Vista Support

H0ley · Post by **H0ley** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:03 am

I know the devs probably already know this already but Vista isnt being very bzflag friendly.

When I attempt to run it, in the console says its using a generic GDI driver.

I'm using Vista RC2 on an intel 945GM integrated on this laptop. I've already installed the intel's graphics and chipset support for Vista already. This didnt seem to make a difference.

I was just wondering if there's a workaround or some sort of beta version available. I just kind of miss my occasional bzfragging.

(P.S. No OS bashing would be highly appreciated on this side, thanks)

Waistless · Post by **Waistless** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 6:25 am

blame microsoft, they probably haven't included openGL support for Vista.

I've heard with the release they're gonna use some crappy tool which emulates it into Direct3D, which beyond doubt will make it slower, delibarately making direct3D look better.

H0ley · Post by **H0ley** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 8:47 am

According to some MS Dev, there will be and/or is Vista openGL support

Being that the post on that site is dated, February 22 2006, I'm pretty confident that they implemented openGL in RC2 by now. Please no more Vista bashing. Not only is it rude after I asked nicely not to do so, its becoming irritating. This OS is still not in final state... nor personally do I think it will until its service pack 1 in the future. I figured that since a majority of PCs will run vista in the future eventually, if you might like it or not, that'd it'd be nice to see bzflag see the light of day.

I was just wondering on the status on the development and/or support for a vista compatible bzflag, or workaround for the time being. That'd be all. God bless.

Tropican8 · Post by **Tropican8** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 2:59 pm

Waistless wrote:I've heard with the release they're gonna use some crappy tool which emulates it into Direct3D, which beyond doubt will make it slower, delibarately making direct3D look better.

No, this was the plan a long time ago. Hardware manufactuerers got really annoyed, as did game developers. Microsoft caved and is offering a direct opengl interface for drivers.

As to "making direct3d look better", I doubt their original plan would have. It would just have been the faster 3d acceleration method, which obviously would have caused more games to use it vs. opengl.

As for Intel Video Vista Support, that's fully Intel's fault if they don't offer a driver on their site marked as "Vista Compatible" that works. I don't know what else to tell you. You could always make a post at driverheaven or hardocp and maybe someone who got it working could help you.

JeffM · Post by **JeffM** » Wed Oct 25, 2006 3:58 pm

not all vista drivers have openGL hardware support.

that's what you get for using a beta OS.

when vista ships we will look into do vista specific builds.

but as for right now, it looks like by installing vista you loose about 30-40% performance in games.

GMMan · Post by **GMMan** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 1:11 am

I'm also thinking of another problem... What would happen to BZFlag with Flip 3D?

Soft · Post by **Soft** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 10:27 am

Hi all,
Any news on vista support ?, it is out there now, but no OGL support yet !!

Post by **DTRemenak** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 3:37 pm

NVidia's Vista drivers support hardware accelerated OpenGL. No other vendor that I know of has drivers that do. Bug your hardware manufacturers about it.

anomaly · Post by **anomaly** » Tue Jan 16, 2007 7:53 pm

This is from Intel.com

Windows Vista* Support on Intel Graphics

Q1: What is Intel’s plan to deliver Windows Vista WDDM drivers for Intel graphics?
A: Intel has been working with Microsoft to develop and deliver WDDM (Windows Display Driver Model) drivers for its next-generation hardware platforms. The Intel® 945G & 945GM Express Chipsets will be the first Intel products to support the Windows Vista Aero user interface using WDDM drivers.

Beta WDDM drivers supporting both Intel 945 and 965 Express chipset families are available now via support.intel.com. When production WDDM drivers are available, the production drivers will replace the beta drivers on support.intel.com and also be provided to computer manufacturers (OEMs) to make their drivers available through Windows Update. Additionally, Intel will have WDDM drivers supporting the Intel 945G & 945GM Express chipset products on the Vista operating system retail installation CD.

The new driver baseline will include both 32-bit and 64-bit WDDM drivers. When Intel releases its first production WDDM driver, it will support the following desktop chipsets: Intel® G965/Q965/Q963, 946GZ, 945G, 945GZ, and 945GT Express chipsets, and the following mobile chipsets: Intel® 945GM, 945GMS, 943GML, and 940GML Express chipsets.

Q2: When will Intel’s beta WDDM drivers be available publicly for desktop and mobile platforms?
A: Intel has made regular Windows Vista driver updates available to our OEM customers since our first WDDM driver release in January 2006. With Microsoft making the Windows Vista release candidate builds broadly available, we are expanding the availability of our WDDM beta driver by posting the 15.0 Beta driver on support.intel.com. We are providing this driver to the public in order to facilitate customers who are evaluating the Windows Vista operating system on Intel graphics platforms.

The beta driver release provides support for both Windows Vista 32-bit and Window Vista 64-bit, with separate downloads available based on the desired operating system version. It is feature-complete, and provides full support for the Windows Vista Aero interface.

To download the beta WDDM Vista drivers, complete the following steps:

1. Go to the Download Center off of support.intel.com.
2. Go to Graphics » Desktop (or Laptop) Graphics Controllers » (Select desktop or mobile chipset GMCH).
3. Click desired desktop or mobile chipset, and then select All Operating Systems under Select your Operating System and click Go.
4. The beta releases will display at the bottom of the page for the selected chipset.

Once production WDDM drivers are available on support.intel.com, the beta WDDM drivers will be removed.

H0ley · Post by **H0ley** » Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:48 am

I already installed intel's newer drivers a couple of months ago. It works great. I recently upgraded to an even recent release a week ago which works even better with advance power saving support. Just like in WinXP. No one seemed very supportive/interested so I didnt even bother updating this thread to help others. Go figure.

Only suggestion is that you (use a shortcut):

Run as Administrator (if you havent yet disabled UAC)
Disable visual themes
Disable desktop composition
Disable display scaling on high DPI settings

If you're using a tablet pc like myself, I highly suggest you (->run->"services.msc") and stop the Tablet PC Input Service. The little tab thinger gets in the front of directx in full screen and kills all of your FPS. Its a few extra steps but you can enjoy bzflag in Vista with the same performance of WinXP.