OK. So this is not really a "glitches" subject, but I thought I would post this. Mods, please move if it would fit better elsewhere...

I have installed the Windows 7 RC (release candidate) on the computer I built back in February. There has been a huge amount of press on this new OS, but nowhere do I see any mention of how it performs with games. So, I'm testing out games from my Left 4 Dead to the old adventure games to see what works and what doesn't.

So far, Tomb Raider Underworld installed and played perfectly. No surprise.

Left 4 Dead plays even better that it did on XP Pro. I had an issue with it "stuttering" on the other hard drive with XP Pro. Never did figure out if it was Steam, sound card or whatever. No issues on Windows 7.

Then I went for a couple of older adventure games.

Dracula The Last Sanctuary played perfectly. Woo hoo!

Dracula Resurrection - remember that this one wouldn't play on XP unless you did it in 98 compatability mode? Well, it played on Windows 7! I was shocked. I had a couple of issues with not being able to access the inventory and the main menu, but I'm trying to see what happens in this OS with no tweaks at all.

At some point I will investigate the OS itself, but right now I'm trying to see how it works with games. I'm not surprised that it works so well with the newer RPG and FPS games, but I was surprised at the old adventure games. I will try more soon... The Longest Journey beckons...

That's fantastic I've had it installed as a guest VM, but really haven't had time to test it as a gaming platform.

Let us know how TLJ goes.

Good stuff, Draclvr. I'm planning on going straight from Windows XP to Windows 7, so this makes very interesting reading.

Draclvr that is really good to hear. Can my Vista Ultima eventually be upgraded to Windows 7?

Yes, you can upgrade from Vista to Windows 7. However, you will not be able to do so with XP - that will require a clean install. I put 3 500 GB hard drives in this computer. The first one has XP Pro on it and the second one is where I installed the Windows 7. I haven't decided whether I will RAID 0 the other drive with the one that has Windows 7 or use it for backup.

I must say installation of this release candidate was a breeze. I heard yesterday that Best Buy may offer the new OS by the end of June.

Draclvr,

Interesting information but don't get too carried away.

For example, on my WinXP SP2 system Dracula Resurrection plays just fine without any Compatibility settings. You have assigned that to a magical property of Windows-7.

Draclvr,Did you have to jump through hoops with all that administator privilages stuff and put the games in a certain directory?

Glad to hear of your success with Win 7 Draclvr! Sound like good things are to come! I understand that Win 7 is Vista, the way it should've been. The last I heard, take it as speculation at this point, is that Win 7 is supposed to be released in time for Christmas, sometime around late October/ early November.Especially since this is a release candidate version, your success in the early adventure games (Dracula:Last Sanctuary & Resurrection) bodes well also, whether you've assigned them to a "magical property" or not.

Robert, you're the first person I've heard of who got that one to play on XP without any tweaks! Good for you.

I didn't have to jump through any hoops at all, Geo. I put in the CD, installed the games and played. One of the things they claim have been changed in Windows 7 is all the admin stuff that was so overbearing in Vista.

No magic at all, Chaos. I'm just toying with the OS and games since I've seen no mention of it anywhere else. So far, it seems to be game-friendly, but then I've just tried 4 games. I'm going to load up The Longest Journey tonight and try some casual games from Big Fish.

This is just a test, guys and I'm trying to be as objective as I can. I haven't got any opinion about the OS itself at all as I have done any exploring there.

Late October is the last I heard for the release too. I did get something from ZDNet that Best Buy might start selling it in late June...

Well, I haven't had as much time as I'd like to play with Windows 7 and games. Tying up loose ends before I retire this Wednesday. Woo hoo!

So, got to spend a little time this weekend. Guess I should mention that this computer has an Intel Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 Ghtz, 4 GB of RAM (3 recognized) and a GeForce GTX 260 video card.

The Longest Journey wouldn't install - no surprise.

Zanzarah - installed, but wouldn't play when I tried to take Amy out of the kitchen. I need to install on the XP Pro hard drive to see if there is a conflict with the video card.

Big Fish Games - redownloaded all my Big Fish games and all installed and played perfectly.

Surprise me - what was the issue? I don't have it installed on my Vista PC's, but I think I'm going to give it a shot now.

Don't know Inland. It just wouldn't install at all. I'm not attempting to trouble shoot anything at this point. I will be curious to see what happens with TLJ and Vista.

Vista SP3 SP2 & the US 4 CD version - plays like a champ

I did have to manually copy the foundation class dll's (Inferno mentioned them in her XP setup) but that was it.

