What version of DirectX do you run?

Prolific-Matt · 02-22-2002, 01:06 PM

We are very interested in seeing what users are running as their version of DirectX.

patscarr · 02-22-2002, 01:15 PM

How can I find out?

FishyBusiness · 02-22-2002, 01:23 PM

Patrick,

Click the Start button and then go to Run. In the run box, type: dxdiag When it pops up, look att he bottom of the window and it will tell you.

Jav400 · 02-22-2002, 01:25 PM

Go to Start ---> Run and type in "dxdiag" ( without the quotes ) and hit OK. This will bring up a test program. Look at the bottom of the main information screen and it will tell you.

patscarr · 02-22-2002, 02:56 PM

Thanks guys, worked like a charm.

Here's another Q for you, a little off topic though, sorry, but I've seen people write about measuring their CPU usage and how the screensaver is running at 100% or their CPU is down to 40%. What's that about and how can I check mine?

Jim Sachs · 02-22-2002, 04:20 PM

The results of this poll will be extremely skewed. This is basically asking, "Out of all you tech-savvy people, who know how to join an Internet Forum, who take pride in owning the latest equipment...how many still have DX6?"

Lightfeather · 02-22-2002, 05:00 PM

ROFL ^_^

I have direct X 6 on one of my Win 98 ghost images. I don't test on it much however.

Jim Sachs · 02-22-2002, 05:02 PM

Well, vote for it, quick -- before it becomes hopeless.

Shinsa · 02-22-2002, 05:30 PM

Isn't there a big difference between 8 and 8.1? I know 8.1 fixed a lot of problems I had with startup/shutdown/ and uncommanded restarts.

feldon34 · 02-23-2002, 03:53 AM

Jim, instead of throwing your arms up in the air about this poll, we could be constructive and either add a poll to SereneScreen.com or I can add a poll to my website.

I have found that a poll in the margin on a website is very much like a candy bar or stick of gum at a convenience store next to the cashier. Voting in a poll feeds into the American "Wanting to be heard" mentality and having it as an 'impulse buy' that's just 1 step makes it easy enough that I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't see 35% voting.

In fact, as the dust clears, I'll add one to my website.

I have a few design changes planned for my website, including an "at-a-glance" view of the forum which would be updated 1-2 times a day and a single large button to get upgraded to 1.1 which pops up a separate window to guide you through the process.

Question: For people who have a hyphenated keycode like JL-FESK123942, if they enter it in without the hypen, will they get a match? If so, this note should immediately be added to the <b>support/betacode.asp<b? page. Anything to remove another 20-50 support e-mails from the queue is valuable.

Tiny Turtle · 02-23-2002, 12:24 PM

How about attaching a 3 Meg SpyWare to the Aquarium that would send user info to Prolific?

Everybody else seem to be doing it which would make it perfectly OK, right?

/Tiny Conspiracy

Jim Sachs · 02-23-2002, 12:51 PM

Morgan -

Some good points. A poll on your main page might be a little more balanced.

The reason for Matt's poll is this: Microsoft is pressuring us to switch the Aquarium to DX8. Sure, most people who are tech-savvy enough to find the Forum will have DX8. But when I go into a friend's home or a computer store to demonstrate the Aquarium, I almost never find DX8. Just a year ago when I tried to show it at Fry's, every machine had DX5 on it.

Now you know who is going to get the Customer-Service complaint if the Aquarium doesn't run because of an older DX.

JPichat · 02-23-2002, 01:01 PM

Guys,

I'm running DX 7.1 (yes, I voted in the poll). Are there benefits to going to DX8. (Aquarium-wise anyway) and what are they?

Jeff

feldon34 · 02-23-2002, 01:17 PM

Jim,

What in the world has Microsoft done to EARN the right to tell you ANYTHING about what you should do?!?!?!

They have hurt your sales probably 300% by pricing Plus at $40 for what is a box of DEMOS.

They refuse to fix a DirectX 8 problem on Windows 95/ME that has resulted in hate mail to you constantly about why the Aquarium cannot do multiple monitors, etc.

They are calling Prolific liars about the exact financial terms.

Tell them you'll go to DirectX 8 as soon as they APOLOGIZE for their laziness and make the DirectX 8 screen saver libraries compatible with Windows 98 and ME. I cannot fathom a world where you are maintaining two separate codebases just because Microsoft refuses to dedicate 20-30 man hours to fix something that is affecting dozens of screen saver developers!!

feldon34 · 02-23-2002, 01:17 PM

JPichat,

It's really only if you have a game that requires it.

HellBound · 02-23-2002, 02:22 PM

umm I run win 98se and direct x 8.1 works perfectly fine on my computer. Altho I havn't tryed it on win 95 or win ME partly because win 95 support is dropping like flies(and win95 is old) and win ME just crashs all the time and its driver compatibility is bad. hehe :P
If u didn't mean win98se then nm but if u did mean direct X 8.0 (8.1)doesn't work on win98se you'd be rong.

