Windows 7 - yes or no?

[Narrat0r]

I am planning on buying Windows 7, and there are two issues.
1. I have never changed my OS yet, and I want to know will my PC be completely re-installed, or will my data still be saved?
2. The PC is purely for gaming purposes. Lots of games made befor the middle of 2009 don't support Windows 7, and I have a couple, and plan on adding more. Is there some sort of a site for tweaking games to be playable on Windows 7?
3. My graphic card supports DirectX 11, will I be able to instantly play DirectX 11 games upon installing 7?
So, it all somes down to "be or not to be". Thanks in advance

 

[Super-Sheep]

If the game doesnt say "OS: Windows 7" it doesnt mean that it would not support it... All my games work on my Windows 7. :\

 

[Kuvion]

1. Depends on your current OS. Your data will not be saved if you change between 32/64 bit OS or if your current OS is not windows. I think it saves your data if you upgrade from xp or vista, but i'm not an expert on this so you should ask someone to confirm this. In any case you should backup your data first.

2. If they work on windows Vista they probably work on 7 too. Older games may have problems though.

I run these on windows 7:
Wc3
Diablo 2
BFME1/2/ROTWK
Modern Warfare 2
Starcraft 2
Starcraft 1 (After some tweaking to make the colors display properly. I can help you with this if you have this problem.)
LOTRO

XP games have a good chance of working, but you may have bad luck

3. I believe so. Maybe you have to download drivers for your card, but that isn't complicated.

 

[Ironside]

1. I'm not sure, just save the data somewhere

2. If you'll get 32-bit system, pretty much all games that work on Vista/XP will work, if you'll get 64-bit, then you'll have problems, LOTS.

3. Yes

 

[Kuvion]

??? Problems with 64 bit ??? You have never used a 64 bit system right?


I run 7 x64 and have no problems. All my games (in the list above) work perfectly smooth. The only problems were with Starcraft 1, where the colors were messed up until I figured out how to fix it.


btw even though it may be possible to save your old data it can be good to reset the system completely, since unnecessary files and programs that are no longer used will always pile up when a system has been used for a long time. A complete reset will also erase any hidden viruses.

 

[Deolrin]

You can run x32 programs\games on Windows 7 x64 Bit, you know. This option is supported.

 

[Ironside]

??? Problems with 64 bit ??? You have never used a 64 bit system right?


I run 7 x64 and have no problems. All my games (in the list above) work perfectly smooth. The only problems were with Starcraft 1, where the colors were messed up until I figured out how to fix it.


btw even though it may be possible to save your old data it can be good to reset the system completely, since unnecessary files and programs that are no longer used will always pile up when a system has been used for a long time. A complete reset will also erase any hidden viruses.

Actually I have. Those games might work, but many other certainly don't.

 

[Kuvion]

That's weird, never happened for me, not even with the crap games I didn't even care to mention in my small list. The 32-bit compatibility seems to work really good, at least for me.

 

[Super-Sheep]

I have Windows 7 64 bit no problems... Bara shut up plx.

I can even play Command & Conquer 95 without problems.

I havent met any game/program yet that didnt work. Okay there was some kind of wc3 tool... It didnt work. :<<

 

[rcshaggy]

I have Windows 7 with no problems either, but still Warcraft II and Brood War goes into a static state and doesn't look good.
Here is a example:

 

[Super-Sheep]

^

I had a bit similiar color issue with Command & Conquer. (but it was not that bad..)

I got it to work by right clicking on your desktop and then click on "Screen Resolution" and LEAVE IT OPEN.

There are some games that dont want to work but there is almost always a some kind of fix.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Get windows 7, it rapes.


Also, i have no problems with sc1 and i run 64. also no problems with wc2 AND 1. i run like 20 games on this bitch and none of them have any issues.

 

[rcshaggy]

Just checked my system as well and I have 64x, which is odd that I'm having a little trouble with the old games.
The new ones work just fine and no problems.

 

[Kuvion]

@Super-Sheep: Yeah, that works for some people in starcraft too, not for me though.

