Quote: "If you read the DarkGDK Installation Guide it explains step by step how to set up DarkGDK to work with the full version of VS2008."
Actually although the words in that guide say "Microsoft Visual C++ 2008" it's not, look at the images.. it's actually 2008 Express.
As it happens I have both C++ 2008 Pro and Express, and DarkGDK only installs (without tinkering) on Express.
The DarkGDK Wizard was already set up on the Pro version (not working) all I had to do was add additional paths to point to the DarkGDK Lib and Include directories and the DirectX SDK Include and Lib directories.
After that it was F5 and bingo, it works perfectly.
Soo now time to remove Express for me.
From nothing to functioning in 2 minutes.