Windows 8 CP and Gaming (Or, Why Won't My Games Work?!)

[Wakers]

I've had both Bioshock 1 & 2, Arkham City, GTA 4, Civ V, FM2012, Tribes Ascend, F1 2011, Borderlands and Magicka all working on the CP without any issues.

Even the horrible GFWL client works fine.

I think it's something on your end.

[theyarecomingforyou]

All the games you , mentioned run fine on my system even GTA 4 runs great as i have it running right this moment every game i own runs on windows 8 CP just fine steam or regular DVD based installs Edit: to the above poster LA Noire works fine on my system

system:

core i7 2600k stock

GTX 470 stock

I haven't been able to get LA Noire working. I've tried: validated the install with Steam; manually installing the redists; changing all the graphics settings; adding compatibility extensions like "-str -npd". Nothing seems to work. The launcher appears but when I launch the game it goes fullscreen and then immediately crashes.

[Darrian]

Your first post clearly has the tone of someone being disappointed with a final release they paid for rather than a beta and this stems from the fact that you have wrongly assumed it is built for general consumption

No, I was not disappointed. Nor do I assume that it is built for general consumption, though it kinda is, being that it's the product that Microsoft wants the general public to download to get a taste of Windows 8. I am concerned, especially with game compatibility (because I've not had any issues with any non-game, so generally productivity and media apps are probably going to have no issues, but they aren't habitually packed with DRM, either), because generally (and Win 8 is no exception) when they are working on a new version of Windows, what you're getting, especially in early betas, is the same version of Windows you've been running with some improvements. The changes throughout the beta stages are incremental, so I've found that there are actually less bugs sometimes in the early betas as opposed to the later ones, since there are less changes to the OS it's being built off of. When we get to this point, with the RC around the corner, you start to get the feeling that maybe something has been overlooked and they might not get around to fixing it, and I'm actually ok with that, too, because these issues are mostly due to all the crap game developers add in to otherwise fantastic games in order to stop pirates from playing them. I don't want to get too much into the DRM vs piracy debate, but it's clear which side of the fence I'm on, I think. So, if a game doesn't work, I'm more often than not going to blame the game developer and chances are it's an older game that isn't running correctly and I won't expect them to ever update it, which will in turn upset me and cause me to resort to cracking said game if necessary. After all, I didn't buy my games so I could just play them a few times and then shelve them for eternity because I can't run them anymore. I'm sure at some point there will come a major re-write of Windows that no longer supports legacy apps, and then I will have to build a PC that runs the last version of Windows that works solely for legacy gaming, but that day is not here yet.

What was really bugging me was first, that it was a GFWL issue, and nobody was reporting problems. That means it was a Microsoft issue, and you'd think they'd test their own software. That doesn't mean I expect it to work. It does mean that they might take 5 seconds and post in their forums that it's a known issue and that they are (or are not) working on it. But hey, they're busy guys, and apparently really concerned about smoking Windows Phones right now, so that's cool, I get it. Secondly, I still don't think I'm the only one who has run into this problem. With both the Dev Preview and the Consumer Preview I have installed the OS fresh and Steam is the next thing I install after I'm done making sure my drivers and directx are up to date, get any Windows Updates and get Office installed. So I'm not using some upgraded install that is even more prone to bugs, and the installs are practically fresh. It's not like I have only checked Neowin, either. I have scoured the net for any information on this issue and it's not so much troubling that nobody had any solutions as it was that nobody was asking for solutions. I'm getting the impression from Windows 8's web presence that everybody is so concerned with freaking out about "metro" and the new start screen that they're not actually testing anything and just reverting to Windows 7 or not installing it at all, without even trying it, which very well may be the case.

So maybe that's the impression I gave with my OP, but hopefully this will clarify further my motivation for having written it.

[theyarecomingforyou]

I've never found GFWL a particularly compelling platform at the best of times - in fact I've always found it pretty intrusive and unnecessary. And just because GFWL is from Microsoft doesn't mean you should expect it to be trouble free, as Skype is owned by Microsoft but performed terribly on the Developer Preview. As for betas have "less bugs" than the later ones, I just don't think that's accurate. Obviously if you have new functionality then there is the risk of bugs but I've not come across existing functionality becoming less stable the further they get into development.

I came across exactly the same issues with gaming with the pre-release versions of Vista and Windows 7. In both cases the compatibility issues were addressed before release. If you look at the huge improvement that Microsoft made between the Developer Preview and Consumer Preview then I have complete confidence that everything will be resolved by release. Is it annoying that there are issues? Sure, but that goes with the territory. However, I find the improvements more than outweigh the issues and that's why I've stuck with the Consumer Preview since it was released. The Metro Start screen is a huge improvement on high resolution displays.

[ITFiend]

I had this problem with the Dev Preview, as well, but I knew it wasn't meant for general consumption so I didn't make a big fuss over it. Now, however, it's just starting to get annoying. One of the big selling points of Windows 8 is that it can run all the same programs that Windows 7 can with no problems. However, this is clearly untrue if you're a gamer.

