Windows Vista and Total War?

**Antiochus Nicator** · 04-02-2007, 17:41

I am contemplating purchase of a new laptop. Most PC makers will now sell only Windows Vista pre-installed, it's hard to get XP now.

Will RTW run on Vista? For that matter, will M2TW run on Vista?

Thanks for any advice...

**Omanes Alexandrapolites** · 04-02-2007, 18:31

Hi Antiochus Nicator,
Yep, they will, yet sadly, R:TW in particular, will suffer a few performance negatives until the Vista compatable graphics drivers come out. Hope this helps you, cheers!

**YENKO** · 04-02-2007, 21:09

Next week i'm finally getting my new machine: an Intel C2D 6600 based PC with GF8-8800 GT card. With XP-Pro, ofc. I didnt want the Vista yet. Will get it one day, when SP1 is out and when the new games will start to insist that i install the Vista on my machine. So, XP it is.

Y.

**Cody900** · 04-03-2007, 06:32

I've had no problems at all using Vista with RTW or MTW2, infact, due to the way Vista runs, all games run smoother on Vista. Well, maybe not alot smoother yet as Vista is still beta and riddled with bugs, but it will be better.

**Omanes Alexandrapolites** · 04-03-2007, 07:38

That's very odd Cody900, many people here at the .org have been having slow-downs with gaming in Vista. There are two threads which discuss this issue that, I unfortunately, do not have the time to dig up at current. Sorry.

BTW, discussion of illegal software is not permitted here at the Org. Please read the rules for more information.

**Cody900** · 04-03-2007, 07:52

Yeah, I know, I didn't link anything or suggest anywhere specific that it could of been picked up from, thought it would of been ok, my bad.

People who experience any slow-downs would either of been because their computers suck and can't run Vista properly, or they tried the first beta of Vista, which used 512MB of RAM when IDLE. Which was utterly ridiculous, I suggest they try a newer and updated version of Vista.

**Antiochus Nicator** · 04-03-2007, 22:26

Thanks for the responses, gents

.

**Whacker** · 04-03-2007, 23:09

Hi Antiochus... One thing to consider, if you're getting a new PC for pretty much gaming purposes only and have no honest need for mobility, I'd strongly suggest getting a desktop and not a laptop. Desktops are easy to upgrade and replace individual components, with a laptop that's extremely rare if not impossible in most cases (to change anything but perhaps the RAM). Also, you'll get better value and bang for your buck with a desktop. Also, some retailers are now offering people refunds on their OS (Vista) if it's not wanted with the PC, I think Dell is doing this now. Good luck!

@ Cody

That's interesting to hear you say that. Vista has been consistently shown through benchmarking to be orders of 5%-20% slower running almost any game than the exact same system running XP SP2.

**YENKO** · 04-03-2007, 23:25

I am playing computer games for more years that i would like to admit lol. Made many good buddies who share the same passion for games. Some of them are quite inept as 'computer geeks' but quite several are more than competent PC power-users. Some because as a part of their work, some for fun purpose (like hackers, no criminal intent here). And, most of them gave me rather negative feedback on Vista+games. The general advice would be: 'Stay out of it for now, mate'. They have no reason to bullshit me. On the other hand, i see no reason to become another Guinea-pig for MS. I'll wait it out. XP was a pleasant surprise, and with Vista..we will see. I believe it will become the new Standard, just it isnt polished enough yet.
My money is in prime-shape right off the printing press, see. I want a good bang for my bucks he he.

Y.

**Cody900** · 04-04-2007, 16:13

That it isn't polished, Vista itself is still in beta.

I'm pretty confident that everyone who has problems or sufferes proformance issues with Vista are because their computers couldn't handle it. There's a program which tests your computer and rates it as to how well it can run Vista.

1 - 3 Means they can only run a very basic version of Vista, and they can't have the new Windows Aero theme. 3 - 4 Means they can run most features of Vista but some will be limited. 4 - 5 Means they can run every option on the highest settings without proformance issues.

I scored 4.2/5.

I reakon everyone who had problems would of been quite a bit under 4. As Vista usues SO much more RAM and CPU in everything it does that would be the main candidate for Vista going slowly.

**Omanes Alexandrapolites** · 04-04-2007, 18:29

Hmm yes, that probably explains it. I'm sure that I have read in a PC article, before Vista was released, that it was a major memory hog. I'm not sure if that has changed. However, the reason that you may be getting higher performance than those with lower spec PCs is that Vista may be stealing your memory, yet you have enough spare to run games at their maximum as you would have the capability to without Vista - I think that games have a capacity where they simply will not take any more from your PC as they already are working at their best possible. Unfortunately, I have no PC technical skill or knowledge, so I'm, sadly, probably wrong.

**Whacker** · 04-04-2007, 21:54

Originally Posted by Cody900

That it isn't polished, Vista itself is still in beta.

I'm pretty confident that everyone who has problems or sufferes proformance issues with Vista are because their computers couldn't handle it. There's a program which tests your computer and rates it as to how well it can run Vista.

1 - 3 Means they can only run a very basic version of Vista, and they can't have the new Windows Aero theme. 3 - 4 Means they can run most features of Vista but some will be limited. 4 - 5 Means they can run every option on the highest settings without proformance issues.

I scored 4.2/5.

I reakon everyone who had problems would of been quite a bit under 4. As Vista usues SO much more RAM and CPU in everything it does that would be the main candidate for Vista going slowly.

Cody, Vista has been out for awhile now. You won't get any disagreement from me that it's not polished though.

As for your performance because of requirements argument, that's also not true. Wanted to give you a link but HardOCP's site seems to be having problems. When it's back up or if you feel like it, check out their video card reviews, most of the newer ones for the higher end ATI and newer Nvidia cards use both XP and Vista to benchmark; Vista is consistently slower. The reason your statement is incorrect is that these folks are using literally the best hardware you can get, and doing best playable and apples to apples comparisons and Vista is losing out pretty squarely. HardOCP is pretty fair about their testing as well so it's hard to claim any kind of bias.

Most probable is that it's simply Vista not being well optimized at this point in time, and Nvidia/ATI's drivers not mature yet. Both should improve down the road, but until then I'm sticking with XP.

**Globe** · 04-11-2007, 12:00

I just got Vista to and the only problem with RTW and expansions is that you can't put out firewall so you can't play MP. The other bad thing (probably only for me) is that I can't correct the factions and be not able to play with Pontus :(

**Cody900** · 04-11-2007, 14:41

I found out why Vista was ok for me.

I upgraded to Vista from XP. I didn't reformat or install a fresh a version of Vista, just upgraded.

The other day I wanted a fresh version and it ended up my computer not wanting to cooperate and I couldn't get it working for 4 days. During that time I *did* get a fresh install of Vista able to boot up like, twice. And now I realize how truely awful Vista is. It was slow, unpredictable, a LOT of things didn't run properly on it, and the sound from Media Player hurt my ears.

I'm back on XP now, after struggling to get a working operating system for those 4 days. I started to read up on the Vista drivers. Both ATI and nVidia have horrible Beta drivers. So when I upgraded I was still using my XP drivers and Vista was pretty perfect, but when I installed fresh, and used the new Vista drivers, it was awful.

So yeah, the drivers are the problem, from my experience. Damn ATI and nVidia have had years to get ready for Vista, and they said they will be, and now they can't be further from that. ATI put up some beta CCC drivers which were promptly removed because they sucked ass. An article I read about the current 7.3 Vista drivers found that the CCC software itself is at fault, but the display driver is working ok.