NI Variable Engine is presumably selected automatically because you're using the Network Variable library. Similarly, DAQmx is checked because you're using it. You'll probably notice that everything besides the CVI Run-Time Engine, NI Variable Engine, and DAQmx are selected with partial marks (typically, green squares). A partial mark indicates that the component will be included because some other component has a dependency on it. In your case, DAQmx is the source of these dependencies. I can tell you that what you're describing is normal and expected, though I don't know the details of why all those components are needed. I do know that LabVIEW binaries will only work with the specific version of the LabVIEW runtime engine that they were compiled against, so there are probably some binaries in the driver software or MAX that necessitate the many LV RTE versions. The PXI support is a dependency of MAX. If you select it in the list, you'll see a brief description on the right side of the dialog.
We often hear frustrations about the distribution sizes, but keep in mind that if you were to install the drivers separately, you would need at least as many discs. Because of the large number of drivers/libraries/software we provide and the interdependencies between them, there is a lot of complexity to getting the right runtime components to make a given application work properly. NI tends to err on the side of installing more (through more dependencies), to reduce likelihood of some application not working because of some missing component.
Keep in mind that you can still just distribute your application without all the drivers, if you know the target system will have the drivers already, or if you're just doing an application upgrade.
Mert A.
National Instruments
