Games Explorer updates

[Guest]

Hello,

I just wanted to ask, if someone knows when we can expect an update of the
games explorer database (aka the compatibility database)?

There are quite a lot popular games missing from the database (e.g. Prince
of Persia Warrior Within, Jade Empire,...), so i wonder if there's a place
where such entries could be requested?

Regular updates arIMO quite essential, not just for the fancy games explorer
entries, but also for games compatibility in Vista. I for example got Jade
Empire for run fine in Vista as a standard user after analyzing it with the
Standard User Analyzer and adding an entry to a custom compatibility
database, but how many people can do that by themselves?

I hope someone can respond to this or at least bring it to the attention of
the right guys/gals at MS.

Best regards,
Sar.

 

[RiverDog]

And what is the Standard user Analyzer, please?

Riverdog

 

[Guest]

The "Standard User Analyzer" (SUA) is part of the "Microsoft Application
Compatibility Toolkit 5.0" (ACT) which can be downloaded from Microsoft (just
search in the downloads). SUA helps to find compatiblity problems and advises
you on how to fix them ("migitations") by running the program and supervising
its access patterns.

You can then either apply the advised migitations directly (which is
disencouraged, since it often entails loosening acls of critical directories)
or you can add those migitations for the program to a custom compatibilty
database.

Hope this helps you some, but be advised to read the available documentation
carefully before working with the ACT!

Sarukar

 

[RiverDog]

Many thanks.

The "Standard User Analyzer" (SUA) is part of the "Microsoft Application
Compatibility Toolkit 5.0" (ACT) which can be downloaded from Microsoft
(just
search in the downloads). SUA helps to find compatiblity problems and
advises
you on how to fix them ("migitations") by running the program and
supervising
its access patterns.

You can then either apply the advised migitations directly (which is
disencouraged, since it often entails loosening acls of critical
directories)
or you can add those migitations for the program to a custom compatibilty
database.

Hope this helps you some, but be advised to read the available
documentation
carefully before working with the ACT!

Sarukar

 

[Daniel \Szajd\ Said]

The data on the Microsoft's server for legacy games in the Games Explorer
are not supposed to be changing. It's been frozen at some point. (I guess at
RTM.)

The normal use of Games Explorer would be for game publishers to include
Game Data Files (GDF) and other stuff inside their installers. The database
Microsoft provides (based on AllGameGuides) is for games before Vista's
release, which couldn't have been able to include such data with them.

With that said, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point there would be some
3rd party site with installable .exes that would install
popular-but-not-too-old-but-not-vista-enabled games into Game Explorer. Even
I'm thinking about it (for example for F.E.A.R. Combat), but I don't really
have the time and the necessary knowledge on how to implement such
installers.

Hope that helped.