Windows 8 and FSX - Worth the download!

[miggs 3]

And to think they made a fortune off that...

Let alone DOS (one almost empty floppy...was it 97 kB or more)

Just shows you how things change (providing you don't fix it if it isn't broken!)

 

We used a shed full of Hewlett Packhard Vectras way back when - they cost 20,000 GBP - a house where I lived could be bought for 15K (about 50K USD at the time) 20 MB Hard drive, 640K O/S with 640KB Ram - they used those huge (WAS IT ISA Slots?) they were the length of the PC - used for HP Basic. 15"Monitor - Green monochrome - the bees knees in their day! Imagine giving one of them to a 12 year old these days? Would you like the HP Vectra Top of the range in its day costing as much as a 3 bedroom house with Windows 3.1 or would you rather have a Galaxy Note 10.1 costing as much as a set of curtains for you three bedroom home? Difficult I know... not an easy choice - the HP Vectra wouldn't exactly fit into a laptop case either! I cannot understand why my son laughs at me playing FSX, I keep threatening to install that bat and ball tennis game we used to have with BBC and Atari.....the ping pong game on a black background!

[Oliver_Cooksey 4]

 

Just shows you how things change (providing you don't fix it if it isn't broken!)

 

We used a shed full of Hewlett Packhard Vectras way back when - they cost 20,000 GBP - a house where I lived could be bought for 15K (about 50K USD at the time) 20 MB Hard drive, 640K O/S with 640KB Ram - they used those huge (WAS IT ISA Slots?) they were the length of the PC - used for HP Basic. 15"Monitor - Green monochrome - the bees knees in their day! Imagine giving one of them to a 12 year old these days? Would you like the HP Vectra Top of the range in its day costing as much as a 3 bedroom house with Windows 3.1 or would you rather have a Galaxy Note 10.1 costing as much as a set of curtains for you three bedroom home? Difficult I know... not an easy choice - the HP Vectra wouldn't exactly fit into a laptop case either! I cannot understand why my son laughs at me playing FSX, I keep threatening to install that bat and ball tennis game we used to have with BBC and Atari.....the ping pong game on a black background!

 

I think that ping pomg game with a black background is called Pong

[Redline65 1]

I just upgraded my mobo/CPU/video card and decided to take advantage of the Windows 8 offer too. I haven't installed FSX yet, but so far I'm liking Windows 8. I was using Vista 64 Ultimate, so it was cheaper to go to 8 for $40 over Windows 7 for ~$100+. Bought a 256GB SSD as well. With that much storage why would you NOT install FSX on the SSD?

 

Also a caution to anyone thinking of taking advantage of the upgrade special - whatever version (32-bit or 64-bit) of Windows you currently have on your system... that's the version of Windows 8 you'll get with the upgrade. So don't think of installing an old XP 32-bit version to upgrade to 64-bit Windows 8 - it won't happen.

[scott967 62]

I just upgraded my mobo/CPU/video card and decided to take advantage of the Windows 8 offer too. I haven't installed FSX yet, but so far I'm liking Windows 8. I was using Vista 64 Ultimate, so it was cheaper to go to 8 for $40 over Windows 7 for ~$100+. Bought a 256GB SSD as well. With that much storage why would you NOT install FSX on the SSD?

 

Also a caution to anyone thinking of taking advantage of the upgrade special - whatever version (32-bit or 64-bit) of Windows you currently have on your system... that's the version of Windows 8 you'll get with the upgrade. So don't think of installing an old XP 32-bit version to upgrade to 64-bit Windows 8 - it won't happen.

 

I'm thinking as long as you run the upgradeassistant on an x64 capable hardware you can d/l an x64 iso burn it to dvd and run it anywhere as long as you copy/print out your key.

 

scott s.

.

[Manny 1,293]

Same here... no new FSX.. no more Mircrosoft.. I am done. If it were not for FSX, I wouldn't even bother with a desktop again

 

Next... I need to get a Apple Mac Book.

[slait 169]

You aren't upgrading your Windows because they no longer plan new releases of FS? That's uh, interesting...

[Redline65 1]

I'm thinking as long as you run the upgradeassistant on an x64 capable hardware you can d/l an x64 iso burn it to dvd and run it anywhere as long as you copy/print out your key.

