Problems We Had

We realized that Windows Vista Beta 2 was far from perfect right after we tried to launch our standard set of games in it. We had all manner of problems and glitches: Battlefield 2 started up but then stopped to load its data and showed a black screen. Far Cry started normally, but the file that launched the benchmarking scenario probably had a conflict with DWM: we could only switch the display resolutions in that game if the Desktop resolution was set at 1280x1024. If the latter parameter was set at 1920x1200, we couldn’t change from a higher to a lower resolution in the game.

We also couldn’t change the display resolution in Serious Sam 2. Games that use StarForce protection (Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and X3: Reunion) didn’t launch because the StarForce libraries turned to be incompatible with Windows Vista.

Titan Quest started up normally, but showed blinking black screens. Image artifacts could also be observed in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Quake 4

Serious Sam 2

X3: Reunion

The tested version of Vista offers poor support for OpenGL applications: Prey, Quake 4 and Pacific Fighters wouldn’t start up under the new OS. Many games wouldn’t launch or were very unstable, namely F.E.A.R., Half-Life 2: Episode One, Hitman: Blood Money, Rise of Nations: Rise of Legends, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

The following games ran without big problems and were used in the review: Call of Duty 2, Far Cry (considering the above-mentioned problem), Tomb Raider: Legend, and Age of Empires 3.

This is only four titles out eighteen that we usually use in our graphics card reviews. Not much, especially when you recall that Windows Vista is positioned as an ideal home OS, i.e. as an ideal OS for games! Windows Vista Beta 2 offers poor compatibility with games, at least its 64-bit version does. Microsoft still has a lot of work to do till its new project is ready to be used by ordinary consumers. Anyway, we offer you the results of the tests we could obtain.