Don't pro games that require DirectX typically offer to install the DX redist during game installation?
I'd stick with option 5
Seriuosly it's a wired problem. Did you update the drivers (even if this is more a performance solving issue)? I have an ATI, win7 detects it correctly but the drivers it installs are bad. When i donwloaded the official ATI drivers all worked right.
If your laptop is not too recent you might have problems to find updated drivers. My old 7700GO had just 1 release of drivers and they were slow.
You could even drop a mail to lionhead support.
I resorted to throwing my computer at the wall again, and still to no avail, I have found many other people with the same issue that I am having all with the same outcomes. Microsoft needs to fix direct x... or atleast make it moron proof because its not working. Anyhow, on a happier note beating my computer against a wall didnt break it this time... Any other advice if people are still in the mood? Any help will be greatly appriciated as always.
This is a forum for people interested in making games, not for technical support.
Fine, then how the hell do I make a game that Direct X doesn't have to be a part of? >.<
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Use OpenGL, or the Win32 API.
A quick Google search for " D3DX9_25.DLL" returned this Microsoft support page, which recommends finding the DLL on the CD and manually copying it to the game's directory. I was leary of suggesting this since it's bad practice to start copying DLLs, but if Microsoft says to, then what the hell ;)
Edit: And About.com has astep-by-step guide to extracting a single file from a DX release.
