Give me some compelling reasons not to.

pfunk

XP's security support is going away very soon.

Win 7 64-bit, while different, is the future.

No DX10 support for Win XP.

You cannot have more than 4GB of total system memory in Win XP.

If you are going to SSD hard drives in the future, support and performance in better on Win 7 64-bit.

Many new software apps, hardware drivers and games do not support Win XP any longer.

Actually, I don't mind what OS people like to use. We each have our own reasons.

I'll not use XP anymore -- even got rid of the dual boot. Window 7 does everything I want and easier in many cases than XP. But, a couple concrete advantages and a couple subjective ones:

Windows 7 64bit lets the CPU address well over 4GB. So there is no penalty for using a graphics card. With 32bit XP (or 32bit Windows 7) there is a 4GB max and the graphics card memory gets subtracted from that. After accounting for OS overhead, even with 4GB RAM installed, less than 2.5GB may be left for games -- OK for old games but the new high-end games expect more.

Windows 7 has DX10 and DX11. DX11 is a big deal for its tessellation (see the Heaven Benchmark thread). Not many DX11 games now. But, for example, Oleg says SoW:BoB will have DX11. Tessellation was made for flight sims So, by Fall, you may be wanting DX11 too (a $150 HD5770 will do the job depending on resolution).

Windows 7 is very compatible with new hardware -- sets itself up, usually -- much less trouble than XP for my applications. Your mileage may vary.

Windows 7 Media Center really works well -- if you are into playing Movies and TV on your computer.

Still, to each his own

I went back to XP just because every game I have works great on it and I can make XP do anything I want it to do just from memory. I don't have to search how to do something. But if I had to buy a OEM CD or DVD with either XP or 7, it would be 7 for sure.

I'm not sure I can come up with a compelling argument ot go back to XP really other than I can install either 7 or XP fairly quickly if I change my mind.

I nearly bought a 800Gb 64Mb cache WD green drive the other day because I had read it was fairly fast and the egg had it on sale for 64 bucks with a code. But it uses a different format than XP likes and requires a jumper to make it work well with XP and from what I read, lowers the performance of the drive with the jumper in place when running XP, essentially killing the deal so I went with a 750 WD black for that reason. Inevitably, most drives will include this new format since it does not waste as much space on the platters.

Give us compelling reasons for going back.

Might as well move on and keep with the times. XP is old and getting left behind more and more and supported less and less. New versions of DirectX, even the next IE won't work on XP, for a couple of stand out examples. It's also not nearly as secure as Vista/Win7. They don't come out with new operating systems just for the hell of it.

Okay. First, I'm more than a little fed up with FSX. Traffic '05 hates 64-bit, it can't seem to see airports smaller than Houston Hobby. FS9 worked flawlessly. Also, a large number of my racers ran better under XP. GTL being one of them. Lock-On run with fewer problems.

I miss having a EAX sound card, too.

pfunk

I'm still using XP, but not in the same gaming capacities as you chaps do, so I have no need for the extra DXyy versions. My main reasons are because of manufacturer driver support, and that it *works*. If I were to buy an OS right this second, it would probably still be XP because of my offset requirements. For you, who need/want your newer graphics capabilities, have a different requirement. If you think XP suits you better, go for it, knowing that in a years' time, you're going to be reverting to Win7.

I'm going to have to make that trip too at some point, but not yet.

I guess which FSX mods one uses could matter. I have all the FSGenesis terrain and Ultimate Terrain X - USA installed (roads, streams, lakes, golf courses, etcetera). Those work.

So long as a game runs smoothly to my "eyes", I don't even check the actual FPS (Win 7 may be faster or slower than XP, but its not a consideration if game play is smooth at graphics settings I like).

I absolutely do not miss my Creative sound cards and EAX. The on board sound is up to 7.1 channel if one has the speakers (but I only use 2 these days). And, it has many settings for echo etc. I like how it detects what sound output I am using and adjusts (when I plug or unplug headphones from the front panel, for example).

