Could you list Vista compatability on TotalGaming's game pages?

from Stardock Forums

Okay, I'm a bit upset about purchasing Etrom: The Astral Essence and discovering the game crashes in Vista. Great motivation to post, bad time to write a post, but I think I'm capable of not just ranting.

The reason I feel it might be worth posting was the reading I've done on copy-right protection on this site gives the impression that Stardock might actually be considering treating the customer with respect, so I'll see if they are serious about that.  I would like to suggest that games on Totalgaming.net list if they have a chance of running in Windows Vista. 

I'm sure I'm not the only person who doesn't like having to worry about this issue when purchasing from a service like Stardock and it seems like a reasonalbe request.  In an in-store purchase, the limitations of puchasing a pyshical disk is understandable, especially with a purchase of older software. In a digital purchase online, it would be nice if there was some effort to inform the costumer about certain possible problems of purchasing the software. Sure, the minimum system requirements say "Windows XP/2000", but it doesn't mean that the product is incompatable with Vista. I've played quite a few Windows XP games that run in Vista.

It would be even nicer if there was a link or an indication of how hard it might be to get the game to run. Although just a "Compatible/In-compatible" would probably drive me to see if there's ways to jimmy the game into working if I really want to try it.

One quick note. Yes, I could've looked around the offical game forums about this. Yes, the EULA makes it my problem and no, there's no obligation on Stardock, or any other software company in a single software purchase, to ensure I get working software. I know this. It's not fair and the only thing I can do about it is do research for every software purchase I make, which, every which way you cut it, is frustrating. Also it is potentially depressing to me if I have to think like that all the time.

109 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

If a game's requirements don't specifically list Vista, then it it not officially supported by the developer/publisher.  That means you take the risk of whether it will work or not on an unsupported OS. Our upcoming Impulse platform has more safeguards in place for OS incompatibility.

If you email [email protected], they should be able to provide you with a refund for Etrom.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

I'm afraid I am in the same boat with Star Assault. It does show XP/Vista, however I cannot get it to work, even using Run as Administrator and various compatibility settings. It gives a pointer error several times, which can be skipped past if using the Run as Admin, but then crashes when I try and create a profile so I'm unable to play the game.

WindowBlinds - Free yourself of the default settings, customize your desktop.