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Windows 7

Started by frdrcklim, January 18, 2009, 01:05:07 AM

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Nardo69

@sithlrd98:
Xp killed your bootmanager because it is the older OS anbd as such it cannot know / identify Vista or Windows 7 bootmanager or boot tables. If you want to have both of them you must either install the older OS before the newer ones or restore the MBR after installing the older one. Had that proplem with XP and Windows 7.
If you install Windows 7 after Vista you shouldn't have proplems. BTW you don't need separate hard drives for each OS, a separate partition is enough! ;)
Just be careful during installation as there shall be an upgrade option from vista to Windows 7 (don't now for sure, I don't even want to touch Vista ...  $%Grinno$%)

In general I have to completely agree with BarbyW - I had always problems with the SATA driver and the soundcard under XP - the latter mostly with SC4 which made me not playing SC4 for months. With Windows 7 beta and Windows 7 RC I haven't had any problems and was positively surprised by its performance (especially Windows 7 RC) on my rather old machine.

The only problem that doesn't run like it should is Sc4Tool which behaves on my PC exact the same as BarbyW described.

BarbyW

I finally got SC4Tool running properly although it is running under XP compatability mode and asks every time before it is opened. It takes a long time for the top menu bar to respond but I eventually was able to configure the paths. It is now reading my MyDocs\plugins folder - not much use at the moment as I have only a dat packed playing folder installed.  ::)
I am gradually liking Windows 7 more and more and will probably be happy to pay for it when it is finally released - I never even wanted to think about upgrading to Vista.
Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened. TP



Barbypedia: More alive than the original

Jonathan

To run Sc4Tool you need to turn off Aero when it's running(on Vista and 7), there's something about the shadows on the menus that Aero doesn't like.

In the compatibility tab just tick disable desktop composition and Aero will be disabled every time you run Sc4Tool. Or you could just use the XP mode in windows 7 and it should run fine. Really it would be great if the shadows were just removed from the menus as they are very unimportant but are quite annoying.

Also with people actually even thinking of upgrading to 7 then more and more people are going to want to use Sc4Tool on it so a compatible version really should be made.

Jonathan

Andreas

Quote from: Jonathan on May 28, 2009, 02:59:08 AM
Also with people actually even thinking of upgrading to 7 then more and more people are going to want to use Sc4Tool on it so a compatible version really should be made.

Unfortunately, a new version of SC4Tool would mean to recreate it from scratch. simrolle told me that the main reason for not updating the program anymore was because his development tools were not working any longer. He even started to create another program with the same features, but then got swamped by RL. I haven't heard from him since quite some time (although I've seen him online occasionally), but I doubt he will have the time to create a full-blown program again.
Andreas

joelyboy911

I use Vista. The problem I have in SC4tool is that text entry boxes, such as where paths for textures are in Texture Creator, are all blacked out. This occurs in all compatability modes. I can't get to transit enabler without running in compatibility mode windows 2000. Can someone PM me if they know how to fix it. I already have tried all different compatibility mode options, and gotten the the file (I cant recall the name, something.dll or something) that is needed in Vista. Please help me, if you can.
SimCity Aviation Group
I miss you, Adrian

sithlrd98

Quote from: Nardo69 on May 28, 2009, 02:23:04 AM
@sithlrd98:
Xp killed your bootmanager because it is the older OS anbd as such it cannot know / identify Vista or Windows 7 bootmanager or boot tables. If you want to have both of them you must either install the older OS before the newer ones or restore the MBR after installing the older one. Had that proplem with XP and Windows 7.
If you install Windows 7 after Vista you shouldn't have proplems. BTW you don't need separate hard drives for each OS, a separate partition is enough! ;)
Just be careful during installation as there shall be an upgrade option from vista to Windows 7 (don't now for sure, I don't even want to touch Vista ...  $%Grinno$%)

Yeah , I found that out the hard way! The comp. came with Vista pre-loaded , and after having a few issues I decided to buy x64 XP. The reason for 2 drives basically is the fact that if either drive craps out , I still have an OS to boot into. This is the way I've always done it! As I woke this morning , it's 100% done so I guess I know what I'm doing this evening!

