Anyone still running Windows 7?

I reached out to Matt Matt—and yeah, he actually has a last name...—to see if he could guarantee the key wouldn't end up on some blacklist. He said he could vouch for that, but he wouldn't promise it wouldn't have an expiration date. Honestly, that sounds just like a release preview to me. It all feels a bit too sketchy, and I really don't feel like dealing with unnecessary headaches where things should just work smoothly—so I'm going to pass on buying it.

Walter Bennett32 said:I reached out to this Matt Matt guy—who actually gave me his full name, by the way—to see if he could guarantee the key won't end up blacklisted. He said he could, but then added he couldn't promise there wouldn't be an expiration date on it. Honestly, that sounds just like a release preview to me. It all feels a bit too sketchy, and I really don't want to go looking for trouble where there shouldn't be any, so I think I'll pass on buying it.

You could have at least asked him if anyone else had run into issues with it—and if they did, whether he offers any kind of refund.

All this chatter regarding Windows 8 has been moved over to the Windows 8 thread. 🙂

Can someone please help me out here... whenever I try to launch Diablo II on Windows 7, I just get stuck staring at a black screen with this tiny little arrow sitting in the corner (and no, it's not my mouse cursor). Everything just freezes up and I can't do anything except hit Alt+F4 to kill the game. Any idea how to fix this?

Jeffrey Adams11 said:Can anyone help me out here? Every time I try to launch Diablo II on Windows 7, I just get this black screen with a tiny little arrow sitting in the corner—not even my actual mouse cursor—and then everything freezes up. I can't really do anything except hit Alt+F4 to force the game to close... any idea how to fix this?

Have you checked your graphics card drivers yet?

Hey guys, it's me again after a bit, back with another even stupider question lol 😁 So, here's the deal, I'm running Windows 7 ultimate x64 right now and everything seems fine, but I went ahead and installed all the Assassin's Creed games and they're all stuttering like crazy... just constant lag. I have no clue why. I actually checked my specs on this site where you can test your rig—my CPU is an Intel quad 2 Core Q8400, my GPU is an Asus Nvidia GTX260, and I've got Kingston 2 x2 DDR2 400MHz RAM—and the site gave me a 100% rating, basically saying I could run every single game on ultra settings without breaking a sweat...
But man, maybe that's not the issue, and if I'm tripping, please set me straight, because could this be some kind of Windows problem? Like, should I be using a different version, maybe Pro or Home Premium? Dammit, I don't know what to do, I already downloaded the whole series and I'm just waiting on the last one which also passed the spec test with 100%... It's insane that even the first game from 2008 is lagging out on me. All of them are just pirated versions I grabbed from the torrent sites via torrent. If anyone happens to have a fix or some tips, thanks everyone...

swiftdriver30 said:Hey everyone—back again after a bit with what might be an even stupider question, lol. 😁 So, here’s the deal: I’m running Windows 7 Ultimate x64 right now and everything seems fine, but I just installed all the Assassin's Creed games and they’re all stuttering—just constant lag. I have no idea why. I actually checked my specs on a site to see if my rig could handle them—I've got an Intel quad 2 Core Q8400, an Asus Nvidia GTX260, and some Kingston 2 x2 DDR2 400 RAM—and the site gave me a 100% rating, basically saying I should be able to crank everything up to Ultra settings without a hitch.
Man, maybe that’s not the issue? If I'm wrong, please set me straight—could this be a Windows thing? Should I be using a different version, like Pro or Home Premium? Honestly, I'm stumped. I just downloaded the whole series and I'm waiting on the last one, which I also tested and got a 100% score on. It's so weird that even the first game from 2008 is lagging. Just to be clear, these are all pirated versions I grabbed from Pirate Bay via torrent. If anyone has a solution or some tips, I'd really appreciate it.

Maybe try reinstalling your graphics card drivers? You could also try dropping the resolution just to see if the stuttering stops—and of course, try running a different game to see if it's just these titles.

Larry Ortiz5 said:Maybe try reinstalling your graphics card drivers, or just drop the resolution down a bit to see if the stuttering stops, and obviously try running some other games too...

I already got the latest drivers installed, plus I've got automatic updates turned on in my Nvidia settings, and other games run totally fine, like WoW, CSS, even this new Medal of Honor...

swiftdriver30 said:I've got the latest drivers installed—plus I actually turned on automatic updates in my Nvidia settings—and other games are running perfectly fine, like WoW, CSS, and this new Medal of Honor.

Have you tried dropping the resolution down at all?

Just because a driver is the newest one on the market doesn't mean it's actually the best one for your setup. That goes for any of them.

Larry Ortiz5 said:Have you tried dropping the resolution?

