Devart dotConnect for Oracle won't install/integrate with Visual Studio 2017

Question

I have inherited a legacy .NET project that used dotConnect for Oracle. When I started on this project I downloaded the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 Pro that was available from Microsoft. When I configured my development environment, I installed dotConnect version 8.4 which is what the other members on my team are using. My company has not upgraded. dotConnect 8.4 does not seem to integrate with the latest version of Visual Studio 2017. My colleagues are using Visual Studio 2017 version 15.9.4 with dotConnect 8.4. When I install dotConnect 8.4 with the latest version of Visual Studio 2017 Pro from the Microsoft site, it does not give me the "Oracle" option in the tools menu of Visual Studio 2017 Pro and the existing solution from our repository fails to Build with dotConnect being the first build error. I have checked with the Devart support and they tell me that Visual Studio 2017 is not supported in dotConnect for Oracle 8.4 and I would need to upgrade to Version 9. I did install the trial version of the latest version of dotConnect version 9 or higher and I did see the "Oracle" option in the tools, but my solution did not build with it. My colleagues and bosses have no idea why 8.4 works in their environments. I am in the process of trying to get a copy of Visual Studio Pro 2017 Pro version 15.9.4 to see if dotConnect for Oracle 8.4 installs, but that is going to take time if I can even get it. Does anyone have any ideas on how to force Oracle 8.4 to work with the latest Visual Studio 2017? Am I missing something? I am just not sure if our how I can convince my boss and team to move the latest dotConnect for Oracle when the rest of the team running fine with dotConnect version 8.4. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.