Actually Dual booting Vista and XP fixes things. Vista for new software, XP for old software.
Here is a guide on how to dual boot Vista and Xp without formatting your HDD and with Vista already in place.. You will need to have your Vista and XP disk available for the install.
Also get the XP version of the drivers for ALL of your system hardware.. it si the first thing you will have to install to XP for your hardware to work correctly.. XP does not recognize hardware made after 2005.
http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=163380252.0;id=15241 <----- Guide for dual boot
Also install software to the proper OS and proper drive.. DO NOT CROSS DRIVES. if Vista is on C and XP is on D, then to install OP for D2 play, boot to XP and install to D drive or a 3rd drive, but not to the Vista drive.
Same goes for Vista.. If you have Vista on C and XP on D, then if you install Assassins Creed, boot to Vista and install to the Vista drive or a 3rd hard drive, but not to the XP drive.
After getting XP installed and drivers updated.. I highly suggest to get all updates including XPSP 3. XPSP 3 is stable for the SFC games.. actually I think is smooths out the game performance some.
As for installing the OP game on Vista.. you need to follow the instructions :
Vista will play SFC OP just fine if you follow a few install instructions.. however there are issues with Vista and the D2 servers.
The issues are lagging on the campaign map.
Anytime the server tries to update information to the Vista client game, with exception of simple hex movement, the game will lag up to 2 min.
this happens when news generates, shipyards run, map updates from other players/Ai battles, Viewing Ship info in the ship yards, and sometimes repairs.
however Vista will play OP just fine in the actual battles on the D2, GSA games work just fine, TCP/IP connection or LAN party works just fine and so does Single Player..
There may be an issue with the way the server reports and the way Vista receives information.. or it could be a Direct Play issue in the new DirectX that Vista is running.
Now for the installation guide :
Installation Instructions (Windows Vista) :
On systems still in default out of box condition:
1. Log on to machine as Administrator and make use UAC is enabled.
2. Disable Anti-Virus for the remainder of the steps.
3. Make sure that your drivers for your sound card and video card are the latest version. Please check with the manufacturer of your cards for the proper drivers.
4. Make sure you are running the latest Microsoft Updates for your computer from the Windows Update site, including all the "Additional Content" which will help your system run much smoother. To update your system completely, check your Windows Update settings to see if you are including all content, not just critical updates. Use your Windows Update manual control in control panel under System and Maintenance. Click on Windows Update, and check settings in order to get ALL updates. After updating and restarting, continue to next step. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE VISTA SP 1 INSTALLED !
5. Install Orion Pirates from game CD. Say no to DirectX and Gamespy Arcade installs. If you want Gamespy Arcade.. Download the current version from
www.gamespyarcade.com.
6. Install the OP Bonus package, Patch using the 2500-2552 patch, then install the Directory Service Installer to see the Dynaverse. When installing these, to launch, right click the file and select "Run as Administrator".
Optionally you can install the OP Enhancement Package v5.1 which will install a whole bunch of the most commonly used material for SFC.. again, right click and select Run as Administrator.
7. Re-enable your Anti-Virus. Please make sure that all your installs are done first.
8. Do not use Windows Firewall and preferably not Norton or McAfee for AV or Firewall, Use AVG or Panda for AV and Black Ice or Zone Alarm or a hardware firewall like a router !!! If using Firewall software or router - TURN OFF MICROSOFT OR WINDOWS FIREWALL. To disable all of Vista's Firewall settings, go into control panel and find Security, open Windows Firewall with Advanced Security, You will see that Vista has 3 Firewalls : Domain, Private, and Public. Click on Windows Firewall Properties, and go tab by tab for Donain, Public, and Private and turn the firewalls off, click OK until you exit out of the application. WVista Firewall is now disabled. You will need to configure your 3rd party firewall ports for OP according to Gamespy Arcade and the following firewall settings:
If you are behind a router/firewall you will need to forward ports 2300-2400 TCP&UDP and 47624 TCP to login. (allow pings from the WAN) Port forwarding applies to a static LAN config. The following site may be of assistance in this:
http://www.portforward.com/Some ADSL and cable modems have router capabilities in them that the ISP does not tell you about and often poorly understand themselves.
9. Go to your Orion Pirates Directory and right click on it. Select Properties and click OK. At the bottom you will see a black box in Read Only. Uncheck this and click OK. A window will pop up asking if you want to do this to the folder only or all files and folders. check all files and folders and click OK.
10. Right Click on the folder again and select properties. Click on Security Tab. Click Edit and change each user to Full Control. Click OK. This will ensure that Mod Chooser and EZINI work correctly.
11. Go into the Directory and find all the EXE files, right click, select Properties. Click on the Compatibility tab, put check mark into Compatibility Mode and select XP SP 2 and put a check into Run as Administrator. Click OK.
12. On your desktop, right click on each of the shortcuts and verify that all of them have XP SP 2 compatibility mode enabled and that they have Run as Administrator checked. The only exception to this is Model Viewer. Make sure it is in Windows 2000 compatibility mode andRun as Administrator is checked.
13. Next, find StarfleetOP.exe and right click. Seclect COPY. Right click on your desktop and select "Paste Shortcut". This is the icon you will use to launch SFC OP game.
14. Next download and install the DirectX 9 files that are missing from Vista. These files are in a zip file. You will need to physically extract them and move them into your Windows\System32 Folder (x86 version and x64 version) and your SysWOW64 Folder (x64 version only). Since this is in the Windows Directory, you will have to give permissions for the files to install. The files were zipped up using WinZip 11.
http://warpcore.110mb.com/Downloads/Added_DirectX_Vista.zip15. Download and install the latest DirectX Redistributable package (not the web installer) in order to make sure all your Vista DirectX files are up to date and correct.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=740AC79A-5B72-447D-84F9-EE6407ED1A91&displaylang=en16. Launch game from Desktop Shortcut and Enter CD Key (Include dashes).
17. Enjoy Playing.
****NOTE : During Install, Wait about 30 seconds between installer packages before continuing to make sure That they install correctly. UAC will verify that files did not corrupt during install. After Installation is complete, you can either keep UAC enabled or you can disable it.***
Your other alternative is dual boot if you want to play on the D2 in PVP areas.. Vista lags way too much to participate in PVP on the campaign map.. Vista users would do fine as hex flippers though..
For PVP people, I highly recommend XP or Vista with XP dual boot option and have SFC OP installed to XP.
Topic: Any PGC Players lurking on these boards? (Read 3380 times)