So i'm getting ready to install Vista...

[Frith-Rae]

I've tried to read through as many of the pages posted here about various problems and solutions to runing Hz on Vista.

As my new computer has just arrived, Vista is about to be installed on it.

I'm having to install 64bit Ultimate Vista as I'm running 8gig of Ram, and I don't want to run something that won't recognize what I put into it .

When I mentioned to some other non-Hz players about the difficulty I was given these two workaround suggestions. Perhaps you guys can tell me if either of these will actually WORK...

Told to run a Virtual PC through Vista and play that way...

Partition the HD to have XP run on one of the partitions and use that to play HZ...


So - given that I'll be installing from scratch and can set this up in the most optimum way in order to still play Hz at home - what do you guys think is the more "foolproof" way of doing so?

[Zexoin]

I think best is to dual boot with XP, but make sure to install XP first, then Vista.

[Steelclaw]

None of the above, install a flavor of Linux built for amd64 (not x86, that's only 32 bit) and run HZ in wine.

I can say that playing HZ in a virual machine, such as with VMWare is insanely slow. We're talking single-digit framerates. Don't even go there!

[Frith-Rae]

I think best is to dual boot with XP, but make sure to install XP first, then Vista.

really?? You'd recommend formatting and partitioning the HD with XP??

Cuz my Ultimate is 64 bit and XP isn't...so I would think I'd want to format and partition for the 64 bit OS??

But maybe that's got nothing to do with anything...

[Kumu Honua]

Got the rubber chicken and goats blood?.....

[Steelclaw]

There's nothing special about how the drive is partitioned as far as whether you're going to run a 32 or 64 bit OS. Just make sure not to 'upgrade', install over, or wipe the entire disk when installing the second OS.

[Zexoin]

oh you can install XP after Vista but it's a little more tricky (sorry not good enough in english to explain that properly, I'm sure you can find good tutorials on the web to get it done correctly )

[Vaz]

But maybe that's got nothing to do with anything...

Indeed.

32-bit OSes can run on 64-bit processors, to which hard drives and their filesystems are generally unrelated. And you can have a 32-bit OS and a 64-bit OS side-by-side, or even running within each other via virtual machine software. But as has been mentioned, a virtual machine would be an undesirable solution for running 3D games.

So, best to go with dual-booting. It has no disadvantages except that you can't run software that doesn't work on XP at the same time as you run software that doesn't work on Vista (i.e. Istaria), and vice versa, since you have to reboot to load the other OS. But I expect there are very few programs that run on Vista and can't on XP.

The other possible disadvantage is that some of your hardware might not have drivers for XP. ...Oh well, blame the company that made the hardware in question and look for a community building alternative drivers.

[Frith-Rae]

oh oh, well I won't be running anything simultaneously - the ONLY thing that will be loaded in with the XP partitoin is Horizons. That's it...nothing else.

Evertyhing else will be in Vista, I'll only have to reboot when I play Hz - which right now is less than once a week heh..

And yea its ok if my hardware outpaced XP I don't need it to recognize all 8 gig or both video cards or something - just good enough to work .

So does the Virtual PC option even work?? Or is it having the same issues as Vista regular?

[Steelclaw]

So does the Virtual PC option even work?? Or is it having the same issues as Vista regular?

A VMWare instance running XP works for HZ, it's just
v-e--r---y-----s------l-------o--------w.

You're better off loading HZ on a laptop if you're going to go the virtualization route.

[Frith-Rae]

ahhh okey, I'll tell him that - last time I tried to argue with himn about it he was like "gimme one good reason..." LOL

And I was like "look I dont know the specfiics, but these people been trying to fix this crap for months and if they say dual boot is the way to go..I'm going that way..."

*grins*

I just don't want to have to reformat and start the whole process over again if it didn't work Virtual PC wise..so I like the dual boot option for that aspect as well .

[Spirit]

I think best is to dual boot with XP, but make sure to install XP first, then Vista.

Hey Frith!

I'd most definitely get a dual boot with XP going. The easiest way is to install XP first, then Vista since Vista will install its own boot-screen to select which OS you want to start. If you install XP after Vista, it deletes the Vista boot area and it'll only start XP. You'd then need to use a program like Vistabootpro running from XP to repair the Vista bootloader and add an entry to boot Vista. It's easier than it sounds. I've done it twice with two pc's that had Vista pre-installed.

If it won't boot either, you can use a Vista dvd to repair the installation so you can at least get into Vista and try again with Vistabootpro from there.

