UO Telling Me I don't Meet DirectX Requirement

[JC the Builder]

For both the classic and enhanced client, upon install it is presenting me with a message asking if I want to upgrade my DirectX. I have DirectX 11 with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-Bit and the latest updates.

Of course I declined this message and UO runs fine. Who knows what damage it would have done overwriting my DirectX files.

Time of this report: 1/27/2011, 10:31:21
Machine name: JCWORKSHOP
Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_gdr.100618-1621)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: System manufacturer
System Model: System Product Name
BIOS: BIOS Date: 02/05/10 19:13:52 Ver: 08.00.10
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2500K CPU @ 3.30GHz (4 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8172MB RAM
Page File: 2107MB used, 14235MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode

 

[JC the Builder]

I made a mistake. Apparently Microsoft doesn't include every DirectX file in version 11 and UO needs a particular one to run. I was under the assumption that UO was asking me if I wanted to install some version of DirectX it had prepackaged as was the case on The Second Age CD. Instead all the UO installer does is add the missing files.

The message could have said "DirectX is missing files needed to run the Ultima Online Enhanced Client. Would you like to install these files now?", which would have been more clear as to what it was about to do.

 

[Basara]

Making matters worse is that for about 5 or 6 versions now (one of the 5.x or 6 versions, IIRC), DirectX isn't part of Windows Update, with the possible exception of fixes to close exploits.

You have to go check every few months for an updated End-user Runtime to keep DX up to date.

When KR came out, a lot of people had trouble getting it to run, as they hadn't updated DirectX for as long as they'd owned their 2-5 year old machines.