[jr2]

http://www.fallingleafsystems.com/  Halo 2 for XP 

EDIT: The Alky project allows 2 things: DX 10 on XP, and also Vista-only games on XP... at least, that's the picture I got.  Someone correct me if I'm wrong.  If you think it's impossible, then go tell the folks at the Alky project that. 

Overview
The Alky Project started with the ambitious and somewhat vague goal of running Windows games on alternative platforms. As the project progressed, the goal was refined and focused to implement libraries which would allow DirectX 10 based games to run atop Windows XP and eventually other platforms as well.

In May of 2007, project VAIO, who had implemented a set of libraries of their own to allow certain Windows Vista-only applications to run atop XP, merged with the Alky Project and became a part of Falling Leaf Systems.

These circumstances have led to the creation of two distinct incarnations of the Alky product line.



Alky for Applications
Alky for Applications targets Vista-only application software such as the Windows Sidebar, Windows Vista Screensavers, and Windows Mail. The final release of 1.0 is now available!

Alky for Applications Version 1.0 - Download (Supported Applications)



Alky for Games
Alky for Games is set to launch in the fourth quarter of 2007 or the first quarter of 2008. When launched, it will support all games based upon DirectX 10. You may download a rough, pre-alpha preview copy below. It comes with no support and may or may not work with the current releases of the DirectX 10 SDK from Microsoft. Please download the ZIP file and carefully follow the instructions in the README file inside.

Alky for Games - Download

[karajorma]

Considering that Halo 2 doesn't use DirectX 10 someone's got the wrong end of the stick here.


A backport of DX10 could be really nice for future DX10 only games but you most certainly don't need this to run Halo 2.

[gevatter Lars]

From what I heard Halo2 is even worse then the first one....and that was allready quite bad on the PC...at least in my opinion.

[Kosh]

Halo 2 wasn't bad, I thought it was great 

[Mefustae]

Halo 2 wasn't bad, I thought it was great 

It's not a bad game in and unto itself, but it's been borked so heavily in porting that i'd rather play Superman 64.

[MetalDestroyer]

Halo 1/2 are good games. It just depends on your preferences. However, Direct X 10 can't be ported to XP for the reason Microsoft have to redo all the OS core and not just bring Direct X 10 librairies, plus nVidia/AMD/ATI have to build Dx 10 driver that support Win XP and perhaps the AlkyProject.

So if you want Dx 10 on your rig, just buy Vista and a Dx 10 GPU. If you hate Microsoft so just don't buy Vista and stay with XP and you have to play only Dx 9 video games. Put in mind that you don't spend every year an OS.

[spartan_0214]

Halo 2 wasn't bad, I thought it was great 

It's not a bad game in and unto itself, but it's been borked so heavily in porting that i'd rather play Superman 64.

Actually, IMHO, Bungie's error in porting Halo 2 was that the developer didn't change enough. They said that Halo 2 would (I think) be a DX10 game, support 1080i resolution, be retextured, etc, etc. Add in that they dumbed down the editor, and you've got yourself a waste of 50 bucks if you already have played the Xbox version... 

[CP5670]

Halo 1/2 are good games. It just depends on your preferences. However, Direct X 10 can't be ported to XP for the reason Microsoft have to redo all the OS core and not just bring Direct X 10 librairies, plus nVidia/AMD/ATI have to build Dx 10 driver that support Win XP and perhaps the AlkyProject.

So if you want Dx 10 on your rig, just buy Vista and a Dx 10 GPU. If you hate Microsoft so just don't buy Vista and stay with XP and you have to play only Dx 9 video games. Put in mind that you don't spend every year an OS.

DX10 by itself isn't worth much right now anyway, as the games currently supporting it either look almost the same as in DX9 or are artificially limited to show certain effects only in their DX10 mode (and can often be tweaked to get the same stuff in DX9). One common "feature" many games use is larger textures in DX10 modes, which obviously has nothing to do with the DX version.

[spartan_0214]

Added to that is that DX10 runs a lot slower than DX9 on mid-range rigs (and even on the higher-end ones), so you pretty much have to have dual 880GTXs in SLI configuration, with 4Gbs of RAM and at least a 2.7GHz dual-core processor to run DX10 smoothly   

[BloodEagle]

Added to that is that DX10 runs a lot slower than DX9 on mid-range rigs (and even on the higher-end ones), so you pretty much have to have dual 880GTXs in SLI configuration, with 4Gbs of RAM and at least a 2.7GHz dual-core processor to run DX10 smoothly   

Note: 4GB of RAM would only help on the 64bit version of XP Pro.

[spartan_0214]

Or if you're running Crysis on a DX10 chip.

[MetalDestroyer]

Added to that is that DX10 runs a lot slower than DX9 on mid-range rigs (and even on the higher-end ones), so you pretty much have to have dual 880GTXs in SLI configuration, with 4Gbs of RAM and at least a 2.7GHz dual-core processor to run DX10 smoothly   

Huhu -_- Company of Heroes (Dx 10 mode) runs pretty well except when you try to view the horizon. And It doesn't need a SLI/Crossfire setup. World in Conflict runs well, ok you don't have a stable framerate but it's only a RTS so, having 15 or 20 fps it's enought to play and beat the game. Crysis is the only game which use all the GPU resources. Lost Planet is okay for me. The framerate is pretty good.

So I don't see a point to critisize Dx 10 games.

[BloodEagle]

Added to that is that DX10 runs a lot slower than DX9 on mid-range rigs (and even on the higher-end ones), so you pretty much have to have dual 880GTXs in SLI configuration, with 4Gbs of RAM and at least a 2.7GHz dual-core processor to run DX10 smoothly   

Note: 4GB of RAM would only help on the 64bit version of XP Pro.

Or if you're running Crysis on a DX10 chip.

32bit operating systems can only allocate 2 gigabytes of RAM to any given process.

[jr2]

@You all: See my edit on post one. 

[karajorma]

However, Direct X 10 can't be ported to XP for the reason Microsoft have to redo all the OS core and not just bring Direct X 10 librairies, plus nVidia/AMD/ATI have to build Dx 10 driver that support Win XP and perhaps the AlkyProject.

If MS have to redo their entire OS core in order to port an API they've ****ed up making the API in the first place.

[MetalDestroyer]

In fact, with Vista, MS try to allocate all the graphic stuff directly in the GPU instead by going into the CPU then to the GPU. Plus, the OS try and do use all your system memory for best performance (I mean, all your recent program are in the memory so, the more you execute the same programs,  and more they'll be loading faster).

I think, we should wait a little more and see other Dx 10 games or other GPU in the next few month and see if performance will be better.

[gevatter Lars]

I heard that the first Vista patch will increase performance quite a lot, beside fixing various errors and bugs. On the other hand I heard that even MS isn't giving to much care about Vista themself. Working on something people call XP2.

[Unknown Target]

It's actually "Windows 7" they're working on, and it's going to be their new OS, due out in 2 years. IIRC Microsoft is going for an episodic type release of it's OSs now, forcing users to upgrade every time a new one comes out, instead of letting them use XP for the next ten years.

[MI123645]

It's actually "Windows 7" they're working on, and it's going to be their new OS, due out in 2 years. IIRC Microsoft is going for an episodic type release of it's OSs now, forcing users to upgrade every time a new one comes out, instead of letting them use XP for the next ten years.

Considering the fiasco we have seen with Valve and their episodic content, I don't think this is going to go smoothly.

[jr2]

What is meant by "episodic"?    This can't be good.  What is it?