Question to Developers at Aces/MS

[Doodlebug9]

To Rick Selby and other Aces team developers,

Can you confirm or deny that this new train simulator is a Vista only title?

There seems to be a fair amount of conflicting statements around the web concerning what operating systems this new title can be ran on.

I have no intention of upgrading to the mess that Vista presently is. Having read Vista has less than 8% total market share, one would assume it would be a pretty boneheaded play to make this new sim a Vista only release. Its tough to see MS cutting XP out of this release.

Please inform us as soon as you, or any other developement team member can, exactly what operating systems this new title will run on aand whether it your decision to make.

Thank you for your time, DB9

P.S. In my opinion, a Vista only position is pretty stupid! Most if not all new game developers at this time are NOT making Vista only releases because XP has such a huge install base at over 60%.
Your competitor, EA/Kuju, has already confirmed that their KRS release will work on both XP DX9 and Vista DX10, so I hope yours also can be used on both OS'es!

[Vince]

What is there about this statement that you dont understand?

The fact sheet is accurate. TS2 will be for Windows Vista.

In post; http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?t=73016
by TDRAGGER (who IS one of the developers)

[tcain1]

>What is there about this statement that you dont understand?
>
>The fact sheet is accurate. TS2 will be for Windows
>Vista.
>
>In post; http://forums.uktrainsim.com/viewtopic.php?t=73016
>by TDRAGGER (who IS one of the developers)
>
>
>


Up til now I was thinking being that TS2 is based on the FSX engine and FSX is for both XP and Vista, TS2 would be the same. So this is news to me also! The fact sheet only says it supports Vista, which is same thing stated for FSX. TDRAGGER's post in your above link squashes any hope for XP support now! Right now I'm disappointed, but as TS2 won't be released until late 2008 anyway Vista has time to mature, as a matter of fact they just fixed a major bug in the way they handle graphic memory, which caused Vista to allocate double the graphic memory needed, causing APPS like FSX to CTD with out of memory errors.
The biggest issue with Vista is DX10 Hardware requirements. So far nothing in the demos I have seen for DX10 has enough wow factor to warrant replacing my current card which is fairly new and working flawlessly even in FSX. (ATI X1950XTX) So I'm also on the fence with this decision to go Vista (and presumably DX10 only) at this point.

The link for information on the Vista fix is here.Phil says it's not just for FSX anyone with Vista should run not walk to install it!

http://blogs.msdn.com/ptaylor/default.aspx

[burgerbern]

If it really is Vista only it will not see the light of day on my system, when i purchased this PC i made sure that vista was not supplied as it was part of the deal and that XP was instead

[Doodlebug9]

After reading Tdragger's post at uktrainsim confirming this "IS" a Vista only release, the developers need to view this survey of over a million online gamers on the "Steam" website.
It clearly shows the big mistake they are about to make.
I understand that these numbers will change some in the coming year, but I digress, that something big is going to have to be done to Vista to swing the XP numbers toward Vista! Right now Vista is a joke and this survey clearly shows it!

Here's the survey link of the 1 million, 92 thousand gamers who participated in it so far.

http://www.steampowered.com/status/survey.html

[bob hahn]

1. It is in every user's interest to avoid spending money on Windows Vista when XP seems to work just fine.

2. It is in Microsoft's interest that everyone spend money on Windows Vista even though XP seems to work just fine.

Therefore:

Users will tell Microsoft, "No way! Make it XP or I won't buy it."

Microsoft will tell users, "If you want the new sim, you'll have to buy Vista."

It's called "the game of chicken."

No one has to blink until late 2008, so don't expect anyone to blink now.

[FLT_Blue]

> the developers need to view this survey of over a million online gamers on the "Steam" website.

>It clearly shows the big mistake they are about to make.
>I understand that these numbers will change some in the coming
>year, but I digress, that something big is going to have to be
>done to Vista to swing the XP numbers toward Vista!

>Right now Vista is a joke and this survey clearly shows it!

No age demographic is shown on that survey , please provide another link with the age demographic included ... lets see how many of those 1mill + users are 18 or under , not working , and therefore unable to afford the latest hardware. Maybe a survey including the numbers that would move to Vista/DX10 if mommy & daddy would buy them a new pc would be helpfull :). How about a survey of those waiting for mature drivers from BOTH GPU manufacturers before moving to Vista ?

Something big will happen .. MS will release TS2 as a Vista/DX10 only title , expect other devs to follow that same course , there will be change ... like it or not !! Those gamers out there looking for better graphics , better performance and better physics will ensure it , train simmers will have zero affect on this momentum.

The only joke here is using a steam survey to back your argument that TS2 should include support for DX9 and WinXP, it shows only the hardware being used now , and as you mention , in no way reflects what will happen in 6 months time.

.

[Poltergeist]

Vista isn't really that bad. I have it on my system (granted it's a clean install and not an upgrade) and it runs fine. I haven't experienced any problems with Windows Vista.

[cbq311]

Well, considering it is a totally worthless survey as far as drawing any conclusions, that is a waste of time.

The future is coming, get on or get left behind.

Is this Deja Vu? I remember the garbage when XP came out.

[TrainMan_112]

>Vista isn't really that bad. I have it on my system (granted
>it's a clean install and not an upgrade) and it runs fine. I
>haven't experienced any problems with Windows Vista.
That's not really the point. Some customers may love Vista, some may hate Vista. The point is, we shouldn't have to purchase a new operating system just to run the sim. Microsoft is informed and knows very well that they bombed on Vista, and this is their "strategy" to raise sales.

[sstyrnol]

Helloooooo Wake Up Finally!!!!!

This has happened before??? Just remember when XP came up!!!

Everybody was bitching about it! What's now??? Everybody runs XP!

In a couple of years, the same will apply to Vista!

Besides, it's not MS missing out, it is you. So while you are free to decide what's best for you, pls don't come bitching in 2 year's time nobody is making routes for MSTS anymore, cause every sensible developer has gone MSTS 2!

[OwainGlyndwr]

Yup, Seb.......... forwards is the required direction, not backwards.

Vista is as solid as a rock on my machine and i have no complaints, even running MSTS.

Mike.

[TrainMan_112]

Still, that's severley limiting their audience. Many, many people still have XP and are happy with it. Not everyone will be willing to buy Vista just to run the simulator.

[Doodlebug9]

Its great to see that Crytek isn't abandoning the XP users out there.
Sure wish Aces/MS would do the same!

http://www.gamespot.com/video/931665/6177494/crysis-interview-6

C'mon MS, wake up before you blow it.
Global stats for OS use presently.

http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

Vista holding a paltry 3.46% to XP's commanding 83.48%
Way to go MS/Aces, enjoy your lackluster sales of this title.

[ragtimer]

I will not be buying it if it is Vista only.

[Claude350]

Many of you are complaining that you don't want Vista and that you won't buy the sim because it's Vista only. The way I see it it's only anger and frustration speaking. Many of you will switch to Vista to run the sim. My new system came with Vista installed. It took some getting used to but I've overcome alot of the obstacles that plagued this particular OS. Many updates have been released that fixed quite a few things. XP was the same way when it first hit the market or did we forget that it took two service packs and many more updates to get XP where it is today? Vista will be no different. We all hate changes but eventually we take it.

[dyvach]

I'm curious if there's any _technical_ reasons this title is stated to be Vista only. As in, what Vista features/function calls are utilized by this game and so absolutely crucial it'd be impossible to make it work on XP-based system.

It's certainly not graphics since it's said already the simulator can run with dx9...

[cbq311]

Why put out a crippled piece of software? By the time MSTS2 is released a lot of the Vista problems should be fixed, so why dumb it down?

[dyvach]

>Why put out a crippled piece of software? By the time MSTS2
>is released a lot of the Vista problems should be fixed, so
>why dumb it down?

"Crippled" and "dumbed down" implies something would be missing from the game if it was to be made XP-compatible. This is precisely what i'm asking about, what would that "something" be, specifically?

[cbq311]

Considering I don't know, but I would be willing to bet that there are things that will be done on Vista, esp. systems that can take advantage of it.

[ChrisS68]

>>Why put out a crippled piece of software? By the time
>MSTS2
>>is released a lot of the Vista problems should be fixed,
>so
>>why dumb it down?
>
>"Crippled" and "dumbed down" implies
>something would be missing from the game if it was to be made
>XP-compatible. This is precisely what i'm asking about, what
>would that "something" be, specifically?

DirectX 10

Or would that be DirectX X :+

[dyvach]

>DirectX 10
>
>Or would that be DirectX X :+

But they already said it would work with either dx9 or dx10, and the former is supported by XP... dx10 is optional, if your computer has hardware which can handle it.