Curse

Xandria Necromancer · May 21, 2007, 10:53 PM // 22:53

I couldn't find any threads about this so I thought I would start. I am thinking of installing Windows Vista and was wondering if anyone out there has this operating system and can still play Guild Wars. If you can, I would appreciate any helpful advice you can give. I'm just afraid of installing the Vista OS and I can't play Guild Wars.

ElinoraNeSangre · May 21, 2007, 11:07 PM // 23:07

There's a few threads on it if you search; it's come up a lot.

I've been playing GW on Vista for over a year (I played as far back as the Factions preview event), and I love it, it works great.

The only sticking point people have had that I'm aware of is drivers, which is easily figured out by running the upgrade advisor. Just make sure you have drivers for everything and you're set (and if your computer is fairly new-ish, this probably won't be an issue at all).

Xandria Necromancer · May 21, 2007, 11:17 PM // 23:17

Thanks for the fast reply. I did do a search and nothing came up

My PC is a year old so I hope I have no issues. Thanks for the info, I really appreciate it!!! Will be installing it immediately

Trbayth · May 22, 2007, 12:10 AM // 00:10

The biggest issue you're going to have is the amount of video memory you have. At least 128MB (not shared) and you should be ok.

I usually play on an Inspiron 6000 laptop with an ATI Radeon X300 and 256MB vram running Vista 32bit. I can play at 1920 X 1200 with most settings on max and get *ok* frame rates. If I back the resolution down a bit I can get good frame rates.

makosi · May 22, 2007, 12:18 AM // 00:18

No problems with Vista and GW here. Trbayth is right in saying memory is a problem because Vista's shiny looks hog memory. 768MB system memory is probably the minimum recommended.

Trbayth · May 22, 2007, 12:41 AM // 00:41

Makosi brings up another point. I have 2GB RAM. If you find your system marginal running GW on Vista, try switching to the "Windows Classic" look (looks like Windows 2000.)

Malice Black · May 22, 2007, 01:06 AM // 01:06

2GB RAM is essential for gaming in Vista. I get roughly 50-60fps on my notebook running 1680x1050 with everything on high/4xAA

Xandria Necromancer · May 22, 2007, 02:01 AM // 02:01

Thank you all for your replies, it has been VERY helpful!

Lonesamurai · May 22, 2007, 08:44 AM // 08:44

Yep, Vista actually gave me a boost in performance thanks to its better dual core optimization and I get 100FPS @1280x1024 with full details and AA

Hyper.nl · May 22, 2007, 09:15 AM // 09:15

Vista reduced my FPS quite a bit, and gave me some trouble with saving screenshots and skill templates. But it does work.

Lonesamurai · May 22, 2007, 11:15 AM // 11:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hyper.nl

Vista reduced my FPS quite a bit, and gave me some trouble with saving screenshots and skill templates. But it does work.

Aye, i had the screenshot/template trouble at first, but thats only because Vista tried saving to My Documents instead, although this is handy now as My Documents are on a seperate drive and easier to back up when i do my quarterly reinstall

I must admit though that using NVidias own graphics drivers not only dropped my frame rates, but also locked up my system sometimes, but rolling back to the drivers that came with the retail of vista they worked beautifully with no hassles, however, the latest Nvidia drivers work great

Miss_Enix · May 23, 2007, 03:17 PM // 15:17

well ive been using vista and gw together since vista came out (im using ultimate) and its great, aero knocks itself off when i start gw so no fps drops. the only thing that concerns me it the screen flickeres from normal to black then to normal whenever i load an area, am i the only person whos experianceing this or is this normal. specs :

Sempron 3000+ (64bit) oc'd to 2.5GHZ
1GB Ram
9600 Atlantis (256MB) @ 400/400

i know its not a great pc but it runs vista sweetly and everything else i want to do

Lonesamurai · May 23, 2007, 05:24 PM // 17:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miss_Enix

the only thing that concerns me it the screen flickeres from normal to black then to normal whenever i load an area

nah, thats been happening with various graphics chips ans driver sets for a year or so

I've had it on both my last Nvidia 5200 and now my 7600 GT that I'm now running Vista Home Premium on

Upgrading to an 8600GTSsoon though (after they do an upgraded version with more than a 128bit memory bus, although under Vista, the 8600GTS benchmarks slightly higher than 2x 7600 GT's in SLI, which is pant wetting good)

Fitz Rinley · May 23, 2007, 07:40 PM // 19:40

I grant I have:
Intel E6600 Duo Core 2.4 GHz
nVidia 7900 GS 256
1 GB RAM
I have turned off everything Vista I can possibly turn off, largely because I do not like most of the glittery garbage. Using classic mode.

