FAQ: Windows version

"Your system is reporting that Direct3D8 hardware acceleration is not available".

This means one of two things:

* Your video card does not support Direct3D 8. If your computer is more than 4 years old, this is very likely the case. StepMania can not run without hardware acceleration, so your only option is to buy a new video card (AGP or PCI).

* Your video card does support Direct3D 8, but you have a very old driver installed. You need to obtain an updated video driver from either the PC manufacturer (Dell, Compaq, Gateway, HP) or directly from the graphics card maker (Nvidia, ATI).

"Cannot find Dinput8.dll" appears when launching the game. StepMania reports "Direct3DCreate failed".

You need to download DirectX 8.1 from Microsoft.

The graphics appear blurred on the right and bottom edges. for example, "Stage One" will appear as "Stage O----" (blur).

You probably have a Savage video card and are running StepMania 3.0 final. Please download the latest intermediate version of SM, and the problem should be fixed.

When I run StepMania on Windows Server 2003, I get an error "hardware acceleration isn't available".

D3D hardware acceleration is disabled by default in Windows Server 2003. This web page has instructions on how to re-enable hardware acceleration.

My computer turns off or restarts randomly when I run StepMania. How do I fix this?

This is almost definintely caused by your video driver crashing the system. Update your video driver.

StepMania randomly minimizes while playing.

This is caused by an application running in the background stealing focus. Follow the instructions here to close background apps and try to narrow down the source of the problem.

StepMania freezes for several seconds randomly as I play.

You probably have applications running in the background that are using a lot of system resources. Follow the instructions here to close background apps and try to narrow down the source of the problem.

The arrows graphics have white all around the edges.

Your video driver does not handle some textures correctly. Update your video driver.

When I double-click on a .smzip file to install it, "Windows cannot open this file. Windows needs to know the program that created it."

When your computer says it can't find the program, choose "Select a program." In the window that appears, go to ~/StepMania/Program/smpackage.exe. Check the box that says to always use that program.

What lights hardware does StepMania support?

LightsDriver=parallel works with a parallel port relay board, K74V2. It may be compatible with other boards. For more information about this board: http://www.google.com/search?q=k74v2+parallel+relay