7...! Where should I go from here?

Look in your SDK folder:
DXSDK\samples\Multimedia\DirectDraw

DirectX 7 was the last DirectX to have a DirectDraw component. DirectX 8 has DirectX Graphics, which is kinda like DD and D3D in one.

If you want your game to run on 2D-only cards you''re probably best to stick with DirectX 7. If you want to take advantage of 3D features, go for DirectX 8.

I''d probably keep it simple and stick with 7.

Helpful links:
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way | Google can help with your question | Search MSDN for help with standard C or Windows functions

Due to COM design, you can use DirectX7 on a machine running DirectX8. You''ll need the docs of MSDN though - I think it''s in the ''extras'' section.

You could, of course, just draw your 2D ''screen'' as a textured quad that''s set up to match the edges of the screen. DirectDraw doesn''t do any cool effects like alpha blending - Direct3D handles all that.

Superpig
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Cheers guys, that''s useful stuff... I''ll have another look at the things you suggested...