Who is using windows 8, and are you happy with it?

[Tonyla1]

Hi all,

 

I'm about to buy a new computer for FSX (& FTX of course) and see that most are now preloaded with W8.

 

I've googled and searched the various forums and find so many conflicting posts about whether or not W8 will be great, or cause problems. There are so many conflicting points of view I'm getting pretty confused.

 

Any advice on this would be much appreciated.

 

Cheers

 

Tony

[ShawnG]

I have Win 8.  For the most part, it's a non event once you get used to it,  TBH I've got a start menu app, and I rarely leave the desktop, so for me it's just like Windows 7.  my FSX stuff all runs fine except for one glaring exception,  the Flight 1 Pilatus PC-12 for some reason will lock up FSX solid whenever it's selected.  other than that, no issues, and I'm pretty happy with it.

[Scaber]

Have Win 8 on both my laptop and desktop (FSX) computers. Works well once I added a Start button and arranged it to boot straight to the desktop (both of which are supposed to be available again in the Win 8.1 update). I have only had a problem with one FSX addon (REX) and that was remedied by uninstalling and installing it to a folder in the root directory of my drive rather than in the 'My Programs' folder.

 

It seems pretty good to me, I 've had occasional crashes at start up of FSX but no more than I used to have with Win7 so not too worried.

 

I have heard, though not sure how reliable it is, that one of the PMDG aircraft didn't work properly but as I don't have any that doesn't worry me and I wonder too if that can be fixed by installing to a different location like I did with REX.

[Tonyla1]

Thanks guys. Sounds promising. If anyone else has an opinion please feel free to share.

 

Cheers

[rlkjmt73]

I have Win 8 and like it.  Like the above posts, I have the ole' WIN 7 Start menu also, however I rarely use it as I have all the regular pgms I use on the toolbar.  As for FSX working, it works just fine.  The problem I did have was my CH Products Yoke and Pedals wouldn't stay working on my WIN 8 as they did on Win 7, VISTA, and XP.  Once I programmed all flight controls w/FSUIPC, no problems.  Very happy with it.

 

Rod

[IanHenry]

There's a very interesting article about Windows 8 and flight simulation in the latest edition of PC Pilot, might be worth a read, although I do notice that all the manufacturer's of "Flight Sim" P.C's here in the U.K are still supplying equipped with Windows 7.

 

Ian.

[Friedi Gulder]

Now testing Windows 8.1 Pro Preview.

 

Coooool!

 

Cheers. Friedi.

 

Edit: FSX has compatibility problem and didn't start, P3D is runnung. I think it's a problem with the new Nvidia 325.71 beta driver. Continue testing

[Akila]

I have Win 8, it's OK, nothing special.

I only use the Windows 8 because it has built-in Hyper-V which I use a lot.

if it wasn't for Hyper-V I would revert back to Windows 7.

[happytraveller]

I am going to join the NO group for W8.  Luckily, the flight sim is on a separate computer (Windows 7)  and I am already so frustrated with W8 for general use, that no way will I change the other computer to W8.   Windows 8 might be ok if you have a touch screen and like lots of apps, but even after trying W8 for a few weeks, it is just too frustrating for me.  Might even go to Linux instead.

 

So for me, Windows 7 is the way to go, or to remain.

 

smooth landings.

[JimmiG]

At a technical level, Windows 8 is basically Windows 7 SP2. The major (and controversial) changes are with the user interface.

 

The problem IMO is that the user interface Microsoft is trying to push, is primarily designed for <10" tablets, and doesn't translate well to 27" desktop monitors. Everything just gets too huge, and the full-screen only apps are a big waste of screen real estate for those used to keeping several windows (hence the name of the operating system) open at once.

 

So yeah, it will work just fine for all your needs, but you'll either have to get used to the start screen or use one of the free or paid applications to get it to look closer to Win7.

[Tony Wroblewski]

I had to to downgrade to Windows 7, as I had lots of problems with Windows 8. The lack of a start button and boot-to-desktop was easy to resolve by installing the free app called "ClassicShell", however these issues below made me eventually downgrade:

 

- Joystick/Yoke would disconnect about 20 minutes into any flight. Tried googling the issue, turning off power-settings, etc. nothing seemed to work, and this is a fairly common issue effecting FSX.

- Majestic Q400 wouldn't work anymore, sound would cut off after 10 minutes, and it would crash frequently.

- FSX was very unstable for me under Windows 8, so in the end I downgraded(upgraded) to Windows 7.

[Nick Cooper]

I am quite happy with Windows 8 which does, in fact, have two start buttons.

One mouse click takes me to the desktop after booting up, I can live with that.

Thereafter, if one doesn't like the full screen apps, one can simply ignore them.

 

I am successfully using Windows 8 with FSX and the Majestic Dash 8 and numerous

other complex addon aircraft.

 

I do suffer from the occasional random loss of my joystick but FSX is otherwise

slightly more stable than it was under Windows 7.

The joystick problem is the only one blamed on Windows 8 that actually is

caused by the OS,though even then, there are Windows 7 users who suffer

from the same problem.

 

The trouble with asking the question is that, as you have found elsewhere,

in this thread there is a roughly equal number of supporters and detractors.

 

In the end, make your own decision, either go for Windows 7 which requires FSX to

be adapted to suit it, or Windows 8, which requires FSX to be adapted to suit it.

When FSX came out, neither OS existed.

 

Regards,

Nick