Win8.1



  • Windows just asked me in a friendly yet demanding tone if I'd pretty please update to 8.1 (using a modal dialogstrip without a way to cancel), but from a Totalbiscuit video a few weeks ago I learned that some people with some hardware in some games might have their mouse movement completely screwed up for odd reasons.

    I am a player of games, so you understand this information is rather relevant to my interests.

    So any 8.1 users here that can confirm their gamezz are still perfectly fine or horribly borken?



  • I've been running 8.1 since it came out and haven't had any compatibility issues yet. Right now I play PlanetSide 2, Minecraft, and DOTA 2 so that's not exactly a large sample of tested games.



  • Actually, my mouse stuff with 8.1 in World of Warcraft (yea, some people call it a game, still) has gotten really flakey.

    I haven't played anything else yet since 8.1 came out. I should go and see.

    Anything that I might already own that you'd like tested?



  • Nvm games, the POS goes wild even when using some desktop apps here at work!



  • @zelmak said:

    Anything that I might already own that you'd like tested?
     

    Well, I personally played Warframe, AssCreed, Minecraft and Dishonored recently. But I've got Half-Life 2 (+eps) and Remember Me, and maybe I'd like to try Human Revolution again someday.

    This all on an AMD 7850, by the way.



  • @garrywong said:

    Nvm games, the POS goes wild even when using some desktop apps here at work!
     

    Maybe that's just a hair in your optical mouse or something. Happens to me occasionally as well.



  • A piece of advice, when you update don't sit there waiting for it to finish, it takes forever(at least on my reasonably new laptop).

    I updated one night before I went to sleep and the progress bar was going slow but about half way done so I figured I would wait, but after that I came to another in-progress screen, then another, and then I think one last one.

    Altogether I'd say it took at least twice as long as it takes to install a fresh copy of Windows.



  • @billhead said:

    A piece of advice, when you update don't sit there waiting for it to finish, it takes forever(at least on my reasonably new laptop).

    I updated one night before I went to sleep and the progress bar was going slow but about half way done so I figured I would wait, but after that I came to another in-progress screen, then another, and then I think one last one.

    Altogether I'd say it took at least twice as long as it takes to install a fresh copy of Windows.

    I've tried installing it a few times now, each time has only taken about fifteen minutes, but when it restarts, it BSODs (which looks to be intel's fault - iaStora.sys or such), then reverts back to 8.

    On the plus side, it hasn't lost my settings or forced me to make an MS account, but on the minus side, it hasn't really done anything at all.



  • @Buttembly Coder said:

    @billhead said:

    A piece of advice, when you update don't sit there waiting for it to finish, it takes forever(at least on my reasonably new laptop).

    I updated one night before I went to sleep and the progress bar was going slow but about half way done so I figured I would wait, but after that I came to another in-progress screen, then another, and then I think one last one.

    Altogether I'd say it took at least twice as long as it takes to install a fresh copy of Windows.

    I've tried installing it a few times now, each time has only taken about fifteen minutes, but when it restarts, it BSODs (which looks to be intel's fault - iaStora.sys or such), then reverts back to 8.

    On the plus side, it hasn't lost my settings or forced me to make an MS account, but on the minus side, it hasn't really done anything at all.

    When I installed it, my computer rebooted at least five or six times, with about ten minutes between each reboot. It eventually finished, and then when I logged in, it said "updating your profile" for about ten more minutes.



  • It's on my laptop which I do not use for playing games, so sorry I can not help. I like 8.1 though.



  • @dhromed said:

    So any 8.1 users here that can confirm their gamezz are still perfectly fine or horribly borken?

    As far as I can tell, only the mouse acceleration has changed. If you don't use it, you should be fine. If you do, I guess you can back up HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse\SmoothMouse[XY]Curve now and restore it after the upgrade if you don't like the new behavior. (Disclaimer: I didn't try it. YMMV.)


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @zelmak said:

    Actually, my mouse stuff with 8.1 in World of Warcraft (yea, some people call it a game, still) has gotten really flakey.

    I haven't played anything else yet since 8.1 came out. I should go and see.

    Anything that I might already own that you'd like tested?

    That happened to me, too, but I thought it might be the mouse.

    This morning I had to re-install Windows because I lost sound. Troubleshooting showed the Windows Audio service was not just stopped, but gone! I found a registry file that claimed to put it back, but it didn't work right with 8.1: the service came back, but you can't start it--it claims a dependency is borked. So if that happens to you, skip that step.

    I haven't reinstalled 8.1 or WoW yet so I'll try that later and see what happens. Gonna be disappointing if that isn't fixed soon.

    I had one instance so far of the mouse spazzing in Minecraft, pointing me straight into the sky, but I was only in the game long enough to verify my sound is back.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @Ben L. said:

    When I installed it, my computer rebooted at least five or six times, with about ten minutes between each reboot. It eventually finished, and then when I logged in, it said "updating your profile" for about ten more minutes.

    Oh, that's just punishment for using Go.



  • @dhromed said:

    and maybe I'd like to try Human Revolution again someday.

