So it looks like GameDev won out the flipcode gavedev battle from 8 years ago, eh? Very well. On to my question: I am working on a terrain engine using DirectX 9/10, GAIA, specifically. I've gotten the code to build, after much effort. When I run the code through the debugger, some effects work, other's don't. Water will render, lens flares will not. The return values for the lens flare renders are OK. But...when I run the .exe OUTSIDE the debugger (dev studio 2008), I get my lens flares...why? I already read through http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=502014, so I may not be using the correct debug libs, or I may have to set DirectX to use debug. Is there anything else I might be missing?

Does this have anything to do with the d3d9.dll that was mismatched between XP and Vista with the latest DirectX SDK? I am using D3DX throughout. Anyone?

Apparently if any headers are included in an .fx file, they need to be locatable to the compiler. Extended debugging helped out, so I recommend anyone having similar problems with rogue .fx files to follow the link http://www.gamedev.net/community/forums/topic.asp?topic_id=502014. Why oh why Microsoft decided to include a Vista dll with a XP SDK is beyond me. Good luck.