Installing DirectX everytime I install a game?

iixwh3l4nxii

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Jul 6, 2012
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Hey, putting this here because most people that buy graphics cards, buy them for gaming.


Everytime I install a new game, I'm prompted to install DirectX, sometimes like DirectX9.0c, I'm using windows 7 lol...

Do I really need to install DirectX everytime I install a game? Or is it just incase you don't already have it?
 
There are many many many versions of DirectX, and a game may require a certain version, I noticed almost all Steam games require a DirectX installation, it's not like it takes up a bunch of space and your game may not run without it, so it's best to just let the install run.
 
Basically my understanding of it is this (it's probably wrong):

DirectX has a massive amount of stuff that has to communicate with your GPU and your computer. A game that uses DirectX might have to install/register some components of 'DirectX' to run, some of which might be unique to that game. So when Steam or any other installer says 'Installing DirectX', it's really more like 'updating DirectX for this game'.....

OR am I totally wrong? IDK......
 
Ricky is right and the above posts as well, DirectX has many sub-versions and developers create game specific plug-ins to build upon the existing DirectX code, which are required for the game. It is basically checking the DirectX files already present and comparing them to the set included with the game, it may not even add or alter any files during the process.
 

You are correct. Developers develop their own plug ins for the games building on the existing code.
 
While for most games you would not need to install DirectX again the fact is the game would not know that so instead of having the game not run because of a missing DirectX component they choose to install it. Same reason every Steam game comes with DirectX and .Net just to make sure that when you go to play the game all components are installed and the game is ready to go.