Should I Really Run AM on XP and not Vista?

[dmh]

Do the graphical glitches (glitchy update during bone manipulation) happen in XP? I picked up AM and read the forums before hand. Knew there were some small issues, but it's quite persistent and gets you out of the flow. Work around (for me) is to minimize the window and then bring it back. But it's happening often enough I don't think I can stand it.

 

Comp: Q6600, 8GB RAM, Vista Home Premium x64, EVGA 8800GTS 320MB, AM 15b. Driver at 169.44, Vista up to date.

 

I have a render node with an E6600, 2GB RAM and XP SP2. Is XP that much more stable and reliable running AM than Vista? Interested in hearing someone with Vista that has encountered this issue and lived with it and also ran it on XP. Otherwise I might ask for a license transfer to the render node.

 

One other thing I noticed in chor is a big slow down in real time rendering when two chars (one with hair) were on the screen. The 8800 pretty much eats everything else alive but AM seemed to bring it to it's knees. Could this also be a Vista issue?

 

Thanks,

 

dh

[Rodney]

In my experience the graphic glitches are more graphics card specific than operating system specific.

Having said that however it may be of use to know that most graphics cards working with Win XP apparently have drivers that work well whereas with Win Vista the goal of glitch free rendering on some cards is still something of a moving target.

 

I noted elsewhere in the forum that Intel had recently released an updated driver for the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (945) which improved performance considerably on my laptop. My card is actually a 950 so that may be the cause of occasional real time glitches. I don't know enough about the differences in cards. (Not that interested actually... just want them to work)

 

I suspect the driver for your card has been updated since its first release as well. Check the manufacturers site for information.

 

At some point (as drivers are updated) most A:M users will be running A:M more smoothly on Vista than XP. If you listen closely... thats the sound of progress being made. Unfortunately thats also the price of progress to be paid.

 

So... in short... You can run A:M on either XP or Vista.

You may find more success in Win XP as those drivers have been around for some time.

Until you find the right driver for Vista however visit your graphics card manufacturers page often!

 

 

Added:

I see the site says:

Most EVGA video cards and motherboards have attained "Certified for Windows Vista." These products have passed rigorous testing and take full advantage of Microsoft Windows Vista.

 

This means they will work with Vista's new Aero-features but... only means that.

Most have found that they need to turn off Vista's Aero-features to get their graphics programs optimally operating.

 

Note that Microsoft has released updates that address real time rendering issues as well.

 

Driver link for your card

[dmh]

Thanks for the reply Rodney. While researching a graphics card upgrade to my rendering node I switched Aero back on. I had turned it off based upon user experience here. For my rig apparently I needed Aero on for it to be stable. Completed walk, pitch and flower lessons all without any graphical issues. Prior to that the glitches were happening once every 30 seconds.

 

So, all is good and I no longer have to fight the computer.

 

dh

[Rodney]

So, all is good and I no longer have to fight the computer.

 

Outstanding.

 

Perhaps your experience is an indication that drivers (or updates) are finally catching up to the point where graphics entensive programs like A:M will work better with Vista's Aero features turned on. Wouldn't that be great.