Windows Vista Compatibility Thread

This thread explains how to install TGC sold software onto a Windows Vista (and potentially Windows 7) computer.

Note: Before installing any of the software ensure that you download and install DirectX 9.0c http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=2DA43D38-DB71-4C1B-BC6A-9B6652CD92A3&displaylang=en

Compatibility List

3D Game Maker - Tested and Working. Download special instructions
DarkBASIC Classic - Tested and Working with 1.2 patch. Install normally.
DarkBASIC Professional - Tested and working. Install using instructions below.
FPS Creator V1 - Testing and Working. Install Normally.
FPS Creator X10 - Designed to work on Vista (not compatible with XP, 2000, ME, NT, 98, 95 or 3.x)

DarkBASIC Professional Plugin's

DarkPHYSICS - Works
DarkAI - Works
BlueGUI 2 - Works
Nuclear Glory Collision - Works
Enhanced Animation - Works
Styx - Works
Extends - Works

3D Modelling

TreeMagik G3 - Works without special instructions.
Plantlife G3 - Works without special instructions.
AC3D - Works without special instructions.
3D Canvas Pro - Version 7.0+ only.
GameSpace 1.6 - Works without special instructions.
3D World Studio - Works without special instructions.

DarkBASIC Professional
Windows Vista (32-Bit and 64-Bit) installation instructions

Note: If you have User Access Control (UAC) enabled, do not always have administrative rights on your computer or would prefer not to run DarkBASIC Professional under the administrator account then you will need to change the default installation path. By default DarkBASIC Professional is installed into the Program Folders folder which is protected by Windows. Instead you should install DarkBASIC Professional into another location e.g. C:/DarkBASIC Professional/

1) Install DarkBASIC Professional.
2) Download latest update from http://darkbasicpro.thegamecreators.com/?f=upgrades
3) Install the latest update.

a. Double click or run archive to open.
b. Double click on exe file to run update setup.
c. Upon seeing security warning, click run.
d. Click Next on welcome dialog.
e. Confirm that installation directory matches that of DarkBASIC Professional.
f. Wait for progress bar to reach 100%
g. Click Finish to complete procedure.

4) Run DarkBASIC Professional

a. You will be presented with the activation dialog box. Click on Activate/ Register.
b. Click on Enter Order Key
c. Type in your registered e-mail address and copy activation code.

i. If you don’t have your code, check your e-mail for your official TGC E-Mail activation code. If you ordered the CD-ROM version, open your DarkBASIC Professional Program Group and select Activate From DBPro CD, this will check your disk and automatically issue your activation code. Please ensure your firewall allows access.

ii. Alternatively, log onto www.thegamecreators.com click on profile on the top right hand corner, then click on Order history, finally look for “NEW! - You can now view all of your DarkBASIC Professional Activation Keys on-line.” and click on Activation keys. The activation code will be listed there.

d. Click on activate.
e. Click on Finish


Picture A - The old editor


Picture B - The new editor

If you have installed DarkBASIC Professional into the default location e.g. C:/Program Files/The Game Creators/DarkBASIC Professional and your editor looks like picture A then perform the following instructions. You will require Administrative rights to perform the following actions, if you are not an administrator on your computer ask an administrator for assistance.

If your editor looks like picture B do NOT perform any of the instructions below.

1) Exit DarkBASIC Professional.
2) Click on Start > All Programs > The Game Creators
3) Right Click on DarkBASIC Professional and select Properties from the menu.
4) Click on Advanced.
5) Place a Tick in Run as Administrator.
6) Click OK
7) Click OK again.

The following instructions may help with any further incompatibilities

1) Click on Start > All Programs > The Game Creators
2) Right Click on DarkBASIC Professional and select Properties from the menu.
3) Click on the Compatibility Tab
4) Place a tick in “Run Program in compatibility mode for:”
5) Select Windows XP SP2 from drop down Box.
6) Place a tick in Disable visual themes.
7) Place a tick in Disable desktop composition.
8) Click OK
9) Try software again.

Picture A - The old editor

Picture B - The new editor

Thanks for the info

And what about Dark Shader? Will be games with efects like DOF working properly in games running on Vista?

It works on my Vista system fine, so yes.

There's a patch in users order histories that sorts out any Vista problems for DarkSHADER.

Just wanted to clear something up?

It's about the EXTENDS Plugin being compatable with vista.

Ive got DBPro latest U74 beta 8 update and Extends 1.4. However none of the XGUI and XFONT commands work with old or new Editor on vista. Even the Asteroids demo crashes, because it uses the XFONT commands i geuss. Yet it states in the compatability thread above that EXTENDS Plugin is Compatable?

Has there been an update that i may have missed?
if not, then will it ever be updated to fully support vista, now that Odyssey Creators no longer support it?

From what I remember you have to run it under xp compatability mode(build the executable first then RMB to change compatability mode) or something to that effect to get it to work without crashing, but this restricts the sizes of memblocks you can have in your program and possibly other restrictions. I think there was something in bug reports or somewhere. I will re-edit this post with the link if I can find it.

