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  #1  
Old June 16th, 2007, 01:15 PM
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Gandalf Parker Gandalf Parker is offline
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Default Re: What\'s wrong with my Dominions?

IMHO

A) Vista is neat and new with great new hooks that programmers will be able to do wonderful things with. We will all want it.

B) The people who make the video and sound cards are still catching up to making drivers that can use Vistas new features.

C) Game developers have not even started using new Vista hooks.

D) AT THE TIME OF THIS WRITING it seems that getting pre-vista games to run on vista is only capable of two things. Either it runs worse for lack of something, or with work you can make it run the same as it did before you got Vista.

So my recommendations would be....

1) I would NOT want to go thru the headache of upgrading Vista on a machine with older hardware and older programs already installed on it which would all have to be tweeked just to get them to run as well as they used to.

2) But if you buy a new machine from a reputable company then they probably give you hardware which IS up to date for Vista so you would probably be ahead things when the games come out for Vista.

Personally however, for many reasons, I would not get a windows laptop. Everything has its pros and cons. For me its Linux on servers, Windows on desktop, and Mac on laptops.

Gandalf Parker
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-- DISCLAIMER:
This game is NOT suitable for students, interns, apprentices, or anyone else who is expected to pass tests on a regular basis. Do not think about strategies while operating heavy machinery. Before beginning this game make arrangements for someone to check on you daily. If you find that your game has continued for more than 36 hours straight then you should consult a physician immediately (Do NOT show him the game!)
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  #2  
Old June 16th, 2007, 06:28 PM
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Default Re: What\'s wrong with my Dominions?

Quote:
Gandalf Parker said:
Personally however, for many reasons, I would not get a windows laptop. Everything has its pros and cons. For me its Linux on servers, Windows on desktop, and Mac on laptops.

Gandalf Parker
Personally for me it's dual or triple booting on servers, desktops and laptops for different operating systems. There are mutliple benefits for having a dual booting or triple booting system.

It will be awhile before developers release a game which can use DirectX_10 and the new hooks since game developers don't want to lose customers still using Windows2000 or WinXP. I believe Microsoft will be the first because they want to push everyone into using Vista... so HALO_3 and maybe DungeonSiege_3 probably won't work on older operating systems unless cracked.
I'm irritated how Vista is still 32bit by default and maximum RAM is still 4GBs and... well I'll stop my rant.
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  #3  
Old June 16th, 2007, 07:08 PM

Rasit Rasit is offline
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Default Re: What\'s wrong with my Dominions?

Quote:
NTJedi said:
[...]so HALO_3 and maybe DungeonSiege_3 probably won't work on older operating systems unless cracked.[...]
They are way ahead of your. Microsoft made sure you can't play Halo 2 on XP, despite using it using DirectX 9...
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  #4  
Old June 24th, 2007, 04:54 PM

Lazy_Perfectionist Lazy_Perfectionist is offline
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Default Re: What\'s wrong with my Dominions?

So, any luck getting this up and running? I've picked up a similar laptop, esp. with regards to the intel graphics 950. I intend to turn it into a triple-boot linux web/work machine, but it would be nice to get Dominions III on it.

If I get it up and running, I'll share what I did.

As it is, I don't have the graphics yet, and my computer freezes when autoupdating (gotta love vista) or manually installing drivers. That, and the link from the 950 chip product page takes me to 945 drivers. I'll need to get familiar with this.

If I need to, I can play Dom3 on another computer, but I'm going to bash my head against this for a bit. Its fun.
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  #5  
Old June 24th, 2007, 05:57 PM

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Default Re: What\'s wrong with my Dominions?

Sorry for being a bit snide the first time around... I've made some progress in getting the game to play, I'll share that- but I haven't tested it extensively yet. If you want a starter point to look at, though...

Windows XP Service Pack 2 compatibility mode on (though I don't think it has any effect, though I'll find out as I test)
And I modified the shortcut with the following commands
-w (closes easier upon failure, since the X button is still there).
Disabling visual themes, desktop compostiion, display scaling- all semi-useless.

Update: Unless there's a more specific option I can turn off thats the source of the problem, -a --noanimback is essential. Though windows xp compatiblility isn't looking to be that way.
-a --noanimback (got me past the start menu- through the start menu, and all the way into pretender design. It stopped working though once I tried to close the two messages that show up at the beginning of the game)
-f --nofade (now I can see the world map)

I haven't tried entering a battle yet, or disabling some of these tweaks to see if they're unnecessary, but I've made significant progress in getting the game to show up.

So, the shortcut running in windows mode is Code:
 "blah balh \dom3.exe" -w -a --noanimback -f --nofade 



If it really is working, I'll find out what exactly is necessary and try and write some clear instructions for you to try. If you're around, let me know?
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  #6  
Old June 24th, 2007, 06:18 PM

Lazy_Perfectionist Lazy_Perfectionist is offline
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Default Re: What\'s wrong with my Dominions?

With my current config, it seems to be playable. As long as you don't try to watch battles. I'll try a couple more switches and get back to you.
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  #7  
Old June 24th, 2007, 06:35 PM

Lazy_Perfectionist Lazy_Perfectionist is offline
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Default Re: What\'s wrong with my Dominions?

One particular switch seems to be all thats needed, allowing you animated backgrounds and watching battles.

That's --noglext . If you've tried the other switches, you may need to renable/restore default setting in the video section for as full an experience as possible.

Try it and let me know.
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