Games in Games Folder

I did check and apparently I have a non-American version of the game. There
is no ESRB info on it whatsoever. However, I did not think that there was any
sort of ESRB "encoding" on games and that it was up to Vista to search a
database to gather the information much as WMP does for CD cover/track info.
Regardless, I went ahead and tried installing another newer game, this time
one with the ESRB information on the front. I chose Heroes of Might and Magic
V. It did the same thing as ROL. It installed into the directory I selected
and made the Start Menu entry I specified but did nothing to copy an icon
into the Games folder. As an added bonus, this game doesn't seem to want to
run under Vista. I keep getting an error stating that the application "failed
to start because d3dx9_25.dll was not found.". I am guessing this is some
sort of DX10 compatibility issue.


"Zack Whittaker" wrote:

> Hmm it should - report this as a bug )
> But just check around the box the disc came with - does it have an ESRB
> rating or any information relating to it?
>
> --
> Zack Whittaker
> » ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
> » MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
> » Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
> » This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and not
> of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
> that up!
>
> --: Original message follows :--
> "LordBevo" <LordBevo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:EBE4181F-E6DD-463E-9EE4-79685D8675B0@microsoft.com...

> > Is there no way to have Vista automatically create a link for games you
> > install inside of the Games folder to go along with Minesweeper et.al? I
> > was
> > under the impression that when I install a new game onto my machine, I
> > would
> > get an entry in the Games folder along with the ESRB information and
> > options
> > for parental controls. I see that on the games that come with Vista but
> > installing the latest MS game (Rise of Legends) shows it to behave just
> > like
> > it did in XP. In otherwords, it appears as just another application.
> > Dragging
> > a shortcut into the folder sets its default operation to "Play" but that
> > is
> > about it.
> >
> > Is this enhanced functionality going to exist for anything other than the
> > stock games? And if so, are these new features limited to Vista-friendly
> > games like Crysis and Halo2, or is there a way to get this functionality
> > to
> > work on older titles.
> >
> > As a note, I have had no problems running Rise of Legends on my machine
> > under Vista Beta 2.

>
>
>

The game installer must report itself to Vista, Vista does not do a search
for exisiting game installations, nor monitor installations of legacy games,
nor look up ESRB ratings from a database, it will only use those ratings
supplied by the game itself.

Expect Vista compatible game installers for games produced after Vista
ships.

Games will require an XML GameDefinitionFile.
See this for how it works:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...ntegration.asp

"LordBevo" <LordBevo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:42873321-7C55-4E8E-AE07-A587FB63883F@microsoft.com...

>I did check and apparently I have a non-American version of the game. There
> is no ESRB info on it whatsoever. However, I did not think that there was
> any
> sort of ESRB "encoding" on games and that it was up to Vista to search a
> database to gather the information much as WMP does for CD cover/track
> info.
> Regardless, I went ahead and tried installing another newer game, this
> time
> one with the ESRB information on the front. I chose Heroes of Might and
> Magic
> V. It did the same thing as ROL. It installed into the directory I
> selected
> and made the Start Menu entry I specified but did nothing to copy an icon
> into the Games folder. As an added bonus, this game doesn't seem to want
> to
> run under Vista. I keep getting an error stating that the application
> "failed
> to start because d3dx9_25.dll was not found.". I am guessing this is some
> sort of DX10 compatibility issue.
>
>
> "Zack Whittaker" wrote:
>

>> Hmm it should - report this as a bug )
>> But just check around the box the disc came with - does it have an ESRB
>> rating or any information relating to it?
>>
>> --
>> Zack Whittaker
>> » ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
>> » MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
>> » Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
>> » This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
>> rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and
>> not
>> of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
>> that up!
>>
>> --: Original message follows :--
>> "LordBevo" <LordBevo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:EBE4181F-E6DD-463E-9EE4-79685D8675B0@microsoft.com...

>> > Is there no way to have Vista automatically create a link for games you
>> > install inside of the Games folder to go along with Minesweeper et.al?
>> > I
>> > was
>> > under the impression that when I install a new game onto my machine, I
>> > would
>> > get an entry in the Games folder along with the ESRB information and
>> > options
>> > for parental controls. I see that on the games that come with Vista but
>> > installing the latest MS game (Rise of Legends) shows it to behave just
>> > like
>> > it did in XP. In otherwords, it appears as just another application.
>> > Dragging
>> > a shortcut into the folder sets its default operation to "Play" but
>> > that
>> > is
>> > about it.
>> >
>> > Is this enhanced functionality going to exist for anything other than
>> > the
>> > stock games? And if so, are these new features limited to
>> > Vista-friendly
>> > games like Crysis and Halo2, or is there a way to get this
>> > functionality
>> > to
>> > work on older titles.
>> >
>> > As a note, I have had no problems running Rise of Legends on my machine
>> > under Vista Beta 2.