Jim Sachs · 02-23-2002, 03:09 PM

I didn't say DX8 would not work on Win98SE, I just said that many people haven't installed it. And rightly so - if DX 6 or 7 is running all their software just fine, why would they risk messing up their computers by installing a new DX? People would blame us for forcing them to switch to DX8, and all the problems that are sometimes caused by the switch.

feldon34 · 02-23-2002, 03:52 PM

It has been stated several times that DirectX 8 and the DirectX 8 SCREEN SAVER LIBRARIES which Jim is supposed to use are two entirely different things.

DirectX 8 is compatible with Windows 95, 98, ME.

DirectX 8 screen saver libraries (unless you want Jim to write the screen saver in DirectX 7) are NOT.

From the Frequently Asked Questions guide (which pops up every time you visit this forum from my website):

"Jim Sachs spent 2 months writing a DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium to be licensed to Microsoft for inclusion on OEM Windows XP computers and in the Microsoft XP Plus pack.

The other goal of this rewrite was to move the Aquarium over to DirectX 8. Due to serious bugs in the DirectX 8 screen saver libraries provided by Microsoft when running on Windows 95, 98, and ME, Jim has had to abandon all plans for a DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium. The DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium, when run in Windows 95/98/ME, has problems with the password and settings screens in addition to instability. Microsoft acknowledges the problem but has no plans to fix it, dedicating themselves solely to Windows XP. Jim does not have the time or resources to write and maintain 2 versions of the Aquarium, one for 95/98/ME and one for 2000/XP."

Jim Sachs · 02-23-2002, 04:19 PM

One of the main problems with DX8 is the inability to know whether you are displaying the front buffer or the back buffer. Therefore, if you display a dialog box, there is a 50% chance that it will be behind the main screen. This appears to lock up the machine, but it's really just an invisible dialog waiting for input from the user.

My DX8 Plus Pack Demo gets around this by not having any dialog boxes. The only way the Settings panel can be viewed is from the Display Settings screen.

feldon34 · 02-23-2002, 04:30 PM

On 95, 98, and ME you mean. This dialog box problem doesn't happen on XP or 2000 does it?

View Poll Results: What version of DirectX do you run?
DirectX 6	2	2.78%
DirectX 7	4	5.56%
DirectX8	65	90.28%
I don't know	1	1.39%
Voters: 72. You may not vote on this poll

02-22-2002, 01:06 PM	#1
Prolific-Matt Developer Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Burbank, CA Posts: 11	What version of DirectX do you run? We are very interested in seeing what users are running as their version of DirectX. -Matt Miller

02-22-2002, 01:15 PM	#2
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,455	How can I find out? Patrick

02-22-2002, 01:23 PM	#3
FishyBusiness Registered Join Date: Jan 2001 Posts: 2,206	Patrick, Click the Start button and then go to Run. In the run box, type: dxdiag When it pops up, look att he bottom of the window and it will tell you. Frank

02-22-2002, 01:25 PM	#4
Jav400 Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Tennessee Posts: 9,725	Go to Start ---> Run and type in "dxdiag" ( without the quotes ) and hit OK. This will bring up a test program. Look at the bottom of the main information screen and it will tell you. Michael Administrator of Inside:SereneScreen Aquarium Forum, Chatroom, Fan Site & *Gallery* DVD Collection

02-22-2002, 02:56 PM	#5
patscarr Pet Shark Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Back in Buffalo Posts: 5,455	Thanks guys, worked like a charm. Here's another Q for you, a little off topic though, sorry, but I've seen people write about measuring their CPU usage and how the screensaver is running at 100% or their CPU is down to 40%. What's that about and how can I check mine? Patrick

02-22-2002, 04:20 PM	#6
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,774	The results of this poll will be extremely skewed. This is basically asking, "Out of all you tech-savvy people, who know how to join an Internet Forum, who take pride in owning the latest equipment...how many still have DX6?" Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

02-22-2002, 05:00 PM	#7
Lightfeather Occupation: Nerd Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: California Posts: 314	ROFL ^_^ I have direct X 6 on one of my Win 98 ghost images. I don't test on it much however. Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.

02-22-2002, 05:02 PM	#8
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,774	Well, vote for it, quick -- before it becomes hopeless. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

02-22-2002, 05:30 PM	#9
Shinsa Registered Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Fayetteville, NC Posts: 407	Isn't there a big difference between 8 and 8.1? I know 8.1 fixed a lot of problems I had with startup/shutdown/ and uncommanded restarts. Bob "When you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." _______________________________________________

02-23-2002, 03:53 AM	#10
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,938	Jim, instead of throwing your arms up in the air about this poll, we could be constructive and either add a poll to SereneScreen.com or I can add a poll to my website. I have found that a poll in the margin on a website is very much like a candy bar or stick of gum at a convenience store next to the cashier. Voting in a poll feeds into the American "Wanting to be heard" mentality and having it as an 'impulse buy' that's just 1 step makes it easy enough that I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't see 35% voting. In fact, as the dust clears, I'll add one to my website. I have a few design changes planned for my website, including an "at-a-glance" view of the forum which would be updated 1-2 times a day and a single large button to get upgraded to 1.1 which pops up a separate window to guide you through the process. Question: For people who have a hyphenated keycode like JL-FESK123942, if they enter it in without the hypen, will they get a match? If so, this note should immediately be added to the <b>support/betacode.asp<b? page. Anything to remove another 20-50 support e-mails from the queue is valuable. "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman Last edited by feldon34; 02-23-2002 at 03:56 AM.

