Well this isn?t anything startling new and I guess most of you may have discovered this, but since news is slow I thought, I would mention this. In recent days, 3 files came our way from Microsoft giving us the usually M$ additions and fixes for Windows Direct X. One of these files (the earlier released one) was the Redist (redistribution) version, which is meant for developers, but I also noticed it came with the End User Runtime files too. Then a few days later followed the actual End User Runtime files for Windows 98/ME/2000 in two separate files. I installed them both on different machines and also noticed there was an increase in build number from the original released: Direct X8.1 for Windows XP was Build 810 Direct X8.1 for Windows 98/ME/2000 was Build 881 Direct X8.1b for Windows 98/ME/2000 was Build 901 Well I don?t know about version A if there was ever a version, but this does beg the question, why hasn?t Direct X been updated for Windows XP too? Maybe with all the updates, MS has incorporated the fixes over time, or maybe it will come in the form of Service Pack 1. Update: How to install Direct X8.1b on Windows XP I have just recieved a tip from my mate Matt on how to sucessfully install this version on XP computers. Press Read More for installation details.



Load up the command prompt and go to the directory where you have downloaded the NT version of Direct X8.1b. When in that directory, type this command - dx81nteng.exe/c - in which will bring up where do you want to extract the files to. So make a folder put them in there. Then look for all the inf files, right click then install. This will by-pass the normal automatic install program, and setup Direct X on your computer. Matt also informed me when he ran the Direct X tests, via the dxdiag tool, it passed all tests sucessfully. If you would like to run you own test using this tool, press the start button, select Run and type - dxdiag. The rest should be straight forward ;-) Anyway, this concludes my personal findings, but if you have anymore, please feel free to send them in.

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