These are the fixes I have found for the color problems:

(Copy-pasted from my post on thehelper)

The first one (that Super-Sheep said) is very simple. You left-click anywhere on your desktop. Then click on "screen resolution". Just leave it open without changing anything and start the game. This didn't work for me, but it seems to work for many others.

The second solution is a bit more complicated. Open notepad, a simple text editor that comes with the OS. Paste the following text:

taskkill /f /IM explorer.exe 
C:\"Program Files (x86)\StarCraft"\"StarCraft.exe"
start explorer.exe

Then change the "Program Files (x86)\StarCraft" to point to your Starcraft folder.
Save the file with the .bat file extension, for example Starcraft.bat
Then just double click on the file. This worked for me.

If nothing of this works, the only solution I know is virtualization. This means running another OS "inside" your computers OS. I can help you if you want to try that.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Or use 'Run in compatibility'

works for me 90% of the time.

 

[Ironside]

Fine whatever, maybe games, but if you'll want tools, then it will end fast. Anyway only get 64-bit if you have 4GB RAM of more.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Huh? tools?

I have like 4 modeling programs and gimp,, gimp2, cs5, flash, dreamweaver, and like tooooons of tools on this comp, they all run fine O_O

 

[Kuvion]

@The World Is Flat:
Running Starcraft 1 in compatibility mode never helped for me. The colors were still messed up. But of course testing different compatibility settings is good because if you are really lucky it might fix it. I think I read about someone who got it to work with windows 98 (or maybe 95) compatibility mode. But for most people it will probably not work.

@Barathrum:
I don't know what tools you refer to, but anyways you have a good point that he should in any case use 32-bit if he has less than 4 GB RAM.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Ya, well why else go for 64 unless you want more than 4 gigs

Also, check run in 256 colors, because thats how many colors sc2 was designed to run on, that worked for me in vista.

 

[Narrat0r]

I have 4GB RAM and planning to get 32bit. Any problems?

 

[Ironside]

I have 4GB RAM and planning to get 32bit. Any problems?

Except for the fact of lost RAM, no.

 

[Narrat0r]

How much will be lost?

 

[Ironside]

32 bit can handle about 3 to 3,5 GB, it varies. By me it could handle only 2,9GB on 32 bit.

 

[Narrat0r]

Yay, I got the CD today. What now? Should I do it or should I not?

 

[Ironside]

Entirely up to you, either program incapability or less RAM.

 

[Super-Sheep]

64 bit is better.

Like I have said gazillion times. I have NO problems with any of the programs.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Same. also

I am fairly sure that 32 caps it off at somwhere around 2.5 gb of ram.

 

[Ironside]

No it's minimal 2,9GB for windows 7, 2,5GB is by XP.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Ah, i didnt know they changed it.

 

[Kuvion]

Does Video memory also count in those 4 GB? Then it's even less you can actually have use of (at least if you have a decent graphics card).

 

[Dr Super Good]

1. The data may be overwritten.

2. Both 32 and 64 bit Windows 7 run as good as XP as far as I can tell. The nonsense people posted above is caused by the falce pretence that Windows 7 64 is windows XP 64 where virtually nothing ran.

3. Yes, unlike XP you will instantly have access to all DX11 features. Although the game will have to install the lattest DirectX components (or you will have to do so manually).

I will always advise 64 bit Windows 7. Also The 32bit allocates 4GB memory (of which your graphic memory is included). 64 bit also allows access to faster libraries. Eventually when 64 bit games are released you would also be able to use them efficently.

 

[dab]

1. The data may be overwritten.

2. Both 32 and 64 bit Windows 7 run as good as XP as far as I can tell. The nonsense people posted above is caused by the falce pretence that Windows 7 64 is windows XP 64 where virtually nothing ran.

3. Yes, unlike XP you will instantly have access to all DX11 features. Although the game will have to install the lattest DirectX components (or you will have to do so manually).

