Use a function like this:

char* ddReturn(HRESULT error)
{
switch(error)
{
case DD_OK:
return "No error.\0";
case DDERR_ALREADYINITIALIZED:
return "This object is already initialized.\0";
case DDERR_BLTFASTCANTCLIP:
return "Return if a clipper object is attached to the source surface passed into a BltFast call.\0";
case DDERR_CANNOTATTACHSURFACE:
return "This surface can not be attached to the requested surface.\0";
case DDERR_CANNOTDETACHSURFACE:
return "This surface can not be detached from the requested surface.\0";
case DDERR_CANTCREATEDC:
return "Windows can not create any more DCs.\0";
case DDERR_CANTDUPLICATE:
return "Can''t duplicate primary & 3D surfaces, or surfaces that are implicitly created.\0";
case DDERR_CANTLOCKSURFACE :
return "Access to this surface is refused because an attempt was made to lock the primary surface without DCI support. \0";
case DDERR_CANTPAGELOCK :
return "An attempt to page-lock a surface failed. Page lock does not work on a display-memory surface or an emulated primary surface. \0";
case DDERR_CANTPAGEUNLOCK :
return "An attempt to page-unlock a surface failed. Page unlock does not work on a display-memory surface or an emulated primary surface. \0";
case DDERR_CLIPPERISUSINGHWND:
return "An attempt was made to set a cliplist for a clipper object that is already monitoring an hwnd.\0";
case DDERR_COLORKEYNOTSET:
return "No src color key specified for this operation.\0";
case DDERR_CURRENTLYNOTAVAIL:
return "Support is currently not available.\0";
case DDERR_DEVICEDOESNTOWNSURFACE :
return "Surfaces created by one DirectDraw device cannot be used directly by another DirectDraw device.\0";
case DDERR_DIRECTDRAWALREADYCREATED :
return "A DirectDraw object representing this driver has already been created for this process.\0";
case DDERR_EXCEPTION:
return "An exception was encountered while performing the requested operation.\0";
case DDERR_EXCLUSIVEMODEALREADYSET:
return "An attempt was made to set the cooperative level when it was already set to exclusive.\0";
case DDERR_EXPIRED :
return "The data has expired and is therefore no longer valid.\0";
case DDERR_GENERIC:
return "Generic failure.\0";
case DDERR_HEIGHTALIGN:
return "Height of rectangle provided is not a multiple of reqd alignment.\0";
case DDERR_HWNDALREADYSET:
return "The CooperativeLevel HWND has already been set. It can not be reset while the process has surfaces or palettes created.\0";
case DDERR_HWNDSUBCLASSED:
return "HWND used by DirectDraw CooperativeLevel has been subclassed, this prevents DirectDraw from restoring state.\0";
case DDERR_IMPLICITLYCREATED:
return "This surface can not be restored because it is an implicitly created surface.\0";
case DDERR_INCOMPATIBLEPRIMARY:
return "Unable to match primary surface creation request with existing primary surface.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDCAPS:
return "One or more of the caps bits passed to the callback are incorrect.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDCLIPLIST:
return "DirectDraw does not support the provided cliplist.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDDIRECTDRAWGUID:
return "The GUID passed to DirectDrawCreate is not a valid DirectDraw driver identifier.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDMODE:
return "DirectDraw does not support the requested mode.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDOBJECT:
return "DirectDraw received a pointer that was an invalid DIRECTDRAW object.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDPARAMS:
return "One or more of the parameters passed to the function are incorrect.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDPIXELFORMAT:
return "The pixel format was invalid as specified.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDPOSITION:
return "Returned when the position of the overlay on the destination is no longer legal for that destination.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDRECT:
return "Rectangle provided was invalid.\0";
case DDERR_INVALIDSTREAM :
return "The specified stream contains invalid data. \0";
