I've just discovered (after ripping nearly all of my hair out and throwing my computer out of the window) that all of my problems with my games are not, in fact, due to problem with any of my drivers, or a faulty directx installation. They are caused by my Insteon USB timer. Simply plugging the damned thing in completely disallows me to play any games. They will not start at all, rather giving me an error message referring to a file called dinput8.dll, which is related to direct input devices (such as some joysticks), and is part of DirectX.
Apparently the folks at Smarthome don't see this as a big deal and have instructed others to simply disconnect the device whenever you want to play games. So I guess it's now a choice of lighting control or entertainment, which sucks, but would suck even more if you want to dim the lights when your playing on a projection screen, or if you happen to be playing when your automation software is supposed to turn on your lights on a timer. It's bad enough that my roommate has to listen to the warzone going on in the living room, but now the lights cannot be controlled either. Just great.
Anyway, that's enough complaining from me. Just wanted to give everyone a warning in case you were thinking of switching, or if you have had similar problems and are at your wits end.
Apparently the folks at Smarthome don't see this as a big deal and have instructed others to simply disconnect the device whenever you want to play games. So I guess it's now a choice of lighting control or entertainment, which sucks, but would suck even more if you want to dim the lights when your playing on a projection screen, or if you happen to be playing when your automation software is supposed to turn on your lights on a timer. It's bad enough that my roommate has to listen to the warzone going on in the living room, but now the lights cannot be controlled either. Just great.
Anyway, that's enough complaining from me. Just wanted to give everyone a warning in case you were thinking of switching, or if you have had similar problems and are at your wits end.