Heavy Gear 2/DirectX issue

[mcp555]

The game requires 6.1 (which is included on the disc) to run. I bypassed the install of it, considering I am using Win2k Pro and DX8.0a. When I run the game though it detects what version of DX is on your system and it won't run since I'm not using 6.1. Would problems come up if I installed 6.1 from the disc then reinstalled 8.0a or is there a bug fix/crack that I can get that disables the DX6.1 check during startup of the game?