case DDERR_INVALIDSURFACETYPE :
return "The requested operation could not be performed because the surface was of the wrong type.\0";
case DDERR_LOCKEDSURFACES:
return "Operation could not be carried out because one or more surfaces are locked.\0";
case DDERR_MOREDATA :
return "There is more data available than the specified buffer size can hold.\0";
case DDERR_NO3D:
return "There is no 3D present.\0";
case DDERR_NOALPHAHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no alpha accleration hardware present or available.\0";
case DDERR_NOBLTHW:
return "No blitter hardware present.\0";
case DDERR_NOCLIPLIST:
return "No cliplist available.\0";
case DDERR_NOCLIPPERATTACHED:
return "No clipper object attached to surface object.\0";
case DDERR_NOCOLORCONVHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no color conversion hardware present or available.\0";
case DDERR_NOCOLORKEY:
return "Surface doesn''t currently have a color key\0";
case DDERR_NOCOLORKEYHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no hardware support of the destination color key.\0";
case DDERR_NOCOOPERATIVELEVELSET:
return "Create function called without DirectDraw object method SetCooperativeLevel being called.\0";
case DDERR_NODC:
return "No DC was ever created for this surface.\0";
case DDERR_NODDROPSHW:
return "No DirectDraw ROP hardware.\0";
case DDERR_NODIRECTDRAWHW:
return "A hardware-only DirectDraw object creation was attempted but the driver did not support any hardware.\0";
case DDERR_NOEMULATION:
return "Software emulation not available.\0";
case DDERR_NOEXCLUSIVEMODE:
return "Operation requires the application to have exclusive mode but the application does not have exclusive mode.\0";
case DDERR_NOFLIPHW:
return "Flipping visible surfaces is not supported.\0";
case DDERR_NOFOCUSWINDOW :
return "An attempt was made to create or set a device window without first setting the focus window.\0";
case DDERR_NOGDI:
return "There is no GDI present.\0";
case DDERR_NOHWND:
return "Clipper notification requires an HWND or no HWND has previously been set as the CooperativeLevel HWND.\0";
case DDERR_NOMIPMAPHW :
return "No mipmap-capable texture mapping hardware is present or available. \0";
case DDERR_NOMIRRORHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no hardware present or available.\0";
case DDERR_NONONLOCALVIDMEM :
return "An attempt was made to allocate nonlocal video memory from a device that does not support nonlocal video memory. \0";
case DDERR_NOOPTIMIZEHW :
return "The device does not support optimized surfaces. \0";
case DDERR_NOOVERLAYDEST:
return "Returned when GetOverlayPosition is called on an overlay that UpdateOverlay has never been called on to establish a destination.\0";
case DDERR_NOOVERLAYHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no overlay hardware present or available.\0";
case DDERR_NOPALETTEATTACHED:
return "No palette object attached to this surface.\0";
case DDERR_NOPALETTEHW:
return "No hardware support for 16 or 256 color palettes.\0";
case DDERR_NORASTEROPHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no appropriate raster op hardware present or available.\0";
case DDERR_NOROTATIONHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no rotation hardware present or available.\0";
case DDERR_NOSTEREOHARDWARE :
return "No stereo hardware is present or available.\0";
case DDERR_NOSTRETCHHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no hardware support for stretching.\0";
case DDERR_NOSURFACELEFT :
return "No hardware is present that supports stereo surfaces. \0";
case DDERR_NOT4BITCOLOR:
return "DirectDrawSurface is not in 4 bit color palette and the requested operation requires 4 bit color palette.\0";
case DDERR_NOT4BITCOLORINDEX:
return "DirectDrawSurface is not in 4 bit color index palette and the requested operation requires 4 bit color index palette.\0";
case DDERR_NOT8BITCOLOR:
return "DirectDrawSurface is not in 8 bit color mode and the requested operation requires 8 bit color.\0";
case DDERR_NOTAOVERLAYSURFACE:
return "Returned when an overlay member is called for a non-overlay surface.\0";
