SL & Windows Vista

Anyone else tried to run SL on Windows Vista Beta 2 (5270)?

I finially got it to log in (after about 10 minutes of "Detecting Harware"...

All the text is very blocky (unreadable), SL runs very slow, seems very unresponsive to keyboard input.

But I suppose I can say that it runs.

System Specs (if they are needed):

Pentium 4 3.06GHz HT (533FSB)
1GB PC2700
(currently) 15GB HDD
nVidia GeForce 5200

yes, laugh at the dinky hard drive...

On a side note for anyone interested, Vista Beta 2 seems to run well. Like most beta products, it is slower (slower meaning, I wouldnt recommend trying it out to anyone who is trying to use it as an actual daily-use OS) than the release version will be... dosent seem to be "fine-tuned" as of yet. Looks very nice. Some new features that I'm liking alot (like the switch windows button, where all your windows in their current state - with on screen movement - are shown in a side view). Includes Windows Defender, IE7. Dosent seem any more "capable" than XP, but Im sure M$ has some tricks up their sleaves.

This is most likely due to the video drivers that windows vista is using, and that opengl is being wrapped into direct3d, which is limited to basic opengl 1.4 support and isnt hardware accelerated.

We'll need to wait on the graphics card manufacturers to release opengl drivers although there has been some issue with this as any window using these drivers will have to disable the aeroglass interface for that window.

Thank you for the reply. I was able to find a driver from nVidia for my card (for Vista), unfortunatly it would refuse to install =(.

I havent tried turning off the aeroglass visuals (actually I was kinda having fun with them). I will try that as soon as I have a chance.

I have been keeping it on a second HDD, so whenever I feel like swapping the drive out again, I will try this idea out. I will try to post my results here when I do.

Sorry to go off-topic, but I must point out that Vista build 5270 is NOT beta 2, despite what it says in the corner of the screen or during installation. It's a build leading up to beta 2 (which is why it says it everywhere), but it's not beta 2 yet.

Another thing to bear in mind is that the major appcompat push at MS happens towards the end of the development cycle. Generally they are very unkeen on the idea of major appcompat breaks, which is what this is. So it hopefully will be the case that LL won't have to do anything for the shipping Vista.

So, has anyone found a fix to this issue? I'm on build 5308 (Beta 2) with my 256mb GeForce FX 550. I have successfully installed the drivers supplied by NVidia (installed the latest ones, installation date was March 5, 2006). I am able to move my mouse without lag due to this new installation (on the OS, not within SL itself). I still have the issues with the SL blocks. Any ideas?

Thanks,
Guido

Nvidia still arent providing any opengl drivers in their driver package, so all rendering is being done via software using the microsoft opengl to direct3d wrapper.

I shall play the "wait & see" game with Vista. Like waiting a year till the 1st or 2nd Service Pack is released. I'd like to see how it handles home-built systems too, as some are speculating that, due to it's Validation Method, if you build a system & install Vista on it you won't be able to use that same version of Vista again if you build a whole new system later on. Reading over what they plan on incorporating into it sounds interesting but at the same time I hope this isn't gonna be another Windows ME!!

I can't even get SL to run on Vista. I either get stuck at the detecting hardware message box or if I use the -noprobe switch, SL tries to launch and then crashes.

I have Windows Vista build 5308 Beta 2 installed on my laptop which only has a GeForceGo 4 32mb in it and SL runs fine. However it will only run properly when it is run with administrator privileges and in compatibility mode for Windows XP Service Pack 2

If anyone has a nVidia graphics card which is supported by the beta nVidia driver for Vista then I suggest you download and install it as it makes Windows and SL run perfectly. Also it makes the glass effects in Windows work which I must say is very nice

Looking to see if your soundcard has a Vista beta driver is also a good idea

NOW- if you've been keeping up with Vista & what DirectX10 will bring, it'll make you wish SL used Direct X. But then the poor Mac people would be outta luck.

Unless LL is planning to maintain OS-specific code in each of the client versions, this probably won't happen. But it'd be really nice if SL on Windows ran on DirectX, OpenGL on Mac and Linux.

But it would probably require two seperate rendering engines and wouldn't be that practical to maintain, making sure things look the same between DirectX and OpenGL.

I dunno, but has anyone even tried using a precompiled OpenGL dll like the MESA drivers or something and dropping that into their SL directory?

How exactly are you running SL in Vista. As I said in my post above, I can get it installed, but when I try to run SL under Windows XP compatibility and as an administrator, I get the detecting hardware message for a minute or two, and then SL crashes. Are you running SL in full screen mode?

Here is a brief version of my DXDiag from Vista

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 3/13/2006, 16:30:04
Machine name: PS4590-VISTA
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Ultimate Edition (6.0, Build 530 (5308.winmain_idx01.060217-2200)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: OptiPlex GX280
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
Processor: (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Page File: 866MB used, 3457MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 10
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 6.00.5308.0017 32bit Unicode

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: RADEON X300/X550 Series (Microsoft Corporation - WDDM)
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type:
DAC type:
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_5B60&SUBSYS_04021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 895 MB
Dedicated Memory: 127 MB
Shared Memory: 768 MB
Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Generic PnP Monitor
Driver Name: atiumdag.dll,atiumdva.dll
Driver Version: ()
DDI Version: 9Ex
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: , 0 bytes
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
WHQL Date Stamp: n/a

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Volume Control (SoundMAX Integrated Digital Audio)
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_266E&SUBSYS_01791028&REV_03
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: {0.0.0.00000000}.{746e49a9-ff29-419f-9a69-6014a898c59d}
Driver Version: ()
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: No
Date and Size: , 0 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Analog Devices
HW Accel Level: Standard
Cap Flags: 0xF1F
Min/Max Sample Rate: 100, 200000
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 1, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: No
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: No, No
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No

This same machine runs Second Life reasonably well in XP.

Nope, I'm running it in a window. Honnestly not tried running it full screen yet

Did anyone figure how to get sl to run on Windows Vista

It will run as long as you have an Nvidia video card, use Vista Beta 2, and use the beta 2 drivers from Nvidia.