Look, I'm running a BenQ G2225HD 1920*1080 and everything looks absolutely killer at that setting, but the second I try to lower the resolution to get more frames, the whole picture just turns into a blurry mess...

Taylor Morales31 said:The latest driver isn't always the best one, period. It's just how it goes...

Yeah, I mean, okay, sure, but I've always heard that newer is better...

swiftdriver30 said:I've got this BenQ G2225HD 1920 monitor, and at its resolution, the graphics look great, but whenever I try lowering it, everything just looks terrible...

Modern monitors are designed with a specific native resolution in mind. They really need to run at that exact setting, otherwise, the image quality takes a massive hit. It’s not a defect or a hardware failure; it’s just how the tech works.

So, if your main goal is gaming and you want to squeeze out as many frames per second as possible without needing a high-end rig, you might actually be better off with a lower-resolution monitor.

The 1920x1080 setup is standard Full HD, which is really meant for beefier graphics cards or for 3D applications—basically, stuff for professional work.

swiftdriver30 said:Look, I mean, I've always heard that newer is just better...

Well, you heard wrong. Honestly, if your intuition is that reliable, why on earth are you even asking for help here??? When I install a newer driver for my sound card, my headphone jack stops working entirely, but when I roll back to the older version, everything works perfectly. Why would I force a newer driver if it doesn't actually do its job correctly????

Just dial back the settings—turn something down if it won't run... it's obviously a more demanding game. 🙂

driftingbadger17 said:Modern monitors have a native resolution, right? They basically have to run at that specific resolution or else the image just looks like total garbage. It’s not some kind of glitch or a defect, it’s just how things work nowadays...

So, look, if you're just trying to play games and want to keep those FPS numbers high without needing a beastly graphics card, you should probably just go with a lower resolution monitor...

1920x1080 is Full HD territory, which is really meant for when you actually have a powerful GPU or if you're doing 3D applications, you know, for actual work...

Alright then... thanks...

Taylor Morales31 said:You totally misheard me, and honestly, if your hearing is that bad, why are you even asking for help on here anyway??? Every time I try to install a newer driver for my sound card, the headphone jack just stops working entirely, but if I roll back to the old one, everything works fine, so why on earth would I force myself to use a newer version when it clearly doesn't work right????

Just turn down the settings, lower something if it won't run... obviously this game is more demanding than what you're used to.... 🙂

man, seriously, I’ve already turned everything all the way down and it’s still doing the exact same thing. yeah, the graphics look great, but when I go to those sites where you compare your PC specs against the game's requirements, it tells me I'm at 100% capacity and can run everything on ultra settings without breaking a sweat. I just don't get it...

Even on sites like that, they tell me there's zero chance I could run GTA IV with integrated HD3200 graphics, yet somehow, I’m still playing it... They clearly have no clue what I just told you...

Try shutting down every single unnecessary process before you start gaming... 🙂

Taylor Morales31 said:Even on sites like that, they keep telling me there’s absolutely zero chance I can run GTA IV on integrated HD3200 graphics, but somehow... I still manage to pull it off and play it anyway... They really think they know everything, don't they? Like I was just saying to you the other day...

Look, you really ought to try and shut down everything that doesn't actually need to be running when you sit down to game... 🙂

What exactly am I supposed to turn off? xD Everything is already dialed down on my end. xD But seriously, I can't believe a game from 2008 is actually lagging on my rig... give me a break...

Maybe you’re expecting way too much from Full HD; you really need to push that hardware to its absolute limit if you want results...

Grab a game booster program—it'll kill off everything running in the background right when you need it. Or, say, defrag the game folder, hunt down a second copy, set up a dual boot specifically just for gaming, or run a stripped-down OS that only has the essential drivers like the chipset and graphics card installed. Just shut down every single unnecessary service on that OS since it's only there for games anyway....

There are tons of ways to handle this... figure it out. Sometimes you just play with whatever you've got and however you can, rather than how you wish you could. It is what it is. If you want things to just work without the headache, go buy a console instead. It's the same level of freedom, really.... 🙂

Taylor Morales31 said:Maybe you're just asking way too much from Full HD, I mean, you need some serious hardware to actually push that kind of resolution smoothly...

Just grab some Game Booster software to kill off all those useless background processes while you're playing, or maybe try defragging the game folder, hunt down a different copy, or even set up a dual boot specifically for gaming where the OS is stripped down to nothing but drivers and the chipset/GPU stuff, basically just shut down every single non-essential service on that partition since it's strictly for games anyway....

There are tons of ways to handle this.... figure it out.... sometimes you just gotta play with what you've got and make it work instead of demanding everything be perfect on your terms... if it's really that bad, just buy a console and everything will run perfectly right out of the box..... it's an option too.... 🙂

aha okay, thanks, you've got a point. 🙂