Vista

Problems with the Windows version of Darwinia

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Mook7
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Vista

Postby Mook7 » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:18 pm

I just bought this game today through steam thinking it would work... wrong.
I have a ATI Radeon 1600
1 gig of ram
AMD 3200+ Processor

I look to the internet only to find... a WINDOWS VISTA VERSION!!!!!
Am I screwed, or is there some fix for the steam version?
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The GoldFish
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Postby The GoldFish » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:29 pm

There should be a patch out soon - I think they're waiting for the current beta to end.

Quite what form the patch will take I'm not sure, but you will be able to play it within a few weeks (yes, weeks, that is a long time I know, but hey...)
-- The GoldFish - member of former GIT and commander in chief of GALLAHAD. You could have done something, but it's been fixed. The end. Also, play bestgameever!
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Postby Mook7 » Sat Feb 17, 2007 7:34 pm

Thanks man.
Weeks is fine by me as long as I get to play it.
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Postby RabidZombie » Sat Feb 17, 2007 11:47 pm

It is probably not working due to lack of good/any OpenGL drivers for Vista.

Either wait for the patch, request to be a beta, or wait for better drivers.
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Postby Radiobuzz » Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:49 am

Humm, I installed Vista for a couple of weeks just to test it (now I'm using XP again), and one of the things I've tried was Darwinia. The game itself was working, but it was horribly slow since the lack of good drivers for my video card. So as Zombie said, you should wait for better drivers, not for a patch.
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Postby Hickeroar » Sat Mar 10, 2007 8:21 pm

Radiobuzz wrote:Humm, I installed Vista for a couple of weeks just to test it (now I'm using XP again), and one of the things I've tried was Darwinia. The game itself was working, but it was horribly slow since the lack of good drivers for my video card. So as Zombie said, you should wait for better drivers, not for a patch.


This isn't accurate.

I've played Doom3, and HL2 (one is OpenGl and one is D3D) and they both ran in the hundreds of FPS on my 8800GTX under Vista. Yet a game as simple as Darwinia can't get over single digits.

This is a GAME problem, not a DRIVER problem.

It's highly irritating to pick up a new game at the store and get it home only to find out that it doesn't work playably at all. If they've released a Vista version of the game, I can't fathom why they simply can't release a patch for current Darwinia owners that makes their games identical to the Vista version that is being sold on MSN Games. It sounds to me like a purposeful delay in an attempt to get people who have already bought the game to shell out and buy it again.
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Postby KingAl » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:09 am

Perhaps said patch is in beta, dipshit. Not everything is a conspiracy.
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Postby Hickeroar » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:20 am

KingAl wrote:Perhaps said patch is in beta, dipshit. Not everything is a conspiracy.


"Such a patch" wouldn't HAVE to be in beta... It could simply be one of the many "binary patching" programs that exist out there. It takes set of files "A" and set of files "B" and determines what it needs to do to get set of files "A" to look like files "B." PLENTY of game patches work like this.

Either the content of the two is DIFFERENT and it's NOT just a patch to equal this game out with the "MSN" version, or they're purposely holding off for financial reasons. MS has MANY times worked out contracts that held off versions of sofware on one set of people to "help" other things. (IE: releasing PC games later than 360 games even though the games are already complete on the PC to get people to go out and buy 360's).

I'm not talking about a "conspiracy." I'm talking about bad business (or good business depending on your point of view).
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KingAl
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Postby KingAl » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:36 am

...if it was a simple matter of changing it to be identical to the Vista version. As you'll observe here, the pure Vista version doesn't work on XP. As such, the version released as a patch needs to support XP unless they wish to alienate people who are still using XP - the new version includes more additions than Vista compatibility. While you may argue that they ought to release a 'Vista only' patch, you would doubtless have dubbed such a move as a deal with Microsoft to encourage the purchase of Vista had that occurred.

