Software needed for TR games in win vista?

[walter90]

I recently restored my windows vista home edition to the factory condition and updated the graphics driver.
I played a couple of TR games meant to be played right out of the folder and while they do play, after a bit they get laggy and the screen acts a little weird.

When I ran XP I had to install some additional software to be able to play TR games so is that the case with vista as well?

If so, which do I need? Thanks!

[snork]

You did not necessarily need to install something else in Windows XP.

Are you maybe referring to the oldschool way of installing levels, when we had to convert the downloaded files into playable games ourselves ?
For that we needed the level editor installed, but this is no longer needed, all downloads were made standalone some years ago. (2010 ? 2012?)

What dou you mean by "the screen acts a little weird" ?
Some of the newer levels can be very demanding for the CPU and maybe also for older graphics hardware.

I think this one for example could produce stutter on many PCs from Vista-times : BtB2013 - Six Feet Under

"After a while" - hm - maybe your PC's CPU gets hot and thenthrottles ? Try to clean the PC from dust, particularly the CPU cooler.

[vimmers]

and its vistas fault its also uses a lot of ram and cpu power
so together with tr it says all

[walter90]

We've been able to play levels in the past, and yes, the CPU gets hot, but I have an external fan right outside the vent.

The additional software on XP I had to insatll were things like:

Visual_Basic_6_Runtime

XP TRLE patch

I get it that some levels are just too "big" to play on older machines but would still like your expertise in making my machine game at it's optimum.

BTW, I have installed SP2 and gotten all of the updates

[snork]

XP TRLE patch

This one is included in the tomb4.exe in the standalone TRLE levels as can be downloaded from trle.net.

Visual_Basic_6_Runtime

This one should not be necessary for playing levels. Maybe it was needed for the levelmananger ? I do not remember if that was the case. But with the levelmanager being obsolete, this should not matter anymore.
It is necessary for some levelediting tools like Wadmerger and then some.

We've been able to play levels in the past, and yes, the CPU gets hot, but I have an external fan right outside the vent.

Yes, that's fine - however at least if you are a cigarette smoker like me, then the CPU and other computer internals from time to time will need a cleaning.
The smoke gets ventilated through the PC, the tar in the smoke sticks everywhere, and everything else then sticks to the tar - like dust and in my case also my cat's fine undercoat hair, all combined forming a formidable heat-insulator layer .
I used a stiff-bristled paintprush to clean coolers and fans.

I get it that some levels are just too "big" to play on older machines but would still like your expertise in making my machine game at it's optimum.

sorry, I do not have expertise in this , I never even had a Vista to begin with.
Before, I had a very old PC with windows-XP, and I had it tweaked to run as little programs and windows-services and such as possible.
For the windows-services, for some it was clear from their description in windows itself that I won't need them, for others I googled and then tried if the PC still works fine without them running. (and erred a few times )
I kept it to few programs running in the background - first cleaned the autostart from unneded entries, and then no software firewall, no antivirus running all the time, only every now and then to check downloaded files. No toolbar-this and no screensaver-that, and so on.

Now I have this relatively modern notebook with windows 7, and levels run fine even with the CPU-integrated intel graphics.
However there are still two problems for which I think there atm. is no remedy - so should you experience these, too, then these are not due to Vista or aged PC.

The one is that often/sometimes levels take a looong time to start, much longer than it used to be. But once they show up, they run fine.
The other problem is with switching to desktop - often it just won't at all, sometimes it won't until I pause the game, sometimes it needs me going to the game's main menu ("New game" and so on). Sometimes it switches to desktop just fine, sometimes it willl switch to almost-desktop : just a black background, but I can call and use the taskbar to access every other program I want.
For these two problems the responsability is imo. with the TRNG since version so-so, not much one can do about it, until this gets addressed by TRNG development.

Anyways - what are the specs of your Vista-PC ? Particularly the CPU, amount of RAM, and what graphics device does it use ?

[walter90]

Windows Vista Home Premium SP2

Compaq Presario CQ60 Notebook PC

Intel Celeron CPU 90 @ 2.20 ghz 2.19 ghz

RAM 3.00 GB

32 bit Operating System

Display Adapter:
Intel Mobile 4 series express chipset family

There you go. Nothing has changed since I restored to factory as far as hardware goes. Like I said, I installed service pack 2, which I had also installed before the re-do. All the updates are up to date.

I did have a thought though. I'm using Norton now as it came with the system and I was still offered the free trial yet again. Before, I installed Zone Alarm once Norton expired. I wonder if Norton could be interfering?

[snork]

OK, well, a Celereon M900 is not the strongest processor, but it also is not that weak. Its main problem with TRLE levels may be that is has just one core, so if this core gets hot, it can not swap the game to another core and let the first core cool off.
It is combined with the intel GMA 4500M which is like the last intel graphics that really sucked at 3d, but that should not matter too much with TRLE games.

But since you stated

after a bit they get laggy

I think the main problem might be that CPU (and graphics chip/chipset) might get too hot and then throttle, particularly the Celeron.

The very very most notebooks, even really expensive ones employ cheapest heat-transfer-pads to connect the CPU cooler (or heatpipes) with the CPU. These work a lot less effectively than quality heat-transfer liquid glues, and they will also deteriorate over time, and thus heat-transfer gets even worse.
Add to that the problem with dust etc. accumulating in the ventilation system, so another spot where heat-transfer is hampered -> the Celeron 900M will throttle when getting "too hot".

Replacing the heat-transfer pad(s) with quality stuff - I do not dare to do this myself, and having it done by someone professionally is too costly.
So one is stuck with cleaning the ventilation system. Depending on the notebook this may be easy to do, or not.
In my case, the notebook has a little hole on the bottom with a spray-can pictogram, so I spray air from a pressured-air-can in there and hope it does the job. (need to get a new can soon. )

------------
On the software side, to avoid additional CPU load by unnecessary windows services and programs - well, yes, switching off Norton when not needed maybe helps, certainly won't harm. If you are looking for a replacement, I like how lightweight Microsoft Security Essentials are, also the easy configuration.

You could also try to find a "game booster" tool, that will attempt to shut down unnecessary background services and programs so more performance for the game. I never used such thing myself, as I had already manually shut down everything I considered safe to be shut down.

But another thing - since it is a notebook, for playing games set it to employ the "high performance" mode.
As said, I don't know Vista, nor Compaq - -but for me the "Energy Options" offer three modes : balanced, high performance and saving energy mode.

good luck with it.