You need to download the most up to date version. GfWL has a DLL failure in Windows 8 if you have an old version installed, and you will only get a direct error about it if you attempt to launch it manually rather than allowing a game to launch it on your behalf.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=201134

I encountered this issue with Bulletstorm and Grand Theft Auto 4, and installing the most current version directly available from Microsoft resolved the issue for me.

By the way, this is also not limited to Windows 8 really. If I allow the Steam version of GTA4 The Lost and Damned to be the GfWL installer on Windows 7, I get a similar problem where it just crashes the game 95% of the time within 15 seconds of launching it, and only by directly launching GfWL within Windows told me what needed to be fixed (and in that case, it told me it was completely out of date, well beyond what its in-game auto-updater could patch to).

[Darrian]

I've never found GFWL a particularly compelling platform at the best of times - in fact I've always found it pretty intrusive and unnecessary. And just because GFWL is from Microsoft doesn't mean you should expect it to be trouble free, as Skype is owned by Microsoft but performed terribly on the Developer Preview.

There's a huge difference there. GFWL is developed by Microsoft, whereas Skype was recently purchased by Microsoft and I'm not certain there has yet been a single release that was Microsoft-developed. Skype didn't just start working in the CP, either; there was an update for Skype that worked in the Dev Preview shortly after the Dev Preview was released. My daughter still Skypes regularly on the Dev Preview without issue as I haven't updated her laptop yet. Also, I never expected it to be trouble-free. I did expect there to be a large number of people complaining to Microsoft that it wasn't working, and there was nobody in any public forum that I could find. Whether it's a good platform or not it doesn't change the dependency a large number of games have on it.

You need to download the Windows 8 version. GfWL has a DLL failure in Windows 8 if you have an old version installed, and you will only get a direct error about it if you attempt to launch it manually rather than allowing a game to launch it on your behalf. If you attempt to launch the actual GfWL executable rather than only having a game run the embedded version, it will give you an error message telling you to install what I am linking to you now:

I have always had the latest version installed, and never got any errors except that the marketplace fails to load (but things you have previously purchased in the marketplace still download and install fine). That's what was aiding to my confusion: it was obviously installed correctly and the client would launch manually, but it still wouldn't load when a game was launched. Even though I have gotten it working now I may try this patch anyway and see if that resolves the marketplace issue (and hope that it doesn't mess it up again). I didn't know about the patch, so thank you for posting this!

Edit: Maybe I jumped the gun there. That's not a patch you linked me to, that's a zip file with an audio file and a powerpoint presentation.

[Eric Veteran]

I have always had the latest version installed, and never got any errors except that the marketplace fails to load (but things you have previously purchased in the marketplace still download and install fine). That's what was aiding to my confusion: it was obviously installed correctly and the client would launch manually, but it still wouldn't load when a game was launched. Even though I have gotten it working now I may try this patch anyway and see if that resolves the marketplace issue (and hope that it doesn't mess it up again). I didn't know about the patch, so thank you for posting this!

The Marketplace has been deprecated. You have to purchase games via the website now and the install option will launch the GFWL Marketplace to install it now. I'm hoping it will be integrated into the Xbox LIVE Games app in the future. It's a bit irritating to have the app show you stats about the games you own but be unable to launch them. :(

[ITFiend]

Edit: Maybe I jumped the gun there. That's not a patch you linked me to, that's a zip file with an audio file and a powerpoint presentation.

My bad. Forgot it had given me a useless link at first. I'll fix that. So long as you installed a real current verison of GfWL rather than a bundled version, everything "should" work game wise. So far as the marketplace goes, I've never used it and really just pretended it didn't exist.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=201134

[theyarecomingforyou]

There's a huge difference there. GFWL is developed by Microsoft, whereas Skype was recently purchased by Microsoft and I'm not certain there has yet been a single release that was Microsoft-developed. Skype didn't just start working in the CP, either; there was an update for Skype that worked in the Dev Preview shortly after the Dev Preview was released. My daughter still Skypes regularly on the Dev Preview without issue as I haven't updated her laptop yet.

I had Skype crash just today, so it seems that the issues are still far from resolved. I appreciate that Microsoft only recently took over Skype but the deal was announced 4-5 months before the DP was even released, so you would have expected either Microsoft or Skype to have made accommodations for compatibility.

Also, if the compatibility issues you came across are limited to your machine then there wouldn't be any reason to expect a lot of complaints. In fact the lack of other complaints would strongly point to an issue with your configuration rather than a general issue. With Crysis 2 and LA Noire there are numerous forum posts discussing compatibility issues with the Consumer Preview.

[Darrian]

You have a valid point there, but I have not jumped to that conclusion as a certainty because it's obviously a software issue and not a hardware issue. It would thus make sense that most everybody if not everybody who installs a clean install of the CP and then installs GFWL would run into this. Obviously that's not the case. I have heard of people having issues with LA Noire, but only in this thread. I have not heard of anybody having trouble with Crysis 2. That's not surprising because I don't have either of those games, and I never searched for issues with a specific game except Bioshock 2. Most of my searches were regarding GFWL once it became obvious that's where the problem lied.

As far as Skype goes, it's been known to crash from time to time (at least for me) regardless of which OS it's running on, so I would be hesitant to point the blame at Windows 8 for that.

[Jojo81]

The "unofficial" Aion 64 bit client won't load at all on Win 8 but works perfectly on 7. The ncsoft launcher is only trying to load a .bin file as well which runs on the old far cry engine.

[spaceelf]

The 64 bit Aion client is being deprecated as of the next version anyway isn't it? As I understand it, it won't work at all in 3.0.

At any rate, forgot about Crysis 2. That was weird.

[JRmpls]

I haven't read all the posts in this thread.. but I will post that Lord of the Rings online causes my Windows 8 to freeze up at random.. moving to the hot corners causes a 30-45 second lockup on the whole OS and makes the Charms Bar unusable. I wonder if anyone else has run into the same problems.

[Jojo81]

The 64 bit Aion client is being deprecated as of the next version anyway isn't it? As I understand it, it won't work at all in 3.0.

At any rate, forgot about Crysis 2. That was weird.

no actually they decided to allow access to it afterall after a lot of complaints that it is still supported in Korea.

[Shaun N.]

Angry birds Space won't work on Windows 8 - Works fine on Windows 7

[Darrian]

That's weird, I didn't have any trouble with Angry Birds Space. If you can't get it to work (and this is more of a substitution than a fix or workaround) you can always check out the Bluestacks beta and install it from the Amazon app store.

[Eric Veteran]

Angry birds Space won't work on Windows 8 - Works fine on Windows 7

I just tried the Angry Birds Space demo and it works fine. What problem are you having with it?

[Hiatt66]

I haven't been able to get the original rFactor to work on Win8 CP x64. rFactor 2 works fine. The launcher does nothing when clicked.

[Jose_49]

Still can't play LA Noire. I've seen that it seems it doesn't detect properly the video card, because I would usually receive a message about how many cores or threads (dunno remember well) I want running.

[PGHammer]

Indeed Omen. OP, don't forget that every time a piece of software crashes on WIndows 8, it sends an error report. These are extremely critical during an OS beta as it allows them to focus on the issues that most people are seeing. So make sure you choose to send error reports when prompted.

That said, don't forget that Windows 8 is in EARLY beta. The CP was it's progression from Alpha to Beta. Things like this are to be expected, and you can be sure that the Games for Windows Live stuff will be fixed maybe by RC, but certainly by RTM. In fact, isn't all the live stuff going to be built into Windows 8? I bet they'll patch all the GFWL games so they utilise W8's built in Live functionality.

Getting annoyed by the fact that beta software has bugs (shock horror!) is just stupid.

Who says we aren't reporting them? Do you even have the connect beta feedback tool installed? I use it every time a piece of software crashes on W8, AND I send an error report. Do you? I don't see the point in complaining about crashes in a forum that Microsoft doesn't keep track of.

The other problem is that game developers won't patch in support for a new version of Windows until *after* that version hits RTM - how many game publishers that aren't Microsoft would make sure their game works properly with prerelease versions of Windows? So far, I have found a grand total of ONE game that refuses to work under Windows 8 - Tera Online (neither the full client or the galkai-driven instant demo works - in any browser). I browsed the EnMasse (developer/publisher) forums on the subject, and the majority of users are just as harsh in their views about Windows 8 as some Neowinians are. Fortunately, such an attitude is far from representative (NCsoft and ArenaNet - both forums and technical support - are actually trying to help CP/RP users solve any issues they are having with their respective titles (which are, surprisingly, few and far between).

[funkydude]

Still can't play LA Noire. I've seen that it seems it doesn't detect properly the video card, because I would usually receive a message about how many cores or threads (dunno remember well) I want running.

Are you using the special Windows 8 GPU drivers for whatever card you have?

[Jmixmaster]

Sorry to bump, but I have found that The Sims 2 does not install on Windows 8. You can't even get past the directory selector for the base game. This makes me sad but oh well :(

However, SimCity 4 does work.

[Darrian]

Well, that's interesting. However, I made this thread when the community preview was the latest version we were all playing with. Are you using the newly leaked RTM? Also, have you tried running the Sims 2 setup.exe as administrator? I don't happen to have that game so I can't try it myself.

[Jmixmaster]

No, I'm running the RP, however I am going to take advantage for the $40 upgrade offer for the RTM. But yes, I've tried to run it in compatibility mode all the way from XP SP2 to Windows 7. Tried with Run as administrator too. It seems as though the installer does not like a part of W8 or possibly W8 doesn't like the installer :p When I try to click next, the window just refreshes itself, and goes back to the "Select Install Destination" folder. I can't even click the cancel button to close the installer, I have to use task manager to kill it. However, it has never started installing anything so no damage is done by doing that

[winter_winds]

Hi, i new here :)

i'am using Leaked RTM windows 8 enterptise 64 bit

stil game with GWFL not work....:(

i was tried :

SF VI AE, SF X TEKKEN (crashed),

GTA IV, EFLC, DiRT Showdown (GFWL do not show up, even i press HOME button)

DiRT3 (not run at all)

~Sorry for my bad english~