I would most certainly recommend running Horizons from XP rather than Wine, since from XP it will just work with no faffing about. I've read variable reports about running from Wine. I'm most certainly *not* going to get involved in any Linux vs XP argument. I'm simply stating the best option for running Horizons.

If your XP is only going to be there to run Horizons, you'd probably get away with a partition around 20gb or so to be safe.

Remember to post back here with whatever you do!

Rakku

[Frith-Rae]

oh I will!! And yea I was going to give it a 30-40 gb partition on my new giant HD, just to be nice to it lol...

Sooo okey, XP first then it is - I can get that started pretty soon while I'm still waiting for my vista heh.

[Frith-Rae]

ok well duel booting is working for me..

Finally got Hz re/dled and installed yesterday - logged in and at first had some serious graphical problems. For a few seconds everything was fine, but then the screen went black and (this was in full screen, didn't get a chance to window it yet) blips of the windows behind it woudl start popping through. When I tried to alt-tab or ctrl-alt-del to shutdown hz - it wouldn't give upthe screen but the windows did pop up as I could tell they were blipping through momentarily.

First thing I tried worked - I turned off SLI for Hz - have it running as single GPU on my SLI machine. Now runs fine. I thought of this first because WOW also has problems with SLI machines and that was the solution that worked for that game as well.

Installed all my mods back in, moved over my preferences that I remembered to save - its allll going good.

So on new installs anyway - the easiest solution to me is just put a little 30 gig partition for XP, install XP, then Vista. Runs it no problemo .

[SinOfSuns]

XP is still the best option for those running Vista 64-bit and Windows 7!

I've noted that it actually loads and runs faster on XP than it does in Vista, interestingly.

[Spirit]

XP is still the best option for those running Vista 64-bit and Windows 7!

I've noted that it actually loads and runs faster on XP than it does in Vista, interestingly.

That's strange... when I did have it working in Vista the framerate seemed about the same, but there was less stuttering when it was loading... like the memory management was just cleaner. The laptop is a c2d processor, and it has xp and vista on it.

Rakku

[SinOfSuns]

Well I dual-booted XP and Windows Vista Business, and the XP version of Horizons started much faster (ie about 30 seconds faster at least), had less lag, and looked the same as the Vista version does. However, since I uninstalled XP, I have to use Vista so that's what I'm doing!

I didn't check the frame rate...

[Greenclaw1]

ahhh okey, I'll tell him that - last time I tried to argue with himn about it he was like "gimme one good reason..." LOL

And I was like "look I dont know the specfiics, but these people been trying to fix this crap for months and if they say dual boot is the way to go..I'm going that way..."

*grins*

I just don't want to have to reformat and start the whole process over again if it didn't work Virtual PC wise..so I like the dual boot option for that aspect as well .

You don't, you can just pop your vista CD in the drive boot from it then once menus come up you'll be able to resize your partition for an xp install without having to reinstall your vista partition.

[Lillyjo]

I have dual boot but game never worked on vista ultima side, so that is why i had xp professional, but today i tried it in vista ultima, its 32 bit but i got download, and update and got on to blight for the first time without error or problems,

I dont know much about programs or computers so for a computer dummy whatever they did it worked ok for me. i could move and port and only thing i had to do was rebuild my hotkeys and spells. or user interface on this side of my computer, a nice suprise.

Lillyjo_chaos server

[lightning claw]

I've tried to read through as many of the pages posted here about various problems and solutions to runing Hz on Vista.

As my new computer has just arrived, Vista is about to be installed on it.

I'm having to install 64bit Ultimate Vista as I'm running 8gig of Ram, and I don't want to run something that won't recognize what I put into it .

When I mentioned to some other non-Hz players about the difficulty I was given these two workaround suggestions. Perhaps you guys can tell me if either of these will actually WORK...

Told to run a Virtual PC through Vista and play that way...

Partition the HD to have XP run on one of the partitions and use that to play HZ...


So - given that I'll be installing from scratch and can set this up in the most optimum way in order to still play Hz at home - what do you guys think is the more "foolproof" way of doing so?

My best advice is

Dont install vista. Return the oem ,and wait 4 months till 7 comes out. I have poked at the system and although it has a vista feel to it. ( I hate but i will get over it. ) It dose not have half the errors vista has naturally. If they continue at there present pace with 7 it might be a great os, that i would recommend to the people i service there computers