joelyboy911 : What I had tio do , and it's the same thing I had to do for Reader , is actually manually configure the "Settings.txt". This file is found under System in the SC4tool folder:The main things I had to input were The Paths:

<settings>
  <data>
    <name>SortierKriterium</name>
    <value>A</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>SortierKriteriumBAT</name>
    <value>A</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>FarbSchema</name>
    <value>Standard</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>SC4Path</name>
    <value>C:\Program Files (x86)\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>SC4LocalPath</name>
    <value>C:\Users\Jayson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>User</name>
    <value>Standard</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>TL</name>
    <value>4091019264</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>TU</name>
    <value>4091543551</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>StartupProgramm</name>
    <value>0</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>ShowIntro</name>
    <value>False</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>TEModus</name>
    <value>E</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>CreateBackup</name>
    <value>False</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>FormatDate</name>
    <value>yyyy-MM-dd</value>
  </data>
  <data>
    <name>LanguageFiles</name>
    <value>Deutsch.xml!07!0;English.xml!23!1;Dutch.xml!12!0;Portugues.xml!02!0;Castellano.xml!19!0;Suomi.xml!05!0;Italiano.xml!09!0</value>
  </data>
</settings>


Jayson

frdrcklim

#26
Quote from: Andreas on May 28, 2009, 03:03:39 AM
Unfortunately, a new version of SC4Tool would mean to recreate it from scratch. simrolle told me that the main reason for not updating the program anymore was because his development tools were not working any longer. He even started to create another program with the same features, but then got swamped by RL. I haven't heard from him since quite some time (although I've seen him online occasionally), but I doubt he will have the time to create a full-blown program again.

I heard the Business edition will have a Virtual XP or maybe that was all versions :-\. I saw a footage from BBC Click that Virtual XP is something like opening a window and that window is your desktop in XP form. This will be able to run apps that were compatible with XP but no longer in succeeding operating systems.
300... 200... 100... 50... 40... 30... 20... 10

Yep, I still got it.

sithlrd98

#27
So far so good...Got reader,SC4tool and of course SC4 running(although guess what , still got that strange graphic problem. Oh well , guess my 'puter don't like SC4!) CS2, FF & TB(with all my settings)

Did not have to download 1 single driver for anything , saw network,internet with no problems (unlike Vista)
I only lost my back-up"Restore" partion BCD , of course I did buy the Restore disc from HP , so I'm not totally outta luck. Because of the way I chose to install (Separate Drives) , I did have to "repair" the BCD , but that only took a couple of minuets. With SC4tool , all you need to do is , like Jonathan said , turn off the same junk you did in Vista , and replace the Fishlib.dll with the one that Null45 did. Only had it up for a couple of hours , but I do like "Aero Peak"!
Oh , and just like with Vista , if you use "invert selection" , you will have to enable it.

Jayson

sithlrd98

#28
Well, I've been messing with the Virtual XP add-on , and so far it is useless! It will not play SC4 , keeps saying that it can't initialize Direct Draw , even though I updated the DX. I can not figure out how to get it to use more than 256 mg Ram...the help file is , well non-existent. Has anyone else tried it yet?

Got it to see 3gigs

Jayson

Ennedi

#29
Quote from: sithlrd98 on May 29, 2009, 10:23:35 AM
Well, I've been messing with the Virtual XP add-on , and so far it is useless! It will not play SC4 , keeps saying that it can't initialize Direct Draw , even though I updated the DX. I can not figure out how to get it to use more than 256 mg Ram...the help file is , well non-existent. Has anyone else tried it yet?

