Unplayably slow on Vista?

[Rasit]

Darrel said:My main annoyance hasn't been speed. Vista tends to save files in its own location. So instead of finding your saved game files in c:\program files\dominions3\savedgame, vista saves it in your profile section in a real wierd path, {profile name}/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/Dominions 3/Savedgames. This made playing PBEM games annoying until I got used to it.

That happens since you have installed the game under "program files". Since so many software kept trying to write to a folder that they should not have write access to Microsoft made it so anything being written to "program files" ends up in %profile name%/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/[normal folder path].

This way they did not break all the old "malfunctioning" applications but you can still benefit from the increased security you get as running as a restricted user.

[Sir_Dr_D]

Rasit said:

That happens since you have installed the game under "program files". Since so many software kept trying to write to a folder that they should not have write access to Microsoft made it so anything being written to "program files" ends up in %profile name%/AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/[normal folder path].

This way they did not break all the old "malfunctioning" applications but you can still benefit from the increased security you get as running as a restricted user.

Ah! Thats what the term 'compatibility files' meant. Is there a place Vista recommends to save games like this other then program files then?

[Olive]

Yeah, I've discovered that. Sometimes I notice mp games have returned 1 turn back . And the AppData/Local/VirtualStore/Program Files/Dominions 3/Savedgames only contains a dom3config file and nothing else, seems like .trn files are restored to a previous state.

Why did MS change good old program files, there was absolutely no reason for that ? But I don't think it's a folder problem, I copied the .trn by hand in the directory, and they were replaced by an older version. Maybe is it a service restoring "illegaly" changed files in the program folder ?

Don't know. But as Dom3 doesn't need to be in the program files, I'll move it elsewhere to see if it solves the problem.

It's in such cases that I'm happy to keep my mp mails.

[Gandalf Parker]

They changed it because windows shifted to a more network structure (multi users with an admin) but no one properly used it. They loaded everything as admin or for all users. That made Windows vulnerable and made it look bad. The changes are a "user friendly" way to try and nudge people to doing their machine "the proper way".

Of course, beyond user friendly becomes user obnoxious. Instead of a recommendation you get "BACK OFF! You dont have a clue so just let me do it!"

Gandalf Parker
--
Fight the defaults, escape the menu, probe the possibilities, hack the system!
Get it to work the way that YOU want it to work.
(its not just for computers, its a life message)

[WSzaboPeter]

If someone is interested this game runs great on Windows Vista Ultimate. Not only that but when I upgraded to Vista I formated only my main HDD, and Dominions3 was installed on a second one. I tough that I will install D3 over the old one and this will keep my games, maps, etc. But the result was even better, when I run the exe it worked without install!