If you keep the installation folder out of either of the Program Files folders, it should work. You just need to make a new folder somewhere, call it "First Eagles" or something, and install it to that.

pfunk

Could this be one of the dual GPU on single card/two GPUs+two card SLI "problems" I recently heard about? That seals it for me. I'll be buying the 285 instead of the 295.

Thanks PFunk and Richardg and RSColonel_131st. I installed First Eagles and First Aces to a different location, updated using the November 2008 patch, and started the program using admin privileges. It ran just fine, though a little slow. Then I dropped in the HDR dx9 ddl, and it runs fast as well. For me, at least, the enbseries config file that came as part of the HDR download isn't necessary or particularly helpful. With it, using the unlimited defaults, I had frame rates in the 30s. Once I deleted the enbseries config file, the frame rates basically doubled.

The irony with the ENBseries mod is for me, it doesn't even run (it's not activated by shift-f12) so the ini file is completely unimportant, since it only governs what effects the mod does when it's running.

It seems just having that particular dx9 file there solves the performance problem, even if the special features of the mod aren't even active.

It's surprising how much of a difference the ddl file makes, isn't it? Usually modifications like that fall under the too-good-to-be-true category, but in this case, it really does work. And I'm very pleased to be able to run First Eagles under Vista. When Thirdwire comes out with a version that includes the new DX10 shaders, I'm sure I'll buy it. But till then, this setup works great.