Attention Windows 7 users...

blargskull

I just found out service for Windows 7 ends for Neverwinter on February 15, 2022. Here I am barely out of Windows 10 and they want to end group 7 access.

I don't have a problem with them stating, no support, however... if I am reading this correctly, the game will just not function for the OS after that date. My big question is; Where are all the FREE players going after they can't get back into the game? The main reason most people play Neverwinter is to save money right? Old games free games with older discount OS.

In my opinion, we don't have enough issues, we need more, let's alienate an entire minority group of Windows users. If you are running less than Windows 10 or just have an opinion to share, everyone would love to smell it. Just insert your opinion below! Remember what Harry Callahan said about opinions.

arazith07

They've given plenty of notice about this...

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1262810/update-pc-upcoming-os-and-directx-support-changes/p1

Plus as of last month, anyone who doesn't have the new minimums have been getting a notice whenever they bring up the game launcher.

mentinmindmaker

Win 7 will not receive any security patches any more unless you pay for it. I guess most private users do not pay for extended security upgrades

So it makes sense for me that Cryptic will no longer support Win 7 - it needs to go in the interest of everyone on the Internet.

plasticbat

Windows 8 is still supported. It does not have to be Windows 10. For OP, your pal, Mr. Black already provided a "Linux solution". This topic is 3 months late and the dead horse was beaten long time ago. Many of those who cannot handle this change already left the game.

https://www.arcgames.com/en/forums/neverwinter#/discussion/1263803/module-22-linux-os

hotfrostworm

Yes, I said something to him at coffee yesterday. Not that it affects him in the least. I was simply telling him my opinion about remaining "backwards compatible". If some person wanted to run this on Windows 98, for the sake of argument, they actually pulled it off, why deny them access? What worries me about this, they could easily block Wine access and eliminate Lutris, Steam's Proton, Play on Linux, and all the other forks of Wine. This game can identify Wine users. although it is reporting itself as a Windows 10 compatible OS.

If it was my online game and not theirs, I would give a warning message to any user installing the program, tell them;
Warning: This game is meant to function solely with Windows OS 10 or higher. No other OS will be supported by our company and Microsoft support is limited or non-existent at this time. The same would go for hardware checks. Right now if I try to boot the game as a lesser version of Windows or subpar version of DirectX, the client is programmed to shutdown.

blargskull

mentinmindmaker said:

Win 7 will not receive any security patches any more unless you pay for it. I guess most private users do not pay for extended security upgrades

So it makes sense for me that Cryptic will no longer support Win 7 - it needs to go in the interest of everyone on the Internet.

No it won't affect me at all, since I am a Windows user. One could argue the older OS is more secure than ever without Microsoft updates. The hackers are busy learning Windows 11 and still abusing 10, with their focus on these new systems, it leaves very few - if anyone - exploiting Windows 7 or 8. Meanwhile software will continue to run within the environment. Recently a programmer, in Germany, I know has established a working Windows 98 retro system, with web browsing ability. I asked him why? He did it to see 1. how much still functions 2. how much more he could get working 3. how much benefit there was in using Windows 98 today. It is kind of like the plot of the comedy "Down Periscope", in which they prove an old diesel submarine is still effective as a modern nuclear submarine. I don't think anyone plans to go software retro just because they can.

I tend to believe the people still hanging onto Windows 7 and 8 must feel comfortable and are not ready to move to the new sofa yet.

yamioni

hotfrostworm said:

Yes, I said something to him at coffee yesterday. Not that it affects him in the least. I was simply telling him my opinion about remaining "backwards compatible". If some person wanted to run this on Windows 98, for the sake of argument, they actually pulled it off, why deny them access? What worries me about this, they could easily block Wine access and eliminate Lutris, Steam's Proton, Play on Linux, and all the other forks of Wine. This game can identify Wine users. although it is reporting itself as a Windows 10 compatible OS.

If it was my online game and not theirs, I would give a warning message to any user installing the program, tell them;
Warning: This game is meant to function solely with Windows OS 10 or higher. No other OS will be supported by our company and Microsoft support is limited or non-existent at this time. The same would go for hardware checks. Right now if I try to boot the game as a lesser version of Windows or subpar version of DirectX, the client is programmed to shutdown.

The reason they can't support Windows 7 anymore is because they want to start using APIs in the newer versions and feature sets of DirectX, which themselves aren't officially supported on Windows 7. It sucks for anyone that had intended to continue using Windows 7, perhaps with some of the unofficial security patches, but it's perfectly reasonable for a software company to want to use the latest and greatest so they can deliver the best product possible.

And this comes from someone who is still dragging their feet about moving off of 7. This directly affects me, and I'm reluctant to move on until absolutely necessary.

blargskull

yamioni#9870 said:

hotfrostworm said:

Yes, I said something to him at coffee yesterday. Not that it affects him in the least. I was simply telling him my opinion about remaining "backwards compatible". If some person wanted to run this on Windows 98, for the sake of argument, they actually pulled it off, why deny them access? What worries me about this, they could easily block Wine access and eliminate Lutris, Steam's Proton, Play on Linux, and all the other forks of Wine. This game can identify Wine users. although it is reporting itself as a Windows 10 compatible OS.

