Re: Directx8.1 not recognized

Basically, the latest version of DirextX is missing some legacy components that these older games need. You don't need to "downgrade" your DirectX to fix this, though; just installing the older components on top of your current DirectX works fine.

The version you need to find and install is 9.0c:

• Download the DirectX Redistributables package from June 2010. Be sure to uncheck any other junk they want to add to it. It should be a file called "directx_Jun2010_redist.exe".
• Run the downloaded file. It'll ask for a folder to unpack in. Make a new folder somewhere on your disk and unpack it there. It doesn't matter where you unpack it; it can be deleted afterwards anyway.
• Go to the folder where you told it to extract.
• Find "DXSETUP.exe", and run that to install the missing components.
• After the installation finished, delete the folder you unpacked everything in.