Edit: Read all posts in these two threads:
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=141531&b=1
http://forum.thegamecreators.com/?m=forum_view&t=133828&b=18

@ Jame H,
Thanks for that, i had already tried the XP SP2 compatability mode, never tried the (98/Me) mode tho. Do you know if this will ever get fixed or not?

Also if i was to re-distribute a program is there a command line u can use to set the Compatability for this on a machine that has Vista installed?

I have tried searching the posts previuosly for this solution for months now, i dont know how i missed that other post. LOL

Maybe updating that top thread under the Extends Plugin would make it clear for others.

Anyways Thanks again for the info.

Hi All,

I did notice this issue with eXtends under some Windows VISTA systems. Using compatibility mode on the .EXE DBPro generate should fix this issue.

I have also seen that on my computer (dual boot with Windows XP pro and Windows VISTA business), with the latest PureBASIC, XGUI and XFont does no more crash on my own Windows VISTA system ... I will prepare a release that I'll submit to TheGameCreators, compiled with latest PureBASIC.
I hope it will also fix this issue for other users.

Kindest Regards,
Frédéric Cordier

Thank you Freddix, it will be much appreciated.

BlueGUI 2:

I just noticed that the included Rainbow Editor for BlueGUI2 (the WYSIWYG GUI editor) crashes as soon as you hover over any of the toolbar buttons when running under Vista.

It updates the statusText in the toolbar right before the crash, so it's right after this code:



However, after this code, there's only EventType and EventSource checks - which should all return false. The main program loop just calls getEvent and calls the processEvents() function -- so, I'm stumped as to what could be causing the problem.

Tried it in XPSP2 Compatibility Mode, tried re-compiling from source (which compiled just fine once I entering my own key), tried running as administrator.

I'm running DBPro 7.4b9 with BlueGUI 2.054 -- anyone else on Vista having this issue or can anyone else replicate the issue ?

Thanks!

I'm running Vista. DBPro ran fine, but my hard drive crashed and I re-installed DBPro. Now it says I need DX9.0c, but I have DX10 with Vista. Should I install 9.0c?

Edit- oh, never mind. It won't let me install 9.0c over 10, and when I take DBPro out of compatibility mode, it tells me which dlls I need to have. Problem solved.

You NEED to install DirectX 9 onto a Windows Vista computer. Follow the link at the top of the first post.

@ John Y - err, no. I don't need to install DirectX 9.0c, since I already have DirectX 10. That would be a step backward, and when I tried, the installer would not let me. I just needed to drop two dll files into my windows system folder, d3dx9_35 and d3dx9_31. I guess it's possible I would need some other dlls if I wanted to use other programs, like the FPS creator, etc. But DBPro is running fine now.

It's not a step backward, as DirectX 9 does not replace DirectX 10, but sits along side it. Do not arbitrarily copy DLL's around, as this is not going to create you a valid DirectX 9 installation.

If you post the DirectX 9 installation error we will be able to help you.

@ John Y - err, no. I don't need to install DirectX 9.0c, since I already have DirectX 10.

Err, no! It appears you are in fact wrong with a capital R (lol)
Windows vista ships with DirectX 10 but Microsoft knows that there were not much DirectX 10 compatible hardware out there and wrote it so you can run both DX9 and DX10 side by side.
If you are receiving some kind of error in the installation it is NOT due to running both kinds of DirectX.

As mentioned by John Y, you should have read the whole thread first which clearly states this many many many times.

*sigh*

Yes, Mobiius, I did read the whole thread.

John Y, I clicked the link in the first post and tried to install DX9. The install failed, with a non-specific error message. DX9 was not installed.

I then set DBPro to XP compatibiliby mode, as suggested here, and when I compiled a program and ran it, I got a crash/error saying I needed to install DirectX. When I turned compatibiliby mode OFF, and compiled and ran, I got a crash/error saying than d3dx9_35.dll was missing. I put that dll in my system folder. Then when I compiled and ran, I got a crash/error that said d3dx9_31.dll was missing. I put that dll in my system folder, and now all is good.

BTW Mobiius, I only see one post about running DX9 and DX10 side by side, the last post before yours, so "many many many" times is in fact wrong with many many many capital Rs, no? (lol)

To sum up, I no longer have a problem, and don't need any more advice about the problem I did have. But, thank you both for taking the time to answer. I'm sure your info will be helpful for anyone else who has problems.

Rich

EDIT: I just went to that link in the first post again, and it's a page titled "DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer" and says it "provides updates to 9.0c and previous versions of DirectX" so maybe that was not what I needed to install DX9c? Just a random thought.

FURTHER EDIT: John your comment about "Do not arbitrarily copy DLL's around" had me worried, so I tried the DX9 install again, and this time it worked! So now I'm legal I guess. Thanks again for the help

Um.
Just a question about the new vs old editor pics above. I've just updated to 1.074 and my editor is Picture A - the old editor. Have I missed something in the installation? I'm running XP2.
Cheers
BobW