Recently, I reinstalled the software on our testbed for another long run of benchmarks. Amongst those software were some DirectX 9 and DirectX 10 games. After installing them, I realized that one of the games, BioShock did not work. Whenever I tried loading BioShock, it would just hang with a black screen.

At first, I thought it was the new version 1.1 patch because the other DirectX 10 games I installed worked. So I reinstalled BioShock without applying the patch. Still no go. It still hung when I ran it. Once again, I did an intense search online that didn't really reveal much. Take-Two Interactive's support site claimed it was the driver, so I tried a different driver. No success there either.

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Now DirectX 10 is available for Windows XP to download. The DirectX 10 for XP is said to be in alpha version. It is said to work for Windows XP and with directx 10 games and graphics card, they shouldbe able to play directx 10 compatible games like they play in Microsoft’s Windows Vista.



However, Cody Brocious the leader of Alky Project

has released a preview of Alky compatibility libraries for Microsoft DirectX 10 enabled games. This can be used for Windows Operating system other than Vista to play games which requires Directx 10.These libraries allow the use of DirectX 10 Games on platforms other than Windows Vista.This project was aimed to make DirectX 10 compatible games to run on Non Vista operating systems.It is said to increase hardware compatibility even on Vista, by compiling Geometry Shaders down to native machine code for execution where hardware isn’t capable of running it. No longer will you have to upgrade your OS and video card(s) to play the latest games.


Follow the following steps :


Download DirectX 10 Alky preview

which can be also used with DX10 SDK.


Now the DirectX 10 Preview contains a read me file which contains the following:

To install:
Copy d3d10.dll, d3dx10.dll, d3dx10.dll, dxgi.dll, and Nucleus.dll to C:\windows\system32\

To get the examples:

• 
  Follow the instructions on Using Visual C++ 2005 Express Edition with the Microsoft Platform SDK
• 
  Download and install the DirectX SDK

To build and run an example:

• Go to the Microsoft DirectX SDK folder, Samples, C++, Direct3D10, Tutorials, Tutorial12
• Double-click “Tutorial12_2005.sln”
• Select “Start Without Debugging” from the Debug menu.

There are a number of known issues with most of the tutorials, but they will all work to some extent. Tutorial 12 is currently the recommended example.

This above goes for XP only but if you want to install DirectX 10 on Windows Vista you may go to
Download DirectX 10.1 with Shader Model 4.1 from Windows Vista
.

As you undoubtedly know by now, Windows Vista brought to the table DirectX 10. Microsoft failed to make DirectX 10 available for Windows XP, arguing that it would have to introduce extensive changes to the core of the operating system, in order to accommodate the new graphics technology. In this context, Vista became the vessel for DirectX 10, because despite various promises from third-parties to artificially backport DirectX 10 for Windows XP, the latest Windows client remains the sole way to access the superset of DirectX 9.x.

Microsoft touted a healthy increase in gaming and multimedia quality with DirectX 10 as an integer part of Vista’s architecture, but with the vast majority of users still running Windows XP, digital content is largely focused on Vista’s predecessor. The Redmond company was in fact
criticized by both content producers and end users for its decision to make DirectX 10 Vista exclusive, but the barrage of fire failed to deter Microsoft from its tracks. Moreover, in the first quarter of this year, Windows Vista SP1 will deliver DirectX 10.1. (more…)

Did you know that DirectX 10 is only for Windows Vista? So unless you are happy with windows XP using DirectX 9, your probably going to want to get a decent affordable video card.

For those who…

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