    I wouldn't be worried. 8.1 manages to run the first Deus Ex flawlessly.

    On a side-note, can you get into HR story without finishing the first two games? I'd like to check it out, and it seems like it'll take me a long, long while before I finish Deus Ex, let alone Invisible War. Boy, this game is tough. Great, but tough.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    I like 8.1 though.
    Is a bumped minor version number what Microsoft does now instead of mentioning the words "service pack", or is 8.1 actually more different from 8.0 than, say, XP with SP1 was from XP as first released?



  • @Maciejasjmj said:

    can you get into HR story without finishing the first two games?
     

    It's independent. I barely know what the original DX is. It's kind of like a prequel, I think?, but the vast gap in game production technology hides that very well. It plays very much like Dishonored, come to think of it. If you're running and gunning, you're doing it wrong.  Dishonored is better, though.



  • I had that happen to me in World of Warcraft - randomly, when clicking, the camera jumps. I googled like a mad bat and found somesort of hotfix that was supposedly doing something to help that... I think it fixed it? Or at least it doesn't seem to happen as frequently - as in, I can't figure out when my camera jerks about if it's that or some crumbs under my mouse.

    .... I'm still a little queasy when doing the rope chest on timeless isle when I'm on a character that is not a panda and can die from falling from heights...



  • Microsoft released a patch for mouse issues.


    Word of advice: after Windows 8.1 is installed (and you're presented with EULA), unplug your network cord, or you'll be forced to create or sign in to a Live account.



  • Or you could just enter completely invalid info when asked to sign in; this, if I remember correctly, allows you to skip it.

    But when I installed windows 8.1 i did it from optical media on a clean HD without an ethernet cable plugged in so..



  • @ender said:

    or you'll be forced to create or sign in to a Live
     

    What, no tiny skip link in the corner, like with the installation of 8.0? 



  • @dhromed said:

    What, no tiny skip link in the corner, like with the installation of 8.0?
    Nope (unless they made it invisible).



  • How is that even remotely acceptable? They got shit for bundling a web browser with their OS, but FORCING people to have accounts on their online service (which includes giving them your personal info) is OK? Yes, you can skip it but you need to know in advance how. I'm OK with companies bundling other products with their products, as long as they don't force you to use them.



  • At least there's an option. With Office 2013 you must tie it with a Live account, otherwise it won't activate.



  • @dhromed said:

    Windows just asked me in a friendly yet demanding tone if I'd pretty please update to 8.1 (using a modal dialogstrip without a way to cancel), but from a Totalbiscuit video a few weeks ago I learned that some people with some hardware in some games might have their mouse movement completely screwed up for odd reasons.

    I am a player of games, so you understand this information is rather relevant to my interests.

    So any 8.1 users here that can confirm their gamezz are still perfectly fine or horribly borken?

     

    This is the update from the latest patch day: snip

     However, I have not encountered any issues even on games listed as troublesome by Microsoft, so I'd hardly call this a problem

     


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @fire2k said:

    However, I have not encountered any issues even on games listed as troublesome by Microsoft, so I'd hardly call this a problem

     

    Ah, the classic "works on my computer." Let me tell you, if you're running around in WoW or something and you click in the wrong place and suddenly you're running 123 gradians from the direction you were before, you're not going to think it's not a problem.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @ender said:

    Microsoft released a patch for mouse issues.


    Word of advice: after Windows 8.1 is installed (and you're presented with EULA), unplug your network cord, or you'll be forced to create or sign in to a Live account.

    I saw that too. Here's how you get around it: Click "Create a new Microsoft account" and then hit Cancel on the next screen.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @dhromed said:

    @ender said:

    or you'll be forced to create or sign in to a Live
     

    What, no tiny skip link in the corner, like with the installation of 8.0? 

    Nope, you've got to sort of trick it.



  • @GuyThatMadeTheThread said:

    So any 8.1 users here that can confirm their gamezz are still perfectly fine or horribly borken?  

     

    @FrostCat said:

    @fire2k said:
    However, I have not encountered any issues even on games listed as troublesome by Microsoft, so I'd hardly call this a problem

     

     

    Ah, the classic "works on my computer." Let me tell you, if you're running around in WoW or something and you click in the wrong place and suddenly you're running 123 gradians from the direction you were before, you're not going to think it's not a problem.

     

     

    So let me get this straight: The OP asks for opinions on whether or not this works on individual computers. I state that it works for me. You critizise that my statement isn't universally appliable. 

    Reading comprehension?

     


     



  • @dhromed said:

    @ender said:

    or you'll be forced to create or sign in to a Live
     

    What, no tiny skip link in the corner, like with the installation of 8.0? 

     

    If you are on MSDN or MSDNAA/Dreamspark or any other Microsoft-subscriptions you can just get an ISO with the Update, no Online-Connection or accounts required.

     



  • @FrostCat said:

    Ah, the classic "works on my computer."
     

    That's pretty much was I was asking for, yeah, so, well, hm, okay.

