Possible solution to Vista vs Horizons problems

[Raeshlavik]

I got a nice new Toshiba x205-SLI3 notebook for myself a few weeks back and it of course came pre-loaded with Vista...

After about 8 hours of fiddling with Vista (disabling the annoying security popup, breaking the built-in DRM so I could work on my own videos, and hacking the installer .inf for the latest nVidia drivers so that I could turn on the second video card in the laptop) I finally got it all working... Well, working might not be the correct term - I got Vista to mostly stay out of my way.

This lasted for a few days before Vista popped up and told me that due to excessive hardware changes I had to re-register the OS, so I did. A few days later Vista popped up again and said I'd changed the hardware too much and needed to re-register - this time requiring a phone call to Microsoft.

The third time this happened the person on the other end of the phone accused me of pirating the OS... The OS that came pre-installed from Toshiba...

For the next 12 hours I worked on getting XP onto the laptop - slipstreaming SATA drivers onto a custom XP CD, surgically separating pieces of drivers from other manufacturer's installs, hacking .inf files again, and changing device firmware back to XP compatability... But since then I've not had a single problem with the laptop *and* it runs Horizons like a dream.

[Spirit]

For the next 12 hours I worked on getting XP onto the laptop - slipstreaming SATA drivers onto a custom XP CD, surgically separating pieces of drivers from other manufacturer's installs, hacking .inf files again, and changing device firmware back to XP compatability... But since then I've not had a single problem with the laptop *and* it runs Horizons like a dream.

Nuff said really. I'm surprised about Microsoft's reaction. I've heard little to even tempt me down the dual-graphics card route, especially in a laptop ... so I'll stick with the one. Toshiba seem to have made a new line of good solid systems though ... I just hope both of ours go the distance then!

Once it settles down, I'm sure Vista will be good. I've installed all the office/creation software on it as I prefer the interface and, if I'm working, I prefer working in Vista. But for games it became a chore when it didn't recognise my usb mouse, or my usb hd, or my mp3 player. Patching Vista to the latest version fixed a few software glitches and made the mp3 player work ... but then that borked Horizons. Unbelievable that Horizons worked on Vista, until you patch Vista to the latest release! That Says To Me That Microsoft Should Help With What Is Clearly a Bug!

Therefore installed XP by "slipstreaming SATA drivers onto a custom XP CD" as you did.... remember you only need to do that the once... now you have a disk. ... and drivers for my p200-123 were readily available from the Toshiba site and worked with no issues whatsoever (wft!)... and no firmware changes.

I still think new pc's should have xp as an option. As I write, Dell is the only supplier I know to do this. Oh and Falcon NW .

Rakku

[Rhainor]

Been a while since I've been here.

Anywho, I may -- and I stress "may", as the problem seems to be an elusive li'l bugger -- have found a solution or workaround to Horizons' issues with Vista.

The other day, Vista gave me the BSoD (first time in over 6 months), so I decided (based on more factors than just the bluescreen) it was time to reinstall. So I wiped my system drive and installed Vista Ultimate.

The first thing I did, Windows-Update-wise, was to install the Release Candidate of Vista Service Pack 1. A couple of small, IIRC nonessential, updates after the SP, and then I figured I'd try Horizons again. I downloaded the installer (via the beta BitTorrent downloader), installed the game, then did the following:

1. Removed the "read-only" attribute from everything in the installation folder.
2. Opened the "properties" dialog for Horizons.exe, went to the security tab, and added a new permissions entry with full control for my user account:
   1. Click the "edit" button
   2. Click the "add..." button
   3. Enter my windows username, and click the "check names" button to make sure it's right, then click OK
   4. Check the "full control" box for the new entry, and click OK twice
3. Open IE and go to the Horizons website, log in, create new character, launch game from website.

I went through the character creation, then once I was actually in the game itself, I exited, logged into the website again, selected the character I'd just created, and launched the game again. It worked fine both times.

I haven't yet tried starting the game with the stand-alone launcher, and I haven't rebooted my computer since installing Horizons (I try to leave it running 24/7 anyway), so I don't know if either of those will affect this, but SP1 RC seems to be good for Horizons.

[Zexoin]

I haven't yet tried starting the game with the stand-alone launcher, and I haven't rebooted my computer since installing Horizons (I try to leave it running 24/7 anyway), so I don't know if either of those will affect this, but SP1 RC seems to be good for Horizons.

Could you reboot and tell us if it still works ?

[Rhainor]

I forgot to mention, I had also disabled the SuperFetch service. Did that after reading something about it here, before I even downloaded the Horizons installer; probably why I forgot about it.

I'll reboot later tonight and let you know what happens.

[Spirit]

I forgot to mention, I had also disabled the SuperFetch service. Did that after reading something about it here, before I even downloaded the Horizons installer; probably why I forgot about it.

I'll reboot later tonight and let you know what happens.

