Hey, I installed DX 8.1 from 8.0a (I believe) and then dowloaded eqw version 2.2 from eqw.eqhackers.com or .net, whichever one works 

  I then unzipped all of the files into my everquest directory and made a shortcut pointing to eqw.exe.  I tried it, it worked fine, up until character select.  I tried to create a character, and my mouse pointer disappeared.  I could still click on things, but I could not locate the mouse pointer..eg it was invisible.  So I randomly clicked by way back to the char selet screen, and hit ENTER WORLD.  The mouse pointer disappeared again.  It was the exact same thing, eg I could click on things but the mouse pointer itself was invisible.  I then pressed "I" and judged the position of the pointer and tried to inspect something.  It worked, but when I released the right mouse button the windows in the transparent screen turned semi-transparent grey and the buttons turned a solid grey.  
Now, I believe the grey problem has nothing to do with eqw, because eqgame patchme does the same thing, but if I inspect different items a few times it goes back to normal...wierd

  It doesn't really matter 
that  much only EQW is very useful to me.