Matrix Games Forums

ORIGINAL: nim8or

How 'bout somebody come up with something better that people actually want to buy and use and we let the market take care of things instead of begging for more government intervention? I'm in a similar position to dinsdale; I have 6 PCs in my home (5 children) - 2 laptops with XP Pro (one for work) and 3 PC desktops with Vista and a Linux box. I have over 100 games (literally) and only 1 game doesn't work on Vista, Warlords III: Darklords Rising (which also has major issues with XP because it was published in the 90s). I've run Apple OSx, have a Linux box and everything else you can name but for gaming nothing compares to the MS operating systems. Vista doesn't appear to be an issue for me at all, but then again I don't pirate software, download 'free' music and video, get my games from torrent files and porn sites, and all of the other wonderful things people do with their computers. I care about computer security and run a tight ship and the OS isn't the problem. Did I have to download a couple of .dll files from time to time? Sure, -- big deal! Compared to running a Linux box and trying to do even the most basic tasks, when all you have to do is download a .dll file or change your setting to Admin mode or change the compatibility settings it's a cakewalk.

People who try to piece their own hardware together without the expertise to do it correctly... now I can't speak for them; I have no doubt they experience problems. Just don't come crying or trying to blame anyone else... but then again I wouldn't construct a sedan with miscellaneous spare parts from a multitude of manufacturers, throw in a GM engine and then complain about GM because my sedan didn't perform perfectly either. Then again, maybe I'm just lucky and Microsoft really is evil...

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

Well, cap in hand I come before this hallowed forum, humbly admitting to the removal of Vista from my once pristine machine and its total replacement with XP Pro - good ol' XP Pro... after a mere 2.5 months.

12 blue screens from a brand new rig and some very suspect sound from a latest-chip-ready mobo caused the fear. Nervousness could not escape a once glorious experience. Would a program be compatible? What extra hardware would I need replaced? A big $2000 bill to upgrade my Adobe Creative Suite loomed. Would it all be worth it?

Dare say, yes. The sages here foretold.

Three things finally made my mind up:

1. Absolutely no new software or gaming innovation for the Vista platform in the last few months.

2. XP vastly outperforming Vista (Dx 9 vs Dx10) in Crysis by 24% according to PC User February 2008.

3. Bill Gates in an interview laughing; "let's wait till the new Windows comes out and I'll tell you then", to the question: "What would you have changed about Vista"? (Windows 7 is supposedly slated for 2009).

There are a few things I'll miss. Vista did look shmick. The new IE was nice. I disabled Aero transparency as it really was an unnecessary drain even with 4Gb RAM. The packaged games were very cool and the Sidebar was a great, modern touch (which would disappear from the desktop btw once you ventured away from it <roll eyes>).

Microsoft was amazing through all this. When my vendor called to enquire about the official MS Vista Roll Back policy, they heard: "Yes of course you can but you'll need your XP disc"! How nice and useless for a brand new Vista rig, Vista disc in hand. At least there are still XP copies for sale but they are becoming few and far between.

My advice, grab one while you can.

To be honest, blue screens aside - they can be fixed - but it was that Bill Gates interview that sealed it for me - the message delivered by his honest laugh: "Don't worry about Vista. It won't be out there all that long..."

Dare say... I was told.

ORIGINAL: marcusm

Most important argument. MOO2 doesn't work properly in Vista. That makes it no go asap .

ORIGINAL: ravinhood
Hey Nim8or I don't know if it will work on Vista but I know it does on XP. If you are having lockup issues with Warlords III, on your command line after .exe type in
-wincursor (that's a space and a minus sign then wincursor next to the minus sign) I had issues with Warlords III both editions until I found out that little tweak and both of them work now without locking up or crashing.

If you don't know where your command line is make a shortcut of your Warlords .exe icon and then open the shortcuts properties, at the top you should see something like C:\Warlords III\Warlords.exe (depends on what drive your game and what folder name you have it stored actually), but, after that Warlords.exe (just type) -wincursor
Just be sure and put a space inbetween the minus sign and the last e in exe. which should finally look like this:
C:\Warlords III\Warlords.exe -wincursor

Hope that works for yah.

ORIGINAL: marcusm

... My collleague has a 3000 dollar graphics card that doesnt work properly in Vista (a FireGL card).
How can one take an OS like that seriously?

Mac Book Pro and Leopard will be my next choice if MS doesn't get their act together. Works fine with XP on double boot
when I need to do stuff in C#.
...

ORIGINAL: nim8or

but if you're talking about state-of-the-art, cutting edge hardware ANY operating system will have problems of some kind or another with at least some of it. Why not place some of the blame on the hardware manufacturers for the shoddy state of their release drivers instead of pointing every finger at the OS?