Got it to see 3gigs

Jayson

I played SC4 on the Virtual XP, in fact I have 3 virtual machines installed now  :) You are right, it says that it can't intialize Direct Draw, but if I click OK, the game is loaded  ;D As I remember, I've got another communicate several times: Direct Draw can't be intialized in hardware mode, it will be intialized in siftware mode instead (which is probably natural in the virtual machine, but I'm not a prrofessionalist and such themes are above my head  ;)). It was quite comfortable, because I had only SC4 and a few SC4 tools installed - no problems with multiple core processors, no antivirus, no other software making their mysterious job in the background  ;D. So the game was running smoothly without any CTDs or other problems. The only disadvantage was the game played on the virtual machine was much much slower than normal. My CPU is AMD Dual Core 3800+ 2,01 GHz and 2 GB RAM. When you are installing the virtual machine you have to decide how much RAM will it use, you must leave at least 512 MB for your "main" computer, I decided to assign about 1,35 GB to the Virtual PC. But I have a feeling it's not a matter of the RAM amount, my SC4 needed usually about 1 GB. But something else happens what causes that the virtual machine is significantly slower.

The main advantage of playing SC4 on the Virtual PC is that you can return to the previous system state even if you made something wrong in your city and saved the game. For example if I tested new stuff, I used to save the game, then open it again to see if the new plugin doesn't cause any conflict. But I must do it in the same session ie before closing the virtual machine.It happened earlier several times that I wasn't able to open the city tile after installing the corrupted plugin. Now I can check it. If the game doesn't want to open the city tile, I close the Virtual PC but I choose an option "Don't commit changes in the virtual hard disk" and everything returns to the state before session. This is because everything you do during the session is saved separately, and disks are merged when you are closing the virtual machine. Before this moment you can "undo" everything you did.
Sometimes, if I did something I accept, I close and restart the virtual machine to prevent my work before losing. If I would make something wrong later and decide to don't save changes, my previous work made during the same session would be lost.
Anyway, it has both good and bad sides. Great for testing, not so good to play in cities with a lot of custom content (or my computer is simply too weak  ;D)

Adam

Edit: So maybe it would be a solution for Vista or Windows 7 users to have SC4 Tool installed on the Virtual PC with XP installed on it? Moving files back and forth is easy. You can move files from your main screen to the virtual machine window, open them in SC4 Tool and make what do you want, then move back to your main system. In fact I do it with Reader from some time. Some time ago I had to reinstall Windows (I use XP), and for some strange reason Reader doesn't want to work properly from that time. But it works perfectly in the Virtual PC. So I move my mods to the virtual machine to open them in Reader and come back when I make everything I need. It's a bit annoying but doesn't take much time.
New Horizons Productions
Berethor - beskhu3epnm - blade2k5 - dmscopio - dedgren - Emilin - Ennedi
jplumbley - moganite - M4346 - nichter85 - papab2000 - Shadow Assassin - Tarkus - wouanagaine

Jonathan

I thought the windows Xp mode let you have an Xp window on the same desktop as your vista windows? Would the program then use files from the virtual Xp machine or vista ?

I'd try it but got sidetracked by my iPhone and BGT. :D

Jonathan

sithlrd98

You can have "XP"on top of Win7 , minimize out of XP, copy from WIN7 into XP and back. When you install on the Virtual OS , it stores all info into a Virtual HDD.
As far as SC4 and direct draw , I have tried multiple times , and have been unsucseesful , but I think part of it is what it sees as my video card...gonna try messing with it more this weekend.

Jayson


sithlrd98

Here it is slightly minimized...still messing with it.


1400x900


Jayson



Pat

OK so is Win7 worth it??? Yea or Nay??

Don't forget the SC4D Podcast is back and live on Saturdays @ 12 noon CST!! -- The Podcast soon to Return Here Linkie

Jonathan

Sorry about that short post before, I was pushing the time as it was.

Here's what I've got:


Works well in the fact that the menus are fine, and ther arent those delays, but I have tried using it yet because I have to set the paths and SC4 isnt installed yet.

You just install it on the XP Mode and then right click the XP start button and Open All users, then copy the icon from the XP desktop to it.

Then in Windows 7 in All Programs > Windows Virtual PC>Virtual Windows XP Applications there will be an icon for Sc4Tool.

