you need at the very minium the primary buffer to be created. if you dont create the primary buffer then you are not showing anything on the screen, you should not be using directdraw7.

As far as I can guess, you may need DDraw to get video info / etc, without actually rendering anything, right? If that''s the point - just create DirectDraw interface (DirectDrawCreate / DirectDrawCreateEx) and use it.

as long as you dont read from the primary buffer (quite slow), your fine. just create the primary buffer (ppl really need to learn to read the docs). also direct access to the primary buffer does not mean tearing. you only get tearing if you update during a screen refresh, and even then only if your update effects the scanlines that are about to be updated. (ie you update scalines that are updated and some that are not). if you only update scalines behind the scanline currently being refreshed, you will NEVER get tearing. this is equivenlent to updating on vsyncs (just more complex since you are doing the per pixel access), since you are keeping your drawing timed to the moniter refresh rate. i am not sure how the realtime updating will be better with no back buffer, please explain. (do realize barring tearing, there are other reasons why you use back buffers like to ensure as you draw, ppl dont see the frame being produced. though you are aware of this i am sure.