Can I have these in the WinMain function: LPDIRECT3D9 d3d = 0; LPDIRECT3DDEVICE9 device = 0; LPDIRECT3DTEXTURE9 image = 0; LPD3DXSPRITE sprite = 0; LPD3DXFONT font = 0; OR should they be global? In my code, I have them declared in the beginning of winmain, while the places where they are being used are in 3 different functions, which all get called from the winmain function.. if( !initialize( hwndMain, ..., d3d, device, image, sprite, hr ) ){...} if( !draw( ..., drawimage, device, image, sprite, hr ) ){...} release( d3d, device, image, sprite );