 

scott s.

.

Nope, the upgrade assistant looks at the version of Windows you currently have installed. If you currently have 32-bit Windows, your Win8 iso will be 32-bit. If you currently have 64-bit Windows, your Win8 iso will be 64-bit. It didn't give me an option of 32-bit or 64-bit when I upgraded a few days ago. Beware!!

[Jim Young 2,356]

Nope, the upgrade assistant looks at the version of Windows you currently have installed. If you currently have 32-bit Windows, your Win8 iso will be 32-bit. If you currently have 64-bit Windows, your Win8 iso will be 64-bit. It didn't give me an option of 32-bit or 64-bit when I upgraded a few days ago. Beware!!

 

That's correct. If you have the 32 bit version on your HHD, then you cannot upgrade Windows 8 to the 64 bit version as you have to do a clean install if you want the 64 bit version. FSX is a 32 bit application but will work great in a 64 bit Windows 8 environment. In order to get the 64 bit version, you'll have to buy the 64 bit version (which means you cannot upgrade).

 

Best regards,

Jim

[OmniAtlas 93]

This is frustrating. I can't get fxaa or sweetfx to work with win 8. I'm going back to 7 if this doesn't pan out.

[miggs 3]

That's correct. If you have the 32 bit version on your HHD, then you cannot upgrade Windows 8 to the 64 bit version as you have to do a clean install if you want the 64 bit version. FSX is a 32 bit application but will work great in a 64 bit Windows 8 environment. In order to get the 64 bit version, you'll have to buy the 64 bit version (which means you cannot upgrade).

 

Best regards,

Jim

 

Please please just google the 32/64 BIT upgrade - it really isn't rocket science - you can upgrade Win 7 x32 to Win 8 x64 -

 

http://winsupersite....it-64bit-144649

 

The only "SNAG " if you can call it that - is you won't be able to keep all your x32 junk you previously installed - you need to make a clean sweep, and to be honest, why anyone would want to keep the x32 system these days is a bit confusing...........................................ahhh....................if it isn't broken!! 4GB RAM.........ahhh I see!

 

 

Also, if you have a friend who doesn't live in the stone age, and has an x64 system - pay him the 39USD to download and burn you a DVD of the x64 image which yo can burn to your PC.

 

I am not sure if this is still around but if you were a slightly dishonest person (and lets face it Microsoft is hardly the blind old lady living on a widows pension) then there was a way to simply "LIE" to Microsoft and tell them you had bought a new PC - you fill in a few "Details" cough cough.....and you can get Win 8 for 14.99 USD!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnul0_l57Zs

 

They are an annoying couple but in 8 minutes they sort 32-64 bit swap - not the best with camersa, not the best with teaching style - but they did it...and if they can do it, then I am sure people who spend hour upon hour simulating flying a real aeroplane within a small box on their desktop are certain to manage!

[miggs 3]

This is frustrating. I can't get fxaa or sweetfx to work with win 8. I'm going back to 7 if this doesn't pan out.

 

Can I ask you what problems you are having? Mine is as sweet as a nut! Let me know as I have been through to hell and back with FSX and WIN7 and Win 8 has been so much easier. If I can help, I will, as once you get Win 8 running - you won't go back!

[Jim Young 2,356]

Please please just google the 32/64 BIT upgrade - it really isn't rocket science - you can upgrade Win 7 x32 to Win 8 x64 -

 

You need to read that article at the link you posted. It says "No" you can't upgrade from Windows 7 32 bit to Windows 8 64 bit.

 

The only "SNAG " if you can call it that - is you won't be able to keep all your x32 junk you previously installed

 

Since you cannot upgrade from a 32 bit Windows 7 to a 64 bit Windows 8, this statement is slightly correct as you will have to wipe your Windows 7, 32 bit clean, buy the complete 64 bit Windows 8 package and, during the install, Windows 8, 64 bit will reformat your HDD and install Windows 8, 64 bit. Once the 64 bit system is installed, you can now install any 32 bit software program, including FSX. FSX lives quite nicely in a 64 bit environment so you WILL be able to keep all of your x32 "junk" you previously had on your 32 bit Windows 7 system. Windows 8, 64 bit, like Windows 7, 64 bit will manage your system and virtual memory better than any 32 bit Windows system.

