jagantoe: Getting the XAudio2_9.dll is more complicated as you can't just do the same trick as above for XAudio2_7 (W7) or XAudio2_8 (W8.1). The good news is that Microsoft made a separate version of the dll compatible with windows 7 and windows 8.1. Google "Developer guide for redistributable version of XAudio 2.9" to find documentation. (I'm unable to post links for some reason.)
In short, you need to install the Microsoft.XAudio2.Redist package in Visual Studio, create a trivial project that uses the package and build it. In the build directory there will be an XAudio2_9Redist.dll somewhere, copy it to your game directory and rename it to XAudio2_9.dll.
Hey this was helpful. In an effort to get BFA running I uninstalled all visual studio and microsoft runtimes on my computer. I didn't want to go through the trouble of putting VS back on my computer and any future readers of this thread may not want to go through that trouble. You still gotta do a programmer-y thing to get it to work but this is what I did based of your findings.
1. I downloaded
nuget.exe as instructed from Microsoft (I used the dist.nuget.org latest nuget.exe link there) and moved the exe file to my Desktop. Nuget is a package manager so it will allow you to download xaudio & 'dependencies'. You can delete this once completed.
2. Moved it to my Desktop for simplicity sake
3. Went to start menu and clicked the CLI Terminal '
Command Prompt' icon (you may need to search for this)
4. Once terminal was started I typed (ignore quotes) '
cd Desktop' (you may need to put the full path in to your desktop) & pressed enter showing a
change of path to 'C:\Users\<My Username>\Desktop' 5. Found the
nuget.org package page and looked '
Package Manager' instructions
6. Noted the instruction 'Install-Package
Microsoft.XAudio2.Redist -Version 1.2.8' (we will ignore the first part) which informed me I would need the portion '
Microsoft.XAudio2.Redist -Version 1.2.8'
7. Went back to terminal and typed (ignore quotes) '
nuget.exe install Microsoft.XAudio2.Redist -Version 1.2.8' (if you are copy-pasting you'll need to right-click in terminal to paste) and pressed enter
8. Went to my Desktop and found '
Microsoft.XAudio2.Redist.1.2.8' which is a folder nuget downloaded
9. Within that folder I made my way to 'build\native\release\bin\x64\xaudio2_9redist.dll' & duplicated/copied and change the name to '
XAudio2_9.dll'. This file is 947 KB. Note: if you are
not a 64-bit computer/OS you'll need the x86 version
10. Moved to '
C:\Windows\System32'
11.
Ran BFA From Steam (sorry I'm a steam user). Since I had cleaned everything off my computer it took a good
5 minutes to start after the initial quicktime screens I didn't want to download from those janky sites so I went this route. I definitely started with the Unreal Distribution Error; but after nuking anything Visual Studio C++ on my computer I just re-installed the latest Unreal Runtime & DirectX (cleared caches & reboot) I still had this one issue with the audio. I feel much better using this 947kb file over the old 247kb .. gives me a better sense that it'll work :P
TLDR;
Download nuget.exe from microsoft & move it where you can find it from terminal aka. Command Prompt
Open terminal (command prompt) and cd into the folder
Execute this command (without the quotes): '
nuget.exe install Microsoft.XAudio2.Redist -Version 1.2.8'
That'll provide the file you need
Microsoft.XAudio2.Redist.1.2.8\build\native\release\bin\x64\xaudio2_9redist.dll (use x86 for non-64-bit)
Copy/Move that file to
Windows\System32 and ensure its named
XAudio2_9.dll Play the game