Yeah ... kill superfetch... and indexing while you're at it. That'll stop 95% of the hd activity you otherwise get constantly on Vista. I found out how by using google to search for "constant hd activity on vista" and a few of the pages returned.

To be honest, just the reduced ram usage of XP makes it superior for gaming at this time; oh and the install size. At this time my Windows directory Only... Vista is 9.35gb while XP is 2.3gb WTF! And I have yet to see a difference (visually) between dx9 and dx10 games.

9.35gb of what!!! I thought the space hogs were pictures and video. Where is this in Vista to create that space usage? And this is Home Premium; not even Ultimate or Business which presumably use more space.

Rakku

[gopher65]

My total vista home premium 32-bit edition is 8.5 gigs. winsxs and system32 are 6.5 gigs together (1.2 gigs of that being drivers 0_0). Of the remaining 2 gigs about 500 megs is fonts, and about a gig is random garbage like 100 megs worth of wallpapers, 200 megs worth of worthless speech software, etc.

What are superfetch and indexing? Do I really want to turn them off? How do I do so if I do want to turn them off? Will turning them off affect anything else at all?

[Rhainor]

Rebooted, game still launched just fine.

Now, to get my main account reactivated...

[Rhainor]

What are superfetch and indexing? Do I really want to turn them off? How do I do so if I do want to turn them off? Will turning them off affect anything else at all?

Indexing is a service that builds a list (the index) of what files are where in your filesystem; by default, when searching your computer for files and folders, Vista will only search the index, which gives fast results, but can miss any areas that aren't indexed. Searching non-indexed areas is a s easy as checking a box on the Advanced Search pane.

SuperFetch is...well, here:

Windows SuperFetch enables programs and files to load much faster than they would on Windows XP–based PCs.

When you're not actively using your computer, background tasks—including automatic backup programs and antivirus scans—run when they will least disturb you. These background tasks can take up system memory space that your programs had been using. On Windows XP–based PCs, this can slow progress to a crawl when you attempt to resume work.

SuperFetch monitors which applications you use the most and preloads these into your system memory so they'll be ready when you need them. Windows Vista also runs background programs, like disk defragmenting and Windows Defender, at low priority so that they can do their job but your work always comes first.

Disabling them can be accomplished by going Start > Programs > Administrative Tools > Services, clicking Services, then finding (for example) the superfetch service, open its properties, Set its "startup type" to "Manual" or "Disabled", then stopping the service with the "stop" button.

[velveeta]

CAUTION, DERAIL!!!



rhainor - the cake is real, there is no spoon!

[Rhainor]

CAUTION, DERAIL!!!



rhainor - the cake is real, there is no spoon!

Yeah, the cake is real; that's part of why "The cake is a lie!" is so fun to say.

And, while there may not be any spoon, I'd rather have a spork anyway.

[Raeshlavik]

CAUTION, DERAIL!!!



rhainor - the cake is real, there is no spoon!

While we're at it I'd like to point out that pie are not square, pie are round - cornbread are square...

[Zexoin]

I've disabled superfetch, it ran fine once, then keeps crashing after reboot... Hope it won't take me too many rebooting to have it running again...

[Spirit]

I've disabled superfetch, it ran fine once, then keeps crashing after reboot... Hope it won't take me too many rebooting to have it running again...

Odd.. I've heard nothing but good comments about disabling superfetch until I read your post..

Did you definitely stop/edit the correct service?

Rakku

[Zexoin]

Odd.. I've heard nothing but good comments about disabling superfetch until I read your post..

Did you definitely stop/edit the correct service?

Rakku

yes I did, but it only took me one more reboot to have HZ running again So it seems to be useful anyway. I haven't tried to reboot one more time after that tho.

Hmmm. must wait 60 secs between posts -_-

[Raeshlavik]

For anyone interested, as of Friday the 11th, SP1 for Vista is available to the public.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/w.../bb738089.aspx

Enjoy!

[Syndic]

Oh that is cool. Not sure if it would solve the problem (highly doubt it) but I was thinking the SP was still some distance away.

Although I think I've had my fill of release candidates, will just mean extra work when the final release comes out. Think I will hold off until then which doesn't look to be too far away.

[MarshDog]

I have not tried this on Vista yet as im am dual booting xp / vista
but i hate IE 7 on vista so downloaded Virtal PC and the version of XP that offers for free to run under Vista in a Virtual PC.
http://dailyapps.net/2007/08/install...-vista-how-to/
this is just to get IE 6 on vista but virtual machine should work for Horizons as well me thinks.
Vista is some neat eye candy and some cool stuff with it and Im personally working on porting apps over to Vista, I will not decode and rewrite all of Hz's stuff to port to Vista as I dont have the time to do it .
Andy.

[Balthizar]

Added Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. It intergraded this things into my

64bit Vista Home for me.

1.) Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition [ENU]

2.) Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable

3.) Visual C++8.0 Runtime Setup Package (x54)


Now after 7mon. of fighting I'm geting to play most of the time

[Deth]

Downloading it now to try it out.