Forums » Windows
Well, long story short, I work as a laptop repair tech, and a lot of the repairs I see are software related, so it makes sense to install the latest Micro$oft products to see how they tick.
To be honest, although Vista is a Doze, its not bad (Mac Zelots need not say *they stole MacOSX!!!!!1111oneoneone*, its soooo not true!) I think its not bad for a Doze. The built in speech recognition is nice, and actually quite useable once you train the bugger ;) Ok, onto the topic title, VO and Vista, does it work?
Well, at first I had quite a few issues with it, for one, my sound was awfull, and my joystick did not work, also updating VO didn't *stick*. Turns out the first 2 were due to Vista drivers not being all that good, finding the XP drivers for my hardware fixed both the joystick and the sound issues (your milage may vary, some XP drivers will cause the system to become unstable, even if they work!) - the updater not working was down to Vista's only really usefull feature, User Account Control.
It's a nice security measure which requires you to run applications with Administrator privleges if they want to write to the System's and Program files folder. This is not the same thing as having an account with Administrator privleges. Now what seems to happen is the files are written, but not commited to disk unless run as an Admin, this way, if you get a malicious app, and accidently run it as a normal user, any changes that get made to the System folders are un-done next time you reboot. a few ways to fix this, that are simple. 1 Run the app with Admin privleges (right click on it, or tick the box in Compatability options) 2 Install the game in a directory thats not in Program Files. The best one is 2 IMHO, because its annoying to have to click away the *this program needs your permission to run* every damn time I launch it :P
Anyways, off back to Linux now, I need to get clean! ;)
To be honest, although Vista is a Doze, its not bad (Mac Zelots need not say *they stole MacOSX!!!!!1111oneoneone*, its soooo not true!) I think its not bad for a Doze. The built in speech recognition is nice, and actually quite useable once you train the bugger ;) Ok, onto the topic title, VO and Vista, does it work?
Well, at first I had quite a few issues with it, for one, my sound was awfull, and my joystick did not work, also updating VO didn't *stick*. Turns out the first 2 were due to Vista drivers not being all that good, finding the XP drivers for my hardware fixed both the joystick and the sound issues (your milage may vary, some XP drivers will cause the system to become unstable, even if they work!) - the updater not working was down to Vista's only really usefull feature, User Account Control.
It's a nice security measure which requires you to run applications with Administrator privleges if they want to write to the System's and Program files folder. This is not the same thing as having an account with Administrator privleges. Now what seems to happen is the files are written, but not commited to disk unless run as an Admin, this way, if you get a malicious app, and accidently run it as a normal user, any changes that get made to the System folders are un-done next time you reboot. a few ways to fix this, that are simple. 1 Run the app with Admin privleges (right click on it, or tick the box in Compatability options) 2 Install the game in a directory thats not in Program Files. The best one is 2 IMHO, because its annoying to have to click away the *this program needs your permission to run* every damn time I launch it :P
Anyways, off back to Linux now, I need to get clean! ;)
One of the more recent Mac commercials touched upon that aspect of User Account Control.
The other commercials are here.
The other commercials are here.
i ran the vista thigy before it was realesed *for some erason the .iso file is still on my comp buried somewhere*
well the only diiferrence with vista was about 10 less fps and a
problem with the sound buffer that made it sound all choppy
but its not a big difference
well the only diiferrence with vista was about 10 less fps and a
problem with the sound buffer that made it sound all choppy
but its not a big difference
Preliminary tests of VO on Vista 32-bit are mostly positive. There are no noticeable problems with gfx or game performance, although this is a new box with fairly good hardware.
Alas, my motherboard's on-board sound chip isn't yet working well with Vista (even with a Vista-specific driver) and I had to plug in a USB-based external audio device that's using M$'s generic USB external audio driver. While this config works well with Vista OS sounds, DVD audio and WMA streams, in-game sound is choppy and unusable. More configuration to be done there.
Due to the newness of things I haven't yet loaded XP Pro and a Linux distro for comparative testing. More to come.
