I am trying to get the 'tropical mod' to work. The problem is that it keeps wanting to screw with me .exe and the game wont run. If i dont patch then I get the directx files unavailable problems.

Isnt there just a simple plugin version I can use that doesnt demand that I modify the .exe? I have to keep reinstalling the game each time I try to patch because it screws things up...

Can I just play my game now?

You could play the game without any mods, only the fan patch. I cannot recommend that though but maybe for a single play-through.

Neither could I get the mod to work properly with GOG's version on Windows 7 but I did get it to work on Windows XP with the disc version many years ago.

Geeze, do you forum people not understand how insulting you are? 'You could just quit!'

Its like going to a mechanic shop and telling them my transmission is acting up and their answer is 'get a bike!' Then why dont we just nuke the internet and not have anything anymore? Might as well have mass suicide... Welcome to the internet...

While there is indeed quite a sense in it, as that guy is just an answer waster, who will just usually jump stuff with some irrelevant stories of his life thats supposedly remotely related to a theme, the quoted part is actually either manipulative or wrong. Mechanic shop is a place where you can expect a skilled help for exchange of your goods (and even there you actually could get an answer you decried as absurd, as in case you would be judged by personnel there as not expected to bring enough goods for required work, for example), and forums analogy would be some roadside cafe at best. You definitely could ask for some weird stuff there, but you obviously cant rely on "being served on demand". You could find a guy who will help you with transmission for free as result, or you could get a "friendly" advise of getting a bike instead. People there arent even expected to get something from you in return, unlike your example, so they are way less expected to deliver an actual work for you (they still can ofc). But tis no reason to blame cafe for your problems and fault.