Why does STEAM have to install DirectX for every game?

O

oneils

Limp Gawd
Joined
Oct 18, 2005
Messages
475
Ok, I'm dumb. I can't figure out why STEAM has to install DirectX runtime, or whatever, for every game. Is there a reason for this? Can't it be installed once? Wouldn't the latest version be enough?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. In my defence, I'm kinda dumb.

Thanks.
 
it's probably not Steam doing the installing but rather the game executable which wants to make sure you have the correct DX version...same as if you installed via the DVD/CD
 
It's not necessarily installing DirectX every time. Rather, it's checking to see if your existing installation of DirectX has components that need updating.
 
northrop said:
It's not necessarily installing DirectX every time. Rather, it's checking to see if your existing installation of DirectX has components that need updating.
Click to expand...

This. Also its a game thing, not a Steam thing. Games check this to make sure they will actually run on your system.
 
Ok, thanks everyone. I had assumed it was a steam thing as it would pop up in a small window using the steam "skin." Now I know better. Getting less dumb by the minute.

Thanks for the info. Its strange that, for some games, it takes so long to check if my system can run the game.

Thanks again.
 
Last edited:
On another, but semi-related topic, I just found out that I am temporarily banned from the steam forums.

The last post I made was a link to Tool's song "Die Eier Von Satan" (on youtube) in the dev q and a thread found in the Risen discussion forums. Is Valve really this sensitive? If so, wow!
 
oneils said:
On another, but semi-related topic, I just found out that I am temporarily banned from the steam forums.

The last post I made was a link to Tool's song "Die Eier Von Satan" (on youtube) in the dev q and a thread found in the Risen discussion forums. Is Valve really this sensitive? If so, wow!
Click to expand...

Maybe the mod was a diabetic.
 
oneils said:
Ok, I'm dumb. I can't figure out why STEAM has to install DirectX runtime, or whatever, for every game. Is there a reason for this? Can't it be installed once? Wouldn't the latest version be enough?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. In my defence, I'm kinda dumb.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

From MSDN Simplifying Game Installation

About mid page is

Always Install DirectX, and Do So Silently
It is strongly recommended that the game silently install the DirectX redistributable that the game was built against. The DirectX installation process is designed so that it verifies whether anything needs to be updated and quickly returns if it doesn't. So, there is no need to ask users if they want DirectX installed. A silent installation of DirectX can be done by running this command from your installation package: dxsetup.exe /silent

Asking a user if he wants to install DirectX can cause many problems. For example, if the user assumes he has the latest redistributable installed and chooses to skip installation of DirectX; installation of the game could continue successfully anyway. However, if the game requires a specific version of D3DX, or other updated functionality that was skipped, then the game won't work, and the user will be very frustrated.

If for some reason you must ask the user if he wants to install DirectX, your installer should — at least — abort and roll back the entire installation process if the user chooses not to install DirectX. Rolling back the installation will avoid any errors caused by the system not having the latest version of DirectX installed when the game launches.

Note that it is important to ship the redistributable that your game was built against instead of simply shipping the redistributable from the latest DirectX SDK. The latest redistributable might not contain all of the components found in a previous version.

It is also important to have the installer check to see what is already installed and determine whether rebooting the system is necessary. If DirectX is up to date, the copying of one DLL shouldn't require rebooting. For more information see Installing DirectX with DirectSetup.

Tark
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top