[Win7] Godot 4.3dev no longer launches (missing d3d12.dll)

[eswartz]

Tested versions

Reproducible in 4.3 dev3 (I can't find/test older versions of 4.3dev, nor build on this laptop)
Works in 4.2.1-stable
Works in 4.2.2rc1

System information

Godot v4.3dev3 - Windows 6.1.7601 - Vulkan (Mobile) - dedicated GeForce GTX 970M () - Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4720HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz (8 Threads)

Issue description

Project list and editor and export templates all fail to launch on Windows 7 due to The program can't start because d3d12.dll is missing from your computer. (etc, you know the dialog).

It appears there is no support for d3d12.dll on Windows 7 (re:. this support answer).

I assume this break in support isn't intentional. I hope dynamic loading or weak linking can make this work (if I didn't miss somewhere any existing compatibility/setup instructions) for the benefit of those of us still entertaining this OS :)

Steps to reproduce

Try to launch any of the Godot editor or export template executables on Windows 7.

Minimal reproduction project (MRP)

n/a

[bruvzg]

This is the result of Direct3D 12 renderer addition, it's unlikely feasible to load it fully dynamically. And since extended security support for Windows 7 support ended in October 2023 and for Windows 8 ended in July 2023 it's probably time to finally drop support for these versions.

[bruvzg]

There is some version of DX12 for Windows 7 SP1 - https://www.nuget.org/packages/Microsoft.Direct3D.D3D12On7, it's unlikely our renderer will work with it, but it might be enough to load the engine.

[Calinou]

Regarding dropping Windows 7 support, see also the discussion in godotengine/godot-proposals#9111. As the System requirements page says, Windows 7 is supported on a best-effort basis so we don't guarantee it'll remain supported in future 4.x versions. We're doing our best to keep supporting it for as long as we reasonably can, but it will have to go away eventually.

In the meantime, you can build the editor from source with the d3d12=no SCons optrion.

[bruvzg]

We do not need to completely remove old code (to allow custom-builds), but switching to Windows 10 a target for official builds is a most reasonable thing.

[eswartz]

Thanks for the tips. I tried the Nuget package and added entries to my PATH but now am missing CreateDXGIFactory2 from dxgi.dll.

I can build Godot from source on Win10 (excluding d3d12 support) later on.

I fully understand the silliness of continuing Win 7 support and am happy 4.2.2rc* still work fine (fortunately it has gdscript fixes I was relying on from 4.3).

[eswartz]

Thanks for resolving this so quickly, I was coming back to post that a build with "d3d12=no" worked just fine for Win7, as expected.

[eswartz]

Confirmed that the merged PR also works properly on Win7.