Recent content by sliph

RK142: Are you running Windows Vista x64? Civ4XMLEditor has a bug where it's built for "Any CPU", but it comes with x86 FreeImage.dll. This causes it to fail to load FreeImage when running on Windows x64. The fix is to build Civ4XMLEditor targetted for x86. I've attached a version of...

Raymond Chen has some insight into why Windows overwrites the MBR. If you've been through the Vista setup process, you'll realize that an additional question to ask whether they want to overwrite the MBR will be completely out of place and bewildering to the majority of users. Also, I'm sure...

Although to be fair, DirectX has been fairly stable for a while now. They continually release new APIs that are sometimes incompatible with old APIs, but the old APIs continue to work. I recently ran a Direct3D project on Vista that I made back in 2000 and it still works. That's not true. .NET...

I'm not sure about D3D wrappers, but OpenGL wrappers for Java have existed for at least ~3-4 years now.

I'd second the recommendation for GameDev, specifically their forums, which have lots of people at various stages of learning how to program. You can get started at the Beginner's Forum FAQ. The first step is to learn a programming language. There are a variety out there, but really, anything...

WMP supports ripping to WMA (variety of bitrates including lossless), MP3 up to 320 kbps, and plain WAV (which is also lossless). DVD Decrypter removes CSS protection from DVDs but does not touch the video itself, and HandBrake and the underlying x264 encoders are GPLed and multiplatform. Thus...

Wow - Stop making stuff up. I've ripped and burned CDs with built-in Windows Media Player. And for the hell of it, I just installed DVD Decrypter and ripped my Batman Begins DVD. Granted WMP can't play DVDs in folders like that, but VLC works. Afterwards I used HandBrake (search the Doom9...

20 GB is a recommendation, not a requirement. I've fit Vista + apps + games on a 20 GB partition.

Because then I have to deal with Linux's problems. If you have the time and inclination to learn how to setup and maintain an OS, then sure, but I've been down that path with Red Hat, Gentoo, Mandrake, and Slackware in the past, and while things may've improved since with Ubuntu, I'm not...

My computer specs: AMD Athlon 2700+, 1 GB RAM, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB, 20 GB partition. I looked up my NewEgg invoice, and apparently built the machine summer of 2003 for $1,300. It's nearly 4 years old, yet runs Vista fine. The only upgrade since has been an additional PVR card, and a 24"...

If you mean installing Vista via the upgrade process, then I don't know how well that works. But I've had very few problems on a fresh install. The install took a little less than half an hour. Afterwards there was no driver hunting (video card, printer, drawing tablet were detected upon...

I happen to like a lot of Vista's features, but I agree that if there's nothing compelling, then by all means stick with what you have. With that in mind, what issues are you having?

I was involved in several Vista betas and tried most of my games to make sure any issues could be fixed by final release. Compatibility is actually quite good. Games that I've tried (yes, I'm opening up my CD binder just to type this up for you guys): - Civilization 4, including Warlords -...

A lot of the performance issues may be due to immature graphics drivers. Vista introduced a new graphics driver model, so I expect performance to increase as drivers improve. Which of his applications do not work? My computer usage revolves around games and software development, and both have...

I find a lot of these Vista comments incredible. Has anyone here tried a recent version of Vista? First of all, my machine specs: AMD Athlon 2700+ 1GB PC2700 RAM Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB 20GB partition on a 180GB Seagate SATA hard drive I build this machine around 3 years ago, and Vista...