Alas, my motherboard's on-board sound chip isn't yet working well with Vista (even with a Vista-specific driver) and I had to plug in a USB-based external audio device that's using M$'s generic USB external audio driver. While this config works well with Vista OS sounds, DVD audio and WMA streams, in-game sound is choppy and unusable. More configuration to be done there.
Due to the newness of things I haven't yet loaded XP Pro and a Linux distro for comparative testing. More to come.
So in short:
Vista looks nice, but you just can't do anything with it.
Whatever happened to the days when software developers cared about efficiency? As the "New Greatest Thing", Vista should run things FASTER than XP, not slower... I guess MS never learned about Occam's Razor or heard the proverb that a designer knows they have achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Vista looks nice, but you just can't do anything with it.
Whatever happened to the days when software developers cared about efficiency? As the "New Greatest Thing", Vista should run things FASTER than XP, not slower... I guess MS never learned about Occam's Razor or heard the proverb that a designer knows they have achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
Yeah, but unfortunately we don't live in an ideal world. I think vista is a step backwards, but we don't really have much choice. We could just not support vista, but that'd be a bad business decision.
Oh, of course Guild needs to support it... MS will force all the gamers to upgrade within a couple years using intentionally non-backwards-compatable software titles like Halo 2, Office, etc. It will become impossible to network and share files and data between the new, Vista-exclusive office suites and the older XP ones. It's all part of the grand plan for the 800lb gorilla.
But there is supporting Vista, and then there is supporting Vista. I refuse to do the latter... I'll switch to Linux.
But there is supporting Vista, and then there is supporting Vista. I refuse to do the latter... I'll switch to Linux.
that's interesting.. vista is the first MS OS that i DON'T hate.. also the first dollar I've spent on a MS product where i actually felt i got my money's worth..
strange that you guys would have such problems with it when for me it's been such a huge step up stability and usability wise from XP.. then again. i installed it on a BEAST of a machine and use it solely for gaming..
strange that you guys would have such problems with it when for me it's been such a huge step up stability and usability wise from XP.. then again. i installed it on a BEAST of a machine and use it solely for gaming..
/me doesn't think Cunjo has actually tried Vista, maybe some beta version, but not actual Vista, so takes his comments with a pinch of salt.
Just a note, I've not had ANY issues with ANY games and Vista, except VO of course, i've had a problem with a few older installers, cos they check to make sure you are running Windows 2000/XP (bad design flaw, and that has nothing to do with M$)
Don't get me wrong, Vista DOES have its flaws, but no more so than XP, and for a OS thats been out what, a couple of months? Its already more stable than XP was at the release of Service Pack 1! SO STFU n00b! :P
Just a note, I've not had ANY issues with ANY games and Vista, except VO of course, i've had a problem with a few older installers, cos they check to make sure you are running Windows 2000/XP (bad design flaw, and that has nothing to do with M$)
Don't get me wrong, Vista DOES have its flaws, but no more so than XP, and for a OS thats been out what, a couple of months? Its already more stable than XP was at the release of Service Pack 1! SO STFU n00b! :P
The one complaint I hear about Microsoft above all else is security. Security issues, virii, malware in general. You know how Mac OSX deals with that in one way? If you haven't guessed it, it's asking if you want to run something you just downloaded, the "Are you sure you want to download this?" option. So clicking more times to confirm that yes, indeed, that software is good and fine to use is a step forwards in my opinion. The user is the best defense against malware.
As for Vista running worse... it runs better than XP on my laptop. It even has a longer battery life on the same settings, if you can believe that...
Oh and it sucks with VO's audio due to choppy sound. But everyone's said that.
As for Vista running worse... it runs better than XP on my laptop. It even has a longer battery life on the same settings, if you can believe that...
Oh and it sucks with VO's audio due to choppy sound. But everyone's said that.
Heh, problem with that moldy, is that a lot of people who use Widnows should not be allowed anywhere near a computer of any make.
Windows : "Do you want to run "name of well known viri"?"...
User : "I don't know what that is, but I hav liek 50 virus scanners- OK"
WindowsHax : "hahaha, like, n00b, i'm now spamming all ur friends!"
