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DirectDraw (ddraw.dll) is an API that used to be a part ofMicrosoft'sDirectXAPI. DirectDraw is used to acceleraterendering of 2Dgraphics in applications. DirectDraw also allows applications to run fullscreen or embedded in a window such as most other MS Windows applications. DirectDraw useshardware acceleration if it is available on the client'scomputer. DirectDraw allows direct access tovideo memory,hardware overlays, hardwareblitters, andpage flipping. Itsvideo memory manager can manipulate video memory with ease, taking full advantage of theblitting and color decompression capabilities of different types ofdisplay adapters.
Because DirectDraw is a2D API, it contains commands for 2D rendering and although it does not support3D hardware acceleration, versions through to 7.0 of DirectDraw are tightly coupled to their respective version of Direct3D. In order to utilize 3D acceleration in Direct3D 7.0 and below, DirectDrawmust be used in order to create an IDirect3D interface with the help of IDirectDraw7->QueryInterface, from which comes an IDirect3DDevice, and from there the remainder of the Direct3D API can be accessed and utilized. DirectDraw provides Textures (through Surfaces), Clippers, Palettes and Pixel Formats to Direct3D as well as the final presentation pass to display rendered images to the screen.
DirectDraw was introduced forWindows Mobile in Windows Mobile 5.0, replacing the graphics component ofGAPI, which was then deprecated.[1]
With the release of DirectX version 8.0, DirectDraw was merged into a new package calledDirectX Graphics, which extended Direct3D with a few DirectDraw API additions. DirectDraw can still be used by programmers, and it can be compiled in 64-bit, but they must use older DirectX interfaces (DirectX 7 and below).
Drivers from NVIDIA, AMD and Intel provide hardware accelerated support for many of DirectDraw's fundamental features. However, due to changes in Windows Desktop Manager (DWM) in recent Windows versions, features such as Overlays are no longer supported at all.
In June 2010, DirectDraw was removed from the DirectX SDK package,[2] but in 2012, the DirectX SDK was merged into the Windows Platform SDK, and DirectDraw was included once again.
There has been a deterioration of Windows compatibility with old games that rely upon DirectDraw, withCommand & Conquer,Warcraft 2, andTheme Hospital among those affected. In newer Windows versions, some games will refuse to run under a 32-bitbit depth (Dangerous Waters for example), others showing a black screen or glitching when switched out. Re-implementation of DirectDraw has been observed to fix these compatibility problems. Commonly used replacements include:
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