DirectX is installed. Games say it's not. :|

NOTE: I am posting here because this is a Windows 7 forum, not an XP forum, so I can't post this in the games forum, as it is limited to games on Windows 7. :/

Every time I try playing a DirectX game on Windows XP (Portal, Need For Speed, etc), it tells me I don't have DirectX. One of the first things I did on this computer after reformatting was to install DirectX 9. Can someone tell me how that works? >.>

I've tried to install DirectX again, and it always tells me that it's already installed (A newer or equivalent version of DirectX is already installed). I've checked Dxdiag.exe and it registers all of the DirectX files, and shows the version to be 9.0c, equivalent or greater than the games' requirements.

Any ideas?

Depending on the file that is causing the error, you could always try copying that particular DX9xx.dll file/s directly to the games directory.

Try extracting the .dll's from the dxsetup on the games disc

In some cases with the older games, the newer DX file may not be recognized/compatible - hence the error.

One thing I really hate is some older games not recognizing your newer version of DX, and forcing you to install an older version to play them, or worse, not being able to work at all.

I'll hop into these later... I just now got Win7 reinstalled, so it may be different. For now, sleep.