Win 10 solution for PGA 2000!

[GregK]

It works! I see what you mean by random. I set compatibility mode to win8. I used my collectors edition + the video patch. Should I add the 3345 patch? Does anyone play online? It would be fun to open a discord channel for PGA2000. I admin & online auto racing league & we use discord to communicate & post.

[Viper]

Fantastic! Yes, it is a very random thing and doesn't appear to be too much of an issue for PGA 2000. Most users/systems are running it fine.
Patch fixes are mostly multiplayer so not sure it is a "must" to install. Other members with long term experience may be able to best answer any real need for it. I have it installed myself.
Others will be best to answer any online aspect as I totally enjoy the single player tournaments.

[GregK]

Well, Thanks again. Will be fun to play it on the long conference calls working from home.

[BrianZ111]

I have no idea what's in the patch. I’ve always had it installed since it came out and that's too long ago to remember what it was like without it. You definitely had to have it to play online so everyone playing had the same version but I don't know what it actually patched and if it had to do specifically with online play.

I would love to get some online play going but there are some issues. Ever since Sierra shut down the WON servers the only way to do it has been over the IPX protocol. IPX was something Microsoft took out of Windows after XP. The most popular way to play online after that was with a program called Kali either on XP or on an XP VM.

There is alternative IPX wrapper you can install into Windows 7/8/10. It’s not too dissimilar to the graphics fix recently discovered in that it's something somebody made for old games not specifically for PGA 2000. I experimented with this with a couple friends about 4 years ago and we were able to get two person matches to work with me on Windows 7 or 8 and them on Windows 10. We could never get a threesome or foursome to work without issues though. Maybe something's changed with it since then. I don't remember the steps we took to get it to work anymore.

If I wasn't so busy right now I'd look into it. If others can figure it out I'm up for playing some rounds. I just don't have time to figure it out myself right now unfortunately.

[Viper]

Taken from the readme appears changes are all online related.
Be interesting to know if not using the patch makes the game any more stable on Win 10. Apart from occasional stability issues, it's flawless on Win 10 now.

I. What the Patch fixes/adds
-----------------------
Multiplayer Games:
- Authentication expiration problem, causing the player to have to log out and then back in to see other players in the rooms
- When server connection is lost, choosing "Yes" when asked to continue to play offline wouldn't work
- When server connection is lost, choosing "No" when asked to continue to play offline ends the game and displays login screen
- Host player pressing spacebar while chatting and waiting to begin a game no longer starts the game prematurely
- Inappropriate "Invitation declined" messages no longer appear
- Game invitations now include the host player name in the invitation message
- Players are correctly shown in the "Available Players" list now when setting up a local game after having completed an online game
- Observers can now use the in-game chat mechanism to communicate with the players during the round
- Varying text colors for volunteer moderator, full moderator, and Sierra employee account status
- Fixed memory leaks causing intermittent crashes
- Rejoin problems in which the player attempting to join cannot reenter the clubhouse have been fixed
- Fixed intermittent crash in architect that could occur when opening the library catalog

[samhat]

Thanks Viper, this works like a charm! You mentioned you did some hex editing to https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat, and I'm curious to know what changes you made. Are these changes that could be submitted as a PR to narzoul's project?

[Viper]

Thanks Viper, this works like a charm! You mentioned you did some hex editing to https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat, and I'm curious to know what changes you made. Are these changes that could be submitted as a PR to narzoul's project?

Hex changes were made to DXWrap.dll not ddraw.dll. narzoul knows all about them.

ddraw.dll was used/tested in the past but didn't allow PGA menus to display. I have another version I was testing. The current version available from your link now works as well as my test version.

I suggest people try it and use it over DXWrap.dll. Direct link to the page below:

https://github.com/narzoul/DDrawCompat/ ... tag/v0.3.0

Download DDrawCompat-v0.3.0.zip
Extract ddraw.dll to your PGA Bin folder.

I found this current version ddraw.dll and my test version eliminate game crashes that occurred with DXWrap.dll
You may find information text does not disappear from screen. eg when you hover over a club and the text gives the distance of that club.
I found to easily remove the text from screen just right click on the screen to bring up the Distance/Elevation/Terrain box in PGA 2000.
Use the box as an eraser by wiping over stuck text and it will remove the text that did not disappear.
In practice it's a quick and simple task. If anyone comes up with a better solution please post but this has worked fine for me.

Apart from this the ddraw.dll now works incredibly well and is likely going to be the preferred choice for running PGA 2000.

Feedback from others certainly welcomed!
If I can get another couple of people confirming how well it works I'll adjust the opening post in this thread to point people to the ddraw.dll over DXWrap.dll

Things are looking very good for the game.

[DC#1]

I have a question Viper. is the difference between them to just fix game crashes or is there something else?

[Viper]

I have a question Viper. is the difference between them to just fix game crashes or is there something else?

If you have no issues with crashes you can use DXWrap.dll no probs.
Either one can be used depending on which works best on your particular system.
I found DXWrap.dll gives me game crashes.

[DC#1]

I've had 1 crash since I installed the fix. How many crashes are we talking about?