Hi RPGWatch folk,
I had Windows Vista SP2 32 bit on my system and due to latest games that demand or prefer 64 bit system I decided to buy new OS. Anyway I decided to buy Win 8.1 over Win 7 (because of an advice of a tech friend of mine. He said Win8 is generally faster than Win7).
But I’m somewhat disappointed with this decision. Microsoft somehow screwed up Directdraw (Win 8 emulates Directdraw with pure CPU power instead of hardware) and the games that use Directdraw (Directx 8.1 and earlier, also some Directx 9 games) are running really slow in Windows 8.1. The games I tried and couln’t play because of this bug: Arx Fatalis, Divine Divinity, Might&Magic 9, Wizards&Warriors, Gorasul. And there are many others in the net if you search it with “Windows 8” and “Directdraw” words. There are some workarounds like using Wined3d (partially successful method) or using software mode in some games (if it supports of course) but it’s annoying to know that you can’t play your favourite games in your new OS. Funny part is although there are many complaints about this issue in the net (especially in official Windows support pages) Microsoft continues to ignore the problem.
At least I didn’t erase Windows Vista on my system, instead made it dual boot. So I can still play my old games flawlessly. But I warn those who are thinking of moving to Windows 8. Windows 7 64 bit seems like the best choice for gamers who both want to play new games and their favourite old ones.
I had Windows Vista SP2 32 bit on my system and due to latest games that demand or prefer 64 bit system I decided to buy new OS. Anyway I decided to buy Win 8.1 over Win 7 (because of an advice of a tech friend of mine. He said Win8 is generally faster than Win7).
But I’m somewhat disappointed with this decision. Microsoft somehow screwed up Directdraw (Win 8 emulates Directdraw with pure CPU power instead of hardware) and the games that use Directdraw (Directx 8.1 and earlier, also some Directx 9 games) are running really slow in Windows 8.1. The games I tried and couln’t play because of this bug: Arx Fatalis, Divine Divinity, Might&Magic 9, Wizards&Warriors, Gorasul. And there are many others in the net if you search it with “Windows 8” and “Directdraw” words. There are some workarounds like using Wined3d (partially successful method) or using software mode in some games (if it supports of course) but it’s annoying to know that you can’t play your favourite games in your new OS. Funny part is although there are many complaints about this issue in the net (especially in official Windows support pages) Microsoft continues to ignore the problem.
At least I didn’t erase Windows Vista on my system, instead made it dual boot. So I can still play my old games flawlessly. But I warn those who are thinking of moving to Windows 8. Windows 7 64 bit seems like the best choice for gamers who both want to play new games and their favourite old ones.