Personally, I attribute half of the problems to all the services/bugs/features that load with Me/Xp. There's a whole chapter/short-story for the stuff that just needs to be deleted from the install cd...

wow I have never had problems with XP pro. Maybe its because of my mobo, i hear is very stable on XP Epox 8K7A

The new compatibility patches are pretty damn good. Being able to install stuff like the Windows version of Descent 2 and Need for Speed 3 and straight off the installation CD with no ****ing around is great as is being able to play Half-Life with my desktop set to 32-bit colour. It's still not perfect, Final Fantasy VII still doesn't work 100% but what XP delivers is light years ahead of 2k. XP only crashes at the Chocobo races (and possibly the other sub-games as well), 2k used to crash just about everywhere.
 
Permission handling is also much improved. Being able to force permissions down a directory tree is great.
 
The new interface isn't too shabby either. The old GUI just looks boring in comparison.

I give XP handling of games much more praise than Windows 2000. Even though Windows 2000 wasn't intended for games, its great to see Windows XP handle Need For Speed High Stakes without a hitch, or even run laggy sound in DOS games.

Quote:

Permission handling is also much improved. Being able to force permissions down a directory tree is great.


I don't quite follow on this one, as the permissions architecture in NTFS is the same (except the GUI looks a little different). If you want *real* control over NTFS permissions, use cacls.exe in the future.

Quote:
I don't quite follow on this one, as the permissions architecture in NTFS is the same (except the GUI looks a little different). If you want *real* control over NTFS permissions, use cacls.exe in the future.



Thats the feature I'm referring to, I'm fairly certain it was never on Win2k.

I am pretty sure it was, but I have to get to another box to be sure (gotta jet for lunch ).

OK, I just remembered to get back to this, so here it is:
 

 
However, if you want better control over permissions management cacls is the way to go.

I would like to stress again that the compatibility in 2K is EXACTLY THE SAME as in XP. It's just the pretty shortcut interfaces that make it seem different, and the XP new GUI that makes it slighly different. That's why I'm working on porting XP compatibility patches to 2K but it takes a very long time for one guy.

Clutch: That's 2k Server isn't it? I could have sworn I never saw it in 2k Pro...
 
DosFreak: I was aware of that. The new GUI interface is the worst part about it. It's made a whole generation of users who think making an NT OS run every piece of 9x software ever written is as simple as selecting an option in a Property sheet and in my experience thats hardly ever true.

It's in Win2k Pro.

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I would like to stress again that the compatibility in 2K is EXACTLY THE SAME as in XP. It's just the pretty shortcut interfaces that make it seem different, and the XP new GUI that makes it slighly different. That's why I'm working on porting XP compatibility patches to 2K but it takes a very long time for one guy.

That's what I figured that since the 2 OSes are identical pretty much. Does this mean I can install High Stakes on 2K without fiddling? Sound in DOS?

XP has several more compatibility patches built into it than 2k so theres a possibility that the one for High Stakes won't be in 2k. Also you won't get sound in DOS unless you install something like VDMSound, soundfx2000 or a complete emulation package like Connectix Virtual PC.

I was referring to the application compatibity patches as in the .sdb files in the \appatch directory that resides in the \winnt (2k) \windows (xp) directories. Those are pretty much the same between XP/2K. NTVDM sound isn't a factor in such compatibility....I don't see it getting better in any future versions of windows either....

XP has patches for more software though doesn't it?

Thanks for the clearup DOSFreak and Admiral LSD. I was always pissed at MS for not incorporating an official fix for High Stakes into 2K, they did both NFS2SE and NFS3 but not High Stakes. Damn MS were like ignorant sluts.

Hang on, there was a fix for NFS3? I never recall that... In addition to ****ing around with APPCOMPAT.EXE to get the thing to actually install (it did the old "This product will not install on Windows NT" thing...) I still had to set the shortcut up to automatically run as a different user (which wouldn't be so bad if you could set up a password to use instead of having it prompt you each time...) because M$ locked down access to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE compared with NT4 and EA hardcoded NFS3 to get its keys from there. XP fixed the former resulting in NFS3 being able to install straight off the CD but the latter still bothers me although thats not entirely M$'s fault...

The official Windows 2000 Application Compatibility Update adds a fix for both Need For Speed 3: Hot Pursuit and Need For Speed 2 SE.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/downloads/tools/appcompat/default.asp
 
In the list you will see both NFS3 and NFS2SE. However, no NFS High Stakes. After applying this patch I had no issues with NFS3 at all. I had to fiddle around with High Stakes alot to get working under 2000, the only way I could get it was to follow the method here at NTCompatible and by adding -d3d1 to the shortcut. XP installs and runs both games fine with no problems.

I can't remember if I had that update or not (was it rolled into a service pack at all? SP1? I remember having to uninstall SP1 once because APPCOMPAT wouldn't work properly with it installed) but I'm positive I didn't need it since after discovering APPCOMPAT.EXE I was able to install and run it under the release build of 2k without any hassles (save the registry tangles).

Yep, Microsoft has incorporated more fixes in XP than 2K. If ye take a look at the "Compatibility Administration Tool" you'll see all of the fixes for all of the software...although I've noticed sometimes fixes don't show up there that really are in the database....
 
Anyways if ye use the Compat Admin tool on both 2k/xp you'll see that XP has more fixes, plus a couple more .sdb's. The extra .sdb's are for the little popup balloons you get like when you install older versions of Black Ice and it pops up a message stating that this version doesn't go and go here to get the latest ver.
 
The last time I used the Compat Admin tool about 2 months ago the ver from XP wouldn't work in 2K so I had to use an older beta version from one of the XP Compatibility toolkit's. Dunno if the Compatibility Tookit 2.5 can list both databases in 2K/XP but I'm gonna try it out when I get back.
 
Which is why before I went on leave I would simply move the .sdb's out of XP into the Appatch directory in 2K. Load up the Compat Admin tool and look at the list of what fixes were taken for each program. Write 'em down. Move the 2k .sdb's back into their proper directory and try the fixe's to see if they worked. Some do, Some don't. With some fixes working in 2K that don't work in XP and some working in XP that don't in 2K! LOL! It's a pain. Eventually I'd like to compile all the fixes for games that aren't in the database for which I own and distribute the updated sdb's to those who'd want 'em. For now I'm content just to explain in the Compatibility Lists how to fix 'em for yourself.
 
Here's the fixes XP implements for NFS:HS:
 
3DSETUP.EXE
 
FIXES
Win95VersionLie
VirtualRegistry (Command Line: DYN_DATA
 
_INS5576._MP
 
MODES
Compatibility:ProfilesSetup
 
FIXES
Win95VersionLie
 
NFSHS.ICD
 
FIXES
EmulateGetDiskFreeSpace
 
Theoretically all you would need to do is apply those same fixes in 2K to the game to get the exact same compatibility that XP has.
 
Even then it's still not perfect. Heck, in XP you still have MIGHT have to apply the 4.44/4.50 patch, you also MIGHT have to use the CD crack, and you MAY also have to modify the 3data.dat file in the NFS:HS directory to get the game to work!
 
 
Here's the process I go through for both 2K and XP:
 
Windows 2000
 
Right-click on setup.exe on the CD and create a shortcut. Right-click on the shortcut, go to properties
 
and then the compatibility tab. Check the box and choose Windows 95. Now run the shortcut!
 
After the files are done copying setup may hang. If so hit ctrl+alt+del, choose Task Manager, go to
 
processes and end the 3ddata.exe task. After ending you may receive this error message: "Error! Could not
 
read 'Problem' value." Just hit ok.
 
Now patch the game with either the 4.44 or 4.50 patch. You may also need to use a CD crack. I did.
 
Now you will need to edit your registry. Go to start/run/regedit. Go to
 
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTWRE/ELECTRONIC ARTS/NEED FOR SPEED HIGH STAKES
 
Now modify the THRASH DRIVER key. Change it from "software" to "d3da".
Now close regedit and load Need For Speed High Stakes!
 
Windows XP
 
Does not work right after install on some machines. Requires installation of 4.44 or 4.50 patch. After patch is installed a CD crack may also be require. (It was for me). Next go to the directory where you installed the game. Now go to the 3dsetup directory open the 3ddata.dat file with notepad and change the line D3D=0 to D3D=1. Now run 3dsetup.exe and choose Direct3D. Now run the game!