If more RAM does not do it what is the next step. So far I cannot do Wayward Monk without a problem nor would I be able to take that one beast master boss in the area where the snow is falling. I do not yet know how many other areas are denied me at this point. And this means GW is a wash with Vista becoming the future dominant OpSys. The current response I just received from techsupport looks like they don't care and ain't gonna. (Well, it had all the enthusiasm of the auction house possiblity that has been tossed out since I started playing 19 months ago.)

Lonesamurai · May 23, 2007, 08:00 PM // 20:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz Rinley

I grant I have:
Intel E6600 Duo Core 2.4 GHz
nVidia 7900 GS 256
1 GB RAM
I have turned off everything Vista I can possibly turn off, largely because I do not like most of the glittery garbage. Using classic mode.

If more RAM does not do it what is the next step. So far I cannot do Wayward Monk without a problem nor would I be able to take that one beast master boss in the area where the snow is falling. I do not yet know how many other areas are denied me at this point. And this means GW is a wash with Vista becoming the future dominant OpSys. The current response I just received from techsupport looks like they don't care and ain't gonna. (Well, it had all the enthusiasm of the auction house possiblity that has been tossed out since I started playing 19 months ago.)

Umm, it works fine, honestly, if I knew you in real life, i'd have it running sweet as a nut on your machine, especially with the 7900GS which is better than mine

hell, apart from the RAM, your machine is a bit more spritely than mine and I have GW running at full res @ 1280x1024 with 4xAA and running at 100FPS in the guild hall and 30 FPS in a crowded area/GvG

to be honest, the ONLY reason i upgraded to 2gb ram was for the more snazzy games that are coming out, and the ram hasn't given me any real performance increase than 1gb did, except in some of the newer games

*EDIT*

just remembered, a friend had similar trouble to yours with it when doing an upgrade instead of a full reinstall, however, the upgrade version is only a full version anyway, just let it do a full install instead of an upgrade and wait until you are completely installed and ready before activating it... You'll then have a full install, clean as a whistle and shouldn't have any issues

however, one thing I should point out... Don't, DON'T, use the 64bit version of vista, no software company is making 64bit software that works yet (neither did they with XP64), use the 32bit version and you have a smoother, quicker, snazzier version of XP...

Fitz Rinley · May 23, 2007, 09:47 PM // 21:47

Ok, what upgrade are you talking about. The only upgrades I get are regular patches. I am Vista Home Premium and they are not getting another cent out of me beyond what they took through the MFG company. If that is the upgrade you mean. I can't afford it anyway. The computer is only $20 less a month than my rent. And I don't have the 64 bit version. The tech.s all say I should not be having any problems, and ANet says I'm opsoyoed.

Lonesamurai · May 23, 2007, 10:02 PM // 22:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fitz Rinley

Ok, what upgrade are you talking about. The only upgrades I get are regular patches. I am Vista Home Premium and they are not getting another cent out of me beyond what they took through the MFG company. If that is the upgrade you mean. I can't afford it anyway. The computer is only $20 less a month than my rent. And I don't have the 64 bit version. The tech.s all say I should not be having any problems, and ANet says I'm opsoyoed.

Umm... OK

I'm guessing you have no clue about computers then? No offence meant on that and yeah I'll PM you

ElinoraNeSangre · May 24, 2007, 06:32 AM // 06:32

Also, with the video/shiny Vista visuals, you can set your GW shortcut so that it turns those off when you open GW. That's what I do (I don't need to but I feel better doing it anyway).

Pjstaab · May 24, 2007, 06:45 AM // 06:45

How does GW run under 64bit vista?

Lonesamurai · May 24, 2007, 09:17 AM // 09:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pjstaab

How does GW run under 64bit vista?

Well... It runs...

Although to be honest, 64bit windows (of any flavor) is useless to anyone bt professionals... No software runs properly on it and drivers need to be rewritten for it