Gaming on Vista: What it means.

[Lt_Dan]

you're absolutely right about the secret of monkey island! i could think of a few that could.
although some are great as they are even the outdated graphics.
something like when valve republished Half Life with the source engine.
some of the older games mentioned wouldn't work on a 32bit Xp.
in any case, did anyone try to install HL1 source on vista64? i have trouble running the installer.
it worked on my previous xp32 sys.

 

[sidewing]

How can you install Directx 9.0c from DVD [Call of Duty 4].

It keeps telling me that it is not approved.

Do I need to remove Directx 10?

 

[Snake3yes]

Just do the normal install of CoD4 and it will install all the directx you need.

 

[sidewing]

Thanks for reply.

Nope, The DirectX 9 doesn't allow me to install [on Vista 64]. The kicks me out every time [both multi and single.]

 

[Redviper]

What does this mean?
This means that with each new installment of Windows that there is a new set of standards for system requirements to run the operating system. Windows Vista is more hungry than Windows XP when it comes to your system's resources. Everything you run will run slower on Vista due to the simple fact that Vista uses more of your system, so, do not post your frame rates and ask us, "why are they lower!?".

This dips very close to being FUD. For hardcore gamers, who spend hard on balanced, compatible hardware, often, any dip in performance is going to be minimal at worst. The obvious problem with the above quote is that it doesn't take into account that time-worn phrase: "Your mileage may vary!" Also, Vista is a lot more than just "it requires more resources than XP." There's a fair amount that under the hood that's designed to make gaming smoother and less prone to the sort of hiccups and misbehaviors that've characterized PC gaming up until now.

My reccomendations!
To even run vista reasonably, you will want a minimum of two gigs of ram. If you intend to game on Vista, begin looking at the prices of directx10 videocards (that is, the Geforce 8800 series and the AMD/ATI r600 series) and invest in 6gb of ram.

Actually, MS says that 1gig is minimum for Vista. I would imagine that this ceiling is fine for basic operation. The gaming industry just made the (quiet) transition to a full 2gig for a decent gamer rig. In some cases, like Supreme Commander Commander, the developers decided to re-engineer their code back to below 2gig. Moreover, and importantly, game developers aren't in the business of punking the machines of their potential buyer base. In short, they want to sell games, not produce technological wonders that can't run on comtemporay hardware. 4gig is enough for now if you can afford it, and 2gig wll do in a pinch.

 

[najer]

To even run vista reasonably, you will want a minimum of two gigs of ram.


You don't need this from the base system. People are always complaining that vista uses up so much RAM so why not solve it with a Vista-only feature. Simply plug in a USB stick (preferably 2gb or more) and then a small menu comes up. Select the option Use for Windows ready boost. Then select it to use all of the space on the stick. The USB stick will then need to be plugged in all the time. The storage space from it is then used as RAM, e.g. a 2gb stick will give almost 2gb bonus RAM. This is excellent for laptops as they often don't come with that much RAM, certainly not enough for many games if you're running vista, however the laptops often have multiple USB ports so there's plenty of space for the sticks!!

 

[Redviper]

Readyboost isn't added RAM so much as a HDD with faster seek time. Vista caches (based on your usage patterns) often used programs/data files on a RB drive (which needs to be certified as fast enough) to avoid having to spin up your disk for it.

 

[najer]

ok thanks for clarifying that!!

 

[Redviper]

Anytime, najer!

 

[Redviper]

How can you install Directx 9.0c from DVD [Call of Duty 4].

It keeps telling me that it is not approved.

Do I need to remove Directx 10?

You shouldn't need to do anything to have full DX fuctionality, since DX9c is a subset of DX10, not a separate install.

 

[WildEagle]

I've got a big list of games I have working on Vista 64 without any problems.

Deal Or No Deal
Sacred Underworld version 2.28
Golden Nugget - Windows 95 game - works if run in XPSP2 Mode
Dungeon Siege: Legends Of Aranna
Dungeon Siege 2
Masque Slots 1 & 2
Microsoft Casino
Midtown Madness 2
Sid Meiers Pirates
Command & Conquer 3
Command & Conquer Generals
Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour
Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth
Lord Of The Rings: Battle For Middle Earth 2
Lord Of The Rings: Rise Of The Witch King
Neverwinter Nights 1 & 2
Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask Of The Betrayer
C&C Red Alert 2
Bioshock
Loki: Heroes Of Mythology
Two Worlds
Titan Quest & Titan Quest: Immortal Throne
Company Of Heroes
Quake 4 patched to version 1.42
Call of Duty 2
Mechwarrior 2
Emperor: Battle For Dune
Quake 2 - patched to version 3.20

 

[rossisboss07]

"and invest in 6gb of ram."

