OEM/retail doesn't matter, they are interchangeable as far as 32 and 64-bit are concerned. I've got a 64-bit vista OEM disk and code and my disk works with the 32-bit retail vista keys that my father bought. The only thing that has to match is the Vista package (like "Ultimate," "Home," etc...).

What that moderator mentioned was a Microsoft website where you can request a CD version of 32-bit Vista-but I'm not sure if it works if you just have a code for an OEM 64-bit Vista.

It will work. Microsoft has made it surprisingly easy to go between 32-bit and 64-bit.

Okay, sorry I just want to clarrify...

I can use the code that comes with the laptop-which ships with a 64-bit copy of Home Premium, and not even a disc-use that code and punch it in to that site that was linked to, and have them send my a disc with 32-bit Home Premium?

Sorry...I'm just not sure what I'm doing laptop-wise.

I don't see the difference really, but what's the worst that can happen? They tell you no?

The only caveat I can think of is that you'll need to be sure you've got all the proper install materials for you laptop before hand (i.e. all your drivers and related on a cd or thumb drive before hand) which you should do even for a desktop.

[b][/b][b][/b][b][/b][b][/b][b][/b][b][/b][b][/b]*>

First and foremost in response to Gametap telling people to use their product keys to install 32 bit Vista JUST TO RUN THEIR SERVICE is absolutely ridiculous.


So I just found this thread after trying to figure out why gametap won't work after upgrading to vista 64.

The gist of what I'm reading is...


#1 Gametap essentially says it's not their fault

#2 Gametap uses what is apparently a ridiculously inept third party vendor (Come on now I know 15 year olds that can write 64 bit device drivers)

#3 Gametap has little to no interest in supporting x64

So my question is, does Gametap just not like money?? I've read other threads and heard third party chit chat saying that Gametap moderators have said word for word, "There is no reason to run x64, that's why we don't support it."

Now I know that there have got to be quite a few X64 users who don't really need it. But for those of us that do make excessive use of the benefits of how a 64 bit architecture accesses and uses memory, are we essentially being told that Gametap could give a hoot about us and our wishes to enjoy this great service?


I noted on the first or second page a moderator defended Gametap's ridiculous 'third party vendor' by saying that they worked hard to get the emulated console games working. The amusing part about this is... Most if not all the windows based games that will NOT work through gametap's service work just fine when installed on their own on vista 64.

In any case as it's been said a few times... it has been TWO YEARS since vista's release, and we are pushing on FOUR years since Microsoft released a 64 bit OS. What is the hold up?

> {quote:title=Beefalicious wrote:}{quote}
> First and foremost in response to Gametap telling people to use their product keys to install 32 bit Vista JUST TO RUN THEIR SERVICE is absolutely ridiculous.

Nobody employed by GameTap has said any such thing.

> #3 Gametap has little to no interest in supporting x64

I believed I answered that in my FAQ in the first post. They do have an interest.

>
> So my question is, does Gametap just not like money?? I've read other threads and heard third party chit chat saying that Gametap moderators have said word for word, "There is no reason to run x64, that's why we don't support it."

Nobody has said that "word for word".

>
> Now I know that there have got to be quite a few X64 users who don't really need it. But for those of us that do make excessive use of the benefits of how a 64 bit architecture accesses and uses memory, are we essentially being told that Gametap could give a hoot about us and our wishes to enjoy this great service?

See first post in this thread.

> I noted on the first or second page a moderator defended Gametap's ridiculous 'third party vendor' by saying that they worked hard to get the emulated console games working. The amusing part about this is... Most if not all the windows based games that will NOT work through gametap's service work just fine when installed on their own on vista 64.

The emulated titles (A.K.A. the ones that are working right now) have nothing to do with the third party vendor. They are coded in-house by GameTap. Every single component of the GameTap software that is actually programmed and handled by GameTap is 64-bit compatible.

Also you will note that there are few, if any, of us who actually defend the vendor. All we do is present the facts as we have them, and workarounds that we know will get x64 users able to play. I also know for a fact certain GameTap staffers who in private conversation don't like that Windows games still aren't supported, and I'm certain that if it were as simple as waving a magic wand to fix, then GameTap would have already done so.

