Hi... does ZC work with Windows 10?

[mcnakahr]

Hello, I recently came across Zelda Classic as I was trying to find any indie games that were like, well Zelda. I installed the latest version (ZC 2.53.0 LTS) on Windows 10 Pro 1909. When I try to run the game, after an update was applied, it first tries to warn me that Smart Screen is blocking it. I approved it as I already know that is a common issue with even some retail games. The problem is after that screen the game runs but nothing is on screen. It's in the taskbar and when I mouse over it, the window preview shows the game's window to be a white horizontal bar. I've tried waiting to see if it's just lag from loading but after 5 minutes nothing happened. I've even downloaded and tried the beta version 2.55 with no success. *This game did work before I recent Windows update, see Update section.*

My specs:
Windows 10 Pro 1909
AMD FX 8150 8 core processor
8 GB RAM (7.9 usable)
931GB HDD

I've tried using Zelda Classic Launcher but it doesn't fix the issue. Is this game not compatible with Windows 10 or is there something I need to install to get it to work properly?

Update: I fixed the issue. This is something a developer should know but I don't know how to contact them or where to post this. It turns out the latest, as of writing, Windows Updates are to blame. I did install Zelda Classic before updating Windows 10 1909 and it ran before the updates I'm about to mention were applied. KB4533002 Cumulative Update for .NET Framework 3.5 and 4.8 for Windows 10 Version 1909 and KB4530684 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 1909 seem to be the culprits. I'm not sure how those two updates stopped Zelda Classic from running correctly but uninstalling those updates fixes the issue. As Microsoft routinely does major updates which may include the listed KB items it's a good idea for this issue to be fixed otherwise it's hard to say if this game will be playable on future versions of Windows 10.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4533002/kb4533002-cumulative-update-for-net-framework
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4530684/windows-10-update-kb4530684

[Tim]

Personally I only use ZCLauncher to play it Windowed because of how Windows 10 renders its programs in Fullscreen; horribly. The only difference is I'm using nVidia instead of AMD.

[mcnakahr]

That has no barring on the topic. I wasn't trying to run it in full screen mode. Plus those two updates are almost impossible to delay in any version of Windows 10 aside from Pro (or better). With those updates applied it doesn't matter which option you choose or if you use the launcher or not, Zelda Classic simply won't run.

[Tim]

I have these updates installed and it is in fact working.

Are you using Windows Defender or a 3rd party antivirus suite?

[mcnakahr]

Yes but they are not causing the issue. I literally had it installed and it was working before I installed the updates. After the updates the game stopped working. I disabled my antivirus, reinstalled the game, tried the beta version too, and the only thing that fixed it was uninstalling the updates. Maybe the updates affect AMD cards and not nVidia?

[ZoriaRPG]

Yes but they are not causing the issue. I literally had it installed and it was working before I installed the updates. After the updates the game stopped working. I disabled my antivirus, reinstalled the game, tried the beta version too, and the only thing that fixed it was uninstalling the updates. Maybe the updates affect AMD cards and not nVidia?

Did you try enabling DXGL in ZCL, and did this affect the ZQ Editor component?

I purged all on my non-tablet W0 stuff and run exclusively 7, because I quickly tired of MSBS. As such, this is very hard, if not impossible to test against, and my tablets have horrible integrated gfx chipsets tat won't align.

It is possible that DirectX was affected in those updates on your specific hardware.

Looks like KB4530684 Cumulative Update for Windows 10 1909 mucks wit DirectX. Report this as a bu to MS please.

[mcnakahr]

I never saw the option in the launcher, which is the only thing that would run with the update installed. I'll try reporting it to MS but I'm not sure if it will help as I've seen many get generic sfc scan recommendations and fresh install instructions for things that are bugs in their os never acknowledgments that bugs exist. I did notice I had to reinstall directx after the update as the other thing I tried using was an emulator which through an error concerning a d3d file for directx 9 was missing. Maybe reinstalling DirectX after the update will fix the issue? I can try to reinstall the update to see if that fixes the issue.

[ZoriaRPG]

I never saw the option in the launcher, which is the only thing that would run with the update installed. I'll try reporting it to MS but I'm not sure if it will help as I've seen many get generic sfc scan recommendations and fresh install instructions for things that are bugs in their os never acknowledgments that bugs exist. I did notice I had to reinstall directx after the update as the other thing I tried using was an emulator which through an error concerning a d3d file for directx 9 was missing. Maybe reinstalling DirectX after the update will fix the issue? I can try to reinstall the update to see if that fixes the issue.

Please let me know if it does.

[BFeely]

You can also try installing the standalone version of DXGL at https://dxgl.org/downloads/ and add zelda.exe to the DXGL Config utility.

[ZoriaRPG]

We include it in the ZC pkg downloads. I should check for recent updates.


You can also try installing the standalone version of DXGL at https://dxgl.org/downloads/ and add zelda.exe to the DXGL Config utility.