It is true that older hardware and applications may not be compatible with Windows 7. I did notice that when I switched from XP. Changing out stuff added a few hundred dollars to the cost of Vista -- Windows 7 seems less picky. However, I upgrade frequently anyway. At this point, of our 4 in-the-house computers 2 run Vista 64b and 2 run Windows 7 64b (patched Vista is very similar to Windows 7 -- but 7 is a bit better).

I think there is no wrong answer -- since we do this for fun

Let me please add this, there are things I like about Vista. The 64-bit version is stable as heck.

Also, something I've noticed. I have a Gateway and I always presumed my BIOS was locked, that I could never upgrade my CPU.

I found out computer manufacturers are thieves. Lazy ones, too. They take one motherboard and put it in five different configurations. I have a mid-level rig, but it uses the exact same mobo as their high-end gaming rig.

Which means, I can upgrade my existing machine to match. And for a lot less.

pfunk

On the EAX statements: ALchemy. I don't know what I'd do without it.

At first, I didn't think I'd care too much despite having spent arguably way too much for this Auzentech X-Fi Prelude. Then I picked up some Audio-Technica ATH-AD700s and found that I could now pinpoint gunshots and other sounds very precisely, even in older titles like Battlefield: Vietnam that don't use OpenAL as the API of choice for hardware sound acceleration and thus need ALchemy under Vista/Win7.

For me, there's no going back to XP. Too buggy, unstable, not as slick to use now that Win7 has all these UI refinements, and it wouldn't use all 8 GB of my system RAM.

That said, I still do keep it on a backup desktop, but only because it's a bit less problematic with Win9x-era games than Vista and Win7 are.

DUAL BOOT

The only way you should be going back in my opinion is to dual boot between WinXP-32 and Win7-64. I have close to 500 games installed across every genre out there and out of that there are about 30 or so titles that don't work perfectly and most of that is attributed more to the 64-bit platform and display adapter drivers being too new than anything else.

That's a pretty good ratio in favor of just running Win7-64 I would say, but sometimes, games can break in the future due to updated display adapter drivers and by dual-booting, you can always have a quick and easy way of having an older and more compatible display driver release.

Of course, one thing to remember is driver support won't be in place forever for the WinXP-32 platform just like you aren't going to get driver support for Win98-SE with the latest ATI and Nvidia display adapters. And at that time, it's either time to say good-bye or have a separate workstation running the desired OS.

I package all of my games so I never run into potential failed installation problems, due to OS compatibility which also saves a tremendous amount of time when either reinstalling an OS or restoring one from an image. It took me a few weeks to package close to 500 titles. Ugh. I never want to do that again despite it being worth it. Thank goodness for the present and future of digital software distribution and automatic patching!

These are quick notes I made in regards to games that I couldn't run for a variety of reasons on the Win7-64 bit platform that I could on WinXP-32 with no problems. I didn't include some titles that already have problems even on WinXP-32 such as Jane's USAF with the menu drop-down problem as an example. Some of these I can probably get going with a little bit of effort, but others are hardwired "no can do"s similar to how the Jane's USAF drop-down menus don't work on the WinXP-32 platform and above.


F-18 Precision Fighter: Can't find the graphics adapter in WIn7 64-bit regardless of settings.

Jane's Fighter Anthology: Graphics are garbled in Win7 64-bit regardless of settings.

Jane's F-15: Menus don't function in Windows 7 64-bit.

Team Apache: Has graphical problems in Win 7 64 bit.

Team Alligator: No sound in Win7 64-bit.

Act of War- Direct Action: You have to limit memory to 2 or 3 gigs in Win7 64-bit via MS Config and then reboot for this to work.

Act of War - High Treason You have to limit memory to 2 or 3 gigs in Win7 64-bit via MS Config and then reboot for this to work.

Warzone 2100 (original, not community project): Texture issues in game and also have to ALT-TAB out and then back in to get main game menu.

Emperor - Battle for Dune Crashes in Win7 64-bit, which may be due to *blank*, but I don't want to use multiple CDs, so run in WinXP.

Medieval - Total War: Can't change resolution. This is apparently a problem on ATI 4800 series cards and 64 bit operating systems.