Until then, I can only ask for more patience. (And, as always, civility).

Thanks for the quick response, and quick note I said that I had been told through other people that gametap had said what I repeated word for word, was just looking for clarification.



Now I realize this won't work for everyone, nor will it work well for any games using 3d technology, but for those of us running Vista 64...


Has anyone tried running a Windows XP 32 bit Virtual machine and running gametap on that?

Gametap requires 3d hardware which Virtual Machines don't support. You might get away with running under the latest version of Parallels or VMWare for the Mac which both support Direct3D 9, but you defiantly can't do it with VMWare under Windows even if you enable the experimental Direct3D Support.

Beef I tried awhile back with a few- kept getting unsupported graphics card errors from gametap. The newer versions of VMWARE have some type of video accelerator emulation; but it didn't work for me.

Wolf key should work just fine. I'd keep both copies just to be safe. You shouldn't have any problems getting up and running but you WILL have to locate and go to your laptop manufacturer's product page for drivers. The only reason I would worry at all would be if your laptop has a RAID just because you'll need the drivers for that during installation since for some reason beyond me the install disk doesn't have it.

There are a few 64bit only games, quite a few that are natively coded for 64 bits now. I can't recall the names off hand but a few had been listed in the other forum. It will be some time before that's the norm- but I'm sure we'll see more and more developers focusing on the 64bit multi-core executable and 'then' making the 32bit single core versions from that rather than vice versa. Companies still want to reach the farther audience, but they also want to make the high marks in gaming magazines. They do eventually stop supporting older graphics devices, like Bioshock and Pixel Shader a lot of people had to upgrade their video cards for. At the time my video card was only 3 years old and it wouldn't run the game. At some point companies won't bother with the effort of creating a 32bit version of their games, in fact, if I was a game publisher I'd insist all of my demo's be only 64bit.

Please read about multi-cores . Running dual core with a 32bit OS is supported and does work (I do it). Scheduling processes isn't a "bitness" issue.

Yep, no connection. And there aren't any games that require 64-bit-at least I'd be shocked if there was a commercial product. There are a handful that have the executable also compiled as a 64-bit version, but...

I just hope this DRM company gets their product updated soon :(

> {quote:title=dislexic wrote:}{quote}
> Beef I tried awhile back with a few- kept getting unsupported graphics card errors from gametap. The newer versions of VMWARE have some type of video accelerator emulation; but it didn't work for me.
>
>

The current version of vmware workstation (6.5) for Windows supports directX 9.0c...the reason it doesn't work is the Gametap client seems to maintain a whitelist of certain video cards I assume they've certified....because the vmware video driver is not on the list the client throws an error and refuses to start. Don't know if they've looked at this but one workaround might be to enable the vmware driver and allow 64-bit users to run Gametap in a 32-bit VM. I can't imagine that this would work perfectly, especially with higher end games so I wouldn't expect any support from Gametap but it would probably open up a lot more of the library than is currently available to 64-bit customers & tide a lot of people in this thread over until 64-bit is officially supported.

BTW I have been following this thread for a long time and it seems clear to me what's going on here - the vendor of the encryption client wants money to develop and support a 64-bit version & Gametap and the other services that use it don't want to pay. Happens all the time and it's usually a standoff until the customer (Gametap in this case) decides they can't wait anymore & agrees to pay something - with the pending sale looks like that won't happen until new ownership takes over so I'd ask GT to serve their loyal customers in this thread by looking at tactical alternatives.

hope there will be a 64 bit support soon, cuz 64 bit is the future.
gametap is an intressting platform but without the future tech support u guys never cant get that much customers as you could have.

try to stay up to date.

greetz

> {quote:title=Beefalicious wrote:}{quote}
> Has anyone tried running a Windows XP 32 bit Virtual machine and running gametap on that?
Even if the GameTap client worked on the very low end video cards that virtual machines emulate, the list of games you could run would be so small for the same reason that I doubt it'd be worth the trouble.

