Quote: "ok can I use the other software in conjuction with DarkGDK? such as Dark Matter, Physics, all that stuff in the Ultimate Enhancements package?"
As Chris said, NO! (Except DarkMatter as it is a pack of objects, not plugins). Any plugin available for DarkBasic Pro will only with DGDK if it's developer release a version compatible to it. It's a bad thing that plugins for DBPro will only work with it.
On the other hand, you can use any general purpose plugin available to .NET. Examples: Physics, Net, Input, etc. Of cource they won't understand a thing about DGDK! But if you know what you're doing, you can use them. And I find it easier to write plugins for DGDK than for DBPro.
Quote: "I downloaded DarkEngine and I found the DGDKLib dll here on the forum, is that not what I need? And DarkEngine's dll's wont register. ???
Do they need to be located somewhere specific or something? "
DarkEngine is just a Plugin for DGDK.NET, so you still have to buy DGDK.NET to use it. Unfortunately there's no Trial Version available. Just FYI: DarkEngine is free.
I hope this info helps. If you haven't buy DGDK.NET or DBPro, I recommend you to try DBPro's Demo and search this forum for some of DGDK.NET code and see for yourself what you prefer to write games with. Without any plugins, both have the same power, but C# is OOP (although DGDK.NET commands are not, but this can be resolved with DarkEngine).
If you are an experienced C# programmer or if it is the language you plan to work everyday with, then go for DGDK.NET. Game development is far from easy, but the results make it worth it.
Best regards,
Thiago