Jonathan

Ennedi

#36
So... You can use SC4Tool in Windows 7 (thanks to the virtual machine)?  :)
As for loading SC4 - as I remember, after receiving the communicate "cannot initialize Direct Draw" and clicking OK, nothing happens for quite a while, and you can think it's unsuccessful. But wait patiently, it will load. The whole loading time with this break is much longer than usual  $%Grinno$%, but at least you can avoid such surprises as described lately by fighter jingyu in the "Show Us your seaports" thread.
If you will still have problems, I will check it (I didn't play SC4 this way from some time) and take screenshots.

Adam

Edit: A tip - if you installed the Virtual PC, it is good to make its copy, it is very simple. When you will have everything messed up and don't want to use your current virtual machine yet, you can move files to the fresh one and then simply delete an old one. It is much more simple and quick than reinstalling Windows if you have only one PC  ;D
You can have multiple virtual machines and make additional hard disk(s) which will be shared between them.
As I remember, there is also an option to create shared folders (to exchange data between VPC and the main PC), but I had problems with this feature. But the drag and drop method of copying files to and from VPC worked always good. Sometimes I got a false communicate "cannot move the file, it is used by another person or program", but the file was copied anyway.
New Horizons Productions
Berethor - beskhu3epnm - blade2k5 - dmscopio - dedgren - Emilin - Ennedi
jplumbley - moganite - M4346 - nichter85 - papab2000 - Shadow Assassin - Tarkus - wouanagaine

sithlrd98

#37
Quote from: Pat on May 29, 2009, 06:36:52 PM
OK so is Win7 worth it??? Yea or Nay??

Well  , since your still a Vista "Noob" ;D , I'm not sure if you've delved into the actual good stuff Vista has(Yes , there are some useful things)
I have found that those useful things are in 7 , and a few new things. I don't know how useful Virtual XP will be , it seems it is better suited for users of "Legacy" USB stuff , so that they can use that scanner from 5 years ago that has no Vista drivers.
I will say that I finally got SC4 to run in VirtXP , but it is excruciatingly slow , it can only run in software mode , and the Virtual Video can not be upgraded.

One thing I did like in Vista was the desktop switcher , which I can't find yet in 7,but here is a neat little thing...



Quote from: Ennedi on May 30, 2009, 05:06:48 AM
So... You can use SC4Tool in Windows 7 (thanks to the virtual machine)?  :)
As for loading SC4 - as I remember, after receiving the communicate "cannot initialize Direct Draw" and clicking OK, nothing happens for quite a while, and you can think it's unsuccessful. But wait patiently, it will load. The whole loading time with this break is much longer than usual  $%Grinno$%, but at least you can avoid such surprises as described lately by fighter jingyu in the "Show Us your seaports" thread.
If you will still have problems, I will check it (I didn't play SC4 this way from some time) and take screenshots.

Adam
You can use SC4tool in Win7 , without the virtual Xp..right now you still have to download virt.XP , so it has not been integrated.



So far , I have not had any problems using any programs. Even the SC4MDT by Coego works.You still need to replace Fshlib.dll in SC4tool, but it works in WIN7

Jayson

Ennedi

OK Jayson and others, please report your experiences after playing more on Windows 7 - both the game and all sofware we use. I'm going to complete the new PC in the next few months, so I'm very interested in it  :)

Adam
New Horizons Productions
Berethor - beskhu3epnm - blade2k5 - dmscopio - dedgren - Emilin - Ennedi
jplumbley - moganite - M4346 - nichter85 - papab2000 - Shadow Assassin - Tarkus - wouanagaine

Jonathan

Desktop Switcher? I havent heard of that?

You can use Sc4Tool without the Xp mode the exact same as in Vista (disabling Aero (or Desktop Composition as it's called in the compatibility tab).

Xp mode was slow for me to , but there was only 128 MB of RAM set for it, so increased that to 1GB and it worked better.

Found this: http://forums.techarena.in/guides-tutorials/1175447.htm could be quite useful for testing it out on an XP machine, where there's no partition manager

Jonathan