> {quote:title=Stevedroid wrote:}{quote}
> > {quote:title=Beefalicious wrote:}{quote}
> > Even if the GameTap client worked on the very low end video cards that virtual machines emulate, the list of games you could run would be so small for the same reason that I doubt it'd be worth the trouble.

I don't know, pretty much all all of the 2D Windows games would work fine and a lot of the 3D ones as well - some of the high end ones like Supreme Commander and Kane & Lynch probably not but the VMware video driver supports DX9 pretty well....as an experiment I loaded up Steam and Half Life 2 Lost Coast in an XP VM...looked great and totally playable at 1024x768 medium detail.

BTW haven't seen it mentioned here but Saturn and Dreamcast games are now working in Gametap on 64-bit Vista; at least as of a few months ago they weren't. Hope that's a sign of more to come.

That's good news about those games.

Regarding VMWare...how much is it? I thought it was pretty pricey. I know Virtual PC wouldn't do much good for this :-/

There, GameTap! I ordered a computer with a 32-bit OS even though that cost me a hardware hit! I hope you're happy!

...

...

h6. I love you so much GameTap please don't ever leave me I'm so sorry

Can't it at least let us download the games regardless of our system specs, and let us worry about it working or not?

No because under the current system it is impossible to get the windows and 8-bit game working on a 64-bit OS due to the reasons stated many times in the previous thread and this one.

I wish I had read this before I subscribed. I had played a few games via the free service prior to ugprading to a 64-bit OS, and recently felt a hankering to play some of those games when through Steam I saw the PoP series made its way there. Long story short, and familiar to all, the PoP games (and many others) don't work.

This is honestly the first software I have run into that does not work with a 64-bit OS. Other's may not be 64 bit but they still work with the 32 bit emulation that Vista uses. The fix for this is so retardedly simple, that I'm shocked it hasn't been done yet. MS already did the work emulating 32-bit, the company with the emulation software for Gametap needs to utilize it.

I won't be renewing my subscription next month. I do still have 32-bit Windows XP that I can dual boot to, but I haven't used it since installing Vista x64. I guess that I'm glad I have the possibility to, but the chances of me booting into XP just to play some games on gametap is pretty damn slim. There are more programs in Vista that I HAVE to run for a more secure work environment than can be justified to use XP primarily again.

Such a shame.

Presumably the driver this uses isn't 64-bit compatible, and can't run under WoW.

Wolf: Quite a bit of software/drivers don't work under 32bit emulation or without some tweaking. So companies went, put a few people on it, and got it working. As the OP mentioned, for most people gametap is the only software they come across that doesn't work on 64bit Vista. Currently it's the only software I have any interest in that doesn't.

People love citing random software here that also doesn't work on Vista64 like it's some excuse. Personally I think the only excuse a company has after several years is if they're no longer in business. If people who write code for free, including drivers, are able to get around to 64bit versions, on their own time- what possible excuse is there. Wolf, you 'know' unlike some posters here, that it's incredibly difficult to get a decent PC/laptop with a 32bit OS now. You've said as much. So it's clear that the majority of new home PC purchasers are going to be getting a 64bit OS. So it's also clear that the majority of new computer purchasers aren't going to be able to run gametap, which implies no customer growth and only customer loss. Most people aren't going to go out of their way to replace their OS.

I'm agreeing more and more with other forum posters that there should be no 32-bit version of Windows7 for commercial use. I've had to do computer upgrades to run software quite a few times. Usually the video card. Expecting people to upgrade their OS, especially when it results in their computer running better overall, isn't asking too much.

> {quote:title=Wolfpup3 wrote:}{quote}
>
>
> Regarding VMWare...how much is it? I thought it was pretty pricey. I know Virtual PC wouldn't do much good for this :-/

You need VMware workstation to create an image, that costs @$150. But if you already have an image you can run it in VMware Player which is a free download.

Workstation also usually has a trial. I know I've used the trial version to create the images and then kept on using them in the player after it expired.