case DDERR_NOTEXTUREHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no texture mapping hardware present or available.\0";
case DDERR_NOTFLIPPABLE:
return "An attempt has been made to flip a surface that is not flippable.\0";
case DDERR_NOTFOUND:
return "Requested item was not found.\0";
case DDERR_NOTLOCKED:
return "Surface was not locked. An attempt to unlock a surface that was not locked at all, or by this process, has been attempted.\0";
case DDERR_NOTPAGELOCKED :
return "An attempt was made to page-unlock a surface with no outstanding page locks. \0";
case DDERR_NOTPALETTIZED:
return "The surface being used is not a palette-based surface.\0";
case DDERR_NOVSYNCHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no hardware support for vertical blank synchronized operations.\0";
case DDERR_NOZBUFFERHW:
return "Operation could not be carried out because there is no hardware support for zbuffer blitting.\0";
case DDERR_NOZOVERLAYHW:
return "Overlay surfaces could not be z layered based on their BltOrder because the hardware does not support z layering of overlays.\0";
case DDERR_OUTOFCAPS:
return "The hardware needed for the requested operation has already been allocated.\0";
case DDERR_OUTOFMEMORY:
return "DirectDraw does not have enough memory to perform the operation.\0";
case DDERR_OUTOFVIDEOMEMORY:
return "DirectDraw does not have enough memory to perform the operation.\0";
case DDERR_OVERLAPPINGRECTS :
return "The source and destination rectangles are on the same surface and overlap each other. \0";
case DDERR_OVERLAYCANTCLIP:
return "The hardware does not support clipped overlays.\0";
case DDERR_OVERLAYCOLORKEYONLYONEACTIVE:
return "Can only have ony color key active at one time for overlays.\0";
case DDERR_OVERLAYNOTVISIBLE:
return "Returned when GetOverlayPosition is called on a hidden overlay.\0";
case DDERR_PALETTEBUSY:
return "Access to this palette is being refused because the palette is already locked by another thread.\0";
case DDERR_PRIMARYSURFACEALREADYEXISTS:
return "This process already has created a primary surface.\0";
case DDERR_REGIONTOOSMALL:
return "Region passed to Clipper::GetClipList is too small.\0";
case DDERR_SURFACEALREADYATTACHED:
return "This surface is already attached to the surface it is being attached to.\0";
case DDERR_SURFACEALREADYDEPENDENT:
return "This surface is already a dependency of the surface it is being made a dependency of.\0";
case DDERR_SURFACEBUSY:
return "Access to this surface is being refused because the surface is already locked by another thread.\0";
case DDERR_SURFACEISOBSCURED:
return "Access to surface refused because the surface is obscured.\0";
case DDERR_SURFACELOST:
return "Access to this surface is being refused because the surface memory is gone. The DirectDrawSurface object representing this surface should have Restore called on it.\0";
case DDERR_SURFACENOTATTACHED:
return "The requested surface is not attached.\0";
case DDERR_TOOBIGHEIGHT:
return "Height requested by DirectDraw is too large.\0";
case DDERR_TOOBIGSIZE:
return "Size requested by DirectDraw is too large, but the individual height and width are OK.\0";
case DDERR_TOOBIGWIDTH:
return "Width requested by DirectDraw is too large.\0";
case DDERR_UNSUPPORTED:
return "Action not supported.\0";
case DDERR_UNSUPPORTEDFORMAT:
return "FOURCC format requested is unsupported by DirectDraw.\0";
case DDERR_UNSUPPORTEDMASK:
return "Bitmask in the pixel format requested is unsupported by DirectDraw.\0";
case DDERR_VERTICALBLANKINPROGRESS:
return "Vertical blank is in progress.\0";
case DDERR_VIDEONOTACTIVE :
return "The video port is not active. \0";
case DDERR_WASSTILLDRAWING:
return "Informs DirectDraw that the previous Blt which is transfering information to or from this Surface is incomplete.\0";
case DDERR_WRONGMODE:
return "This surface can not be restored because it was created in a different mode.\0";
case DDERR_XALIGN:
return "Rectangle provided was not horizontally aligned on required boundary.\0";
default:
return "Unrecognized error value.\0";
}





The Smiling One (: