News Microsoft rolls out Windows XP SP3 beta

Wonder why they're trumpeting this black hole router thing so much... I don't think it's an issue I've *ever* noticed and I roam around a bit using internet from a lot of places, so far no suspiciously high packet loss etc...

 

well no matter what Im waiting for SP1 of Vista before I make the full switch over... that is if I like what SP1 has to offer in terms of performance and so forth...

 

Come on – Microsoft can make anything happen, that’s what they do, they’re huge software developers.
So don’t tell me that Microsoft can’t get DX10 to run on XP!

Even if you do, I will still not believe you.

But I do understand the reasoning why this is happening.

Getting back to the original thread – I’m very much looking forward to XP SP3

 

You don't understand. They already did, and they rolled up all the massive changes involved into something called Vista.

 

It's not like I really care at this point. Merely offering info in regards to the topic/subtopic. If I wanted DX10 I'd get Vista, which I plan on doing sooner or later. Time to retire my OEM copy of XP Pro; the disc is chewed to all-hell!

 

Microsoft recently ticked off the independent "service pack" creators/distributors, so the MS_SP3 one will mean you can do a fresh XP install and get reasonably up to date with security before you need to go online.

 

for about a week

 

I have DX10 on my XP machine. It was provided by a friend to get Halo2 running on XP.

It does work. Basically it's running in Debug mode, but it still works.

Anyone who says XP can't support DX10 should look around for themselves instead of relying on the marketing engine of the worlds largest software corp for facts.

Fact is, DX10 like any technology COULD be built into XP. It runs. Fact, don't believe me? I don't care..

DX10 isn't available for XP because Microsoft want to push people towards Vista.

In my opinion, they should have kept the line of legacy compatible OS's (Vista included) intact and delivered DX10 for both.

Their next OS is supposed to be a jump (Vienna, Windows7, who knows what it will be called) and will not be based on Legacy OS (NT tech). They should have taken that opportunity to make a decision like this - forcing people to upgrade to Vista just creates resentments and gives the MS-haters more to whine about.

 

For those who want to try it

Download the dxsdk_apr2007.exe

copy the d3d10.dll, d3dx10.dll, d3dx10_33.dll, d3dx10d.dll, d3dx10d_33.dll, dxgi.dll and Nucleus.dll to xp system32

then open the SDK and start in debug mode (i forgot the exact details, my friend set it up for me - you can use google right?)

 

NO, that makes a translation from DX10 to DX9 so DX10 game works... but it run slower then in Vista, and you lose MANY of DX10 features.

 

hi,
can anyone plz tell where i can get Nucleus.dll from? i tried searching the internet and my PC for it. but could not find it.

thanx in advance

 

Halo 2 isn't really DX10, hell Halo 3 isn't really DX10 either .. Halo2 was "Vista only" which doesn't mean it won't run on XP, it means Microsoft don't want you running it on XP, there is a massive difference. (The same is true for the bulk of vista-only games so far as well)

 

AFAIK, Vista uses a completely different method for the kernel to address the graphics driver. I think the graphics drivers have (finally) been separated from the kernel layer. This is why, IIRC, the drivers for VISTA were so crap to begin with, the developers couldn't figure out how to get XP speeds without running the drivers in the kernel layer.

In XP, the drivers are integrated into the kernel and thus leave great gaping security holes open for any piece of malware to infect.

I could be wrong on this though.

Andy

 

I thought the reason they pushed it out the kernal is so that if the gfx driver crashes, windows doesnt

 

If I'm not mistaken completemadness is correct, which leads a bit to Shielder point.
Proof, I saw it, with the early drivers for Vista for my Nvidia card, sometimes the drivers crashed (game + Windows interface are not visible), Windows doesn't freeze, and re-launches the drivers and you see your desktop right away with nothing lost (other then your game).

But on Shielder point, it is not to say that it is not impossible, just a different approach needs (and already is) done. On every driver update I saw so far, all I see is more and more stability (frankly I didn't see it crash for a while) and a visible performance increase.
I think so far, for most new games, with the latest drivers you have near or the same performance as XP.