>>
>>
>>

Actually, this article indicates that there will be some support for legacy
titles, including metadata information like ESRB data:

http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com...me_Support.asp

"In the case that your game does not install a GDF and integrate with the
Game Explorer, The Game Explorer legacy game system will use Windows Metadata
Services and and automatically download game developer information, box-art,
and ratings, which will be used in the Game Explorer in lieu of
developer-provided data. The information used by the legacy game system is
supplied by http://www.allmediaguide.com/

Windows Vista supports many released games through the legacy game service.
Each of these games is represented by a game ID that is provided in Windows
Vista..."

My understanding from various other sources is that Vista can detect an
install of a supported legacy game and will provide the necessary features
for the games that the development team is able to support. They are
encouraging people to bug games that do not install themselves into
GameExplorer. Adding this support is said to be rather difficult as they have
to create a signature of the game install and the create a GDF for the game.

"Edward Wohlman" wrote:

> The game installer must report itself to Vista, Vista does not do a search
> for exisiting game installations, nor monitor installations of legacy games,
> nor look up ESRB ratings from a database, it will only use those ratings
> supplied by the game itself.
>
> Expect Vista compatible game installers for games produced after Vista
> ships.
>
> Games will require an XML GameDefinitionFile.
> See this for how it works:
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...ntegration.asp
>
> "LordBevo" <LordBevo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:42873321-7C55-4E8E-AE07-A587FB63883F@microsoft.com...

> >I did check and apparently I have a non-American version of the game. There
> > is no ESRB info on it whatsoever. However, I did not think that there was
> > any
> > sort of ESRB "encoding" on games and that it was up to Vista to search a
> > database to gather the information much as WMP does for CD cover/track
> > info.
> > Regardless, I went ahead and tried installing another newer game, this
> > time
> > one with the ESRB information on the front. I chose Heroes of Might and
> > Magic
> > V. It did the same thing as ROL. It installed into the directory I
> > selected
> > and made the Start Menu entry I specified but did nothing to copy an icon
> > into the Games folder. As an added bonus, this game doesn't seem to want
> > to
> > run under Vista. I keep getting an error stating that the application
> > "failed
> > to start because d3dx9_25.dll was not found.". I am guessing this is some
> > sort of DX10 compatibility issue.
> >
> >
> > "Zack Whittaker" wrote:
> >

> >> Hmm it should - report this as a bug )
> >> But just check around the box the disc came with - does it have an ESRB
> >> rating or any information relating to it?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Zack Whittaker
> >> » ZackNET Enterprises: www.zacknet.co.uk
> >> » MSBlog on ResDev: www.msblog.org
> >> » Vista Knowledge Base: www.vistabase.co.uk
> >> » This mailing is provided "as is" with no warranties, and confers no
> >> rights. All opinions expressed are those of myself unless stated so, and
> >> not
> >> of my employer, best friend, Ghandi, my mother or my cat. Glad we cleared
> >> that up!
> >>
> >> --: Original message follows :--
> >> "LordBevo" <LordBevo@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >> news:EBE4181F-E6DD-463E-9EE4-79685D8675B0@microsoft.com...
> >> > Is there no way to have Vista automatically create a link for games you
> >> > install inside of the Games folder to go along with Minesweeper et.al?
> >> > I
> >> > was
> >> > under the impression that when I install a new game onto my machine, I
> >> > would
> >> > get an entry in the Games folder along with the ESRB information and
> >> > options
> >> > for parental controls. I see that on the games that come with Vista but
> >> > installing the latest MS game (Rise of Legends) shows it to behave just
> >> > like
> >> > it did in XP. In otherwords, it appears as just another application.
> >> > Dragging
> >> > a shortcut into the folder sets its default operation to "Play" but
> >> > that
> >> > is
> >> > about it.
> >> >
> >> > Is this enhanced functionality going to exist for anything other than
> >> > the
> >> > stock games? And if so, are these new features limited to
> >> > Vista-friendly
> >> > games like Crysis and Halo2, or is there a way to get this
> >> > functionality
> >> > to
> >> > work on older titles.
> >> >
> >> > As a note, I have had no problems running Rise of Legends on my machine
> >> > under Vista Beta 2.
> >>
> >>
> >>

>
>
>

On an earlier version of Vista (I think maybe 3 or 4 releases ago) I tried
running World of Warcraft. While the game did not get past the login screen
before crashing, Vista had automatically added a link with all the relevant
game information and box art etc to the Games folder.

I had not installed the game under Vista, I was just running the executable
from my Win XP partition. I certauinly have to say I'm dismayed that this
functionality has at least been disrupted in the subsequent builds.

The Game Explorer picked up my installations of Baldur's Gate and Starcraft,
and they're pretty much as "legacy" as you can get.

Hell to get to run without glitches though, on current NVIDIA WDDM drivers.

" Edward Wohlman" <eddwo@hotpop.com> wrote in message
news:eFIEWuchGHA.4848@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> The game installer must report itself to Vista, Vista does not do a search
> for exisiting game installations, nor monitor installations of legacy
> games, nor look up ESRB ratings from a database, it will only use those
> ratings supplied by the game itself.
>
> Expect Vista compatible game installers for games produced after Vista
> ships.
>
> Games will require an XML GameDefinitionFile.
> See this for how it works:
> http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en...ntegration.asp