Windows XP Design Flaw?

Right, just to let you know, I'm going to possibly vanish for a day or so for a complete reformat and re-install... possibly of Windows 98. Since I'm having problems with certain games.
These 'certain' games include a game I just bought called 'Perimeter' which looks really tasty. I shelled out £30 for an error message...

'C++ Runtime Error in Perimeter.exe'.

This seems to be common among a lot of the more graphically demanding games, but it is not limited to a single graphic card or driver, this has been tested.

On doing a Web Search I found that lots and lots of people suffer from this problem, always in different games, and have found wildly varying ways of bypassing, though the majority find no cure.

It appears that, even with compatability layers running, there is something which is patently NOT compatible between XP Home and most other versions of windows, since this OS was the ONLY thing all these problems had in common. It seems to be more apparent on Networked systems like mine.

So, wish me luck, and you may see a new 'downgraded' me in a day or two

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• Mon Jul 12, 2004 11:15 pm

XP Home is somewhat different to XP Pro. I can't go into the details ATM. All I know is constant vigilance always pays off, as I'm notorious for sticking to my guns with error messages, always driving myself crazy looking for the solution - BUT I always find it in the end. So, don't give up until you've really explored EVERYTHING, including overlooked unrelated solutions

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• Tue Jul 13, 2004 12:18 am

Thanks, I've done a 'dirty' reinstall (just putting the disc in the drive and re-installing the windows files) changed GCards, Soundcards, uninstalled and reinstalled the Modem, disabled every non-essential service in the Device manager, and this evening I even swapped the DVD and CD writer over in case it was that. I even had a go at selectively removing Windows Updates to see if that worked

I am certain there is a way to get it working, since it works on the majority of versions of XP HE, but then, those versions of XP often won't run other games.

It may also be because mine is the Winxx update version of XP Home, not the 'Full install'. Though looking at the install menu, there may be no difference except the price... I'll have to check that out

I think the best bet is a clean re-install, I can try Win98 and be certain whether it is a Hardware fault, and if the game works, I'll upgrade it to WinXP and see what happens from there

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• Tue Jul 13, 2004 1:37 am

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• Tue Jul 13, 2004 3:32 am

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• Tue Jul 13, 2004 4:10 pm

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• Tue Jul 13, 2004 11:03 pm

It's ok, I'll format up a system disk and do it the old way Thanks anyway.

Well, by CD Backup collection numbers around 45 Gigs now, though I must admit that about 15 Gig of that is probably various zipped backups of the first 30 gigs I even remembered my Email and Internet information

In other words, if it aint stored now, it's going to be gone at the weekend That gives me 2 days for last minute 'nosing around' which is good, cos it'll give me time to think of anything I may have forgotten

And TI stuff is backed up regularly, I think I have about 3 copies of the entire construction directory for every ship I made

Music suffers horribly from a reformat though, saved Cubase files never work properly on a re-install, but I'll still have the WAV's and MP3's of stuff, it gives me an excuse to make a fresh start

I'll go for a win98 install first, probably on Saturday (I will prioritise the game and see if it works, if it all turns out ok, I'll install XP Saturday night and see what happens. XP recognises a LOT more of my hardware than 98 will, including the Broadband modem, so I doubt I'll be online until I get XP installed.

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:30 am

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 11:18 am

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 12:39 pm

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:19 pm

Flipside wrote:XP recognises a LOT more of my hardware than 98 will, including the Broadband modem, so I doubt I'll be online until I get XP installed.

Hencly, I don't have broadband yet (again), because apparently no cable modems that need to connect to the computer (w98) via USB will work, EVER, and you only have a 50% shot of an ethernet card being accepted by w98... ld headbang smilie here:

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 4:20 pm

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 5:50 pm

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 6:44 pm

Well, to get the home edition I've got working, I have to install Win98SE and then upgrade it to XP. I used to have a hooky version of XP pro, but my conscience got the better of me and I bought a full home-upgrade version....

Theres a moral in there kids

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 7:18 pm

There is?

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• Wed Jul 14, 2004 7:23 pm