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JR
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Joined: 16 May 2004
Posts: 683
Location: Attleboro, MA
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 Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 7:56 pm Post subject: Windows 10 is free for home users and enthusiasts |
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The word has gotten out pretty widely that Windows 10 is a free upgrade (including activation) for any current Windows 7 or Windows 8 user. Not so widely publicized is that all the Windows 10 Insider Preview testers will be getting a free upgrade to the released version of Windows 10 (also, including activation).
I just registered as a Windows 10 Insider Preview tester, downloaded a 3.7gig iso file of Windows 10 64bit build 10130. Installed it. It works great.
For those of us with reasonably souped up second machines running Windows XP 32 bit and just can't bring ourselves to buy a new Windows OS, and, for whatever reason, don't want to run a flavor of Unix on it, this is a good alternative. (and did I mention it's free, the latest 64bit Windows OS, with what appears at the moment to be a fully fledged upgrade path, also free).
The bad news is I have yet to be able to get BF1942 to run on it. Nor do I see anywhere on the internet where anyone else has even tried. So, threads like this have to start somewhere. Let's start a gaming on Windows 10 thread!
Anyone else have any thoughts and/or experience? |
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JoeSwindell
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Joined: 12 Sep 2005
Posts: 1612
Location: Roanoke, Virginia
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| Posted: Wed Jun 24, 2015 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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I imagine your biggest issue is Windows 10 being Direct X 12 based. Seeing as BF1942 is 8.1
DX8 and 9 are very comparable with some changes in the back end with Sound and some math. However, 10 and 11 are totally different and use a completely different set of math libraries. 12, no one is sure yet.
One advantage is it most likely having little to 0 dependence on the .net framework, so you can rule that out. I'd try to get the DX8.1 redistributible and/or the 8 SDK installed.
Starting in DX11 you can query feature levels from the graphics card, and then fall back from there. But, seeing as this is old school, we miss that too in BF1942. |
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JR
Forum Veteran
Joined: 16 May 2004
Posts: 683
Location: Attleboro, MA
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| Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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I looked in the Application log of my Event Viewer and found every time I started up BF1942 I got an error referencing this file:
C:\Windows\SysWow64\drivers\SECDRV.SYS
Googling that file name I find it has to do with CD based copy protection, "SafeDisc". So I downloaded the no-CD crack from the pixel fighter tool box, installed it, and now I'm running BF1942 on Windows 10 just fine.
Hooray! |
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JoeSwindell
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Joined: 12 Sep 2005
Posts: 1612
Location: Roanoke, Virginia
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| Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2015 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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| NICE! It's always nice when it's just a copy protection error! |
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JR
Forum Veteran
Joined: 16 May 2004
Posts: 683
Location: Attleboro, MA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 12:51 pm Post subject: |
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| I joined the Windows Insider program about two months ago for free. From there I was able to download Windows 10 beta (build 10130) as a 3gig iso file which I burned onto a bootable DVD (one could also burn it onto a bootable thumb drive). From that I have installed a Windows 10 beta onto a number of PCs and laptops. On July 29 all of these machines updated to a full release fully licensed version of Windows 10. On each I have opted out of Xbox, Cortana, Edge, Spartan, Bing, Skype, and all the other privacy invading, marketing, store, sucker software. I know of others who have gone the extra mile of keeping a firewall log at the router and have been able to opt out of all the phone-home "features" of the OS. (mind you, that's not using the router to block packets, rather only using the router to make observations, then researching where the opt out switches in the OS for those packets are and opting out). In this way one can completely tame Windows 10 to ground using only the documented opt out features. So, I've come to the conclusion that Windows 10 really is a free and clean OS, albeit, only after several man hours of re-configuration effort. By the way, I'm still able to install and fully upgrade a new machine from my bootable DVD. So at this point, as far as I can tell, I'm all set for infinite free, clean, released, and fully licensed installs of Windows 10, each of which could be tamed to ground. |
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JR
Forum Veteran
Joined: 16 May 2004
Posts: 683
Location: Attleboro, MA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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| And, as far as I can tell, one can still go to the Windows Insider web site, even now, and get themselves a free copy of the Windows 10 install iso file. So, for people who are slightly knowledgeable and capable with computers, or at least have a friend who is, Windows 10 really is free. |
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JR
Forum Veteran
Joined: 16 May 2004
Posts: 683
Location: Attleboro, MA
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| Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2015 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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| Of course, if you have a PC running Windows 7 or 8.1 and you are happy with it, I can think of no compelling reason to upgrade to Windows 10. The above is for the case where you are putting together a new machine. |
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JR
Forum Veteran
Joined: 16 May 2004
Posts: 683
Location: Attleboro, MA
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