02-23-2002, 12:24 PM	#11
Tiny Turtle is pleased Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Stockholm, Sweden Posts: 7,365	How about attaching a 3 Meg SpyWare to the Aquarium that would send user info to Prolific? Everybody else seem to be doing it which would make it perfectly OK, right? /Tiny Conspiracy

02-23-2002, 12:51 PM	#12
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,774	Morgan - Some good points. A poll on your main page might be a little more balanced. The reason for Matt's poll is this: Microsoft is pressuring us to switch the Aquarium to DX8. Sure, most people who are tech-savvy enough to find the Forum will have DX8. But when I go into a friend's home or a computer store to demonstrate the Aquarium, I almost never find DX8. Just a year ago when I tried to show it at Fry's, every machine had DX5 on it. Now you know who is going to get the Customer-Service complaint if the Aquarium doesn't run because of an older DX. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

02-23-2002, 01:01 PM	#13
JPichat Registered Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: New Jersey Posts: 8	DX Version Guys, I'm running DX 7.1 (yes, I voted in the poll). Are there benefits to going to DX8. (Aquarium-wise anyway) and what are they? Jeff

02-23-2002, 01:17 PM	#14
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,938	Jim, What in the world has Microsoft done to EARN the right to tell you ANYTHING about what you should do?!?!?! They have hurt your sales probably 300% by pricing Plus at $40 for what is a box of DEMOS. They refuse to fix a DirectX 8 problem on Windows 95/ME that has resulted in hate mail to you constantly about why the Aquarium cannot do multiple monitors, etc. They are calling Prolific liars about the exact financial terms. Tell them you'll go to DirectX 8 as soon as they APOLOGIZE for their laziness and make the DirectX 8 screen saver libraries compatible with Windows 98 and ME. I cannot fathom a world where you are maintaining two separate codebases just because Microsoft refuses to dedicate 20-30 man hours to fix something that is affecting dozens of screen saver developers!! "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman Last edited by feldon34; 02-23-2002 at 01:20 PM.

02-23-2002, 02:22 PM	#16
HellBound Registered Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 48	umm I run win 98se and direct x 8.1 works perfectly fine on my computer. Altho I havn't tryed it on win 95 or win ME partly because win 95 support is dropping like flies(and win95 is old) and win ME just crashs all the time and its driver compatibility is bad. hehe :P If u didn't mean win98se then nm but if u did mean direct X 8.0 (8.1)doesn't work on win98se you'd be rong.

02-23-2002, 03:09 PM	#17
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,774	I didn't say DX8 would not work on Win98SE, I just said that many people haven't installed it. And rightly so - if DX 6 or 7 is running all their software just fine, why would they risk messing up their computers by installing a new DX? People would blame us for forcing them to switch to DX8, and all the problems that are sometimes caused by the switch. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

02-23-2002, 03:52 PM	#18
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,938	It has been stated several times that DirectX 8 and the DirectX 8 SCREEN SAVER LIBRARIES which Jim is supposed to use are two entirely different things. DirectX 8 is compatible with Windows 95, 98, ME. DirectX 8 screen saver libraries (unless you want Jim to write the screen saver in DirectX 7) are NOT. From the Frequently Asked Questions guide (which pops up every time you visit this forum from my website): "Jim Sachs spent 2 months writing a DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium to be licensed to Microsoft for inclusion on OEM Windows XP computers and in the Microsoft XP Plus pack. The other goal of this rewrite was to move the Aquarium over to DirectX 8. Due to serious bugs in the DirectX 8 screen saver libraries provided by Microsoft when running on Windows 95, 98, and ME, Jim has had to abandon all plans for a DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium. The DirectX 8 version of the Aquarium, when run in Windows 95/98/ME, has problems with the password and settings screens in addition to instability. Microsoft acknowledges the problem but has no plans to fix it, dedicating themselves solely to Windows XP. Jim does not have the time or resources to write and maintain 2 versions of the Aquarium, one for 95/98/ME and one for 2000/XP." "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman

02-23-2002, 04:19 PM	#19
Jim Sachs Developer Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Southern Oregon Posts: 9,774	One of the main problems with DX8 is the inability to know whether you are displaying the front buffer or the back buffer. Therefore, if you display a dialog box, there is a 50% chance that it will be behind the main screen. This appears to lock up the machine, but it's really just an invisible dialog waiting for input from the user. My DX8 Plus Pack Demo gets around this by not having any dialog boxes. The only way the Settings panel can be viewed is from the Display Settings screen. Jim Sachs Creator of SereneScreen Aquarium

02-23-2002, 04:30 PM	#20
feldon34 Forum Administrator Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Rock Hill, SC Posts: 10,938	On 95, 98, and ME you mean. This dialog box problem doesn't happen on XP or 2000 does it? "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." - George Orwell "If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal." - Emma Goldman