Why the DX8.1 SDK sucks....

[jdinger]

Or at least the copy I've got sucks....

Anybody else having trouble with the run-time *.dll's that are installed with the DX8.1 SDK (ddraw.dll, etc.)? After installing the SDK (which updates your DX run-times), DX locks up every time I try to access it (DxDiag, games, etc.).

So I had to reformat my drive to get rid of the run-times (I know I could have gone through and deleted every *.dll, *.vxd and hack the registry, but this was easier). I installed the DX7.0 SDK (I only write in DX7 anyway) and I have NO problems.

Have you guys had any troubles? Or did I just get a bad copy on my CD?

[DavidP]

you got a bad copy. DX8 works perfectly for me.

[Fordy]

Originally posted by DavidP
you got a bad copy. DX8 works perfectly for me.

Ditto....no problems here either....

[taylorguitarman]

If you're running Windows 95 then you need the 8.0a runtime, 8.1 won't run on 95. If you've got any of the more current OSs then maybe the install went wrong. I've never had a problem with mine.

[jdinger]

I'm running 98SE. The install I have is from a book I bought ("Isometric Game Programming with DirectX 7.0"). They included the Dx8.1 SDK on the CD.

This is the second time I've had to reformat my drive because of this. I reformatted the first time thinking that something had gone wrong with the installation (reinstalling didn't fix it), so I reformatted and installed the DX8.1 SDK again only to get the same problem. This time when I reformatted I installed the DX7.0 SDK since I don't actaully write anything that would need DX8.

[taylorguitarman]

Time to move to OpenGL.

[lightatdawn]

>>So I had to reformat my drive to get rid of the run-times

Has anybody every heard of an uninstall?

[Sorensen]

>Has anybody every heard of an uninstall?

If I remember correctly, Direct X doesn't like being uninstalled. However, there are utilities around that'll do the job.

[jdinger]

Originally posted by lightatdawn
>>So I had to reformat my drive to get rid of the run-times

Has anybody every heard of an uninstall?

Yes.

You can uninstall the DX SDK but you can not (at least not easily that I know of) uninstall the run-times. READ the original post and you'll see I said that the problem is with the RUN TIMES installed witht the SDK not the SDK.

[incognito]

Originally posted by jdinger
I'm running 98SE. The install I have is from a book I bought ("Isometric Game Programming with DirectX 7.0"). They included the Dx8.1 SDK on the CD.

This is the second time I've had to reformat my drive because of this. I reformatted the first time thinking that something had gone wrong with the installation (reinstalling didn't fix it), so I reformatted and installed the DX8.1 SDK again only to get the same problem. This time when I reformatted I installed the DX7.0 SDK since I don't actaully write anything that would need DX8.

Hey I have that same book I am like on Chapter 2, hey this is crazy....for a beginner like me it's freaking hard, but hey I am working on it........oh just remember have to go and refresh my memory on typecasting I forgot what that was if anyone has a quick example BTW go ahead and show me

[VirtualAce]

The only problem I've had with the DX8 SDK is that it that even though I've checked use the retail DLLs and not the debug, DirectMovie still shows frame counters in the frames. Other than that, it seems that everything else is working fine.


Anyone else have this happen to them?

It's so funny to call tech support on a game and when they check your DirectX using dxdiag they are like ?? SDK what's that?? Then I have to explain to them that I develop small stuff in DX8 which makes me feel like I'm talking to a mechanic who opens the hood and says, 'hmm, never seen an engine do that before.'

That's when you drive away and look for a new mechanic.

[Ken Fitlike]

I had real hassles with dx 8.0 and 8.1 runtimes initially and it took me ages to figure out what the problem was:

AGP timing on a via chipset screwed up when I overclocked the processor/motherboard. This caused persistent ddraw.dll errors that were intermittent at best making tracking it down a real pain. Returning to default settings solved the problem.

Even if you don't overclock but have a via chipset, playing around with the various versions of the 4 in 1 drivers may also offer a potential solution (including having none at all). Also with some via chipsets there is an AGP timing switch that you can manually tweak in the BIOS. Also turning down from AGPx4 to AGPx2 might work. Unfortuantely all of these favour 'stability' over 'performance'.

If none of that is relevant to your particular problem then try posting exactly where dxdialog fails ie which tests are succesful (if any) or unsuccesful. Alternatively, there are hardware sites that may be able to offer you more precise help based on your current hardware/software configuration.

Good luck.

[Bajanine]

I use DX 7 on my Win 98 partition, and DX 8.1 on my Win2k partition.
The only problem I've run into is that Thief 1 and 2 don't work with DX 8 on my computer. This was the whole reason I now run 3 oses on my 'puter'. Well and the fact that I like to tinker.