this is the line that's being called my_sprite.lpDDS = my_sprite.lpCD->GetDDrawSurface(); but pretty much my_sprite.lpCD->GetDDrawSurface() is the error this is the function in a public section of a class LPDIRECTDRAWSURFACE7 GetDDrawSurface() { return m_pdds; } m_pdds is a private directdraw object in the class CSurface and i'm trying to use it in the class CDisplay. Maybe I'm doing this incorrectly, advice is greatly appreciated.

If you're getting a memory access violation running that then lpCD must not be pointing at a valid CSurface object.

Thx. I called the function to create it but forgot to put a check if it failed or not. When I did this I found out that it was failing. That solved that problem so off I go to the drawing boards to figure out why it's failing. Thx again.