[OBSOLETE] W:A Windowed Mode - D3D9Wnd released! (now open-source)

[StepS]

UPDATE: D3D9Wnd is no longer necessary since the latest update of the game (3.8)! Just enable "Windowed mode" in the game's advanced options.
D3D9Wnd will disable itself and have no effect when installed under the latest version of the game.

Original post:

D3D9Wnd has now been updated to support the newest updates on Steam.
D3D9Wnd is a windowed mode module that takes advantage of the game's Direct3D 9 renderer, which also allows for some brilliant features, such as playing the game on several monitors at once, stretching the window, unpinning/pinning mouse from the game window, playing the game using ultra-high screen resolutions and producing and streaming ultra-high-resolution videos and screenshots on any monitor and system.

Read it up on Wiki[worms2d.info] and user forums[www.tus-wa.com].

Download[files.steps.moe] the latest version (0.7.1.1). You can now also get the source code on GitHub[github.com].

How to install:

• Right-click the game in Steam library, select "Properties"
  
• Select the "Local files" tab, then the "Browse local files" button.
  
• Extract the archive contents to the Worms Armageddon directory.
  
• Open the "Tweaks" directory and double-click "Renderer_Direct3D_9_Shader_palette.reg" and "LoadWormKitModules_Enabled.reg"
  
• Run the game.

[Charlie Cyprus]

Download links are all dead.

[Steftast1c]

the main download link is broken please fix

[StepS]

Originally posted by Steftast1c-Senpai:

the main download link is broken please fix

it happens to go down from time to time lately, I can not do anything, it is not my own server nor is it paid. I can only upload a mirror.

Here's the mirror for you. [EDIT: the link is very outdated and no longer necessary now.]

Originally posted by Anonanon:

Download links are all dead.

it is only one. don't thank me, it's the webhost.

[Obn3g0n]

If D3D9Wnd stopped working, I would stop playing W:A. It's so awesome. Especially if you have 2 or more monitors - you can play/watch on one screen and easily browse the net or do whatever on the other. Or you can make your worms game span across all your screens.

[StepS]

A new update has been released: 0.6.0.0.

• D3D9Wnd is now fully version-independent. This means that it will work on any future version of W:A that supports Direct3D 9 (but still requires at least 3.7 or newer, as older versions don't have Direct3D 9) without having to wait for me to update the module.
  
• You can now load D3D9Wnd with any wormkit module loader, not only the built-in option of the game.
  
• Implemented fix for the long-living W:A crash when you press Ctrl+Alt+Del, Win+L or get an UAC pop-up on Vista and newer (thanks to Deadcode for the solution; the fix will also be available in the next W:A update).
  
• Added a FancyStartup option for the frontend initialization. With this setting, W:A will start up translucent, quickly becoming opaque.
  
• The module will now set W:A's process DPI-aware. This resolves clipping/stretching/blurriness/mouse issues that come out of the DPI virtualization system in Vista and newer (especially important for Windows 8.1 users who use a DPI scaling value other than 100% and 125%).
  
• The Fullscreen frontend mode will now use native fullscreen.
  
• The module will now only start activity after the Direct3D 9 interface creation, related to which the check for DirectDraw/Direct3D7 is now done in a better way, as well as a lot of other things.
  
• Assisted Vsync no longer makes the game laggy when the game's height is taller than your primary monitor's height, therefore it won't be auto-disabled now.
  
• You should no longer see an empty mouse cursor when returning to frontend from the game with Hardware Cursors enabled and unpinning being used prior to the return.
  
• Mouse clipping will now correctly work when running Stretched/Centered/Custom frontend with wkSuperFrontend module.
  
• Previously you could see a black rectangle for a split second when W:A's frontend was starting up. Technically now it's done in the best way though it may feel a little bit unusual for people who got accustomed to it already.
  
• Many optimizations and improvements.
  
• Added a secret feature.

Coming soon:

• Ability to resize the in-game window: I have already done this for Worms 2 (see the video | download[worms2d.info]), and almost finished for W:A, though it won't be progressive at first (it's best to keep it as is, when the resizing stops only).
  
• Alt+Enter support: this will have multiple variations. In the first mode, pressing Alt+Enter would switch between exclusive fullscreen and windowed mode display; in the second mode, Alt+Enter would stretch/shrink the window; and in the third mode Alt+Enter would take advantage of the aforementioned window resizing, expanding the borderless windowed display to the whole desktop resolution.
  
• Multi-monitor improvements.
  
• Some other things.

[Obn3g0n]

Awesome!! Great work and thank you StepS.

[StepS]

There have been various minor updates released over the last 7 days. Now it'll be the time to implement major new features into the module. As usual, it's advised to update to the latest version of the module.

Changelog:

• 0.6.0.3: minor transparency/FancyStartup fixes
  
• 0.6.0.4: FancyStartup will not appear in replays now
  
• 0.6.0.5: Fixes for the in-game camera movements when wkSuperFrontend's large frontend is active.
  
• 0.6.0.6: Added a FullscreenAlternative option. This is the artificial (non-exclusive) fullscreen that was in the module prior to 0.6.0.0 (but has since been improved a bit). This is useful to eliminate various exclusive fullscreen issues such as Windows 7 Aero multi-monitor flickering issues. Note: this setting takes priority over the vanilla Fullscreen.
  
• 0.6.0.7: Changed the way the D3DDevice9 Present hook works. This solves compatibility with all other apps that hook rendering, such as Fraps.
  
• 0.6.0.8: Minor fixes to the module's exiting phase.
  
• 0.6.0.9: The module will now check if the fullscreen resolution required for frontend is supported by the system. In case of a failure, a warning will be shown, telling the details, and the module will then switch to windowed mode. This is for both standard and alternative fullscreen modes. Useful to determine whether a CreateDevice failure in unmodified game was actually a screen mode switch failure.

[Cinzel]

when i activate this i can't launch worms armageddon (windows 7)

[StepS]

Originally posted by Cinzel:

when i activate this i can't launch worms armageddon (windows 7)

Hello. I'm sorry about this, however fortunately I have already found a solution. This only affected the Steam edition. It'll be posted here ASAP.

[Cinzel]

Okay I'll be interested again when blue screen gets fixed

[StepS]

An updated build has been posted which you can download here:
http://files.steps.club/wa/wk/wkD3D9Wnd.zip
It solves the stack overflow issue caused by steam overlay's hooks.
Thanks for your patience.

[Rufus]

After downloading the latest version of this module, and enabling it on Windows 7 64 bit, I receive the following error message when trying to start the game: Worms Armageddon 3.7.2.1 has stopped working. The game will not start at all, until I disable the module.

[StepS]

Looks like I broke my fix after trying to improve something else.
I have now both bullet-proof'd that hook and improved the way it was being set, so it's not possible for it to interfere with Steam Overlay, nor other overlays, anymore.
An updated build has been uploaded (0.6.1.6), same download link.
Thanks for the report!

[Rufus]

You're welcome. The module works now. Thank you very much.

[GrandCrystalStar]

The windowed mode doesn't seem to work too well for me. It works when I'm using the menus, but when in-game, it's still fullscreen. Do you know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance.