Win XP only

[Hans_Petter 1]

Lately I've run across several payware aircraft that claim to require Win XP. In all cases but one I've found that my good 'ol Win 2000 is quite capable. However, since FS 2004 runs well under Win98 and ME -- which features outside of the sim itself do "XP only" aircraft require? In other words, what makes the OSes different as the sim is concerned? I like Win 2000 since it's a fairly sleek OS with modern (read: XP) drivers. Hence I would assume that anything that requires XP could be read as "not compatible with FS98/ME". In any event, the main question is in what way do the various OS versions affect the sim and its addons in any direct way?

[ubersu 78]

In general, it probably depends most on how the gauges are programmed - if calls are made to libraries that are deprecated in the OS version other than the one specifically supported, or if there are dependencies that are not supported in a version other than the one the gauge was developed on, you can have problems. By and large, what the developer is really saying is that they make no guarantees if you run on anything other than the OS they specifically support. That saves them the hassle of trying to figure out the nuances of every MS OS (and installation) still out there in computer land.I once spent a couple of hours trying to figure out why a 32 bit application wouldn't run on the system that a colleague was using at a remote location. I finally asked him what OS he was using and was told that it was Windows 3.11!Having said that, as you've discovered, most addons will run on other operating systems with few problems.DJ

[moss1 11]

Hello Hans, From my experience on my other Win2000 Pro rig, I was able to use planes that stated designed for Win XP only. The aircraft I had some issues with were with the Reality XP Avionics packages that were included with the product. There was an avionics bus that was installed to the registry, as long as I selected not to use certain features within the navigation systems, all was fine. The plane worked without problem, however there was a couple of features that would be lost...nothing show stopping. The other thing I noticed was the performance of the aircraft was better with XP ( my new rig is a bit faster). Win2000 and XP have basically the same kernel, however there are certain functions XP can handle better. I believe the PMDG series says XP , but they work fine in my system with no issues. Dreamfleet has a product line with Reality XP stuff included that you will have to watch for certain issues. The other thing is that the DEV will usually not give support if you are running an OS that does not meet their requirements. I hope this helped. By the way, what products were you looking at? This would be most helpful in helping you in return.

[Hans_Petter 1]

The product that causes a CTD upon loading the aircraft is the Wilco/FeelThere 737-300 PIC. As you stated it's probably a gauge incompatibility. If there's a way to disable the offending gauge or edit the registry to comply... The flight dynamics (air file and aircraft.cfg) and the sound folder work as intended with another model but this probably goes without saying. The problems are caused by the coding of gauges. What flavor of gauge coding could possibly kill Win 2000? You mentioned Reality XP Avionics -- what are they from a coding point of view?

[moss1 11]

Hello Hans, actually I don't know how the Reality XP stuff is coded. I was just sharing my personal experience with Win 2000 and XP only products. The Reality XP stuff has always worked flawlessly on my XP system , and worked well on 2000 except the couple of features in their GPS units. Obviously, the 737 you mention has no Reality XP stuff, but If you need more info,I would proceed to Reality XP website. They may have the info you are looking for. Jean Luc also visits here on a steady basis, so maybe he will see this post and chime in in reference to his Realty XP product. Gauge programming has never been my thing. I wish I could answer your question, but would rather not give bad information by quessing. The one thing I can say for sure is, gauge probelms can drive one nuts trying to troubleshoot. I would strongly suggest going to Feelthere's forums for the CTD issue, as someone else may have had the same thing happen to them. I hope things work out for you.

[Noel 4,499]

I still run Win 2000 Pro SP4 and it runs FS9 very well. I have so far managed to avoid XP (I use it work and it's fine) just because Win2K works for all software I run, plus I understand it well. I'm guessing it runs all these programs I am using just as well as XP would. My time frame for a new PC is Q4 this year or early next, with a Penryn Yorkfield CPU, top end DX10 card, and Vista. I hope Vista becomes an uncontested good thing by then. How cool to skip one whole OS cycle!In fact, if Mac Pro would sport a DX10 video card I would definitely consider the dual boot thing just for fun, though the cost would be high.Noel

[mgh 89]

New operating systems contain additional Windows API calls that aren't available in previous operating systems. Also there can be changes in the way an existing API call is implemented between operating systems. Using a new API call will stop the application running under an earlier operating system: using an API call that has been changed can give unpredictable results if it's run under a different operating system. In reality, I imagine that a statement that an aircraft requires XP means that it was developed and tested under XP only. The developer, therefore, can't make any statements about its compatibility with other versions of Windows.