Would a Win Vista Lite install improve start up times?

footman · 2 Jul 2012 at 12:35

I've just put together a Win7 system and I've found that many games (COD4 etc) wont run so I've installed Win Vista64 on a separate HDD and dual booted.

Works OK but very slow to load if I suddenly decide to play a game. I've just bought an SSD on MM to replace the hdd but I'm wondering if a "lite" install of Vista would be worthwhile.

Perversely, some old school flight sims ( CFS2&3) now work perfectly on Win7 when they wouldn't on Vista!

Larrs888 · 2 Jul 2012 at 12:42

Seems odd that it won't work in Windows 7. There must be a way to get it working under 7, have you have a good look on the net to see what the issue might be? I had a similar problem with Bioshock, it ran fine on vista but wouldn't work on 7 until I set the compatibility mode to Vista and updated my audio driver.

It might be worth playing around with some more settings but seriously if you have Windows 7 don't bother with vista.

footman · 2 Jul 2012 at 13:00

Well, I'm not the only one by a long way.
I wasted most of Saturday trying to install COD4 every conceivable way so a fast dual boot seemed the best solution.

Larrs888 · 2 Jul 2012 at 15:12

Long shot but this might be worth a try if you haven't already: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1001428

Also try and manually update punkbuster. Fingers crossed

footman · 2 Jul 2012 at 16:25

Larrs888 said:
Long shot but this might be worth a try if you haven't already: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1001428

Also try and manually update punkbuster. Fingers crossed

Thanks, I'll have a look but now that I've got the ssd I'd better be using that.

reflux · 2 Jul 2012 at 16:31

COD4 is running fine here on W7. I expect it must be a problem with your setup somewhere, rather than W7.

footman · 2 Jul 2012 at 16:40

reflux said:
COD4 is running fine here on W7. I expect it must be a problem with your setup somewhere, rather than W7.

How dare you

I forgot to mention it's Win7 64bit, that's what seems to be the deciding factor.
Now you'll tell me your running 64bit too

reflux · 2 Jul 2012 at 17:21

Yup, Win7 64bit Ultimate. Never had any problems with any games, except maybe Mysteries of the Sith

snowdog · 2 Jul 2012 at 17:29

Win 7 x64 is absolutely the same with games as Vista, haven't come across any game that wouldn't work yet.

CoD4 is fine in 7 x64...

what was exactly your problem with it ?

footman · 2 Jul 2012 at 18:21

snowdog said:
Win 7 x64 is absolutely the same with games as Vista, haven't come across any game that wouldn't work yet.

CoD4 is fine in 7 x64...

what was exactly your problem with it ?

It wouldn't load, maybe I got impatient after an hour.
I'll try again.

footman · 2 Jul 2012 at 19:00

Erm, guess what?

It started the installation after about 10 minutes!

Anyway, as I've bought this SSD I've got to use it, so is there any point in using a "lite" version of Vista?

snowdog · 2 Jul 2012 at 19:46

Not in my opinion, imho windows 7 is a better improved vista.

linktoinsanity · 3 Jul 2012 at 08:38

I'd just stick with Windows 7. I'd say Windows 7 is a "Lite" and improved version of Vista as it is.

I use COD4 on Steam these days, but I'm sure with the lastest patch (and maybe manually downloading PB) the retail version of the game works fine on Windows 7.

footman · 3 Jul 2012 at 08:43

Ok, the lite Vista idea is scrapped, I'm going with Win7, thanks for the advice.

Nikumba · 3 Jul 2012 at 17:47

So you can install CoD4 but you can not run it?

When you run it does cod_sp4.exe or whatever its called show up in your task mamanger list and using about 1mb of memory?

If so and I know this sounds stupid but plug a mic into your machine, as that fixed the problem I had

Kimbie

footman · 3 Jul 2012 at 17:54

It all works just fine, installing patches.
The first installation did actually take an hour, something to do with the Windows Installshield thingy, I would like to get to the bottom of it though, really irks me.
It's still slow but not as bad.