   2D in Directx 9
  I've been away from directx since version 8 and im coming back into it with verison 9. with 8 i had a csprite and clayer class that worked great. I thought i could just import my classes into a version 9, i had to change two functions, and now i go from 190 fps to 2!!!Ive been reading and i notice that in 9 everyone is using LPD3DXSPRITE, could anyone give me a link or doc to read that would catch me up on how to make a sprite class using directx 9. like i said, i used directx 8 and my sprites just used LPDIRECT3DSURFACE8's to hold bitmaps and was pretty simple. i don't want to fall back to 8. but i have no books on 9 and could really use some help. i just wanna make a rpg 2d game... thanxsP.S. any extra info anybody might need, just reply and ill post it!!!!!!   
  There's a pile of good resources here.   ;  Thank u, that helps alot, but what about my layers. i was using surfaces for my background too. What is the best way to render background images: maps, buildings, dungeon, etc.   ;  I personally still use surfaces for my backgrounds, but use LPDIRECT3DTEXTURE and sprites for anything in the foreground. Like my main backdrop for my menu would be a surface, and once you got in game, that surface was destroyed and my game's backdrop was put in play. Then all my game objects or other devices were textured sprites.   ;  so do i just need to change LPDIRECT3DSURFACE9 variables to LPDIRECT3DTEXTURE variables then in my layer class?   ;  Right, that's what I went with.. And remember textures are loaded just a teensy bit differently than surfaces. They use D3DXCreateTextureFromFileEx() instead of creating an offscreen plain surface and the LoadSurfaceFromFile() functions.. Again, at least they do in my particular case. :)   ;  Thanx man, when i get home from work, ill definitly check it out. i was thinking of just switching my sdk back to 8 for this 2d game. would that be a bad idea???   ;  Don't fix what ain't broken! Then again, from what I understand, a lot of people like the 2D fixes in DX 9. I've never used DX 8 so I don't know, it's just what I've heard. *shrugs*   ;  hey, i just reveret my code back to sdk 8 and since directx is backwards compatible, everything is great!!!! yesterday i was able to get it up and running fine. i already have a character running around a world map!!!!   ;  was wondering about the types of grahics i can use for surfaces. ive been using windows paint "ha ha, i know", i have a friend whos an arts major and has photoshop, what parameters if any do i need to change so i can use 32 bit bitmaps?   