CMx1 games on a Windows 7 Netbook?

[Magnum50]

Just wondering if anyone knows if the 3 CM classics will run on a netbook? I know widescreen support is absent, but still, maybe a blocked screen. Since it's W7 and not Vista, would I have to get the Vista patches still?

Thx, Netbook on order, just wondering.

[Schrullenhaft]

I guess it depends on what resolutions your Netbook supports. The minimum resolution is 800x600 for CMBB and CMAK. I would assume that most of the netbooks will have a vertical resolution of at least 600 pixels. If not, then CMBB and CMAK will NOT work.

Some of the Atom processors will probably have the speed of a 2.4-2.8GHz P4.

The Vista patches are necessary for either Windows Vista or Windows 7 if you are experiencing a certain video problem. This problem usually manifests itself when you move the view in the 3D battlefield and you get a cascading repeat of the window edges that completely covers the 3D screen. There might be other issues too, but that is the one that I've seen. This issue occurred with DirectX 10 compliant hardware and drivers. Generally newer drivers from Nvidia (and I believe ATI may have had the problem too, I can't recall exactly) eventually fixed this problem. To a certain extent, getting the 1.04/Vista patch may be helpful in the possible case of the video drivers getting broken again. The problem may resurface with the 1.03 patches, but the 1.04 patches may not suffer the problems the 1.03 patches will.

I'm not sure all of the available video options that Netbooks may commonly use. Two popular ones are the Intel integrated video using the 945 chipset (GMA 950) and the Nvidia Ion which is equivalent to the GeForce 9400 integrated video seen on some desktops (slower than a GeForce 9400GT). The Nvidia Ion is the better performer of the two, but with its support of DirectX 10, it may run into issues requiring the use of the 1.04 patch. The Intel 945 on the other hand is only DirectX 9.0 compliant and most likely won't require the 1.04 patch.

I believe that the Intels will probably lack fog, but most of the other effects will still be there. The Nvidia Ions may also lack fog under Windows Vista and 7, but I haven't confirmed this. The Intels dominate most offerings. A vast majority of Netbooks will be running the 945/GMA 950. There are a few more Nvidia Ions now. Occasionally you'll see some S3/VIA, but they're not common and maybe even some ATI/AMD's, but they're even rarer.

So, to sum up, the CMx1 series will work with most Netbooks. The performance will not be great, but it will probably be decent for most people. There is the possibility of needing the 1.04 patch, but it probably isn't necessary most of the time. I believe fog effect will not be present in any of the Netbooks and the Nvidia Ions will probably be the fastest displays.