GameMaker Windows Desktop App wouldn't run on my Dell Venue Pro

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I'd been working on my "MistleToe Kiss Me" app using gamemaker by YoYo games. I was targeting Windows 8 and Windows Phone for the end product release. The debug tools in GameMaker are much better for the Windows desktop output target, and I was working my app through its paces on a few various Windows devices I have.

With the form factor of my Dell Venue Pro 8 , the DVP was the perfect device to use the app. Easy to hold the mistletoe over ones head, good display, et al. So I built a Windows Desktop executable using the "Create Application" in GameMaker and copied it out to a number of various machines. I first tested it on my HP 810, and the game worked fine. I then copied the game over to my DVP and gave it a run.

Mistletoe started on the DVP but came up with a blank black screen. I could still hear the sound from my game, but nothing was rendered to the screen. Interestingly enough, the Windows 8 Store version of my game ran fine.

Long and short of it, I got in touch with YoYo support via their website and got the following resolution to the issue. Note YoYo has very good support. They generally get back to you within one business day and will stick with an issue until its resolved. Very impressive.

Gamemaker required DirectX 9 which doesn't ship with the Dell Venue Pro. The fix was to run the DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer - https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=35 . Once I used the DX9 installer, the app ran fine. I'd tried installin DX9 with some other programs but didn't have much success.

I'm also inquiring how you can have a Windows Desktop app built using GameMaker pop a message if DX9 isn't installed. I'll update if I get any answers.

Posted for the SEO godes to consumer and hopefully save someone else some hassles.

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