Yeah, I ran the DirectX web installer/updater off of Microsoft's website a couple of weeks ago when trying to use the 1.08ce sightjacker. As for xfire, I tried it while it was off. I'll probably try reinstalling HCE, updating it to 1.07 (with a custom ui so it doesn't ask me to update past that) just to verify that yelo isn't the problem.
On an unrelated note: Wow, cracked hce 1.00 has 500+ players at the moment. Sure they're all pirates and there's like one or two dedicated servers, but I wish 1.08ce had those kinds of numbers daily. =(
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