dplayx.dll not loaded Error

[Not Paladin]

Hello all!

I recently reinstalled SE:V on my new Windows 10 PC. I've set it up properly, however, whenever I try to start a game, it opens the new window, but then displays the error "dplayx.dll not loaded". After this, the game stays open, but is a blank white screen.

Is there any solution to this? Thanks for any help.

[ThisIsOli]

I'm having this error too

[Jusunor]

Hi. I don't normally post on these forums, however since SE V is one of my late childhood favourites and I couldn't find myself a solution anywhere from the Internet, I wanted to share how I managed to solve the exact same problem.

So the game is looking for this dplayx.dll file and can't find it anywhere. Apparently it's some old networking library part of DirectX that is no longer included in new Windows versions.

Good news is that we can get it ourselves by adding the missing DLL to the root folder of the game (C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\SpaceEmpiresV\SE5\, or alternatively whatever custom Steam directory you installed the game in).

Well, actually confusingly enough at least in the Win 10 system I'm running there was a "dplayx.dll" file included in C:\Windows\SysWOW64 (size 8 KB). This however would not work.

Since I knew that SE V was originally an Win XP game I booted up my XP SP2 virtual machine and indeed pulled a "dplayx.dll" file from C:\Windows\system32\ (size 208 KB!!!). I threw the DLL to root of the SE5 folder and sure enough, the game started working after that.

Out of curiosity I checked whether the file existed in yet another Win 7 Ultimate system and there it was as well among system files, same size and all.

Now I assume another option for getting the dplayx.dll file could be finding it somewhere from Internet, but I myself have no such web site to recommend so that you would have to figure out on your own.

I understood that this should also be fixable by installing this as an optional feature to Windows 10 from "Control Panel->Programs and Features->Turn Windows features on or off->Legacy Components"(?) but I couldn't get the game working that way.

TL;DR:
1. Get the original DLL file (size around 200KB) from either another Windows installation, Internet or possibly through the Windows 10 feature
2. Copy the DLL file to the root of the Space Empires V install folder
3. This should allow the game to find the missing DLL file

Also, if you have to run the game in a Windows compability mode and it complains you about Steam.dll missing, you can solve it the same way by copying the Steam.dll from Steam install folder.

[Mac]

I ve got the same Problem. but i found a solution on http://wiki.spaceempires.net/index.php/Windows_10/8.1:_dplayx.dll_not_loaded_Error

it is very simple.

On Windows 10/8.1 you can find this Error: dplayx.dll not loaded Error
To solve it:
1) Press [Windows + X] or open the Control Panel and look for "Programs and Features"
2) Click on "Turn Windows features on or off" on the left menu
3) Look for "Legacy Components" and tick "Direct Play"
4) Wait for it to install and confirm it's done
5) Reboot normally
Thanks to Mandra and Jusunor to find and share the solution.

[jake_kile]

Hey guys(girls) thanks for this. I got a new win10 back in summer and this game was one of first
6-7 games I re-downloaded, but of course wouldn't launch; then last night wa-la!!!

thanks alot.

jmk

[Canek]

Originally posted by Mac:

I ve got the same Problem. but i found a solution on http://wiki.spaceempires.net/index.php/Windows_10/8.1:_dplayx.dll_not_loaded_Error

it is very simple.

On Windows 10/8.1 you can find this Error: dplayx.dll not loaded Error
To solve it:
1) Press [Windows + X] or open the Control Panel and look for "Programs and Features"
2) Click on "Turn Windows features on or off" on the left menu
3) Look for "Legacy Components" and tick "Direct Play"
4) Wait for it to install and confirm it's done
5) Reboot normally
Thanks to Mandra and Jusunor to find and share the solution.

Confirmed fix as for May 2018, Win 10. Thanks!

[Cryptc]

Confirmed to work on windows 11, june 2022, but the process was slightly different:

-Search for the windows features in the Taskbar search box.
-Click on the Turn Windows features on or off search result.
-Find out Legacy Components and click the plus icon.
-Tick the DirectPlay.

[fred]

when i ínstalled the gamy today on steam on windows 10 it installed this direct play for itself. not bad!