Jenny100, I am using the original disc versions, but I have only Russian editions of them. However the flickering certainly does not seem to be a localization problem.

Of course, I have tried all the Vsync options, as well as adding the games with different specific settings to nVidia drivers. As I said, nothing worls except the good old 'bFullScreen=0' in config.ini. But the windowed mode is very inconvenient to play. Installing older nVidia drivers used to work for me before, but not now somehow, so I stay with the latest.

In Windows XP there are no such problems, by the way.

That's why I asked about Nvidia default settings.
I've had them change between driver versions, and they don't necessarily change back if you go back to the older drivers.

I have to wonder if it's partially Microsoft's doing -- changing the way DirectX 11 works with DirectX 9 games.

I have tried Steam editions as well (some games have them, not all) - the problem is present there, as many users complain.
And I have tried different nVidia settings of course.

OK, I was able to fix the nVidia flickering in 'Nostradamus' and 'Return to Mysterious Island 2'
It seems that only some versions of these games were affected somehow, so I have added or recompiled the games' resources (from Russian disks) to the working English EXE files (from Steam versions, as the Russian Steam versions still have the flickering).

Now, the problem remains in "The Secret of Da Vinci", "Treasure Island", "Cleopatra", "Dracula 3" and "Safecracker".
Does anybody per chance have some (international?) versions of these games with no flickering?

In all of these games I experience the flickering problem, unfortunately.

Well, I have found some kind of a solution for that flickering problem. The utility is in Russian, but you do not have to read anything if you want to try it: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ygSzipDaNpvDdkeU2jA3RZk3x-ffGcGl/view?usp=sharing

Just put the file in the same folder with the game EXE - and run it (kheopsr.exe).
The screen flickers only once on each new location - it is possible to fix it by opening nVidia control panel and adding a user's resolution of 1040x806. Then it will run almost fine, but without stretching on widescreen monitors.

Maybe somebody would like to try it. It was made for Russian versions of those games, but should work with English ones as well.

OK, the flickering problem is finally solved!

Here is the right utility: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_bTojcH2Yj0d0G9QPqazNVzGsX9DlTIe/view?usp=sharing

Just unrar the files into the directory of any problematic Kheops game - and it could be run with the fullscreen on.

Wow!! It works. I tried it on Safecracker and the flicker is gone. I had to reinstall it, then I ran it and the flicker was there, and after extracting those 3 files to the game folder, I ran it again and the flicker was gone. This is great news. In my opinion, those Kheops games were some of the best adventure games ever made. Return To Mysterious Island 1 & 2 (the first one didn't have the flicker), Nostradamus, Secrets Of DaVinci, Destination Treasure Island were some others that come to mind.

You should announce this in a separate thread to make sure that everybody sees this. There was also threads on Big Fish that discussed this flicker problem. I think that's where the run in a window workaround first surfaced.

Great job, Iurii.

This is great news... I may have to reinstall Path of the Dragon and try it. Thank you, Iruii!

Thanks for testing it for us, Uncle Reg.
Good to know it works on the English version.

I wonder how it works -- what causes the flicker and how the patch gets rid of it.

Thanks from me too, Iurii. These Kheops games are some of my favorites and to have this problem fixed is wonderful!

Jenny100, the last fix, in difference from the first one, has nothing to do with (especially) Russian versions of the games, - it is a universal solution!

As for how it works - as far as I know, the reason for the flicker is the incompatibility of (some) Kheops games with later (in relation to their release dates) versions of DirectX 9.0c. Kheops blamed Microsoft, and Microsoft blamed Kheops, but somehow neither had done anything about it.

And the fix is just an 'alternative' version of DirectX 9 libraries made for Wine project in order to run Windows games in other OSes like Linux or ReactOS. Luckily for us, it works even in Windows proper Thanks to a person from Russian forum who told me it could help!

Nostradamus and Secrets Of Da Vinci are both working perfectly with the fix applied.

Thanks again, Iurii.

Wow! I would never have associated a thread on Dracula 3 with a general solution to flicker in the Kheops games. This is quite a game changer in every way (pun intended), because everything I discussed in the thread on flickering and playing issues in Cleopatra - A Queen's Destiny, is fixed now by Iurii's and this very helpful Russian individual's driver files: flicker, cinematics playback and gameplay. No more black screens! Truly a miracle!

In my case, the errors occurred in the Anuman port offered as a download by FireFlower Games.
Thanks again, Iurii - and Marian for taking me here!

All the best,

Rich

Thanks, Iurii!