Getting Started Prerequisites

April 5, 2026 at 5:50 PM Edit on GitHub

Prerequisites

Current version: 1.6.0 (defined in Version.h and in CMakeLists.txt project(WinDV VERSION 1.6.0)). v1.6.0 adds DVError.cpp/h (DV error detection) and sha256.c/h (post-capture SHA-256 checksums). These files are included in both the CMake and VC6 builds without requiring any manual configuration.

Compiler

Visual C++ 6.0 (MSVC 6, cl.exe version 12.x). The project files are .dsp / .dsw (Developer Studio Project / Workspace), the native format for VC6. No modern IDEs (Visual Studio 2005 and later) can open these files natively; they require conversion.

MFC

MFC version 6 is included with Visual C++ 6.0. WinDV links MFC as a shared DLL (/MD, /MDd, _AFXDLL define). The MFC 6 redistributable DLLs (MFC42.DLL, MSVCRT.DLL) ship with Windows or the VC6 redistribution package.

DirectShow BaseClasses

The DirectShow BaseClasses are the static library counterpart to the DirectShow runtime. They provide the CBaseFilter, CBaseInputPin, CBaseOutputPin, COutputQueue, and related classes that WinDV’s custom filters inherit from.

Location in a typical Platform SDK installation:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\Samples\Multimedia\DirectShow\BaseClasses\

Build the BaseClasses before building WinDV:

  1. Open BaseClasses\baseclasses.dsw in VC6.
  2. Build both Release and Debug configurations.

This produces:

  • BaseClasses\Release\strmbase.lib
  • BaseClasses\Debug\strmbasd.lib

Windows / Platform SDK

The WinDV .dsp file hard-codes include and library paths to:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\Include\
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\Lib\
C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\Samples\Multimedia\DirectShow\BaseClasses\Release\

If your SDK is installed elsewhere, see SDK path adjustment.

Linked Libraries and Their Purposes

Library Configuration Purpose
strmbase.lib Release DirectShow BaseClasses (CBaseFilter, etc.)
strmbasd.lib Debug DirectShow BaseClasses (debug build)
quartz.lib Both DirectShow runtime (IGraphBuilder, etc.)
winmm.lib Both Windows multimedia (used internally by DirectShow)
ole32.lib Both COM (CoInitializeEx, CoCreateInstance, IUnknown)
olepro32.lib Both OLE automation support
oleaut32.lib Both OLE automation (VARIANT, BSTR, SysFreeString)
uuid.lib Both CLSID / IID GUIDs for all COM interfaces
advapi32.lib Both Registry API (RegOpenKey, etc. via MFC wrappers)
version.lib Both Version resource API
largeint.lib Both 64-bit integer helpers (REFERENCE_TIME arithmetic)
comctl32.lib Both Windows Common Controls (tab control, list box)
kernel32.lib Both Core Win32 (threads, memory, files)
user32.lib Both Window management, messages, timers
gdi32.lib Both GDI drawing functions
msvcrt.lib Release C runtime (Release)
msvcrtd.lib Debug C runtime (Debug)

largeint.lib provides 64-bit integer helper routines needed on platforms where the compiler does not natively support 64-bit arithmetic. VC6 targeting Windows 98/NT uses this for REFERENCE_TIME (which is __int64, 100-nanosecond units).

Compiler Flags Reference

Flag Build Meaning
/MD Release Link MFC and C runtime as shared DLL
/MDd Debug Link MFC and C runtime as shared DLL (debug)
/W3 Both Warning level 3
/GX Both Enable C++ exceptions (/EHsc in modern MSVC)
/O2 Release Optimise for speed
/ZI Debug Edit-and-continue debug information
/Od Debug Disable optimisation
_WIN32_DCOM Both Enable DCOM-extended COM initialisation
_AFXDLL Both Link MFC as shared DLL (set implicitly by /MD)
_MBCS Both Multi-byte character set (ANSI, not Unicode)
WIN32 Both Standard Win32 define
NDEBUG Release Disable assertions
_DEBUG Debug Enable assertions and debug heap

Proven Build Environment

The VC6 configuration below has been verified to produce a working WinDV.exe (Release and Debug) with all features through v1.6.0. For CMake builds with MSVC 2017 or 2022, no special environment is needed beyond the standard Visual Studio C++ desktop workload.

Component Version / Source
Host OS Windows XP (VM)
Compiler Visual C++ 6.0 (MSVC 12.x)
DirectX SDK DirectX 8.1 SDK (archived at archive.org)
BaseClasses Bundled with the DirectX 8.1 SDK

Why DirectX 8.1 Specifically

The DirectShow BaseClasses supplied with the DirectX 8.1 SDK are the latest version that ships pre-built VC6-compatible object files and headers. They use DWORD, LONG, and int exclusively – types that are the same width in both 32-bit and 64-bit contexts.

Later SDKs introduced DWORD_PTR and LONG_PTR as pointer-sized integers. These expand to 64-bit types when compiled for a 64-bit target, but VC6 does not recognise them and will emit C2065 (undeclared identifier) or C2146 (syntax error) across dozens of BaseClasses headers.

SDKs Confirmed Incompatible with VC6

SDK Reason incompatible
DirectX 9.0+ SDK (any version) BaseClasses use DWORD_PTR, LONG_PTR
Windows SDK 7.1 BaseClasses Same DWORD_PTR/LONG_PTR issue
DirectX June 2010 SDK Extras Same DWORD_PTR/LONG_PTR issue

Note: If you must use a later SDK for other reasons, you may be able to substitute the BaseClasses source from the DirectX 8.1 SDK into the later SDK’s directory tree. However, mixing SDK headers and BaseClasses from different SDK generations is not tested and may introduce subtle ABI mismatches.

Recommended Procedure

  1. Install Visual C++ 6.0 on a Windows XP host (physical or VM).
  2. Obtain the DirectX 8.1 SDK from a trusted archive (e.g. the Internet Archive).
  3. Install the DirectX 8.1 SDK; note the installation path.
  4. Build the BaseClasses from <DX81SDK>\Samples\Multimedia\DirectShow\BaseClasses\ for both Release and Debug.
  5. Update the WinDV .dsp include and library paths to point at the DirectX 8.1 SDK installation if it differs from C:\Program Files\Microsoft SDK\.
  6. Build WinDV.