You may not have been saying it's a conspiracy, but you were certainly jumping to conclusions.
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Postby Hickeroar » Sun Mar 11, 2007 12:59 am

KingAl wrote:...if it was a simple matter of changing it to be identical to the Vista version. As you'll observe here, the pure Vista version doesn't work on XP. As such, the version released as a patch needs to support XP unless they wish to alienate people who are still using XP - the new version includes more additions that Vista compatibility. While you may argue that they ought to release a 'Vista only' patch, you would doubtless have dubbed such a move as a deal with Microsoft to encourage the purchase of Vista had that occurred.

You may not have been saying it's a conspiracy, but you were certainly jumping to conclusions.


OK, you're not getting it. I have Vista. I CAN NOT RUN THIS GAME.

They SHOULD release a VISTA ONLY patch to update my copy of Darwinia so it will run like the MSN released one does. Then, for all I care, they can take months to create an XP patch that updates the visuals for the XP users. If you suddenly couldn't run the game at all on YOUR OS, i'm sure you'd be wanting a fix, and quick, as well.

Since a working version of the game technically exists (even if ONLY for Vista users...which is kinda the point at the moment) and they're pretty much just not releasing it until "XP" is supported in the update, they completely screw over people like me who shelled out for the game.

MY POINT IS THIS: "New prettiness" aside, I CAN'T PLAY THE GAME. I couldn't care less if I get the new "Vista" effects right now. I just want to play the freaking game that I paid for.
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Postby KingAl » Sun Mar 11, 2007 1:51 am

I don't have the patience for this. Please just understand that, in the case of a company the size of IV, there are many more variables than business cunning alone that affect the speed of releases. And while I understand your wish to play the game on Vista, the product you bought never purported to be compatible in the first place, so you either bought it knowing full well it isn't or have access to XP. In both cases, your inability to play Darwinia is entirely your own issue.
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Postby The GoldFish » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:33 am

Couple of things;

a) I agree entirely, the binary in the vista version of the game should be publically available right now.

b) Does the vista trial version "work"?
-- The GoldFish - member of former GIT and commander in chief of GALLAHAD. You could have done something, but it's been fixed. The end. Also, play bestgameever!
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Postby Hickeroar » Sun Mar 11, 2007 3:53 am

KingAl wrote:I don't have the patience for this. Please just understand that, in the case of a company the size of IV, there are many more variables than business cunning alone that affect the speed of releases. And while I understand your wish to play the game on Vista, the product you bought never purported to be compatible in the first place, so you either bought it knowing full well it isn't or have access to XP. In both cases, your inability to play Darwinia is entirely your own issue.


You don't have patience for this? Since when was that supposed to mean a dang thing to me? These are public forums.... If you don't like (or "have patience") for something I'm saying, you can kindly NOT bother reading this thread. You're arguing for the sake of arguing...

My ability to play Darwinia....is my fault? Boy you sure know how to turn the tables on the facts... Sure, let me get right down to coding a fix for it right now.

The bottom line is that it's a WINDOWS game...and as such it should work on WINDOWS.
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Postby Mook7 » Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:07 am

Wow... Hickeroar, you are an idiot. Making a Vista patch is not as easy as you think, they are converting a whole opengl game over to DirectX.

(Note: D3D works on Vista, Doom 3 is a mix of opengl and D3D which is why it runs so good, and Half Life 2 runs on DirectX. Get you facts straight.)
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Postby KingAl » Sun Mar 11, 2007 4:10 am

Right. I'll just run off to start up any one of these programs, shall I? Not to mention countless 3.x programs that haven't worked since 98. If your argument is that all Windows programs should be compatible with all versions of Windows, then surely that makes it Microsoft's responsibility to maintain compatibility?

Yes, it's irritating that it doesn't work on Vista. But no, you can't assume that it will work on Vista a month after the release of the OS, and no, you can't assume that IV is withholding updates to screw you over.

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