Windows Vista Vista - XP LAN Shared Folder Problem

I have finally managed to setup a lan consisting of 3 XP Pcs (PIIIs, 733MHz, 128MB RAM)and one Vista PC ( AMD Athlon 3800 Core 2 Duo, 1 GB RAM).
I have installed games on the Vista PC particularly Need for Speed Hot Pursuit, Fifa 2006, Fifa 2007 and WWE Raw.
However, when I open those shared folders containing these games - which I have already put in the public folder using the XP machines, I only get to see only shortcut icons which when I double click on, either nothing happens (game does not open) or I get an error message that the application files are not in that particular folder.

I do not have a problem running these games on the Vista Machine.

What could I be doing wrong in this set up?

 

Hi and welcome to the BBS,
You need to follow the game's set up instructions for "multi player ". It will probably be installing the game on each machine you want to run it. You then begin a Multi Player session and the Vista machine will be the host.

Does this seem to be your aim? You won't be able to run the game without it being installed on the computer. If you want to have the same game saves available to each computer, you may be able to do it using offline folders.

Matt

 

Mattman
Thank you very much, i am going to try your solution tonight and report back tommorrow.
However, could you please in the meantime clarify the following:
When I have installed the games in the client machines (XPs), do I open them from the clients or from the shared folders in the public folder hosted on the Vista machine?
Please note that the XP machines are only PIIIs, 733MHz, 128MB RAM and are not powerful enough to smoothly run eg Need for Speed without a RAM upgrade.
I intend utilising the core duo facilities and huge RAM of the Vista machine to host and run these games.

Before even attempting multiplayer setups and execution, I intend to be able to play single player need for speed on any of the XP machines.

Regards
Sindiso

 

I looked up the system requirements for Hot Pursuit. HP1's requirements would be well covered by the PIII computers, for Hot Pursuit 2 128MB of RAM is probably minimum. There may be special requirements for playing in Multi Player mode, but I would expect that it may be hosting computer that would need the extra requirements.

You should not need to use any shared folders. When you have set up a multi-player system, a particular LAN port is opened and the games running on the host and guest computers communicate through that LAN port.

You cannot get the Vista machine to do all the work. When you load a game, it is loaded into the RAM on the computer you are using. You seem to want to make the PIII's "handsets" for the Vista computer, it doesn't work that way.

You may find running the PIII's in multi-player mode may reduce the load for them and they will run acceptably. Try turning down the visual effects on the PIII machines (look in the options in the game). See if you can find more RAM for them (they may use PC133 type RAM).

Also consider the graphics RAM/memory...requirements I see for HP2 are 16MB of graphics RAM. If they have a graphics card slot, you may get second hand 32MB graphics cards quite cheaply, and a PCI graphics card may work.

As I said, you cannot make the Vista computer do the work for the PIII computers (as far as I know). Setting up the multi-player system might relieve some of the burden on them though.

Matt

 

Matt
Thanks, I will try your solution and come back to you if necessary.
Tell me.
Why then are the game icons in the public folder when opened from the client PIIIs, appearing without the graphic they have in the same folder when opened from the Vista PC - I mean they appear like eg a word file icon if displayed in a pC without the MS Office suite. ie like icons in a computer which does not have their application software installed?

On the same note, I have installed EA Games FIFA 2006, 2007 and these games do just like the NFS Hot Pursuit.
In the same public folder hosted on the Vista PC, I have some game called RoadRash - its a motorbike racer simulation and it runs very well on all the 4 PCs and its icon appears the same on all 4.
Matt, I understand and appreciate that I should also upgrade my RAM on the PIIIs. I shall be doing that soon as I intend upgrading my video games room.

I shall update on my success after implementing your recommendations.

 

Sindiso, not really my area, although I like to see how things work . Guess...from what I might surmise, the icon situation might be in the Window's shell.

For simplicity...you might be able to "call up ", or run, a basic program from another computer. When the program's setup system gets more complicated, that's when you might find problems.

Most games ask that the CD (and now DVD) are inserted in the CD/DVD drive before they will run (maybe not RoadRash, it may be fully loaded onto the Vista system and seems to be able to be called up from the PIII systems).

Newer games will have protection so that they cannot be pirated.

Explaining...probably not be my area as well .

Matt