    I'd like to know a bit about your hardware, though, like whether you're using a special supermouse with a custom driver or something. Mine is a bog-standard logitech optical that you plugin in and use.



  • @fire2k said:

    If you are on MSDN or MSDNAA/Dreamspark or any other Microsoft-subscriptions you can just get an ISO with the Update, no Online-Connection or accounts required.
    Doesn't matter, the MSDN ISO will still try to create a Live account by default.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @dhromed said:

    @FrostCat said:

    Ah, the classic "works on my computer."
     

    That's pretty much was I was asking for, yeah, so, well, hm, okay.

    I'd like to know a bit about your hardware, though, like whether you're using a special supermouse with a custom driver or something. Mine is a bog-standard logitech optical that you plugin in and use.

    Same, a Logitech M100.

    I have since re-updated to 8.1 and it doesn't seem to be doing it any longer. I applied the MS patch mentioned upthread, so maybe that fixed it.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @ender said:

    @fire2k said:
    If you are on MSDN or MSDNAA/Dreamspark or any other Microsoft-subscriptions you can just get an ISO with the Update, no Online-Connection or accounts required.
    Doesn't matter, the MSDN ISO will still try to create a Live account by default.

    Well, you can try the trick I mentioned above, where you try to create a new account and cancel.


  • :belt_onion:

    @ender said:

    Word of advice: after Windows 8.1 is installed (and you're presented with EULA), unplug your network cord, or you'll be forced to create or sign in to a Live account.
     

    That's... weird. I don't recall seeing that at all, or tricking the install in the ways mentioned in this thread. But who knows what I did, honestly.

    Personally, I'm using a bog-standard Microsoft mouse and occasionally have issues in Minecraft where the view will spin crazily and then point at the ceiling or some such. Kind of upsetting when I'm near lava. I don't know if it has to do with Windows 8.1 since I installed Minecraft post-8.1. None of the other Minecraft players on this thread have encountered the same issue?



  • @heterodox said:

    That's... weird. I don't recall seeing that at all, or tricking the install in the ways mentioned in this thread. But who knows what I did, honestly.
    Are you part of a domain? In that case, it doesn't try to get you to join live.



  • @heterodox said:

    the view will spin crazily and then point at the ceiling or some such.
     

    I get exactly the same thing occasionally with my optical mouse, and always have. However, I wasn't always able to notice an obvious hair on the lens or something. Maybe it's dust, maybe it's an inherent flaw of the mouse or of optical.

    It's annoying when guards are hacking my flesh while I admire the ceiling.

    The oddest thing is that it never spazzes downward, only up.


  • :belt_onion:

    @dhromed said:

    I get exactly the same thing occasionally with my optical mouse, and always have.

    Ah, that may explain it then; I'm using an optical mouse as well. Guess I may have to get a new one.

    @dhromed said:

    It's annoying when guards are hacking my flesh while I admire the ceiling.

    The other players on my server do find it funny though when I apparently spontaneously reenact the Exorcist


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @dhromed said:

    @heterodox said:

    the view will spin crazily and then point at the ceiling or some such.
     

    I get exactly the same thing occasionally with my optical mouse, and always have. However, I wasn't always able to notice an obvious hair on the lens or something. Maybe it's dust, maybe it's an inherent flaw of the mouse or of optical.

    It's annoying when guards are hacking my flesh while I admire the ceiling.

    The oddest thing is that it never spazzes downward, only up.

    I remember that was a regular problem for people back in the day but I thought it had long been fixed until Win 8.1 (or whatever else seems to have contemporaneously caused it.)

    I read years ago, possibly on Raymond Chen's blog, but maybe not and I'm not going to bother to search, that the older instance was caused by something in the hardware or driver stack dropping a byte somewhere, so by the time Windows tried to interpret the tuple of data, it had a bogus value in it.


  • :belt_onion:

    @FrostCat said:

    I remember that was a regular problem for people back in the day but I thought it had long been fixed until Win 8.1 (or whatever else seems to have contemporaneously caused it.)

    I read years ago, possibly on Raymond Chen's blog, but maybe not and I'm not going to bother to search, that the older instance was caused by something in the hardware or driver stack dropping a byte somewhere, so by the time Windows tried to interpret the tuple of data, it had a bogus value in it.

     

     Yeah, that was for PS/2 mice. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/09/17/230839.aspx


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @heterodox said:

    @FrostCat said:

    I remember that was a regular problem for people back in the day but I thought it had long been fixed until Win 8.1 (or whatever else seems to have contemporaneously caused it.)

    I read years ago, possibly on Raymond Chen's blog, but maybe not and I'm not going to bother to search, that the older instance was caused by something in the hardware or driver stack dropping a byte somewhere, so by the time Windows tried to interpret the tuple of data, it had a bogus value in it.

     

     Yeah, that was for PS/2 mice. http://blogs.msdn.com/b/oldnewthing/archive/2004/09/17/230839.aspx

    Re-reading that article suggests it might be worth replacing the MS driver with a Logitech or whatever one, although that probably fits into the realm of voodoo.


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