GoKawiilvbesvga.drv and vddvbe.386
Modern Generic SVGA driver for Windows 3.1 (with decent Windows 9x support)
This is a rewrite of the Windows 3.1 SVGA driver, designed to support ALL available 8-bit, 16-bit, 24-bit or 32-bit graphic modes on any system providing the VESA BIOS Extensions (hence the VBE in the name). It is based on the Video 7 SVGA driver included in the Win16 Driver Development Kit, with most of the hardware-specific code gutted out, and with support added for multi-byte pixels.
Issue Templates
Issue templates were added to this repository in November 2025. Please use them when reporting bugs! By "use them", I mean "fill out the answers to the questions in the given format", not "select them and replace the content with your own freeform text". The questions are there for a reason, and if you don't provide all the information then I won't be able to figure out what's going on on your system. I know most of the currently-open issues don't follow these formats, but that's only because they predate the creation of the templates. The templates were written based on my experience of debugging all the previous issues, and reflect questions that I would otherwise need to ask anyway.
Why on Earth did I make such a thing?
To demonstrate that it's possible to run Windows 3.1 in True-Colour Full HD
Because my AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT doesn't support 256-colour modes, rendering the old VESA Patch useless for me
To help out any fellow enthusiasts who like running old software on new hardware!
Screenshots
... continue reading