doSystemMemory didn't make much difference at all. But thanks for the effort.

I changed DXDraw.doWaitVBlank (it was the nearest thing I could find) and hey presto straight back up to 60fps. So that is all fantastic., if anyone could explain what thats all about that would be great.

I can accept that DelphiX is outdated, but it's so darn easy to use. I'm do this as a hobby not a career so something that lets me produce poor-ish results sooner, rather than fantastic results after a huge steep learning curve is going to be a winner for me. Don't get me wrong, using the Delphi SDL libraries is on my todo list, but game code using those libraries looks exactly like C++ code, just in Pascal whereas DelphiX code looks like a delphi app.

Surely your not telling me that there is no way of creating high resolution games with prerendered sprites without resorting to 3D? What about games like Diablo?

Anywayz, thanks alot for your help, I really appreciate it. Now you've sorted my problem out and I can get back to having fun, and if you can point me at some good non-delphiX tutorials (maybe some with a little 2D in there to keep me sweet) I'll be sure to have a go.

Cheers

BK