SSF Sega Saturn direct3d9.cpp error on startup :(

[SteveFlash]

Hi. I have been fighting with SSF for a couple days now and I just can not fix this direct3d9.cpp error (screenshot attached). This is the background:

At first install and setup of SSF 12 Beta R4 I was able to play for a couple of hours with no problems. Then seemingly out of nowhere I got the direct3d9.cpp error. From then on out when I started SSF I would get the same error during the emulator start up. I researched it a bit and made sure I had the most up to date DirectX and that all my drivers were updated but nothing fixed it.

I uninstalled and re-installed SSF 12 Beta R4 but still got the error maybe 15 seconds after launch. I then downloaded and installed SSF 12 Beta R3 and it worked! Then a couple hours latter I got the same error and once again every time I started up R4 I would get the error like before. I then installed SSF Beta R2 and it worked, but then again the error happened.

So I can't keep installing an older version. Does anyone have information on know fixes for the Direct3d9.cpp error? It is just driving me crazy and I spent so much time ripping all my old games first.

[SteveFlash]

I wanted to post a follow up since I've had a couple of breakthroughs with this error. I was able to find 2 other people that had similar problems.

1) For some reason SSF was unable to create new files because of a permission problem and never got to create the .ini file. Once I fixed that deleting the SSF.ini file allowed me to use the program like the first time I installed it and before the direct3d9.cpp error because of this I could resume using the SSF .12 R4 release.

2) So this is crazy but another post I found helped me figure it. What initially seems to causes the direct3d9.cpp error, for me at least, is minimizing the SFF window at anytime. If I minimize the window the error will popup and from then on the error popups during start up. Sounds strange but I was able to replicate it numerous times and then delete the SFF.ini file would take care of it until minimizing the window again.

So I have a fix of sorts for now.

[brolly]

Did you try comparing the SSF.ini files before and after you are getting the error? If deleting the file fixes it I'm guessing something gets written to it at some point that's making the emulator crash, so find the differences and you'll probably be able to figure exactly what's causing it.