If it was my online game and not theirs, I would give a warning message to any user installing the program, tell them;
Warning: This game is meant to function solely with Windows OS 10 or higher. No other OS will be supported by our company and Microsoft support is limited or non-existent at this time. The same would go for hardware checks. Right now if I try to boot the game as a lesser version of Windows or subpar version of DirectX, the client is programmed to shutdown.

The reason they can't support Windows 7 anymore is because they want to start using APIs in the newer versions and feature sets of DirectX, which themselves aren't officially supported on Windows 7. It sucks for anyone that had intended to continue using Windows 7, perhaps with some of the unofficial security patches, but it's perfectly reasonable for a software company to want to use the latest and greatest so they can deliver the best product possible.

And this comes from someone who is still dragging their feet about moving off of 7. This directly affects me, and I'm reluctant to move on until absolutely necessary.

This is just gate keeping for Microsoft. To begin with this game isn't that graphically challenged of a game. The old APIs will still be there, this company has a bad habit of using old code. The core engine is still from the old Champions game of 2009 and it currently runs 32 bit OS last time I checked. Upgrade the engines, I might believe you. I play on Champions Online and honestly don't see all that big of an improvement with the core system. I am sure you won't hear many complaints about Windows 7 being dropped, but it isn't about getting better. Before when they dropped Windows XP or switched versions on DirectX the game showed little or no improvements, maybe some models got new textures? New GPUs can handle other games blowing the FPS off the chart. Back during module 21 they dropped Nvidia or Nvidia dropped them, either way they no long show the Nvidia seal of approval as they did over a year ago.

Are you telling me this is all done to make my GeForce GTX 1650 work better and give me 4K HD in Neverwinter?

rockster

blargskull said:

yamioni#9870 said:

hotfrostworm said:

Yes, I said something to him at coffee yesterday. Not that it affects him in the least. I was simply telling him my opinion about remaining "backwards compatible". If some person wanted to run this on Windows 98, for the sake of argument, they actually pulled it off, why deny them access? What worries me about this, they could easily block Wine access and eliminate Lutris, Steam's Proton, Play on Linux, and all the other forks of Wine. This game can identify Wine users. although it is reporting itself as a Windows 10 compatible OS.

If it was my online game and not theirs, I would give a warning message to any user installing the program, tell them;
Warning: This game is meant to function solely with Windows OS 10 or higher. No other OS will be supported by our company and Microsoft support is limited or non-existent at this time. The same would go for hardware checks. Right now if I try to boot the game as a lesser version of Windows or subpar version of DirectX, the client is programmed to shutdown.

The reason they can't support Windows 7 anymore is because they want to start using APIs in the newer versions and feature sets of DirectX, which themselves aren't officially supported on Windows 7. It sucks for anyone that had intended to continue using Windows 7, perhaps with some of the unofficial security patches, but it's perfectly reasonable for a software company to want to use the latest and greatest so they can deliver the best product possible.

And this comes from someone who is still dragging their feet about moving off of 7. This directly affects me, and I'm reluctant to move on until absolutely necessary.

Before when they dropped Windows XP or switched versions on DirectX the game showed little or no improvements

It was DirectX, I remember because I was running xp and xp couldn't upgrade to the higher DirectX version and you had to upgrade your OS to access the DirectX. I had to go out and buy a brand new computer just to keep playing because my old one wouldn't support win10. But that's all it was, the game no longer supported the DirectX version many people were using (was it 9?), had xp been able to upgrade to it I would have continued using xp. I still have it on my music studio computer and there's nothing wrong with it, just I don't use it to do anything online anymore.

plasticbat

--

mentinmindmaker

blargskull said:

yamioni#9870 said:

hotfrostworm said:

Yes, I said something to him at coffee yesterday. Not that it affects him in the least. I was simply telling him my opinion about remaining "backwards compatible". If some person wanted to run this on Windows 98, for the sake of argument, they actually pulled it off, why deny them access? What worries me about this, they could easily block Wine access and eliminate Lutris, Steam's Proton, Play on Linux, and all the other forks of Wine. This game can identify Wine users. although it is reporting itself as a Windows 10 compatible OS.

If it was my online game and not theirs, I would give a warning message to any user installing the program, tell them;
Warning: This game is meant to function solely with Windows OS 10 or higher. No other OS will be supported by our company and Microsoft support is limited or non-existent at this time. The same would go for hardware checks. Right now if I try to boot the game as a lesser version of Windows or subpar version of DirectX, the client is programmed to shutdown.

The reason they can't support Windows 7 anymore is because they want to start using APIs in the newer versions and feature sets of DirectX, which themselves aren't officially supported on Windows 7. It sucks for anyone that had intended to continue using Windows 7, perhaps with some of the unofficial security patches, but it's perfectly reasonable for a software company to want to use the latest and greatest so they can deliver the best product possible.

