Direct3D D3DX DLLs

Direct3D D3DX DLLs Windows XP users who keep their machines up to date should all have DirectX 9.0c installed and likewise Vista uses will have DirectX 10 and Windows 7 users DirectX 11. However the D3DX dlls (and sometimes others like XAudio) get updated every few months (when a new SDK is released) and so many users get errors about missing d3dx9_xx.dll. The best solution is to distribute the DirectX runtime with your app. however if you are providing your app. as a download this will increase the download size significantly. You could also of course just include the dll. although this is against the agreement (EULA) and make cause problems. Another solution is to forward users to the Microsoft DirectX end user runtime download via the Microsoft Web Installer.

Download the missing DLLs

Note: these installers will not install DirectX 9.0c, they will only install the missing dlls from the SDK updates. Most people should have DirectX 9.0c as part of Windows XP SP2 but if you do not you can get it via the online Microsoft update page here: Microsoft Web Installer

NameInstalls DLLDownload  sites
February 2005 Updated3dx9_24.dllgamedev ,threelights
April 2005 Updated3dx9_25.dllgamedev ,threelights
June 2005 Updated3dx9_26.dllgamedev ,threelights
August 2005 Updated3dx9_27.dllgamedev ,threelights
October 2005 UpdateNo change 
December 2005 Updated3dx9_28.dllthreelights
February 2006 Updated3dx9_29.dll
x3daudio1_0.dll		threelights
April 2006 Updated3dx9_30.dll
xinput1_1.dll		threelights
June 2006 UpdateNo changethreelights
August 2006 Updatexinput1_2.dllthreelights
October 2006 Updated3dx9_31.dll
xinput1_3.dll
x3daudio1_1.dll		threelights
December 2006 Updated3dx9_32.dllthreelights
February 2007 UpdateNo changethreelights
April 2007 Updated3dx9_33.dl
d3dx10_33.dlll		Microsoft Web Installer
June 2007 Updated3dx9_34.dll
d3dx10_34.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
August 2007 Updated3dx9_35.dll
d3dx10_35.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
November 2007 Updated3dx9_36.dll
d3dx10_36.dll
X3DAudio1_2.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
March 2008 Updated3dx9_37.dll
d3dx10_37.dll
X3DAudio1_3.dll
XAudio2_0.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
June 2008 Updated3dx9_38.dll
d3dx10_38.dll
X3DAudio1_4.dll
XAudio2_1.dll
xactengine3_1.dll
XAPO_FX1_0.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
August 2008 Updated3dx9_39.dll
d3dx10_39.dll
XAudio2_2.dll
xactengine3_2.dll
XAPO_FX1_1.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
November 2008 Updated3dx9_40.dll
d3dx10_40.dll
X3DAudio1_5.dll
XAudio2_3.dll
xactengine3_3.dll
XAPO_FX1_2.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
March 2009 Updated3dx9_41.dll
d3dx10_41.dll
X3DAudio1_6.dll
XAudio2_4.dll
XactEngine3_4.dll
XAPOFX1_3.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
August 2009 Updated3dx9_42.dll
d3dx10_43.dll
d3dx11_42.dll
XAudio2_5.dll
XactEngine3_5.dll
d3dcsx_42.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
February 2010 Updated3dx9_43.dll
XAudio2_6.dll
XactEngine3_6.dll
X3DAudio1_7.dllXAPOFX1_4.dll		Microsoft Web Installer
June 2010 UpdateXAudio2_7.dll
XactEngine3_7.dll
XAPOFX1_5.dll		Microsoft Web Installer

Note: if you are missing d3dx9d_xx.dll files e.g. d3dx9d_43.dll these files are debug versions of the libraries for development purposes only. Nobody should be distributing these in an application. To use these you need the full developers DirectX SDK.

What the files are

  • The d3dx9_?.dll files are for the Direct3D Extensions (D3DX) for Direct3D 9. These provide helper functions for graphic code.
    • The d3dx10 dlls are Vista dlls for Direct3D 11.
    • The d3dx11 dlls are Windows 7 dlls for Direct3D 11
  • The xinput dlls are for the Microsoft common controller library and are used for things like the Xbox 360 common controller.
  • XAudio2 is the low level audio API for Windows and Xbox 360
  • XACT (XactEngine) is the Microsoft Cross-Platform Audio Creation Tool. This is the high level tool for sound designers.
  • X3DAudio is an API that works with XAudio2 and XACT to position sounds in 3D space
  • XAPO provides digital signal processing operations on audio streams (working with XAudio2 and XACT) e.g. adding reverb

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