What in the holy hell is DirectX?
I just got a new laptop today & decided to redownload SBCGFAP only for it to tell me that the game wouldn't work right unless I downloaded Direct X. I did of course, but I'm not sure I should have. I mean this is a somewhat new laptop so I might have an updated version or something already on it right?
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Problem is some games only work with older versions of DirectX because newer versions can change stuff around.
Sure, old DX5 games can disfunction, but that's more probably because of Vista/XP/7 or modern graphic cards/drivers than DirectX.
^ EDIT: Obviously roberttitus is a console player...
Obviously.
DirectX has been around PC gaming for a long time now. If a game complains that you don't have it, then it's possible that it either is missing some component (accidentally or by malfunction) or is not the latest desired version... or that your computer is being stupid and you need to reboot.
You don't need to worry about upgrading/reinstalling DirectX causing problems. If the game says you need to upgrade, then upgrade. However, games usually do come with their own SDK copy of DirectX that you can use to reinstall, rather than having to download it from Microsoft.
Not sure about Steam or D2D or GamersGate and similar download platforms though.
Steam automatically updates DirectX when you try to run a game that requires the latest version.
Some of the newer versions of DirectX change where libraries are and such, that sometimes older versions are needed, but very rarely. Sometimes some games just have a checker. If you don't have Direct X 8 installed you need to install 8, even though you have 9.c. I've encountered those too.
I suspect hobbies like concentrating on the 20 best songs ever made doesn't leave you too much space for other aspects of life.
I very rarely play PC games... not to mention that my last PC died rougly 7 1/2 months ago, so I am stuggling to remember these things.
I'm not sure what this has to do with anything (especially in THIS thread)... but OK...
DX9.a
DX9.b
DX9.c
DX10.a
DX10.b
DX10.c
DX11a
DX11b
Your shiny new laptop comes with DX11b. HORRAY! Naturally you assume that DX11 includes all of that previous crap. Instead, what is actually included on your computer is DX9a, DX10a, DX10b, and the DX11 stuff. Why they don't include the rest? I don't know. At any rate, many games are built with the stuff contained in, say, DX9c. So we either have to include that file with the game, or get people to run the DX updater, which installs all relevant versions of DirectX. The annoying thing is that so much of this stuff is entirely invisible to the user. All they see is DX11 which should obviously be better than DX9. Or else we would all need Win95 to run Win7.
Anyway, end rant!
So one 9C may be different than the other 9C. I've had it with MS Game beta's where was explicitely told that we needed to install 9C even if we had it because of that.
"Do you want to check to see if you have the right DirectX components?
Yes, it will only take a couple of seconds to check
No, and risk DESTROYING YOUR COMPUTER FOREVER."
That sentence just made me realise that I've always pronounced the X in "DirectX" the French way, but the X in "XBox" the English way.
Weird.
It is by Dave Grossman (of Telltale) about how he had his mother-in-law play the first few minutes of Sam and Max 101. She is a major non-gamer, and her play-through exposed tons of assumptions that game designers make about how people will interact with games that may not be true for everyone. I was thinking that this DirectX thing is another example of assumptions made by computer designers. The assumptions are that either people know what DirectX is and understand why components of it need to be installed or that they don't really understand it, but they know enough about how computer programs work that they will just agree to install it and click YES on all the options.
The minor version numbers (a, b, c) are actually major updates, adding new features to its core; removing obsolete functions in favor of the newer ones (less code is more speed) and fixing loads and loads of bugs. New features consist of adding basic functions for complex math operations making things easier, and support for new hardware features and other doodads.
Last but not least you have the minor bimonthly updates, these include bug fixes; performance boosts; hardware tweaks, and new sample code. So no major overhauls (but enough to drive you crazy).
Including- and using the specific version you have developed your game on, assures you as a developer of a game behaving as intended. Always including- and using the latest version of DirectX (instead of the one you have used) will cause a lot of unforeseeable problems, a bug fix for thingamabob A could possible generate an unexplainable bug for thingamabob B.