theacefes Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 So, the beta for the new Windows was released and I decided to give it a test run on my old laptop, since I really don't use it for anything else because it's too slow. Here are the specs for my laptop, which is a Dell Inspiron B130. Pentium M - 1.73 Ghz 1GB RAM 60GB hard drive some onboard Intel video card Originally packaged with Windows XP Home Now, I had to do a full clean install because the beta can only upgrade from Windows Vista SP1, which was fine, it's a beta, whatever. The install went smoothly. I liked the fact that it gave you the chance to connect to a wireless network before setting up your desktop. It also immediately found my drivers. Here's the weirdest part. It's *way* faster than my XP or Vista ever was. Boot up time, shut down time, Windows Explorer, etc. The GUI is pretty much the same as Vista with a few new features and some older ones carrying a different name. No more Security Center, it's the Action Center now. Also, the option for System Restore is in the Action Center, not in the Tools or Maintenance folder anymore. The bad parts I've seen so far is that it doesn't always like to run Firefox, and it crashed after I installed the new Windows Live (the older versions work normally) I'm going to try putting some programs on it tonight, but so far it's been a positive experience. I'm still trying to figure out how in the world my laptop is running faster than it did with XP...and why 7 has installed fine but Vista wouldn't even look at it because of driver mishaps. More updates later I guess. EDIT: Here's a cute video I made! It just goes over some of the basic stuff. DONT MAKE FUN OF MY VOICE. Link to comment
berelinde Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 I'll be following this closely. I've got Vista on my laptop because I couldn't get XP with the graphics card I wanted, and I'm looking to up performance. Let me know how you make out. Link to comment
theacefes Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 Will do. I suppose our ultimate test will be how BG turns out on it. Link to comment
Shaitan Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 Very interesting! I wondered how BG games would do on Windows 7 Link to comment
Jarno Mikkola Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 It's more likelly that we are searching info on the modified BGII game, not just if the game runs... User Account Control? -VistaTM Read-only Program Files -folder? -VistaTM Other Wormgate Macro Hard screw ups? :D Link to comment
theacefes Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 To be honest I really don't understand where all the confusion with Vista and BG2 comes in. I am running on Vista Home and I've been modding IE games installed to Program Files for a while now (nearly 2 years). But that's just me. I have magic powers. In other news, MS Office 07, 03, and XP work fine if you want to keep your word processing program. Link to comment
Shaitan Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 But that's just me. I have magic powers. Indeed as we've seen allready Link to comment
Jarno Mikkola Posted January 14, 2009 Share Posted January 14, 2009 To be honest I really don't understand where all the confusion with Vista and BG2 comes in. I am running on Vista Home and I've been modding IE games installed to Program Files for a while now (nearly 2 years). But that's just me. I have magic powers. Let's see how close I hit, ahh -you are playing the game with a (XP)compatibility mode from your Vista, meaning that in essance you are just using Windows XP, not Vista. So say goodbye to the extra prosessors, high quality monitor setups with GPU etc. if there is errors in the coding, or no support for them. -Use of WeiDU in DOS-box to solve Windows problems. It sounds silly, but it could/should work. VS. -I use the real Vista, with the game in "Pelit" -folder(which is "Games" in Finnish), so I don't have any of those problems(,anymore ). Link to comment
theacefes Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share Posted January 14, 2009 Running it normally, and as far as I can tell, I've never had to change any configurations. Bg actually looks very nice on my 24'' on the highest resolution (I use Widescreen of course.) Here's a pic. Pardon the thousands of mods. And....not to sound like an arrogant bastard but I know very few people that aren't part of the "We click everything that moves" fanclub that aren't also curiously enough in the "We hate Vista" and the "We love SP3 for XP fanclub" where they are all brought together for the "My AVG protection let a virus through, can you fix it?" fanclub, through which it can be seen that the ultimate club for these people is the "I'm a cheap ass" fanclub, which makes complete sense as to why they shouldn't even be touching Vista if they don't have the computer to run it and are unwilling to invest a little more money now than have to deal with a crappy situation later. Which leads me back to my point that this beta of 7 is running sweetly on the laptop, a 3 year old laptop. I'd say that's an improvement. Link to comment
Shaitan Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'd say that's an improvement. I'd say yes that truely sounds like an improvement. I look foreward to my next laptop now Link to comment
theacefes Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 It's still giving me some crap about Firefox but it's running it...mostly. Got some bad news about BG2. Check it out. This is the same with all the buttons. I sent a feedback message, not that I think they'll actually do a ton about it but you never know. It is still a new beta, so there is a lot to fix. The drivers for my Creative sound card don't like 7. I'm sticking with my USB headset for now, which works. Visual Studio 2005 works fine so far. Adobe Photoshop CS3 also works. I'll keep updating. Link to comment
Jarno Mikkola Posted January 15, 2009 Share Posted January 15, 2009 Running it normally, and as far as I can tell, I've never had to change any configurations... Here's a pic. Well, technically that's the wrong .exe, as that starts the Games Front End launcher, not the real game that the "BGMain.exe" does. As you can't lauch the game via the "baldur.exe" if you don't have the game registered in your computer by the InstallShield, like you can with "BGMain.exe". This leads to me believing into that the started .exe is not the same I have, and/or that it's still run in the XP or WindowsZ compatibility mode. Pardon the thousands of mods. 20, not 10^3's , unlike me that has a lot more of them,but still no way close to 1000, even as I have about 12 differently edited Infinity Engine games. +the backups etc. And incase you didn't understand, that's braging as there indeed is only 4 different Infinity Engine games, but I can do it, as I know how to. But back to the Windows 7 Beta, so everything was working fine I hear, until few minutes ago. Let's hope that that might continue into future. You could try to find more suitable configuration for the game from the baldur.exe, or the bgconfig.exe, that the first launches. Or try the no-windowed option. Link to comment
theacefes Posted January 15, 2009 Author Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'll try experimenting with different configs to see if I can get it to work. Oh, and I posted a quick video. I think it's 4 or 5 min long. Link to comment
Jarno Mikkola Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 Aaa, any updates on this? And you been able to get the configurations to some sort of arrangement? And if it is too creepy to say, I am sorry... but your voice sounds hot. Link to comment
ronin69hof Posted January 23, 2009 Share Posted January 23, 2009 A mega mod installed and ran fine on my dell d620 with win7 beta. I have an nvidia quadro nv135 graphics card with 256mb. Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.