Shogun- Total War Can't change resolution. This is apparently a problem on ATI 4800 series cards and 64 bit operating systems.

Need for Speed 3 - Hot Pursuit: Runs poorly regardless of compatibilty mode.

Ford Racing 2: Failed to create WMA Source Filter when running.

Rallisport Championship Xtreme: Crashes once it is in game. Adding registry entries didn't help nor does compatibility mode.

MotoRacer 2: After adding required registry entries, it runs for a bit and then exits out regardless of compatibility mode.

SuperBike 2001: It can't initialize the video card.

Motocross Madness: It can't find 3D accellerator card.

Motocross Madness 2: It can't find 3D accellerator card.

Motorhead : Crashes to black screen. Adding registry entries, trying compatibility modes and disabling Catalyst AI didn't help.

Revolt: Hangs while loading. Receives message that it can't flip the display buffers. Nothing helps.

StarSiege: Opens fine in window, but can't click on buttons. Compatibility modes, disabling visual themes, terminating Explorer, etc. had no positive impact.

European Air War: Receives error message at startup.

Rainbow Six: Not compatible with Win7 64-bit. (gog.com repack might work. Might buy that version and capture install to see if I can fix for Rogue Spear and Black Thorn since they use the same engine.)

Rainbow Six - Rogue Spear: Not compatible with Win7 64-bit

Rainbow Six - Black Thorn: Not compatible with Win7 64-bit

Chaser: No response when running. You have to disable Data Execution Prevention for it to work.

Red Faction 2: Receives message that you need 8 or more megs of video memory. This is a known problem and Red Faction 2 won't work on 64 bit operating systems with 4 or more gigs of memory.

Battlezone: Won't work in Win7 64-bit unless you run it in software mode. Not worth it IMO.

Interstate 76: It can't detect 3D Accelerator card. (Software mode will work, but ugh.)

Interstate 76 Nitro: It can't detect 3D Accelerator card. (Software mode will work, but ugh.)

MechWarrior Titanium Edition: I have Direct3D support working in WinXP-32, still need to test on Win7-64 though.

Really?

Looking forward to dual boot with next PC... XP and Win64, should be best of both worlds. Last dual boot I had was 98SE and XP, can't believe it's been almost a decade.

I keep a second disc with XP on just for games that won't run in Win 7 64.
I like retro games and is the only reason I won't ditch XP completely.

zcaa0g,

Wow! 500 games "installed"! I may have half that many in storage boxes

Thanks for writing out the list of those that don't work and why. Its educational

I agree. 470 games working out of 500 is an excellent percentage (94 percent).

Yeah, I know it's mental to have that many games installed, but what can I say? Not much I guess. I actually go far back as having "Hunter Hunted", the original "Lode Runner Online", "Get Medieval!" and "Dark Reign 1" installed all the way up to the latest games.

I have this issue of liking every game genre, but turn based strategy, which has never done anything for me. It does give a good picture though of OS compatibility with games and it also helps that 1 and 2 terrabyte drives are dirt cheap these days. Plus, it is just kind of convenient to have everything installed.

The funny thing is, the "Add/Remove Programs/Programs and Settings" Control Panel applet takes forever to load if I have the programs showing up in the list. I packaged the games though where that doesn't show up so it isn't a problem, nor is the registry cluttered with unecessary entries for the games such as the Windows Installer information, since I am not really interested in "self healing" for a game since that isn't going to be much of an issue like a full blown application like MS Office and the like.

I still have a Win98 SE box with a Voodoo 5500 PCI board for games like EF2000 v2.0, Longbow 2 and Jane's F-15, but I hardly ever use it any more, since there have been enough good sims since that time to keep me occupied. I wouldn't mind a modern day EF2000 or Tornado though!

What no love for Windows 98?

Only kidding, but it's handy to have a virtual machine around for playing old DOS based games, mainly the XCom ones.

(Apart from zcaa0g that is)

i cant get any of janes sims to work in XP so i might go back to 98SE.

still the same as vista though, the new driver model don't allow older games to run correctly, if at all

Windows 95 would get you better compatibility with those old games.