Arma 3 on Windows 10

Party-approved discussion of ArmA 3
daf
Posts: 64
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2012 6:21 pm

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by daf »

Sparks wrote:
daf wrote:In conclusion I recommend everyone to upgrade before the 1 year period ends so they don't get stuck using a abandoned version of windows.
Used an ATM lately? :D
I know you're kidding but I still support Windows XP machines and when I need to install additional software on it half the time I need to dig trough internet archives to find an older version since the current has already dropped XP support and in some cases the software no longer has a 32bit versions.

Games like GTA5 don't run for 14% of steam users by being 64bit only, it's not hard to imagine that in the near future multiplatform AAA games would go dx12 only (xbone will also support the api) as soon as Windows 7 population drops which is bound to happen since the upgrade is free and even "mandatory" for home edition.

User avatar
Sparks
Posts: 545
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 9:50 pm

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by Sparks »

daf wrote:
Sparks wrote:
daf wrote:In conclusion I recommend everyone to upgrade before the 1 year period ends so they don't get stuck using a abandoned version of windows.
Used an ATM lately? :D
I know you're kidding but I still support Windows XP machines and when I need to install additional software on it half the time I need to dig trough internet archives to find an older version since the current has already dropped XP support and in some cases the software no longer has a 32bit versions.

Games like GTA5 don't run for 14% of steam users by being 64bit only, it's not hard to imagine that in the near future multiplatform AAA games would go dx12 only (xbone will also support the api) as soon as Windows 7 population drops which is bound to happen since the upgrade is free and even "mandatory" for home edition.
All true, but you and I both know that it's spelled "upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10", but it's pronounced "spend every evening for a week getting your rig back to nominal and probably miss out on Folk sessions and break at least one thing permanently".

And I can't see Arma jumping to dx12, I don't play any other AAA titles (in fact I don't play much of anything other than Arma), and I am really really suspicious of these noises from redmond about a new OS model which sounds suspiciously like trying to drag microtransactions into your OS...
guns.ie ● stochasticgeometry.ie ● weak.ie

Don't tell mom I'm a pilot, she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse

User avatar
SuicideKing
Host
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:29 pm
Location: India/US West
Contact:

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by SuicideKing »

Arma 3 should run better on Win 10 after 1.50, and the devs did drop a line about DX12 support, which would be welcome seeing the kind of overhead Arma has. But seeing that they haven't switched to a 64-bit build yet, I don't know how serious they are about DX12.

Windows 10 does things that I don't like much - 500 entry limit in the start menu, unusable right column in the start menu, settings split between Control Panel and the PC settings app, automatic backup, collection and sharing of wifi passwords (granted, not an issue on desktops), automatic forced restarts with a weird "reschedule" option, Cortana doing stuff in the background, and pages of privacy agreements and loads of settings to turn off. Oh and, new ways to log in! Always-on listening features to wake from sleep! :roll:

And yeah, this whole SaaS nonsense is really annoying. It seems to be a license to release incomplete software and keep streaming data to the cloud. If I wanted a cloud OS I'd just get Chrome OS I guess.

Windows is a "traditional" PC OS in my eyes, its job is to be subservient to the user and make sure applications run top-notch and in a stable environment. Nowadays it's all about gimmicks and oooh so shiny and look how convenient it is. Excuse us while we mine all your data!

On the other hand, Windows 10 does have some "under the hood" improvements apart from DX12, which are nice, and I want. It's not enough to get me to switch - like Sparks seems to imply, the only game I'd really be arsed to upgrade for at this point is Arma.

Anyway, Windows 7 is supported till 2020. Market share is still above 50%, so I'm not too worried.

EDIT: This is pretty cool though:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive ... r-you.aspx

Looking forward to the day that the integrated GPU can accelerate physics effects (e.g. OpenCL based) while the main GPU renders.

Also interesting:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/directx/archive ... eased.aspx
themiddlevoid.wordpress.com

daf
Posts: 64
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2012 6:21 pm

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by daf »

Sparks wrote:"upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 10", but it's pronounced "spend every evening for a week getting your rig back to nominal and probably miss out on Folk sessions and break at least one thing permanently"
I probably have a terrible bias on this one (being a "professional"), but took me a single day to do be up to speed on Windows 10, although I guess not everyone keeps a working image of their old system and knows how to migrate all their software profiles from one install to another (rarely have to reconfigure a program).


As for Software as a Service it's no different of what Google and Apple been doing in Android and iOS. The OS is free but they take a cut from all sales on their respective app stores, Microsoft is not dumb and wants a piece of that as well. But for that to work first they need everyone on a version of Windows which supports/has the store, thus Windows 10 being given for free to the majority of users.

I use Android daily so I really have no issue with Windows adopting the same model (even a plus for the non tech savy users), however I also expect Microsoft to continue to support non store software letting me completely bypass it just like Android lets me sideload applications or have an alternative stores (amazon, f-droid, etc).

User avatar
SuicideKing
Host
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:29 pm
Location: India/US West
Contact:

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by SuicideKing »

Yeah that Android/iOS model seems good for smartphones to me...

But I'm curious - Windows 10 isn't free, really. You need to have paid for some version of Windows, or directly for a copy of Windows 10. Not sure why MS still think it's okay to do all this.

Anyway, I guess we'll see soon enough how it pans out. Do let us know if you see a large boost to Arma performance down the line! :science101:
themiddlevoid.wordpress.com

daf
Posts: 64
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2012 6:21 pm

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by daf »

SuicideKing wrote:But I'm curious - Windows 10 isn't free, really. You need to have paid for some version of Windows, or directly for a copy of Windows 10. Not sure why MS still think it's okay to do all this.
Just making it free would mean they wouldn't be able to charge for windows ever again, so instead they just made it a "limited offer" which still gives it for free to current end users wile still charging for it to OEM, corporations and new users.
SuicideKing wrote:Do let us know if you see a large boost to Arma performance down the line!
If this arstechinia article is correct there's quite a bit of performance to be gained on amd cards if BiS made a proper DirectX 12 renderer, however I have my doubts on their willingness to invest in one.

So better performance will only come with better hardware :(

User avatar
SuicideKing
Host
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:29 pm
Location: India/US West
Contact:

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by SuicideKing »

AnandTech did a very detailed review of Win 10...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/9543/the- ... -10-review
quite a bit of performance to be gained on amd cards
Yeah AMD doesn't have great DX11 drivers. :D
themiddlevoid.wordpress.com

User avatar
Sparks
Posts: 545
Joined: Mon Feb 09, 2015 9:50 pm

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by Sparks »

daf wrote:So better performance will only come with better hardware :(
'course, you could always just buy nVidia... :P
guns.ie ● stochasticgeometry.ie ● weak.ie

Don't tell mom I'm a pilot, she thinks I play piano in a whorehouse

User avatar
SuicideKing
Host
Posts: 312
Joined: Wed Nov 27, 2013 1:29 pm
Location: India/US West
Contact:

Re: Arma 3 on Windows 10

Post by SuicideKing »

themiddlevoid.wordpress.com

Post Reply