Over time, PCs have become more than suitable devices for us to play all kinds of games. The hardware and software we use every day have a lot to do with this. Thus, in these lines we are going to focus on a key element in Windows for all this, we refer to DirectX .
To say that a system like Windows 10 is software that should work correctly on most of today’s computers. It consists of a multitude of sections, functions and features that achieve a stable and increasingly better set, including its use with the aforementioned games. For this we need certain elements like the one that we are going to talk about in these same lines. We tell you this because next we will talk about something that has been among us in Windows for a good number of years, we refer to DirectX.
This is software that many of you have probably heard about over time, but let’s see what it is. We can say that this is a basic component on the PC, especially for graphic use, such as games, among other things. In case you don’t know, we are actually referring to a set of APIs that are part of the operating system in order to optimize the operation of games in Windows. The same is something that is extended to other multimedia components such as videos. However, sometimes they can fail and not work as they should, which can be a problem.
What are DirectX on Windows system
But the first thing we should know at this point is that DirectX is a set of APIs developed by Microsoft itself for its operating system. To say that its objective is none other than to facilitate the development of multimedia content by other creators and thus obtain better results in those software titles. How could it be otherwise, all this focuses on the use of content such as games and other multimedia elements.
In this way, what is achieved is that all this runs in the best way in Windows and works properly. It is also interesting to know that these APIs that we are talking about have been accompanying us for many years on PCs , specifically its first version was launched in 1995. Therefore, they could be considered as a key when playing or using certain graphical applications in the Redmond system. At the same time we can say that DirectX is responsible for the games are optimized in Windows .
How to fix DirectX problems
Despite its enormous usefulness, over the years many users have reported that, when starting a game or graphical application, they run into an error. This one in particular says that DirectX has encountered an unrecoverable error. This same window asks us to check the registry file and does not allow the use of the application in question, or the game. What’s more, this is an error box that can appear when we play games like WarZone, or Call of Duty, for example.
At that point many may wonder what this error means. It should be mentioned that every time a call is made to the system or the PC GPU , Windows makes a second attempt or tries to recover if there is a failure. In this case, DirectX encounters an error from which it cannot recover or make that second attempt, hence the warning. The problem may be in the game we run itself, in the graphics controller , or some corrupt file.
Basic solutions in Windows for this failure
Before proceeding with troubleshooting, we can use the most basic alternative common steps. By this we mean that when we find the fault, we can restart the computer, restart the game or reinstall the game or application . Restarting and reinstalling solves many problems, as we have surely seen on many occasions.
Disable hardware monitoring software
It is worth mentioning that many users use some type of external software to monitor the installed hardware. This is used to measure the temperature of the GPU and CPU, the frame rate when we play, etc. This type of software like MSI Afterburner , GeForce Experience Overlay, etc., is sometimes the cause of the problem with DirectX in games.
There are many applications that can be used for this, so it is advisable if necessary, is to run the game without using these programs to find out if they are causing the failure.
Use the repair feature built into games
There are some games that offer their own built-in repair tool to fix internal problems. If the problem occurs due to a corrupted file related to DirectX, this may solve the problem . Therefore, it is advisable to look for this option that we are talking about in the title with which we have problems and it will help us to solve it directly.
Update or reinstall the graphics driver
GPU drivers are known to cause problems, especially if there is a conflict with a recent Windows update . Therefore, it is almost always a good idea to keep these elements up to date if a warning appears related to the failure we are commenting on. If the error occurred after a system update, we will be able to carry out what we are telling you about.
It is something that we achieve through the Device Manager , so we right-click on the Start menu and access this section. Next we locate the graphics driver and again right-click on it to select Update Driver.
Clear game cache files
All games and applications that we use on the PC have a series of cache files in order to offer better performance. But sometimes those files are out of date and the software doesn’t remove them. Thus, these old files can cause problems with the new ones, which can result in a crash with DirectX . At the same time, many of these games have the option to delete those files, something that will help us if necessary.
Run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool
Fixing problems with DirectX can be somewhat problematic if we don’t know the reason for the failure. But Microsoft itself provides us with an integrated utility that will help us in this case. To run the DirectX Diagnostic Tool we just have to run DxDiag.exe in the search box . Thus, in the window tabs, we can see the errors that have been detected.
Common mistakes with DirectX
DirectX encountered an unrecoverable error
This is one of the most common failures that we can find with DirectX and it can occur for multiple reasons. Therefore for this we can run the DirectX diagnostic tools to try to find the reason.
Error CreateSystemInterface failed
This is a bug that we can find with these APIs when trying to run some games. It is usually given by the operating system itself, so it is best to install the most recent version of it.
DirectX startup error
Sometimes we can find a message that says Could not initialize DirectX. Well, this is usually due to a failure in the APIs themselves, so the best we can do is update or remove them to reinstall again.
Cannot find the d3d8.dll, ddraw.dll, or d3d9.dll file
This happens when some of the API files that we are talking about here are corrupt or damaged. Therefore, when the software in question cannot access them, it returns this error.
dplay.dll has performed an illegal operation
This is another common failure that we can find with DirectX when trying to run some games or multimedia programs . The failure is usually given by the title itself, not by the APIs as such.