DirectX Issues - Can Someone Help?

I played 1.0 with an Alienware desktop, windows 7, I-7 microprocessor, 5870 AMD graphics card (I keep the driver current). Windows 7 comes loaded with directx 11. Once in a great while, I would get a directx stopped working message, but most of the time, the game ran just fine.

When I attempt to run the benchmark tool, my system won't run it with directx 11. As I understand it, it's dangerous to change the directx version, and directx 11 is supposed to be backwards compatible. In reading some of the benchmark results posts, I noticed that many were able to run this with directx 11.

Would someone be kind enough to explain my options here. Kind regards.

I believe you will still have to install the directx9c runtime, there is a link for it on the benchmark site. It's not going to hurt your system.

DirectX is not "Backwards Compatible" They install alongside each other. Win7 comes with 11 installed, but not 9, you need to make sure you have the latest runtime, as the N7 Kitty explained.

Your technical understanding of Direct X is wrong. Just because you have a Direct X 11 capable card does not mean that you will always run everything in Direct X 11. Certain software utilizes Direct X 9, actually most applications/programs do. Some utilize Direct X 10 and others Direct X 11. I don't want to confuse you, and its ok. Don't panic, just install this http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl...ils.aspx?id=35 and it should be ok.

Some reasoning as to why you would ever need to update your Direct X...

"The first DirectX® version was released in September 1995 as a software development Kit for Windows® games. It allowed programmers to integrate or create graphic images, sprites, overlays and game elements including sound.The DirectX interface became the standard for programming games for PCs. Video card makers would have to ensure that their cards responded to the DirectX interface correctly by writing video drivers that worked. As with all software the drivers sometimes contained bugs so the system was not perfect.

But technical innovation didn't stop. As new cards came out new capabilities and new issues followed. Eventually video cards could start displaying 3D images with special graphics processing units, and they could display more colors, and they could display higher resolutions. As the hardware evolved and became more powerful DirectX had too evolved .If a game company wants to use the very latest features of the video hardware then they need to use the very latest version of DirectX. That's why many commercial games which often compete in the marketplace by providing the very latest and greatest video require you to run the latest version of DirectX.

Though DirectX is the most popular used API, it is not the only one. OpenGl is a cross platform API, that means it is compatible across all platforms – Windows, Linux or Mac. OpenGl and DirectX are always compared and though DirectX is the dominating the market right now, some people feel that OpenGl is the future of the gaming industry"

from this site http://tech-analyser.blogspot.com/20...e-need-it.html

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Originally Posted by ispano

DirectX is not "Backwards Compatible" They install alongside each other. Win7 comes with 11 installed, but not 9, you need to make sure you have the latest runtime, as the N7 Kitty explained.

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Yeah it does come with direct x 9. He would've had to update Direct X 9 even if he was on XP. There are always updates to direct X, they include a multitude of additions, performance enhancements, hotfixes and updates to be more compatible with newer hardware.

Thanks for all your help with this. I apologize for being so computer illiterate about this.

Just to make sure I understand, I can have multiple versions of directx on my PC? What do you mean by 'directx9c runtime'?

Volt - I'm unable to get to the website with the URL you posted.

Again, my apologies on being so dumb about this. Regards.

Yes you can have multiple, and for the record you very well should have multiple versions on your pc. It's just how Windows PC's are.

try this link instead http://download.microsoft.com/downlo...dxwebsetup.exe

Direct X 9 runtime is just name of the program you would be using from Microsoft to update your Direct X libraries. (the link above)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zzapp

Again, my apologies on being so dumb about this. Regards.

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It's no problem. You came here cuz you needed advice and I don't mind throwing out my geek for anyone that needs it. AND for the record, I'm surprised we don't have more posts like these. Most consumers aren't aware of these technical things. Keep us updated =)

Well, hope I did this right. I tried to run this from your 2nd URL, Volta. It gave me the option to run it, but after I agreed to the license, nothing appeared to happen - it just immediately came back with finished. So I went to the Microsoft website, after googling dxwebsetup.exe, and ran the program. The description is 'The Microsoft DirectX® End-User Runtime provides updates to 9.0c and previous versions of DirectX — the core Windows® technology that drives high-speed multimedia and games on the PC.' Not a big dowload, only 286 KB. Unless you can see where I did something wrong, thanks again for your help.

Edit Note: This seems to have worked. At least I could run the benchmark program. Hopefully, everything else is fine lol

well, once you have downloaded that program, run it, and if any updates are necessary to Direct X for your system, the program will pick that up, and will download/install whats needed to get you current.

I think I'm good to go, at least as far as I can tell lol.

Thanks to everyone for their kind help, and especially you, Volta, for taking the time to walk me thru this.

My pleasure ^-^