Direct3D 9 issues when running certain games on Windows 11

[David Cryer]

Hello,

 

I've been playing Civ 4 for a few weeks on a VMware Fusion Windows 11 VM, but since Thursday 24th April both Civ 4 and Medieval 2 Total War will not launch. From the former I got a crash dump detailing a 0xc000001d "Illegal Instruction" exception in the d3d9.dll module when running the d3d9!cd3dhal::setrenderstate_fp function.

 

Since then I've created a fresh windows 11 VM, installed VMware Tools, Steam and Civ 4 and get the same error, so something appears to be wrong with the handling between macOS and the VM.

 

Any help would be appreciated, although I'm understand that people playing old games in VMs isn't a big money maker ;-)

 

Edit: It could be related to the new Sequoia 15.4.1 macOS update

Thanks

[Technogeezer]

Did something happen just before 24 April other than a macOS update? Any Windows updates?

What Fusion version are you running?

Which Windows 11 build are you using? There are reports of similar issues with the d3d9.dll reported in other Windows-centric forums when using the Canary builds. Those reports are pointing the finger at Nvidia drivers, but Microsoft hasn't responded yet whether that's really an Nvidia driver incompatibility or a bug that they have introduced (which might impact more than Nvidia devices).There are also reports that downgrading the dll can be a workaround to the problem.

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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[David Cryer]

Hi Paul, thanks very much for getting back to me.

I'm running on a Nov 2024 M4 Macbook Pro. Here are installation details for mac, Windows, Fusion, nothing else except the macOS update was installed on 24/04/2025

macOS: 15.4.1

Installed on: 24/04/2025, 09:38

Windows 11 Home: 24H2, 26100.3775

Installed on: 09/‎04/‎2025

VMware Fusion: Professional Version 13.6.3 (24585314)

[Kyle Liu]

I'm having the exact same problem with the Steam game NOBUNAGAS_AMBITION_Souzou_SengokuRisshiden, everything was fine until April 24, after that the game crashes on startup.

<EventData>
  <Data Name="AppName">NOBU14SR_TC.exe</Data> 
  <Data Name="AppVersion">1.0.8.2</Data> 
  <Data Name="AppTimeStamp">57ea3485</Data> 
  <Data Name="ModuleName">d3d9.dll</Data> 
  <Data Name="ModuleVersion">10.0.22621.5262</Data> 
  <Data Name="ModuleTimeStamp">8b507e03</Data> 
  <Data Name="ExceptionCode">c000001d</Data> 
  <Data Name="FaultingOffset">00070ad0</Data> 
  <Data Name="ProcessId">0x1168</Data> 
  <Data Name="ProcessCreationTime">0x1dbb74062579c94</Data> 
  <Data Name="AppPath">C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\NOBUNAGAS_AMBITION_Souzou_SengokuRisshiden\NOBU14SR_TC.exe</Data> 
  <Data Name="ModulePath">C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\d3d9.dll</Data> 
  <Data Name="IntegratorReportId">7a69264f-0aea-43c0-9ee2-2758710a7935</Data> 
  <Data Name="PackageFullName" /> 
  <Data Name="PackageRelativeAppId" /> 
</EventData>

I've tried creating a new VM w/ clean Win11, reinstalling steam and the game, but nothing helps.

I'm sure it has nothing to do with the macOS update either, I updated the macOS on April 19th and everything worked fine until the 24th.

MacBook Pro 16-inch, 2023, M2 Pro

MacOS 15.4.1 (24E263)

Windows 11 Home 23H2 (22631.5189)

VMware Fusion Professional Version 13.6.3 (24585314)

[Technogeezer]

What VMware Tools version are installed in the VMs? If it's 12.4.5, you might want to try updating VMware Tools  to 12.5.1. That's the latest version and has an updated video driver . It's found on the Broadcom support site on the free downloads page: https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/free-downloads 

It's possible that this is a bug with the VMware video driver. But It is strange that we have a report of everything working with macOS 15.4.1 and both reports have the games failing to work on 24-April.  Could something have changed on the Steam side? 

It's also interesting that both are reported on the same April "patch Tuesday" monthly updates for 24H2 and 23H2. 

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- Paul (technogeezer)
vExpert 2025
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[Kyle Liu]

Thanks.

I fixed this problem by deleting C:\Windows\SyChpe32\d3d9.dll.

I'm not a Windows expert, but my understanding is that in Windows, DLL files for different architectures are stored in the System32, SysWOW64, SyChpe32, and SysArm32 directories.

For the Windows 11 ARM64 version:

• System32 is used to store native ARM64 DLL files.

• SysArm32 is used to store 32-bit ARMv7 DLL files.

• SysWOW64 is used to store 32-bit x86 DLL files, providing support for running 32-bit x86 applications through emulation.

• SyChpe32 is used to store pre-optimized 32-bit x86 DLL files (in CHPE format) for faster emulation.

We play very old games (32-bit x86), which rely on the SyChpe32 and SysWOW64 directories on Windows 11 ARM64. When the game tries to load d3d9.dll, it first checks SyChpe32. If it finds the DLL there, it loads it; if not, it falls back to loading it from SysWOW64.

Although I still don't know exactly why the d3d9.dll file in SyChpe32 was not working properly, removing it and allowing the program to use the one from SysWOW64 works. Since these are old games, the performance impact of doing so should be acceptable.

[David Cryer]

My VMware Tools version is 12.5.0.51152

I did what Kyle Liu suggested, removing the /Windows/SyChpe32/d3d9.dll file, and it appears to work fine running aforementioned games.

Thanks to both of you for your help!