I have always felt it was due to lack of interest (for this particular problem), since most people are not fussed with their resources being in one local directory. Everything can be done with enough time and dedication, I agree. At least one other project I am working on is using PlaySound() so thank you for sharing how you went about it. I have read through that article on MIDI, but it is a distance from where my abilities lie at the moment. I'm simply curious as to whether someone has used such a feature in an existing program. There is also the slight issue with latency before the MIDI begins to play, which wasn't present in Windows 98.

@SyncViews

Personally, I want to use the Windows API only, so no part of the program requires external libraries. It makes the process more difficult sure, but I'm very particular about how something is done ?

Interesting article, I wasn't aware that DirectSound/Music interacted with Core Audio. I just wish MS had updated the existing basic multimedia functions with improvements as well. I do agree on the wrappers potentially causing latency because I've read of people getting mixed results using the MCI on Windows 10. I also found this page, which discusses the reason for the latency, which is apparently a call to Sleep(). I wonder if there is a way around this without modifying any files.

@SyncViews

Oddly enough, I never experienced any issues when using Vista. It makes sense that the aformentioned applications would be the focus, but a little attention to detail couldn't have hurt. But it's Microsoft after all.

I understand the DirectX is a part of the SDK, but there is still a requirement on the user to have it on their system to run a program using those features, so older machines will have compatibility issues, hence why I'd prefer a solution via the MCI.

I've made some more changes to my program. I've made the back buffer global, according to the suggestion in theForgers tutorial. Am I missing something, or is that the way to do it? I've noticed no difference when running the program.

#include <windows.h>
#include "resource.h"
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <time.h>

#define WINDOW_CLASS_NAME "DEMOCLASS"
#define WINDOW_WIDTH 405
#define WINDOW_HEIGHT 295

HDC hdc;
HDC hdcMem;
HDC hdcBuffer;
HBITMAP hbmBuffer;
HBITMAP hbmOldBuffer;

HBITMAP g_hbmSprite = NULL;
HBITMAP g_hbmTitle = NULL;
HBITMAP g_hbmBackground = NULL;

HICON hMainIcon;
DWORD dw_timestart;
DWORD dw_timestop;
float f_cycle_t;

struct SpriteAnimation
{
  int frames;
  int direction;
  float animation_counter;
  float angle_counter;
  float sprite_speed;
  float drift_speed;
  float animation_speed;
  float x;
  float y;

}SpriteAnimation;

struct SpriteAnimation Sprite_Slow = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.07, 0.04, 0.05, 0, -7 };
struct SpriteAnimation Sprite_Fast = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0.10, 0.02, 0.03, 0, -48 };
struct SpriteAnimation Sprite_Inst[2];

void DrawMain( HDC hdc, RECT* prc )
{
  hdcBuffer    = CreateCompatibleDC( hdc );
  hbmBuffer    = CreateCompatibleBitmap( hdc, prc->right, prc->bottom );
  hbmOldBuffer = (HBITMAP)SelectObject( hdcBuffer, hbmBuffer );
  hdcMem       = CreateCompatibleDC( hdc );

  FillRect(hdcBuffer, prc, (HBRUSH)GetStockObject(WHITE_BRUSH));

  // title
  HBITMAP hbmOld = (HBITMAP)SelectObject( hdcMem, g_hbmTitle );
  TransparentBlt( hdcBuffer, 50, 24, 297, 39, hdcMem, 0, 0, 297, 39, RGB( 255, 0, 255 ) );

   // background
  HBITMAP hbmOld2 = (HBITMAP)SelectObject( hdcMem, g_hbmBackground );
  TransparentBlt( hdcBuffer, 112, 90, 186, 91, hdcMem, 0, 0, 186, 91, RGB( 255, 0, 255 ) );

  // sprite
  HBITMAP hbmOld3 = (HBITMAP)SelectObject( hdcMem, g_hbmSprite );
  TransparentBlt( hdcBuffer, SpriteAnimation.x, SpriteAnimation.y, 15, 15, hdcMem, 15*(SpriteAnimation.frames%28), 0, 15, 15, RGB( 255, 0, 255 ) );

  // blit double buffer to window
  BitBlt( hdc, 0, 0, prc->right, prc->bottom, hdcBuffer, 0, 0, SRCCOPY );

  SelectObject( hdcMem, hbmOld );
  DeleteDC( hdcMem );

  SelectObject( hdcMem, hbmOld2 );
  DeleteDC( hdcMem );

  SelectObject( hdcMem, hbmOld3 );
  DeleteDC( hdcMem );

  SelectObject( hdcBuffer, hbmOldBuffer );
  DeleteDC( hdcBuffer );
  DeleteObject( hbmBuffer );
}

@SyncViews

By “creating and destroying it” are you referring to the variables in DrawMain? I tried the following:

HDC hdc;
RECT rect;
HDC hdcMem       = CreateCompatibleDC( hdc );
HDC hdcBuffer    = CreateCompatibleDC( hdc );
HBITMAP hbmBuffer    = CreateCompatibleBitmap( hdc, rect.right, rect.bottom );
HBITMAP hbmOldBuffer = (HBITMAP)SelectObject( hdcBuffer, hbmBuffer );

.. and get a blank window.

Here's what WM_PAINT looks like. I have the InvalidateRect in the message loop.

 case WM_PAINT:
      {
        PAINTSTRUCT ps;
        hdc = BeginPaint( hwnd, &ps );

        GetClientRect( hwnd, &rect );
        dw_timestart = timeGetTime();

        DrawMain( hdc, rect );
        AnimateFrames ();
        UpdateSpritePosition();

        dw_timestop = timeGetTime();
        EndPaint( hwnd, &ps );

        f_cycle_t = dw_timestop - dw_timestart;
      }
      return 0;

I was expecting that maybe the CPU usage would drop a notch or two. Mainly I just wanted the advantage for future projects that could use it, though none of them deal with window resizing or heaps of windows. I do want to blit the sprite in a seperate function, but that's about it.

I'm fairly certain that I had a Creative soundcard, but at that time I didn't notice anything wrong with it. Then again, I didn't really play many games on that OS, or do much programming on it either.

The target OS for my programs will be Windows 7, XP and 2000, so that's another reason for wanting to stay away from DirectX. I have considered OpenGL but find it to be overly complex for something that isn't even a game. It's only the MIDI from resource that prompted me to try it.

@rafaelsantana

It occured to me that that might be a problem if there are more graphical effects happening at once. I'm slowly improving the program little by little.

EDIT: sorry for double-post.