DirectX installations

[pontifex]

Say I install the latest directx version but then install an older game that uses an older version of directx. Does the newer version get overwritten with the older version, are both versions installed, or does the newer version stay and the older version does nothing?

Just wondering how that works and how it might affect playing games.

 

[Sam25]

So far I've seen happening is the game requiring an older version of directx gives a message stating that a newer version of directx is already present on a system and will not try and re-install directx. Judging from that my guess would be that the newer version of directx does not get overwritten with an older version of directx.

 

[lupi]

Within the same generation an install/reinstall will overwrite. Different generations can coexist fine and the game may be programmed to look for a specific one requiring it to be installed.

 

[MrWizzard]

Mostly they can co-exist fine.

Mostly...


I have seen a few strange instances where old Direct X versions have really jacked things up, but that was back in the Win 98 days.

 

[Glitchny]

directx has a lot of legacy support for this very reason, if you go take a look through the API there are tons of functions that are not used anymore but are still in the code base and work. They are there specifically for backwards compatibility, this way you do not have to reinstall directx for each game, the newest version of the api is used and it access the old directx functions in the api that are deprecated. So unless you are installing a game with a much much older version of directx then you should be fine playing the old games.

 

[aka1nas]

I am also pretty sure that having an instance of the relevant d3d dll in the game .exe folder preempts that game from using the "System" copy.

 

[pontifex]

Originally posted by: Sam25
So far I've seen happening is the game requiring an older version of directx gives a message stating that a newer version of directx is already present on a system and will not try and re-install directx. Judging from that my guess would be that the newer version of directx does not get overwritten with an older version of directx.

i have never seen this happen. It always wants to install the version on the cd/dvd.

 

[Zenoth]

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Sam25
So far I've seen happening is the game requiring an older version of directx gives a message stating that a newer version of directx is already present on a system and will not try and re-install directx. Judging from that my guess would be that the newer version of directx does not get overwritten with an older version of directx.

i have never seen this happen. It always wants to install the version on the cd/dvd.

That's correct, it does that for me as well.

Some of the games I have actually refuse to install if I do not accept to install the DirectX version that the installer wants me to install. If I just cancel the DirectX's installation then the whole game installation process reverts back to zero and the installation shuts down completely. Those are extremes though, most games just give the option to do so, and if the user refuses the installation still proceeds.

What I do is to get the Redist version of the latest DirectX and always install it after I install all of my games, to stay on the safe side of things. The web-based DX installer only checks for recent files and if an update is due it will update the necessary files. I don't like that, I prefer the Redist version even if that means a placebo effect, I still feel better seeing all those files up to the latest versions being installed after I installed my games, many of which do install older versions of the DX files.

 

[Sam25]

Originally posted by: Zenoth

Originally posted by: pontifex

Originally posted by: Sam25
So far I've seen happening is the game requiring an older version of directx gives a message stating that a newer version of directx is already present on a system and will not try and re-install directx. Judging from that my guess would be that the newer version of directx does not get overwritten with an older version of directx.

i have never seen this happen. It always wants to install the version on the cd/dvd.

That's correct, it does that for me as well.

Some of the games I have actually refuse to install if I do not accept to install the DirectX version that the installer wants me to install. If I just cancel the DirectX's installation then the whole game installation process reverts back to zero and the installation shuts down completely. Those are extremes though, most games just give the option to do so, and if the user refuses the installation still proceeds.

What I do is to get the Redist version of the latest DirectX and always install it after I install all of my games, to stay on the safe side of things. The web-based DX installer only checks for recent files and if an update is due it will update the necessary files. I don't like that, I prefer the Redist version even if that means a placebo effect, I still feel better seeing all those files up to the latest versions being installed after I installed my games, many of which do install older versions of the DX files.

There is one thing I remember now, sometimes, rarely certain directx runtime components are installed...even though the game needs a older version of directx.