[dirtwarrior]

The 2k3 boot loader NTLDR and NTDETECT when used in 2k or xp does have a very good effect on memory usage though

[tom_vilsack]

Aegis, on Dec 4 2005, 05:48 PM, said:

Recommended System Requirements:
▪ 2 GB of RAM
Minimum System Requirements:
▪ 1 GB of RAM

Has me thinking...is this going to be some type live cd,with only some being installed to the harddrive?
1 gb min ram...gotta be something im not thinking of.....hummm

[quinriva]

I believe that the Gamespy network requires browser support (I'm not 100% sure as I don't use it), but I'm guesing that would be a biggy for playing games online as many games run through the gamespy network.

I would suggest going 64 bit. I'm not using a 64 bit processer (yet), so I don't think that my opinion is biased. Also due to the small requirements of the system (needs to play games and that's about it) driver support should be sufficient (you won't need bluetooth, printer, etc. drivers).

I'm yet to be convinced whether many (well anything except battlefield 2) games require more than 1 Gb of RAM, however I'm sure that some upcomming games will require it. On the othand with Windows slimmed down available RAM may well jump by as much as 200-300Mb and so the 1Gb of RAM may well be effectively 1.2Gb.

On a side note, why is firefox using 180Mb? I have a 780Mb comit charge. That has to be too high for, I'm just browsing the net. Time for a reinstall.

[shix]

Quote

The 2k3 boot loader NTLDR and NTDETECT when used in 2k or xp does have a very good effect on memory usage though

@dirt

i would just replace the NTLDR and NTDETECT in xp using 2k3 right? in order for this method to work?

[hoak]

Aegis, on Dec 9 2005, 09:15 PM, said:

@hoak
...it is worth mentioning that Server 2003 doesn't have an enhanced memory manager or fewer dependencies. What it does have is better security, which comes in handy with an OS that you're most likely not going to be able to patch.

That's not quite correct; Server 2003 does have enhanced memory management, a kernel that uses less resources over all, and threads better than XP... The kernel's driver interface and HAL are also supposed to have been updated in Server 2003 and offer marginally more robust and better driver performance... The differences running identical service complements to Windows XP and benchmarking real games can be measurable -- small, but measurable...

Server 2003 Web Edition also rolls with less shovelware like Movie Maker etc, making some flaky clean-up completely unnecessary, and an end product that behaves more predictably on varied hardware... This may not be what you mean by dependencies, but try doing a real uninstall of Internet Explorer, which can be managed cleanly on 2003 sans support for Windows Help... But one can decompile any essential help files to HTML, do some tidy work, and reroute system menu Help calls in the registry to the HTML documents...

Δ

This post has been edited by hoak: 10 December 2005 - 07:58 AM

[dirtwarrior]

Yes just replace those 2 files in order to get lower comitt. I think it was gdogg which discovered these.

[Aegis]

@tom_vilsack
I'm planning to have no page file. Reason for this is that a page file runs slower than memory. Although this normally would cause application compatibility issues, games usually don't require a page file.

@hoak
I don't want to turn this into a big debate, but this article is quite helpful, as it still applies to Server 2003 and XP.

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index...&ArticleID=2816

Basically, the only difference with Server 2003 that optimizes performance is that the threads are never paged to file, which might be what you were saying with improved thread management.

[dirtwarrior]

Very interesting reading. So basically a reg tweak is needed to change the way the microkernel behaves.

[shix]

thanks for the info dirt.

[kalo]

What happens if you don't have 1 gig of ram or a broadband connection..?

[Aegis]

@kalo
If you have insufficient memory to run a game, a popup appears informing you and you will be unable to run the game (though I doubt that any gamer will try to play on a system with less than 1GB of memory). If you have a 56K or anything else below Cable/DSL, then your packets will fragment heavily, thus degrading performance.

[Wicket20519]

I'm a poor college student and am having to live with my P4 machine....So no 64-bit support for me.

The project sounds quite interesting! Are you going to have a "live" Q & A session sometime soon, or do we just post them here?

[Aegis]

@Wicket20519
Post them here ! And if you don't like the 64-bit requirement, just complain !

[tom_vilsack]

Aegis, on Dec 11 2005, 11:15 PM, said:

@Wicket20519
Post them here ! And if you don't like the 64-bit requirement, just complain !

complain complain complain 32-bit also please

[Aegis]

@tom_vilsack
I thought it over and decided that since I couldn't choose between Far Cry 's 64-bit enhanced graphics version or compatibility with users who couldn't afford a new computer, that I should offer both versions. On the other hand, even if I didn't make both versions available, technically advanced users should be able to 'mod' it anyway, since I might provide the equivalent of a source code as my installer .

[Wicket20519]

How long does the installation take?
Can we create an unattended install?
Will GE support wireless networking?
Will there be graphical limitations (such as no wallpaper, windows 98-style taskbar) so that more power can be directed to the games?
You talked about having no page file; is there any way to use my extra harddrive like an iRAM card? Or am I confusing how each of those work...

Hope these are valid questions....

[Aegis]

@Wicket20519
Don't be afraid to ask questions .

The installation varies depending on your computer stats. Usually won't take more than 5 minutes to set it up, after the initial install. As I release more information, you'll understand what I mean by "initial install".

Unattended installations, though it would be nice, can't be supported since every person's image will vary. You may be able to create your own installation, but it requires an intimate knowledge of Windows setup.

GE will support as much or as little as you like. Initially, before any modifications, GE will be very minimalistic and have the default blue background as the wallpaper. The taskbar will not be available. Instead you will be presented with a command shell where you can launch your games.

The iRAM card, I believe, uses RAM as a hard drive. Any more questions ?

[Grake]

Will this support some softwares like daemon tools?

Thanks.

Don't post such things in future. -- Zxian

This post has been edited by Zxian: 13 December 2005 - 12:01 PM

[Wicket20519]

Wow, thanks for the reply! 5 minutes for the initial install is awesome!

Will there be a "Safe Mode" GE can be booted into? Or is it basically already in safe mode?
Will we be able to write small scripts that will act like shortcuts in the command prompt?
Will GE support multiple monitors?
How about plug and play devices, in case we somehow crash the machine and need to back up saved games on an external HDD?
Will security be an issue with this OS, or not really? (Things such as software patches, firewalls, etc; are they needed?)
What if, for some reason, a game requires the .NET framework be installed? We will be able to add that?

Sorry, got too much time on my hands. Thanks again!

[Aegis]

@Grake
Again, it will support as much or as little as you want.

@Wicket20519
Keep the questions rolling . There will be no safe mode for GE.

If you mean batch files for script support, then yes, there will be support.

I'm not sure about multiple monitors. You may be able to make it work on your own, but since I don't own two monitors, then I can't help you with that one.

Plug and play, from my research thus far, is required to use your video card. So yes, it will be supported.

Security in GE is amazingly tight, though it's not a priority at all. No ports are open by default. This takes care of most of the system vulnerabilities, as malicious software needs some sort of way to connect to your computer first. If I exclude browser support, then the only open hole would be to physically log on to your computer, which can be prevented by setting a BIOS startup password.

No game, as far as I know, will have any use of the API's offered by .NET. But in the rare case that it does, .NET Framework can easily be installed.