 

I hope this clarifies things for you. BTW, Paul Thurrott's website is one of the best authorities on Windows. I look at it often.

 

Best regards,

Jim

 

Y

[miggs 3]

You need to read that article at the link you posted. It says "No" you can't upgrade from Windows 7 32 bit to Windows 8 64 bit.

 

 

 

Since you cannot upgrade from a 32 bit Windows 7 to a 64 bit Windows 8, this statement is slightly correct as you will have to wipe your Windows 7, 32 bit clean, buy the complete 64 bit Windows 8 package and, during the install, Windows 8, 64 bit will reformat your HDD and install Windows 8, 64 bit. Once the 64 bit system is installed, you can now install any 32 bit software program, including FSX. FSX lives quite nicely in a 64 bit environment so you WILL be able to keep all of your x32 "junk" you previously had on your 32 bit Windows 7 system. Windows 8, 64 bit, like Windows 7, 64 bit will manage your system and virtual memory better than any 32 bit Windows system.

 

I hope this clarifies things for you. BTW, Paul Thurrott's website is one of the best authorities on Windows. I look at it often.

 

Best regards,

Jim

 

Y

 

Jim,

what about the option of having a friend download the x64 and then you do a clean install? I cannot for the life of me see why this is being made so awkward! At the end of the day, you just need to download or load up a damn pirate copy of Win 7 even if it doesn't work properly - just to convince Win 8 of the 64 bit architecture - I did a fresh install on my machine, admittedly it was win 7 x 64 in the first place but I used the upgrade and burned a fresh DVD and did a complete wipe - partitions the lot were cleared out. I agree about Paul Thurrotts site, there is so much "rumour" and junk going around, it is good to have a decent source. Another I have found over the years to be reliable -

 

Mark Russinovich

[Noel 4,492]

My Windows 3.1 wasn't broken! Neither was Win 95, nor was Win 98 - nor Win XP, nor Win 7 - but sometimes you just have to try something a bit different - Personally, I liked DOS 1.0 - it was great in 1976, but things change!

 

If everyone has this attitude, why bother buying a new processor or graphics card?

 

But my friend...unfortunately, Change doth not = Good. Take Office 2010 for example w/ its Ribbon from Hell as a case in point. And...MS has a history of send out crappy new OS' every other OS: Win 98-Good!, Win ME-Yikes!, Win XP-Good ;o), Vista-Ouch!, Win 7-Great!, Win 8, well you get the idea.

 

You buy a new processor/GPU when the processing power improves significantly enough to warrant the cost. There is NO new learning curve when it comes to this upgrade, whereas w/ a new OS, well, you get the idea.

 

Even w/ the disappointment Vista was, I still use it and guess what: it's even 'rock solid', so upgrading to 8 for rock solid certainly isn't compelling for me. I have no desire to learn my way around an OS designed w/ the look and feel of touch screen control-already have that w/ my MacBook Pro. And then there is the very real matter of how long it takes to fully understand the OS and be able to do everything with it. That can take some time, so no, not interested in upgrading to every new OS that comes out the pipe! Win 7 will be supported until 2020 and really, personal computing has taken a definite turn towards almost disappearing. Methinks Win 7 is the last OS MS will produce that is really designed for personal/business computing on desktop PC's.

[level7 171]

But my friend...unfortunately, Change doth not = Good. Take Office 2010 for example w/ its Ribbon from Hell as a case in point.

 

The Ribbon was a great way for Microsoft to help people utilize all the features in the Office products that no one bothered to use before because they were hidden in menus. That is not a good example at all.

 

And it is very short sighted to only look down at Windows 8 because of the UI because:

-The underlying code base has had significant improvements each time around. The performance has improved significantly on older computers especially.

-The desktop interface is still there. The start menu is just replaced with something better and with more features. If you want the old start menu, just press Win+Q and it shows all of your shortcuts on the screen. Albeit it's not a totally smooth transition between the New and Old UI but it's not as bad as everyone says.

 

Windows 8 for FSX has been great so far, it has automatically fixed the VSync issues somehow, i no longer get any tearing and i didn't have to mess around with anything in Inspector or FSX to do this. i'm quite satisfied with the setup and it works great. i'd be interested miggs if you experienced the same thing.