DirectX 9 and Vista

[Guest]

OK, so after reading the posts in this community, I have seen that many
people need to install DX9 to make their games work in Vista. I have some
questions regarding this:
- Will installing DX9 slow anything down / affect anything?
- Doesn't this cancel out the benifits of the new DirectX/WDDM structure?
- Is there a way to trick games into thinking DX9 is installed when it isn't?

 

[Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]]

- Will installing DX9 slow anything down / affect anything?

- Doesn't this cancel out the benifits of the new DirectX/WDDM structure?

Running DirectSetup will not install any runtime bits onto Windows Vista. It
will install various optional components such as D3DX9. As such, you should
run it during setup. You could also try running the DirectX End-User Runtime
Web Installer http://www.microsoft.com/directx.

If the application requires DirectPlay Voice or Direct3D Retained Mode, it
just won't work on Windows Vista.

- Is there a way to trick games into thinking DX9 is installed when it
isn't?

If there is bad code in the installer that makes dumb version checks, then
you can try running the setup with the "Compatabiltiy Mode" shortcut option
to try to trick it into running the thing correctly.

 

[Dale M. White]

Games like FEAR and benchmarks like 3dmark06 need an updated version of DX
9.0c in order to run. I've installed both the Dec 9.0c update and the Feb
update and haven't had any issues (at least that I can tell) with Vista and
games.
Chuck provided the link to the update downloads

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the input Dale, I am installing the latest DX release now. That
should fix any problems I am having.

 

[Guest]

You say that you should run directsetup during setup, how would you do this?
Basically, I cannot run any games on vista basic as they all say direct 9 not
found.

 

[Chuck Walbourn [MSFT]]

You say that you should run directsetup during setup, how would you do

this?
Basically, I cannot run any games on vista basic as they all say direct 9
not
found.

Typically you just say "Yes" when asked if you want to install DirectX by
the setup.

It seems unlikely that every game you have has bad code for version
checking, but it is possible I suppose. Try running those installs with the
XP Compatability mode to see if that tricks them into running correctly.