Pidgin: Using sfx for "temporary" installation and getting error 126

I use sfx files to "house" my portables, several reason for it including that I share them occassionally and seems silly to have 2 copies on zip (and yes, this is the easiest method for MOST). I've used pidgin portable since it was a beta and even before gaim beta 2 -/= and never an issue.
I have windows vista, the newest pidgin (as of 8/2008) but getting:

error loading pidgin.dll
error: (126) The specified module was not found

This probably means that GTK+ cannot be found

Seems to be similar or same issue as discussed: https://portableapps.com/node/8808

But launcher is MISSING (wtf?)
Can someone tell me if they've also gotten this with the "installed" program on zip or if they know why/how to fix this?
I'd be willing to do a little hacking with configuration files if I know what I'm looking for, and I'd really rather get wurkin
this way...

Thanks,
Geo

ps. editing this because the newest version is not working, getting same msg. Can someone please tell me why this is and howto fix?