Hey, if you have GOOD docs, directX (DX version 7 and below. DX8 is only 3D)
is definately that what you''re looking for.
Displaying BMPs is a snap, and even with 2..3 years old graphics boards
it''s damn fast, even if you draw 100 of them (depending on size, of course :-).
for DDraw is hardware accelerated, if hw supports it.

Yes, if you only have the SDK and its help file, it''s likely you won''t understand
a thing.

Take a look at "www.xgames3d.com", click "tech X files",
and look for "Direct Xtasy". It''s an easy to understand doc by
Andre'' LaMothe, THE game-programming teacher for beginners.

Well, don''t ask why you have to initialize a struct here or there,
and set some values. It''s M$-ware, you don''t need to understand
why, they make everything more complicated than it needs to be,
I know , but (in this case, normally I won''t suggest that!!) why understand,
be happy if it works :-)

I forgot something!

I remember, that many DDraw tutorials start with all that enumerating stuff,
I mean count the available graphics devices, their capabilities, and supported
modes. (I think D Xtasy doesn''t !)

IF THAT CONFUSES YOU, JUST DON''T DO IT !!!

There''s no need to do that, if you chose a resolution like 640x480x16bpp
This one is supported by almost every graphics board, even if it''s several
years old (if you stole your graphics board out of a museum, it may not ;-)
(I think this is with 800x600x16, too. Hope that''s enough for you)
You can directly choose the resolution and bpp, take a look at
the Direct Xtasy code (at www.xgames3d.com).

For creation of the DirectDraw interface just pass NULL as "GUID",
and DD will return an interface to the default graphics device, no enumerating
required.

Many old DX games do that (I think warcraftII, c&c: red alert, ...)


Hope I could convince you to try again DX.

>tried to install allegro
do not give up to early!

Arne