Ghost Recon and Windows 10

Can we still play GRAW and GRAW 2 in the new Windows 10?

Hi I'm papa6 and I'm testing the current released technical preview of windows 10 TP 9726. One of the first things was to test out how windows will work for computer games. Will our favorites work or will we have to finally bid farewell to our legacy games and move forward?

I'm glad to say that BOTH versions of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter will work without any hitch whatsoever, as far as my testing has been able to reveal. Both games were also patched to the proper and latest versions. One issue I noticed but seemed to lessen was, backing out of the game to go right back in to the game. There still was a noticeable wait. However, in prior windows for me, the time from desktop back into the game was 5 to 10 seconds and in the windows 10 TP, it was generally cut in half.

DirectX12. This is the latest iteration of directX for games and these direct versions seem to coincide with each new version of windows. From my testing, the DX12 stack seems to improve gaming even with graphic cards that aren't DX12 compliant. DX 12 will essentially add new coding for new game technologies and eye candy. I won't get into any OS specifics such as the interface or where things are; I was strictly concerned with gaming as to basically get a feel for how will gaming improve or decline with this version of windows.

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter

Modders will find their GRAW2 custom level work at the same location as pervious windows versions ie:

C:\Users\your_username\AppData\Local\GRAW2\data\levels\custom_levels.

GRAW maps you are working can be found at

C:\Users\your user  name\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Ubisoft\Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter\custom_levels\work\

Notice it is under virtual store.

During gameplay frame rates seemed vastly improved on my test system;

Using a high performance, gaming laptop gave me a clear view as to what to expect in the up coming Windows 10.

As I watched yesterdays Windows 10 webcast it was stated that gamers can even play their xboxone games on their PC using their accounts through cross platform integration.The speakers even showed how one can make videos.

I didn't see any noticeable lag in the game with the graphics. There was no jerky or stoppages of graphics by hangups. Could this be due to a fresh windows 10 install? I experienced graphics lag even with earlier windows and a fresh installs.

Windows 10 is probably the start of Microsofts end of supporting legacy hardware. Windows 10 will be free for windows 7, 8/8.1 users for the first year of release. After the year, it will cost, the price was not revealed at this time and there will be a subscription on a month to month basis after that year. Unless something changes..

Ghost Recon (2001)

Ghost Recon complete pack and both desert siege and island thunder installed on Windows 10 without any hitch. I did get to boot into the game and it ran smooth as butter. I attribute this to the DX12 stack. Even though we might all not own DX 12 graphic cards, DX 11 cards should still enjoy DX 12's optimizations by my testing those listed Ghost Recon games.

Conclusion

Ghost Recon(2001), GRAW and GRAW2 will work with DX12 stack enhanced frame-rates.

Legacy video cards, might not work, but I don't have any systems with a legacy card to verify this.

The Geforce GTX 960, just came to market and Nvidia experience app updated my driver to the 247.25 driver to bring Nvidias DX12 up to speed.

As you recall, when GRAW/GRAW2 released, we generally experienced graphics lag, DX12's code stack seems to improve dramatically and the game runs butter smooth.

Game on, and enjoy furthering your Ghost Recon enjoyments! I see windows 10 being a gamers true friend and a great platform for gaming. Microsoft has stated they will make Windows 10 a free download for users of Windows 7 through 8.1 for the first year. I suggest you secure an iso copy (x64 bit) and a serial install key and burn it to DVD or create a USB installer using a free program like “rufus”.

Cheers and game on my fellow Ghost Recon ,GRAW and GRAW2 friends.

Papa6

For a more general viewpoint on Windows10 and gaming see this Polygon article.