rec.autos.simulators

    I will take my time out from being contentious and insulting to throw
out an idea that may be utter hogwash or may be good. I hope someone who
knows more about this than I do can offer some input.

    No matter how complex a game is, it is only really making a certain
variety of requests or calls to the hardware it is running on, yes?  To
oversimplify, maybe it uses all but 12 of the Direct 3D calls, or something
like that.

    How hard would it be for the authors of a game to create a single
executable 'compatability' file that made all of the same variety of
requests that the software makes of the hardware, but just enough for you to
find out if your hardware could deal wth it?  It could either just say 'yes
or no' to the whole thing, or it could possibly give you a more detailed
report ala 'your hardware failed the video test'.

    I don't know how compilers work, but I imagine they could report on the
variety of different requests the software makes and maybe this report could
be used to generate the executable.  The executable would be small,
hopefully only a couple hundred K at most, and before commiting to a huge
and expensive or time-consuming download, you could find out if it was going
to run on your computer.

    The company could have a link to the download appear if the result was
yes and/or possibly a bug report form, if the answer is no, that you could
fill in or that took some info from the registry or MSINFO32 or something.
That way they could find out about non-compatable hardware and deal with it
before releasing the product, etc.

    Anyone think this is a good idea or total rubbish?  Any programmers know
about the realities of this that I haven't a clue about?  Anyone just want
to call me names and question my lineage or maybe poke me in the eye with a
sharp stick?

~daxe
"religion is remedial spirituality"

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I just wanted to say I agree with what you're saying.  I don't know
anything about programming tho, so maybe it just can't be done.

I'm sure they couldn't do anything that would assure 100%
compatibility, there are too many differences from one system to
another, like sound cards, game cards, controllers, etc...  But they
could at least do something that's looking for, say, the version of
your directx installation and things like video memory, main memory,
etc...

I'm sure most of us know when a game requires a 3D accelerated video
adapter.  We usually know if a title will work with a 3DFX only, or if
it's direct3D compatible, etc...  But I know many of my friends did
download 3DFX demos thinking their Diamond Stealth 3D could run it...
You know, you can't always rely on the salesperson to tell you your 3D
card is worth sh*t when it comes to 3D ***...

Now where have I put my sharp stick, I know I have one somewhere...

;o)

A. Renault

It's 'Daxe'.

'Help' menu there is a 'Product Updates' pick.  Selecting this will
transport you to a web-page where you can update your operating system!

I've done it plenty of times, thanks.  I am running Win98 with MSIE5/OE b2.

That's not really what I meant.  I meant a game company could make a very
small executable that used the same memory addresses and function calls (or
whatever) as the large downloadable demo. It would be different for each
demo, since each program uses different system calls, etc. You would execute
the small file and it would tell you if your system would run the demo so
you wouldn't have to download it if it wouldn't run it.

Something that just checked your hardware against a master list wouldn't do
the job because it is often the combination of parts you have that causes
the problem, not the parts themselves.  If the small executable ran each of
the different instructions that the demo used and checked that they ALL
returned the expected value and didn't crash the machine, then you would
know the Demo would run correctly and could go ahead with the download.

daxe

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Hey Dake,

Sure, no problem, I'm on it.  Just kidding ;-)

But seriously...

Microsoft is doing this now using Windows '98 with IE4.  From IE4's 'Help' menu there is a 'Product Updates' pick.  Selecting this will transport you to a web-page where you can update your operating system!

Here's how it works.

An applet is loaded that informs you:

This program can determine what components are installed on your computer, and whether new components, upgrades, or enhancements are available specific to your computer.  This check is done without sending any information to Microsoft.  Would you like to check now?

Clicking 'Yes' will run a check of your system (I assume the registry) and provide you with a list of updates available for your Windows system.  It can tell you which ones are installed and even perform uninstalls for you!

If you've got Win'98, give it a whirl!

Regards,

Steve

Just think about the claimed "minimum hardware" requirements on boxes
to see how accurately it would probably perform.

Cheers!
John

Yeah, I guess it is a little idealistic.  I forgot about the PT Barnum rule.

~daxe

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