OnVistaUpdate(object Sender, EventArgs e)
So, have I noticed any changes? Not really, at least not yet, I can honestly say that I have yet to run into any major issues with VS 2005 pre-SP1 except one where occasionally a form wouldn't open in design mode. This of course, has been fixed. At work I use VB.NET, so I expect there'll be some fixes regarding the speed issues there (none of which I've really noticed, but it isn't exactly lightning fast), but here at home I use C# and it's been pretty solid for me. One issue that I have run into (which I had a workaround for anyway) has yet to reappear under SP1, however I haven't really used visual studio enough for it to come up again.
Now, with Vista, I wrote a rather scathing remark in my previous entry about the incompatibility with Visual Studio (which they say is still not addressed under the Service Pack without the aforementioned update). A couple of days ago I finally managed to see a list of issues regarding Vista and Visual Studio. My macro issue wasn't on the list [sad]. But it was at least nice to see what exactly is wrong. But, much to my surprise and happiness and overall joy, they've apparently fixed the macro issue!! [grin] I can now run my beloved macros again (I should point out here that I have set Visual Studio to run as administrator, this may help some). I hope that they can soon get that update out. I realize that Vista isn't due to be released to the consumer until January, but they have released Vista for businesses last month and thus they should really have gotten this stuff straightened out before then.
It's the same with drivers, I haven't heard a peep out of Nvidia regarding Vista drivers since the Forceware 96.35 drivers, I've had to go to guru3d to get more recent drivers (I'm currently sitting at 97.46, which of course, are beta). I wish they'd just say "hey, we're almost done" or something, give me something to look forward to. And they're not the only guilty party. My PodXT works, but Vista gets really confused if it's turned on and I reboot. I often end up without sound. Perhaps some new drivers will help that. My iPod, doesn't eject properly unless I eject it from iTunes AND eject it via the "Safely Remove Hardware" icon. Little annoying things mostly and it's nearing release time, I say it's time to get these things straightened out.
By the way, did anyone get an update for MSN messenger yesterday or before? I did, and it gave me a BETA for 8.1. Huh?? I thought an auto-update would only be used for final versions (provided you're not running a beta to begin with)? Oh well, it works, so I don't care, I just found it odd.
Direct 3D Debug and the Experience Index
So last night I put in new beta drivers for my graphics card. I have this overwhelming need to get my FPS up to XP level in Gorgon. It's still a far cry from what it was, but it's slowly climbing (from ~88 FPS with the 96.35 forceware to ~100 FPS with the 97.46 forceware beta in windowed mode vs. ~160 FPS in XP). Even Aero seemed a little more responsive (not that it was an issue, Aero has been pretty zippy). So I ran my Experience Index update because the thing was whining that I had changed hardware.
Before I begin I'd like to offer this caveat though: I could be mistaken and it is entirely possible that the scores were affected by something external, I haven't done thorough testing, so don't assume I'm 100% accurate on this.
Prior to running the update, the score for aero was 5.4 and the score for gaming was 4.7, not awesome, but not bad. But after running the update it went down to 5.0 for Aero and 4.5 for gaming. Naturally I was a bit confused as I was getting more FPS in Gorgon and Aero appeared a little more responsive. But laziness was against me and I gave up and went to sleep. This morning I had a thought... would the debug runtime for Direct 3D affect my score? So I changed over to the release runtime via the DirectX control panel and ran the update again, and voila, it was back to 5.4 for Aero and 4.7 for gaming. Isn't that weird and a little disturbing? But it's not altogether unexpected. This wouldn't affect many people unless they're developing DirectX apps, so I'd expect that it wouldn't be a huge issue. I just think maybe a warning should have been issued by the index update before running in debug mode (it's not hard to do, Gorgon can do it). With regards to my previous warning, if someone can correct me on this matter, by all means do so and I'll update accordingly.
