Windows 10

[Chalenge]

The one thing I like about DirectX 12 is the ability to use multiple adapters, but there remain a lot of questions of how this will be different from what we already have. Can MS get around to making Nvidia and AMD GPUs work together? Outside of that I don't think there will be any real graphical advantage until the big game houses get through their development cycles which could be two years or even longer.

[Pudgie]

The one thing I like about DirectX 12 is the ability to use multiple adapters, but there remain a lot of questions of how this will be different from what we already have. Can MS get around to making Nvidia and AMD GPUs work together? Outside of that I don't think there will be any real graphical advantage until the big game houses get through their development cycles which could be two years or even longer.

What I would like to see is testing w/ Win 10's ability to use older versions of Directx well, ie that Win 10's having Directx 12's API doesn't adversely affect games written using Directx 9.x...........like AH.

For once MS needs to get "backwards compatibility" fully fleshed & correct IMHO...................

 

[Bizman]

So far I've encountered about twenty Win10 installations, five of which still run it. Today's version was an originally Win7 HP dv7 with dual Radeon HD series video cards, neither of which worked. I updated the drivers from AMD but they didn't work. A quick search revealed a similar problem with the weaker one, a HD 4200: Catalyst Control Center should be run in Win8 compatibility mode in order the driver to work. Oh well... Since the owners had been reasonably happy running the wide screen at 1024 x 768, the other option I chose, 1600 x 900, was a huge improvement. I left it that way, hoping that a future Windows Update would take care of that. Which I doubt...

[Randy1]

Anybody getting unwanted emails from W10 data mining?

[Chalenge]

What I would like to see is testing w/ Win 10's ability to use older versions of Directx well, ie that Win 10's having Directx 12's API doesn't adversely affect games written using Directx 9.x...........like AH.

I ran into an issue with a few games on Steam that simply would not run under W10x64. Adjusting the compatibility settings did not fix the issue. However, in each case the games had an application in their folder called "TestApp.exe" that got the games running and thereafter the Steam "Play" button functions correctly. TestApp was somehow created during the running of the Windows compatibility troubleshooter, as they were not there prior to having run it. I believe that normally this application is removed, but because the system ran into difficulty in determining the proper settings it was left behind upon termination. Running the TestApp presented a running game as if I had hit the play button, and thereafter the game functions normally. So, perhaps they are moving in the right direction after all.

[Pudgie]

Thanks for the info, Chalenge.

That's good to know......................

 

[Pudgie]

1 question I have just thought of to ask.......................... ..............

In using Win 10 has anyone had to install an earlier vers of Directx to fix a game issue in which the game is using an older vers of Directx than Dx10?
Or can this even be done anymore?

I for 1 would love to know that MS has solved this issue so that the native vers of Directx 12 API that comes w/ Win 10 will work w\ all versions of Directx that the game developers have written into their game software, or at least from Dx 9.x & up.................

So far I like what MS Edge is offering over IE 11 in Win 10 along w/ the potential gaming improvements being made known, especially for AMD products (have a Radeon R9 Fury X vid card currently) but all this is said w\ Win 10 & Directx 12 & using the big box Dx 10\11 games...........this is why I was wanting to know about other games using older vers of DX than Dx 10...............

For all that are running AH or Alpha currently on Win 10 did you have any initial issues getting the game to run on the 1st try after updating the vid card & any sound card drivers?

I hope I'm not coming off sounding like a prude, old fart but I just want to get a hand up on this OS........besides all the negative stuff...........before I switch to it.

There are other items that I like in Win 10 vs Win 7 other than what I've listed here & so I'm most likely going to go to Win 10 at some point in the very near future on my box.

Just to state this, when I do move it will be w/ a paid for retail version of Win 10 over the free upgrade MS is offering..........I've got nothing against getting something for free................but somehow I can't just trust a big corporation to be looking out for my best interests when they are offering their intellectual property to the masses for seemingly nothing in return, especially in a free market society, as nothing is really for free IMHO.
At least when you purchase a product or a license to use a product, I believe that you tend to get a better, cleaner & more user useful product due to the laws & such that govern & regulate such commerce.............

Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Chalenge]

I am fairly certain that several of the add-on aircraft for the Steam version of FSX require earlier versions of DirectX to be installed. I think it would be impossible to tell if the game manufacturer requires it as a matter of course and that it really is an unnecessary step (DirectX being fixed as you say), or if the setup of DirectX just continues as usual being required.

[Pudgie]

I am fairly certain that several of the add-on aircraft for the Steam version of FSX require earlier versions of DirectX to be installed. I think it would be impossible to tell if the game manufacturer requires it as a matter of course and that it really is an unnecessary step (DirectX being fixed as you say), or if the setup of DirectX just continues as usual being required.

Yeah, I know that in order for MS to actually achieve what I said will also take the game developers to kinda adhere to a certain specific aspects of usage of any of the Directx API's that the game developers choose to use in their code w\ a focus to actually make a concerted effort to maintain the original backwards compatibility design of MS Directx......

That would, IMHO, mean that a game developer would also have to test their finished software within a future vers of Directx to see if there are any aspects of the way in which the developer used 1 vers of Directx will cause issues in a later version of Directx..........but game developers can't do this unless MS either actually gives them the newer API ahead of actual implementation into an OS to use to do so or MS has to partner w/ more game developers than the major parties & do this testing themselves across a much larger cross-section of game developers to learn what others are doing w/ their API in order to make it more flexible & robust to accommodate more game developer's plans on how they wish to incorporate MS's API.

But for this to happen, 1 side is going to have to trust the other side w/ their proprietary software coding to maintain their propriety nature..................and at some point all sides will have to decide upon a sunset time in which to maintain compatibility that the older vers of Directx past a certain amount of time will need to be removed from the market & that means that game software will have to be updated w/ the newer vers of Directx...............

The $64 question is.............who's gonna pay for this? MS? Game developers? Or the consumers (us)?

This is what I see MS trying to do, among other things, by offering Win 10 to users for free for a certain amount of time & hoping that enough users actually migrate to help MS to gain enough critical mass in the open market to leverage their position in the industry because they've realized that they can't achieve the critical mass to pull this off, not only w/ businesses but also consumers, on the open market alone w\o some other incentive to offer to move consumers in their direction.................

My 2 cents.................

I still hope that this has been fixed w/ Directx 12 API.........

 

[Bizman]

--- The $64 question is.............who's gonna pay for this? MS? Game developers? Or the consumers (us)? ---

That must be a rhetoric question. It's us. Directly or indirectly it will always be us.

[Pudgie]

That must be a rhetoric question. It's us. Directly or indirectly it will always be us.

Not a rhetorical question from my perspective.........

More of a diplomatic type of question that I typed for consumption on this BBS as I fully know that the CONSUMER is always the leverager in the market.......

 

[Chalenge]

It won't happen that way, because game developers do not have direct access to out pocketbooks, and we would never allow that. So if MS and game devs ever went down that path customers would quickly get tired of their games expiring in short order and would stop buying.

[Bizman]

Apparently I'm a cynic... Although there's no direct access to their (our) pocketbooks, people seem to waste their money into anything that gets hyped enough. Or in a more indirect way, they allow their marketing data to be collected for "better service" or "free app". Combine that data with the growing positive attitude to marketing e-mails and the fact that spamming still is profitable... In the end it's always the consumer who pays.

I doubt that customers would stop buying games no matter what. The way of buying - or paying - may change, but it won't stop. Instead of money the paying method can be anything from work to personal marketing data. At some point the customer's pocketbook will get accessed and the entire chain gets paid.

[alskahawk]

 I downloaded it, ran it for awhile. Ended up having to erase my HD to get rid of it. Lost all my passwords. Just too many little problems to make it worthwhile for me. Run all my computers on Windows 7. Runs good no problems.