Getting DirectX 7.0 to run on Windows 98 SE inside of a VMware Workstation Player (v14) VM

I'm trying to get DirectX 7.0 to be able to run on the Windows 98 SE that I installed from an OEM install CD-ROM disc. The Windows 98 SE actually came pre-installed with DirectX 6.0, but after installing The Sims in my virtual machine (for which I'm using VMware Workstation Player v. 14), I was prompted to install the more recent (at the time, obviously) DirectX 7 that Maxis, the game producer, included with The Sims. After doing so, and after installing VMware Tools, switching the display resolution to ~16m colours and 1024x768 display resolution, and then attempting to play the game using the installed 1024x768 executable, I get the following error:

Game cannot be started because:

DirectX 7, or Service Pack 3 for NT4, is required. It could not be located.

Anyway, can someone provide me some instructions on next steps here?

DirectX is not supported in VMWare for Windows 9.x rather starting from Win2k onwards.