I will always advise 64 bit Windows 7. Also The 32bit allocates 4GB memory (of which your graphic memory is included). 64 bit also allows access to faster libraries. Eventually when 64 bit games are released you would also be able to use them efficently.

Seconded and I would like to add that I'm running 7 and have been for about 6 months(?) and have had no problems at all with installed games. Not warcraft III, neither stuff like Black Ops or Starcraft II.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Ya, Its great software, no problem with old or new games for me.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Well obviously it will have problems with very very old games (DOS) or games which were never well made.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Yes, but then you can use DoS compatibility software.

 

[manstie]

I won't get windows 7, I prefer windows XP since windows 7 you still have to run everything as admin, and stuff.....

 

[The World Is Flat]

....
Its called turn of user account control. (User accout control is also Extremely helpful.)

And no, you dont.

 

[Super-Sheep]

I won't get windows 7, I prefer windows XP since windows 7 you still have to run everything as admin, and stuff.....

I never experienced anything like that. Everything works fine without running them as an admin or maybe I am admin. Actually I am. I think so.

 

[The World Is Flat]

You are an admin by default. new users on the computer are users by default, you can change this at any time.

 

[Kuvion]

You can set a program to always run as admin, which helps a lot with older games like Wc3 (otherwise they won't be able to connect to battle.net). For me user account control became so annoying that I turned it off, before I had to click "yes" every time I wanted to open some programs or just move/delete/create a file (not in my documents).

 

[The World Is Flat]

Thats if you set it to a certain level, you can reduce the occurance of that with a slider.

Also, i've never had to set wc3 to only run as an admin, it runs it without prompts.

Generally UAC only prompts you if a program tries to edit your system settings or make changes to your computer, i.e. install itself or add or remove directories.

 

[Kuvion]

Wc3 runs perfectly fine as non-admin, but it can't connect to bnet. I guess it is because it has to download stuff to its own directory, which requires administrator privileges since it is not under my documents.
And what I did was set it to the lowest level.

 

[The World Is Flat]

I play my war3 on bnet all the time without running as an admin, you must be having a different issue.

 

[leet.firefox]

Any program not designed to run in x64 will install to a separate folder; Program Files (x86).
You should have no problems running 32-bit software on a 64-bit OS.

I've had no problem running the entire Infinity Engine collection (Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, Planescape: Torment, and Icewind Dale 1 and 2) and every Blizzard game on W7 x64.

Also, turn off UAC right away. It's just a nuisance more than anything. Unless you have a problem with installing every random file you find on the internet.

If you have the RAM and money there's really no reason not to get x64 over x86.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Any program not designed to run in x64 will install to a separate folder; Program Files (x86).
You should have no problems running 32-bit software on a 64-bit OS.

This is not entirly true. Although it does like to install 32bit software in that folder, it is actually WoW64 in your Windows folder which allows 64bit W7 to run the 32-bit software. Without WoW64, nothing 32bit would run due to the different mode the processor is opperating in. However it is very clear that WoW64 is very good at doing its job.

 

[Nuclear]

Answer to original question:

Win7 is crap, but since you have no choices, (If you want to play games) take it.

 

[andreasaspenberg]

personally i use vista. it supports direct x 11 and modern games. it also runs most games that runs in xp.

 

[The World Is Flat]

Windows 7 Is actually quite good.

 

[Dr Super Good]

Win7 is crap, but since you have no choices, (If you want to play games) take it.

Why is it crap? Very shallow message you have here...
Windows 7 is the best windows so far.

personally i use vista. it supports direct x 11 and modern games. it also runs most games that runs in xp.

Windows 7 however is basically vista fixed. They were forced to release 7 to act as a usable replacement over vista.

Windows 7 does not have the depricated crap XP has (like dedicated address ranges for the OS). Windows 7 also does not have the bloatware and garbage of vista (think vista but improved in every way and that is exactly what windows 7 is, it uses prety much the same stuff but optimized and improved). Windows 7 is a true upgrade from XP and vista which is why it is seeing ever increasing use.

 

[The World Is Flat]

^ basically.