Topic: vista

[Gad]

I have had the disc for Vista 64 Ultimate sitting here for a few weeks.  I can't decided whether or not to make the jump from XP 32.  It seems all of my hardware is better supported by Vista but I don't want to lose any functionality with my games.  It would be nice to have all of my ram usable though.   

[anomaly]

i did it and tried to adjust... but there was just too many cons for me to keep it installed. so im back on Xp now and not really looking back. Xp starts slower and isnt as snappy as vista 64bit but i can do everything i am used to with out a hitch. i may try again later after another service pack but im not holding my breath... im feeling another "windows ME" coming on.

[Neocorteqz]

Still using Vista, still loving it.

[aldog]

Vista Ultimate x64 has worked flawlessly for me.  I've heard Business Ult. is a bit stickier for driver signing, etc.

It is nice to have all the RAM cranking away.

[mephisto_kur]

My wife and my son both have Vista Business 64.  There are no driver signing issues.  Vista works very well, and it is my main OS.

My suggestion, Anomaly, is that you load Vista and get used to it.  W7 is very similar, and your learning curve is only going to get steeper with time.

Vista, while not great at launch, is a very robust and stable OS, and is NO WINDOWS ME.  I supported that piece of crap.  Loaded it, ran it for awhile myself.  there is no comparison.

[anomaly]

ummmm get use to not playing games? 

its not my learning curve... i guess i made it sound like i dont like navigating thru the OS or whatever in my last post but that wasnt my intent.

i would say maybe OS/64bit support is my main issue, maybe not necessarily Microsoft's fault. if i maybe went with the 32bit version i might have less issues.

trust me man i have tried a ton of different stuff to get vista 64 to work. including 3 installs in probably what was less than 3 months. i couldn't stand the random game crashes (back into windows not BOSD). its the biggest pain in the ass and no it wasnt my OC that was causing it (tried running underclocked too). it was mostly a steam issue i would assume because 90% of the games i played on steam did this regardless of the games engine. Fall out 3's sound issues had me pulling my hair out all over the support forums (Creative and Bethesda) and yes that game would crash back into windows on me as well (not nearly as often as steam games but still annoying). also my evga overlay wouldn't work ether

so yea pretty much anything to do with games had 1 or more issues in my senerio, which considering this install was on my gaming rig was the deal breaker.

i loved the OS aside from the issues with games. in fact the only thing i can say that i didn't like about vista 64 other than the UAC was the defragmenter.

seriously man think about who your saying this to... the guy that loves to make overly complicated stuff work for a hobby.

every where i did look for help i realized i wasn't the ONLY person with the issues. but the thing that sucked was reading a entire thread just to get to the end and realized the problem was never solved. or even worse when a moderator says "this is a know issue and we are working on it".... like how long has the OS been out? really?

the sound issues with fallout3 are not isolated to creative if i remember right its a OpenAL issue and if im not mistaken im not the only one in this clan that has issues with steam and vista 64. i really did give it a valid attempt. if i could get the issues with my games fixed i would never look back to XP for anything other than a OS for my older systems.  but... yea, i dont know how to fix it. 

[mephisto_kur]

I'm not going to argue.  Frankly, you don't have a choice since gaming is moving ahead of you whether you like it or not.  Windows 7 *is* Vista, only prettier.  I will make a couple of points, however:

1.  Underclocking = overclocking when it comes to stability.  Any time you mess with the factory settings for speed of any part of your system, you introduce variables.  I have *personally* had underclocks be just as unstable as overclocks, and this is after the mobo makers got it through their heads to put in separators.  Not only that, but there is plenty of anecdotal evidence and first person accounts on most hardware sites that tell you about this.

2.  I have played most of the games in my collection of modern titles going back to doom.  The *only* issue I have seen is that Source games don't exit properly.  This is something Valve refuses to do anything about, and effects Windows 7.  All issues I have had with Fallout3 have been fixed over time as they have patched the game.  these issues are not Vista specific, and there are plenty of XP users that have many of the issues.  Your XP install having no issues with Fallout3 is quite simply *luck* and not anything to do with XP being any better for Fallout3.

3.  Many issues with modern games are Nvidia's fault.  In the 18x.x driver line, they made changes to how OpenGL and Directx calls were processed because of bringing the Physx crap online.  Because Nvidia is hell bent on keeping these changes in place, People have experienced graphics issues in XP on up to W7.  Nvidia's refusal to budge had the issue fixed by Microsoft in XP, and by Microsoft in SP2 for Vista, and included in W7 at install.

4.  Lastly, what the hell is it about you people and defraggers (fricken Gene)?  Your drive has to be SERIOUSLY fragmented for you to experience *any* issues because of it.  A level of fragmentation that is simply not possible with any of the new OSes.

I'm not attacking or debating, I just want to make sure that people understand what is misinformation, anecdotal, or straight fact.

[GeNe]

4.  Lastly, what the hell is it about you people and defraggers (fricken Gene)?  Your drive has to be SERIOUSLY fragmented for you to experience *any* issues because of it.  A level of fragmentation that is simply not possible with any of the new OSes.

HEY!  Cheap shot.

[anomaly]

well im jealous of the people not having the issues with Vista 64 im having, cuz i really do like the OS and it sucks not being able to use it for what i want to use it for.

thanks for your help meph, ill try your suggestions and see if they help.

[DAwG]

actually I had an issue where my game would act like its starting and then just quit.  It turns out I had to go in and give steam or the game Admin permissions and then it worked just fine

[anomaly]

nice! how did you do that?

thats what about half my Steam crashes do and 100% of my Fallout3 crashes. i wounder if it worked for me if it would fix my random crashes as well. the only thing i ever tried was running in "Xp compatibility mode" and that didn't change a thing...

wait.. i mean, thats ridiculous. your just lucky. 
 

[mephisto_kur]

There are ways to disable or tone down the UAC.  Some people found that it helped things.

[mephisto_kur]

HEY!  Cheap shot.

Those are the best kind.

[mephisto_kur]

well im jealous of the people not having the issues with Vista 64 im having, cuz i really do like the OS and it sucks not being able to use it for what i want to use it for.

thanks for your help meph, ill try your suggestions and see if they help.

I can understand your annoyance with Vista.  I'm no fanboy - trust me.  But The OS has grown by leaps and bounds and really has gotten substantially better in a very short amount of time.

[anomaly]

There are ways to disable or tone down the UAC.  Some people found that it helped things.

"i think" i already have mine completely turned off along with defender. would that cause issues? i only did it to avoid the popups.