Sorry if its off topic at the moment but I read that as the first thing i saw in this post and this is what I thought...

WTF?!?!? 6 Gigs huh? dude i was running 2 GBs before i got my current 4 GBs and i tell you every game i had ran fine, including the crysis demo AND once i got my 4 gigs i have YET to see the usage bar reach even 80% !! so 4 GBs is all you need

MY recommendation for a gaming PC for Vista x64 would be...
dual core CPU, 2.4 GHz or above,
3 GBs 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, (speed DOES matter some)
at LEAST an Nvidia 8600 graphics card, (8800 recommended)
and a 7200 rpm hard drive..

with that for a setup you will have enough power to game and not break the piggy bank ...a 'Gaming' Computer doesn't have to cost any more than $1500 at current prices

 

[WildEagle]

"and invest in 6gb of ram."

Sorry if its off topic at the moment but I read that as the first thing i saw in this post and this is what I thought...

WTF?!?!? 6 Gigs huh? dude i was running 2 GBs before i got my current 4 GBs and i tell you every game i had ran fine, including the crysis demo AND once i got my 4 gigs i have YET to see the usage bar reach even 80% !! so 4 GBs is all you need

MY recommendation for a gaming PC for Vista x64 would be...
dual core CPU, 2.4 GHz or above,
3 GBs 800 MHz DDR2 RAM, (speed DOES matter some)
at LEAST an Nvidia 8600 graphics card, (8800 recommended)
and a 7200 rpm hard drive..

with that for a setup you will have enough power to game and not break the piggy bank ...a 'Gaming' Computer doesn't have to cost any more than $1500 at current prices

I'm in agreement with you on the specs. My total cost, because I went SLI was around $2000.00, back in June of last year, because I bought two videocards, a Core 2 Duo E6600 cpu, 4GB's of Crucial DDR2 800 memory, and my ASUS P5N32-E SLI motherboard.

Gaming wise, I haven't had no trouble running anything, espicially Bioshock, in 1680 by 1050 on my widescreen monitor.

6GB's at this stage is overkill.

 

[rossisboss07]

Yep, I'm waiting for prices to drop for my second card. I figured 1 of the newest cards could probably run all the new games for a year (or more) , so there's no sense in spending more of my limited income (I'm 18)... And I'm very impressed with the core 2 processors, they overclock very easily with a large cooler on them, I had my E6600 easily up to 3.1 Ghz with more room to go, but my case at the time was too hot, so I now have the Antec 900 case, and am going to re-overclock it (my CPU cooler is the ZEROtherm NV-120)

 

[WildEagle]

I personally haven't seen a need to overclock nothing, everything at stock speed is fast enough for me.

My two ASUS 640MB 8800GTS cards were $430.00 a peice when I bought them. I'm not buying much of anything, as I'll admit this, I've got a limited income, and I do plan on one last computer purchase, hopefully soon and that is either the Antec Nine Hundred Case or the Antec P182 case.

 

[johngalt]

Turn off Aero and see if that helps - in fact, you can set the game to run in compatibility mode that will accomplish much the same (disable Visual Themes, I beleive is the setting).

 

[skunksmash]

well i just bought ''mass effect'' & it runs like a dream everything maxed @ 1680x1050

personally i think vista games very well...

long live the 8800

 

[johngalt]

Yeah, I knew you'd like ME - I have gotten pretty far into the game but I am desperately trying to finish up all the side quests first before getting into the really meaty ones- and have gotten my arse kicked more times than I can count.

I started a new profile also going in as an Adept as opposed to a military man - it is more fun cause I can stand back and let the other two grunts do most of the heavy fighting and I can do long range power snipes - :P

 

[Chrisdizick]

Forgive my freshness, what/where is Aero and how do I disable it?

Also, I changed the video settings in CS to run it using D3D, instead of OpenGL, and it hasn't crashed on me! Sweet. Although, CS runs much more smoothly and seems less demanding in OpenGL.

Thanks for the help

 

[johngalt]

Vista comes with the Aero interface which is automatically enabled if your video card has enough power behind it to support running it - well, you Video card (GPU) and processor (CPU). all of it together, though, tends to eat a lot of RAM and processing power, and disabling it prior to entering a game will sometimes help boost your processing power available to your games.

See http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/75413-aero-glass-transparency.html for more information.