User : "I don't have any friends, I add every screen name I find to my AOL"
Windows : "BSOD"
Windows : "Do you want to run "name of well known viri"?"...
User : "I don't know what that is, but I hav liek 50 virus scanners- OK"
WindowsHax : "hahaha, like, n00b, i'm now spamming all ur friends!"
User : "I don't have any friends, I add every screen name I find to my AOL"
Windows : "BSOD"
Figured I should chime in. I have been running VO on Vista x64. The only reason is because it is a "Test" system at my work. The only issue I have seen is with the audio. A lot of static. I think I read somewhere that the issue was related to audio drivers that support EAX. Ineed my audio driver does support EAX....
Having run VO on Windows XP and Vista x32 and x64, I have to say that in terms of stability on my machine as a whole, I prefer XP.
In terms of VO's stability, I still prefer XP because the sound issue goes away. Otherwise I think Vista is not all that noticable a change in-game.
One problem that has developed on my desktop is a random lockup that is solely a Vista problem. I can't track the problem to anything specific, but this is the second time the computers started doing this. The first time took a 150 dollar repair at a computer store. XP never gave me this problem....
On the upnote, I also have an old iMac DV on my desk that takes my joystick and VO so I can always put my desktop under the desk, since that right side is a little wobbly when bots explode on the subwoofer due to the unfreezable mac.
In terms of VO's stability, I still prefer XP because the sound issue goes away. Otherwise I think Vista is not all that noticable a change in-game.
One problem that has developed on my desktop is a random lockup that is solely a Vista problem. I can't track the problem to anything specific, but this is the second time the computers started doing this. The first time took a 150 dollar repair at a computer store. XP never gave me this problem....
On the upnote, I also have an old iMac DV on my desk that takes my joystick and VO so I can always put my desktop under the desk, since that right side is a little wobbly when bots explode on the subwoofer due to the unfreezable mac.
Any word on the Vista sound issues? I have recently got a new laptop, and low and behold, it had Vista on it. No matter what I do I cannot stop the sound crackling this time. If you guys want to be able to say you support Vista, you need to get the sound problem sorted.
I don't know if this is any help, but Vista has a new feature that allows exclusive access to the audio device, and exclusive mode programs get priority on the sound pipe. I do not know if this is related to the problem with VO, but the only other application I have had issues with is Cool Edit Pro, which records fine for about a minute, but then anything after that is distorted, much like how the sounds in VO sound in Vista, this feature has been blamed for this on a support forum.
I don't know if this is any help, but Vista has a new feature that allows exclusive access to the audio device, and exclusive mode programs get priority on the sound pipe. I do not know if this is related to the problem with VO, but the only other application I have had issues with is Cool Edit Pro, which records fine for about a minute, but then anything after that is distorted, much like how the sounds in VO sound in Vista, this feature has been blamed for this on a support forum.
Hmm. I'll see what I can do.
yea i have a pavilion Dv 6000 with all thee correct audio drivers installed and im getting clicking sounds
Sorry to break it to you, but the sound hardware HP uses is, well, not the best available. I have a SoundMax BlackHawk myself, so I fall neatly in the "my priority isn't sound" category :P
Anyway, people with real soundcards have problems with this, too :)
How about the UAC issues and the fact that VO is installed, run and patched from a protected part of the system? This is solved very neatly in Linux, so I'm rather surprised it isn't fixed in Vista.
Anyway, people with real soundcards have problems with this, too :)
How about the UAC issues and the fact that VO is installed, run and patched from a protected part of the system? This is solved very neatly in Linux, so I'm rather surprised it isn't fixed in Vista.
The UAC issues are resolved, VO now runs with administrator rights (you have to click away the annoying *This application requires permission to run" dialog) if this is not the case on your system, well, you can always go into the properties and make it so ;)
While that works, I don't think it's a good solution.
Hmm, I guess VO could be installed into the user folder in windows by default too, but this might break compatibility with Windows 98/ME. %HOMEPATH% does work in 2000/XP/Vista though...