directdraw vs directX

[bjlockie]

What is directdraw and directX?
My video card says I have directdraw 1.0 (is that old?) and directX 8.1.

[Greg]

DirectX is a bit of driver software from MS that goes between Windows, Hardware, and games to make game related things like Graphics, Sound, Networking and Input work.

DirectDraw is one of the components of DirectX. Also Direct3D, DirectInput, DirectSound, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectShow are other parts. Yes, V1.0 does sound a bit old, however, DirectDraw is kind of obsolete since all new games just use Direct3D (this does not mean the game has to have 3D graphics.)

All you need to do is install the latest version, which is currently DirectX9a. Run windows update, or visit the microsoft web site to download the update.

If you are running really old software, you may need to let it install old components of DirectX, which should be an option in the install process. Don't worry, you can't accidently overwrite newer versions. You also can't uninstall DirectX, as it kind of patches Windows itself. So when you see a option "install/update directX", just select Yes, unless you are confident you don't need to. You won't hurt anything.