UPDATED NOV 15, 2023 - Increasing game resolution solved!
UPDATED NOV 17, 2023 - Added DXWnd start-on-boot settings, added GTR2 (Steam) DXWnd hook settings.
UPDATED NOV 22, 2023 - GT Legends (Steam) DXWnd hook settings added
Race 07 is an absolutely ancient game, having been released on October 7th, 2007 - less than a year after Windows Vista became publicly available. One persistent issue SimBin games like Race 07 among others have, is ignoring the Windowed Mode checkbox in its own configuration menu.
My hypothesis has something to do with gMotor, the game engine these games are developed on, overwriting existing settings due to a bug or oversight of some kind. Using traditional methods of forcing windowed mode never seem to work. adding "-window" to the Target command line in the desktop shortcut menu or to Steam launch commands won't work. Running the configuration menu won't work. Even setting the Config.ini to read-only won't work. I think this is because gMotor is just replacing the Config file with its own each time it's booted for some reason, and won't stop doing this. I'm not exactly sure why it happens, it just seems to be the case.
BUT NEVER FEAR, FOR I HAVE FOUND THE FUCKING SOLUTION! If you're anything like me, you just want Race 07 and other SimBin titles to work in windowed mode so you can pause your game at any time and do something else in another window without the game crashing. Here's your solution!
Step One: DXWND
- Download DXWND on the Sourceforge website.
- Unzip the downloaded package. Make sure to extract it into its own folder or else all the contents will be loose in the folder you extracted it into.
- Go to the newly extracted folder and launch dxwnd.exe
Step Two: Injecting Race 07
- With dxwnd.exe launched, click on the "Edit" menu and select the "Add" option from the dropdown.
- Under "Name," type Race 07 or whichever gMotor game you're trying to run.
- Under "Path," click the three dots next to the text bar and navigate to the executable you are trying to run. For Race 07, this is "Race_Steam.exe" in the Steam directory for the game.
Step Three: Injection Properties
These are the settings that work for me and my system. Hopefully it works for you.
- Right-click the Race 07 icon (or whichever SimBin game you're modifying) in the DXWND window and click "Modify"
- In the Main tab, check the "Do not notify on task switch" checkbox
- Check the "Run in Window" checkbox
- All other settings under the Generic section should remain unchecked.
- Under Position, type in your preferred resolution. You may need to make this lower than your native resolution if your taskbar is permanently on screen. For my 2560x1440 monitor, I use "W: 2400" "H: 1350" and "Y: 40"
- In the Video tab in the Window Handling section, check the "Prevent Win Maximize" and "Force win resize" checkboxes. Uncheck the other checkboxes in this section.
- Under the Screen Resolution section, check "Initial resolution" and type in the resolution you entered under the Main tab.
- Select the aspect ratio you are running the window in. For me, it's "HD (16:9)"
- Click OK
Step Four: Launch the game
You should now launch the game from DXWND by double clicking the new icon for the game you added to the window. Now the game should behave as expected, allowing you to put the window into the background without it minimizing and potentially crashing.
You can also click the File menu and click "Move to Tray" to have it run in the background, and automatically hook to Race 07 whether you boot the game from a desktop shortcut, from a Steam shortcut or from Steam itself. You can also add DXWND to the startup list to automatically start it when you boot up Windows by pressing Windows Key + R, then typing "shell:startup" and dragging a shortcut for DXWND.exe into the explorer window that pops up, so you don't have to worry about remembering to open DXWND before running Race 07 either.
UPDATE: INCREASING GAME RESOLUTION
- Run the configuration menu for Race 07 or whichever SimBin gMotor game you're trying to run. In Steam, you can click "Play," select "Video and Language Options" from the menu pop-up and click "Play."
- Select a higher resolution that has the same aspect ratio you're running the window in under DXWND settings. so if you're running the game in a 16:9 ratio under DXWND settings, select a 16:9 resolution that is higher than the resolution currently selected in the configuration window.
- Click OK
UPDATE: Running DXWnd in the desktop tray on boot
- In the Options menu of DXWnd, click "Extended mode." This will enable much more intricate settings in both the hook modification menu and the general operations menu.
- Back in the Options menu again, click "Startup Settings"
- Check "Start in system tray" and "Run at startup"
UPDATE: Using DXWnd to force GTR2 into windowed mode
- Follow the same procedure used for Race 07, except using the GTR2.exe in the game's install path.
- ONE ADDITIONAL SETTING: In the Video tab for GTR2's inject settings, toggle "Z Order" to "Unlock"
- Go to DXWnd's install path, right click it and click Properties
- Under the "Compatibility" tab, check the "Run as Administrator" checkbox
UPDATE: Using DXWnd to force GT Legends into windowed mode
- Follow the same procedure used for Race 07, except using the GTL.exe in the game's install path.
- MAIN: Check "Do not notify on task switch," "Run in window," "Keep aspect ratio." All others unchecked. Type desired resolution in "initial position and size."
- VIDEO: Check "Force win resize" and "refresh on win resize." All other Window Handling checkboxes unchecked. Select "unlock" in Z order. Select desired aspect ratio, check "initial resolution" and input the same resolution you entered in the MAIN tab.
- DIRECTX: In GTL video config menu, select DirectX 9. In DXWnd's DirectX tab, select DirectX9 under "version hook."
- MOUSE: Check "Correct mouse position," "Position message processing" and "Fix mouse RawInput" if the mouse seems to be out of position with menu interactions.
Hopefully this has worked as expected, but if not, uh, idk lol. I don't know much about DXWND, I just know it worked for me. You may need to fuck around with DXWND settings a bit to find something that works for you but hopefully this tutorial is all you need.
Added some key updates to make DXWnd work for more games, including a confirmed method to inject DXWnd into Simbin's legendary sim, GTR2. Also included steps to easily make DXWnd run on system boot and automatically start in the system tray.