Perhaps that's what you will have to do with win 7 because it is vista based.

Actually, I went back and cleaned up everything from my first attempt with TLJ including the registry. Then I tried again because the 1st disc installed fine the first time, but when I put in the 2nd disc, it locked up. When I tried again, the same thing happened. I'll bet that's where those dll's are. Now that I have more time, I'd like to try again. I'll do an explore on that 2nd disc.

I had tried Zanzarah which installed and seemed fine until I tried to move Amy out of the kitchen. That would freeze up the game. So I booted into the XP Pro hard drive. The game installed and played perfectly. Would I be correct in assuming that since I'm using the exact same hardware, the OS would be the issue?

Guess I should mention that I put a Core 2 Duo @ 3.0 Ghtz, 4 mb of RAM and a Geforce GTX 260 video card into this computer.

I downloaded all my Big Fish games I have for my granddaughter and they all installed and played perfectly.

The Myst games are next on my list.

I think the thing I like best about this OS is how nimble and quick it is.

I should also mention that the Windows 7 upgrade is now available for about 1/2 price at several on-line retailers. The prices are $49.99 for Home and $99.99 for the Pro versions. Anyone who has XP or Vista can get it for this price until July 10th I believe.

Pre-order Windows 7 Upgrade

Well, you can add Grim Fandango to games that installed and played perfectly.

Are you saying it locked up during the install?
Or are you saying it locked up while you were playing, at the point when you had to switch to the second disc?

It locked up during the install. 1st disc went fine; 2nd disc locked up and I had to use CTRL/ALT/DEL to get out of the install.

If it locked up during the install, copying the dlls won't work.
Copying the dlls works if you've already installed the game and are simply missing those dlls after it's installed.

Have you tried installing it in XP mode? I think you said you were trying to see what games would install and play without any special tweaking, but this wouldn't be too much of a tweak -- at least not if XP mode is built in or an easy download.

Ah, I see. I will definitely give that a try. I'm sure most of this will be pretty similar to Vista, but thought it might be worth the exercise.

I also have been using the beta of win 7 beta and RC1 since feb, Playing games and daily work, well mostly work, and must say it is very, VERY good indeed... I have taken advantage of the half price and ordered 3 license.

Draclvr I Installed and currently playing "TLJ 4 disc" on my hp dv5 laptop and also on my quadcore desktop that has nvidia 8600GT both running win 7 rc1. After copying three files from disc 1 as described in another post so far it has worked great on both machines .I use Livemesh from MS to sync my game saves and Doc files. so no matter what system i am using as soon as i save a game or save a document it gets synced to the other machines,.plus i always have a backup,

Our family has installed and played the undying (another blast from the past)spooky game, the lost crown (Finished), POP, The Witcher (Finished), Tomb Raider Under World ,Dracula origin, Sherlock Holmes Nemesis,Mass Effect (finished), Spellforce 2, Timeshock Pinball, and under Virtual pC i installed Myst (never have finished that game)...Using scummvm i played Sam n max, DOTT, and the dig ....all "Seem" to be running fine. If any issues come up i will post them...

For now we have found Win 7 even in Beta to be very clean ,snappy and rock solid on our 3 computers...



My 2 cents

Take Care

Today I found out that if you want "XP Mode," you have to get Windows 7 Professional.

If you get Windows 7 Home Premium, you have to supply your own copy of Windows XP and install it in Virtual PC, and you'll probably have to call up Microsoft to get it "activated."

If you get Windows 7 Professional, XP Mode is a free download, preactivated and with any necessary tools/drivers preinstalled.

So I'm curious whether the beta is more like Windows 7 Professional or like Windows 7 Home Premium.


I'm also wondering if there's any reason to get 32-bit Windows 7, since any recent computer has a 64-bit processor and backward compatibility is now handled through virtualization.

I don't know about the Beta, but the final RC is Windows 7 Ultimate. I read that too about the XP compatability mode only in Professional.

I am able to right click on a an execution file and select "troubleshoot compatibiltiy." On a couple of older games the recommended setting was for XP. I didn't use it and they played fine on Windows 7.

As far as the TLJ game goes, I didn't have any better luck, but I think that the game is looking at something on my E:/ drive which is my other HDD with XP on it. Haven't had time to check into it any further.

Patchman, I too have been very happy with this OS. Every Vista computer I worked on made me want to tear my hair out. This one is nimble and quick and very user friendly for me.

Oopsie... It appears there is a big crack in CD 2 which does not show on the surface. Could be the problem, eh!

I hate it when that happens. I had that happen with another game once and was actually able to peal the disc in half.