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LightWave on Windows 11

It would be great if VizRT stepped in and said they are testing Windows 11 and will support with an update if needed.
 
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...Should I expect problems with LightWave?
Nope.

I briefly fired it up. It seemed okay. However, we're only able to test LW in a preview build of Win11. There are plenty of opportunities for Microsoft to wreck something between now and the final release (and subsequent updates).

There's not much of a reason to expect significant changes in the core OS. Microsoft is not like schizophrenic Apple (Motorola, PPC, Intel, M1). Microsoft typically does well to maintain the ecosystem. My company supports an old VB6 application from 2000 and each release of Windows has me hoping that this app will die...releasing us from support hell. Unfortunately, this VB6 program still works fine in Windows 11 and we'll have to keep supporting it.
 
Since neither of my PCs will be compatible with Windows 11, it wont be a concern for me for a couple of years :)
 
Initially my system was reporting that it wasn't. Boxx tech support helped me locate the BIOS checkbox switch and that's all it took.
 
Initially my system was reporting that it wasn't. Boxx tech support helped me locate the BIOS checkbox switch and that's all it took.
As my LW PC is a Dell Precision 7810 with dual Xeon E5-2680 V3 cpus it fails on the CPU requirements. There isn't a BIOS change I can make that resolves that problem :) As this system also has 64GB of RAM and a 2080 RTX graphics card and runs everything I need in terms of software, I'm not planning to replace/upgrade it for at least a couple of years.
 
I'm sitting at an aged "office-level" Dell T7500 with older Xeon processors. I ran Win11 on it as a VM with a Win7 host. Never say never.
 
Since neither of my PCs will be compatible with Windows 11, it wont be a concern for me for a couple of years :)
I want to use LightWave in the next decades.
Window 10 support is stopped in just a few years from now.

Ignoring, denying, or waiting is not an option for me.
 
I tend to have investments to vary between desktop and laptop so I think I'll be experimenting with Windows 11 on a Surface Book 3 or 4, or maybe even a Surface Pro 8.
 
I want to use LightWave in the next decades.
Window 10 support is stopped in just a few years from now.

Ignoring, denying, or waiting is not an option for me.
I hope to continue using Lightwave for the foreseeable future but my main LW PC is only around 18 months old, so I have no intention of replacing it for two or three years. If Windows 11 won't run on it, then so be it. As long as Microsoft continue to release patches for Win10 until 2025 and the software I use continues to run happily in Win10, then I do not see a problem :)

Of course, since Microsoft are now aiming to get everyone to sign up to Windows 365 and I will never sign up to a subscription model for my base operating system 2025 could turn into quite an interesting year in terms of what I have running on my PC. Funnily enough, it is also the year I hit State Retirement Age here in the UK. As I said, going to be an interesting year :devilish:
 
As they haven't finalized all the APIs/SDKs that won't survive the transition, it's a bit difficult to be certain yet which software packages will survive (or not). Microsoft tends to be pretty cautious about breaking backward compatibility, but that said, clearly they're willing to drop a lot of hw in this transition, so might also be willing to break a lot of software. Time will tell, a bit too early to say anything for certain. At least the main APIs LW relies upon (Win32, OpenGL) don't seem at risk, which is a good sign.
 
It seems like the biggest stumbling block is based on Windows 11's new security features. A good portion of those are based on using a TPM (trusted platform module) and apparently only TPM 2.0.

So for a large portion of systems, they either;
  1. Don't have a TPM and don't have a header on the motherboard to support one.
  2. Have one, but it is TPM 1.2 and their motherboard manufacturer will not be releasing a BIOS update to support 2.0.
  3. Have TPM 1.2 and they just need a BIOS update and a new TPM chip.
  4. Have one and it is TPM 2.0, but is turned off by default in the BIOS.
If anyone has had to shop for the TPM chips, you probably noticed that sellers are buying up all the TPMs they can get their hands on and the prices have started to skyrocket.

My motherboard had the TPM header and supports TPM 2.0, but it didn't come with the chip itself. I managed to find one that wasn't too horribly priced, although it was still three times the cost the chip normally retails for.
 
I am have had the following: I install Lightwave with administrator rights and it works. After a few days when I go to run Lightwave again I get a small dialogue box containing an "X" in a red circle and next to the "X" it reads "The application was unable to start correctly (0x000007b). Click OK to close the application"

So far I've only been able to uninstall it and re-install and it works for a few days again.
 
Pretty disappointed with Microsoft re: Windows 11.

I haven't had my system that long (had my previous system for about nine years) and Microsoft is telling me that my Threadripper 1950x doesn't make the cut.

Yes, I understand that it's a first gen Threadripper; still... doesn't seem that old to me.

Rather, they say that I could do a clean install of Windows 11, but I can't upgrade. Further, they aren't guaranteeing that they will provide support, or that I can even update Windows 11 through Windows update.

Initially I thought the issue was TPM (which I fixed on my system to the tune of a $250 TPM 2.0 module) but they apparently it's a "stability" issue.

More than a little miffed about this.
 
Windows 10 support goes through 2025 so there is no hurry.
...my Threadripper 1950x doesn't make the cut.

Yes, I understand that it's a first gen Threadripper; still... doesn't seem that old to me....
In addition to what you experience, there have also been reports of Win11 being less that stellar on AMD processors, running around 15% slower.


With a kill date of 2025 for Windows 10, I'm in no hurry. I will continue to test 11 in VMs and add a spare drive to my system for dual boot testing.

Of course, there's also the option to stop all this Mac/Windows hardware compatibility silliness and move to Linux...then run a VM of an old, safe system to keep LW running.
 
Windows 10 support goes through 2025 so there is no hurry.

In addition to what you experience, there have also been reports of Win11 being less that stellar on AMD processors, running around 15% slower.
Yes, I have reviewed that information as well.

It's honestly baffling. Windows 11 flies directly in the face of the PC paradigm, and Windows OS specifically... namely, one OS that will work with a wide gamut of hardware. That's been one of the primary selling points of Windows over other alternatives... and now it looks like they are pushing themselves out of that market.

Essentially, I would need to purchase a new processor and motherboard to ensure that my computer was compatible with Windows 11. That is only slightly different than the Apple paradigm of purchasing an entire computer when you want to upgrade hardware.

Of course, there's also the option to stop all this Mac/Windows hardware compatibility silliness and move to Linux...then run a VM of an old, safe system to keep LW running.

I've been using Windows since 3.1. This is honestly the first time I have given serious thought to just completely chucking Windows and going to Ubuntu or another Linux option.
 
In addition to what you experience, there have also been reports of Win11 being less that stellar on AMD processors, running around 15% slower.
I don't have benchmarks to back it up, but after installing the new driver set it seems pretty snappy again. It did seem to chug after I first upgraded though.

So far it's seamless other than navigating around the desktop, settings etc it feels much more mac like if you have any of that muscle memory.
 
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