And this comes from someone who is still dragging their feet about moving off of 7. This directly affects me, and I'm reluctant to move on until absolutely necessary.

This is just gate keeping for Microsoft. To begin with this game isn't that graphically challenged of a game. The old APIs will still be there, this company has a bad habit of using old code. The core engine is still from the old Champions game of 2009 and it currently runs 32 bit OS last time I checked. Upgrade the engines, I might believe you. I play on Champions Online and honestly don't see all that big of an improvement with the core system. I am sure you won't hear many complaints about Windows 7 being dropped, but it isn't about getting better. Before when they dropped Windows XP or switched versions on DirectX the game showed little or no improvements, maybe some models got new textures? New GPUs can handle other games blowing the FPS off the chart. Back during module 21 they dropped Nvidia or Nvidia dropped them, either way they no long show the Nvidia seal of approval as they did over a year ago.

Are you telling me this is all done to make my GeForce GTX 1650 work better and give me 4K HD in Neverwinter?

It probably also is about making QA easier. If they officially support old versions of Windows they need to test on them, debug problems on them etc.

It is always the way the marketing departments do it, what *really* is an internal cost-cutting measure is always packaged as an improvement for the users

mynaam

blargskull said:

mentinmindmaker said:

Win 7 will not receive any security patches any more unless you pay for it. I guess most private users do not pay for extended security upgrades

So it makes sense for me that Cryptic will no longer support Win 7 - it needs to go in the interest of everyone on the Internet.

No it won't affect me at all, since I am a Windows user. One could argue the older OS is more secure than ever without Microsoft updates. The hackers are busy learning Windows 11 and still abusing 10, with their focus on these new systems, it leaves very few - if anyone - exploiting Windows 7 or 8. Meanwhile software will continue to run within the environment. Recently a programmer, in Germany, I know has established a working Windows 98 retro system, with web browsing ability. I asked him why? He did it to see 1. how much still functions 2. how much more he could get working 3. how much benefit there was in using Windows 98 today. It is kind of like the plot of the comedy "Down Periscope", in which they prove an old diesel submarine is still effective as a modern nuclear submarine. I don't think anyone plans to go software retro just because they can.

I tend to believe the people still hanging onto Windows 7 and 8 must feel comfortable and are not ready to move to the new sofa yet.

lol yup they exploited the must have tpm 2.0 before windows 11 was released making it more of security vulnerability than safety.

vileflesh

I'm hoping there will be a way to keep playing on Win7 machines. My main PC is Win10 only because it came installed. There are two other older PCs I play this on that have Win7 and it is a convenience thing for me to remain on 7. Also, I hate Win10 so there's that.

hotfrostworm

vileflesh#1616 said:

I'm hoping there will be a way to keep playing on Win7 machines. My main PC is Win10 only because it came installed. There are two other older PCs I play this on that have Win7 and it is a convenience thing for me to remain on 7. Also, I hate Win10 so there's that.

I don't hate Windows OS, I only dislike Microsoft because of the poor customer service relations, lack of trust, and office politics. That is another long story. My neighbor @blargskull loves stirring the pot here. He is gone until mid January visiting his relations, oddly enough I don't know where his people live, but I expect it is some place warmer than here.

Depending on your knowledge of Windows 7, it could last for a long time to come. It just will not work here on this one game after Cryptic places an OS check to avoid issues. Mr. Blargskull said, This is just gate keeping for Microsoft. Cryptic is placing the block there to prevent possible issues in the future when they alter some piece of code and it will cause their game to crash. I am sure they are doing this for preventative medicine. While I did state in my thread, I would never block it, should it crash on Window 7 in the future, users would be warned it is no longer supported. Windows 7 support from Microsoft ended about a year ago I believe.

Windows 7 can still work long after Cryptic's deadline. Anything you are using it for today should continue to function "as-is", meaning as long as your application or game doesn't update and mess up the functionality with Windows 7. Windows 8 support officially ended back in 2018, I am guessing they might have some long term support (LTS) contracts still out there? Windows 10 support will officially end in October 2025, unless you have a LTS contract, there is only 4 years before 10 is deemed obsolete. Based on history, Window 11 might be around for 5 or 6 years before they move the users into the next version. The scary thing is this current version of Windows 11, most users downloaded, is only supported until October 8th, 2023. On or before that date, they will roll out the next upgrade of Windows 11.

What is so "scary" about that you ask? Where did your Windows 10 go when you upgraded? It is gone, history, toast, bye bye. Now unless you download a fresh copy of Windows 10 and plan to reinstall it, you are stuck with version 11. Anyone can browse the web on what Microsoft has stated about Windows 11 LTSC. They plan to hit you Home and Pro users with a 24 month plan and Enterprise and Education gets the 36 month plan. What a savings!

While nothing has been stated about any fees, they could wait until this spring to spring it on you. In all reality, I am sure you will be just fine.