I updated my PC to Windows 8.1 as soon as I could, and I had no problems with the installation or any issues with my PC since updating. I also messed around my Device Manager a couple days ago, but was very careful to only mess around with Google and
Samsung drivers... So I don't think that is causing the problem, but I'm not ruling it out (I was messing around with my Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone [installing an Android 4.4 ROM on it] but as I mentioned, I was very careful only to mess with drivers associated
with Samsung and Google, so I'm thinking/hoping I didn't mess anything up during that process).
Anyways, I haven't played any video games on my PC since updating to Windows 8.1 a few weeks ago, so I haven't noticed this problem until trying to play this new game I downloaded today. After installing it, I got the error "Could not find any compatible
Direct3D devices" followed by the error "DXUTCreateDevice failed."
The first thing I did to troubleshoot was I tried opening another game, and I got a similar sounding error: "Failed to initialize renderer NiXAdapterDesc::GetDeviceCaps() failed."
Another game, another error: "Alpha blending with D3DFMT_A16B16G16R16F is not supported, which is required to run this game."
I tried more games, identical and similar errors kept popping up, and I could load no games. Keep in mind, all of these games worked flawlessly on my PC before.
So, I tried a system restore. Upon restoring to a restore point October 24th (Oct 24th is the oldest I could restore to, presumably because I think I updated to Windows 8.1 right before that), I got this error message upon restarting the computer:
"System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer's system files and settings were not changed.
Details:
System Restore failed to extract the file
System Restore failed to extract the file
(C:\Windows\assembly\GAC\Microsoft.DirectX) from the restore point. The restore point was damaged or was deleted during the restore."
So, I ran dxdiag, and it said my directX is up to date with no problems detected. I also found out during this process that it doesn't seem possible to update/reinstall DirectX externally - only through a Windows update. My Windows is currently up to
date.
Finally, I opened Recovery and selected "Refresh your PC without affecting your files." Tried that, said it was missing files (presumably the Microsoft.DirectX file?) and it asked me to input my recovery media. Right then I was SO happy with myself for
remembering to create a recovery disc a while back. A WINDOWS 8.0 RECOVERY DISC. I just updated to Windows 8.1, so it's saying I put in the wrong disc. I never made a Windows 8.1 recovery disc...
I haven't tried the option "Remove everything and reinstall Windows" yet for two reasons... One, that's a pain. Two, I'm probably still missing the necessary files that I was missing for the "Refresh" option.
I also did not try the "Advanced Startup" option where it will start up from a disc (my recovery disc) because the recovery disc I made is for Windows 8.0 and I'm not sure if it will work now that I am running WIndows 8.1.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. Please know that I did not come to this forum first by any means, and searched the web for quite a while without finding any fixes for my problem.
Thanks in advance for any help.
