Thread: Running Windows 8 / 8.1 and FFXIV

Originally Posted by Leash

Its almost like 7. START8 has a free 30 trial and comes with a few different features that helps return the feel of Win7. I think its about $5 to purchase the app.

I get the same effect for free with ClassicShell and setting it to Win7 menu mode.

Originally Posted by Leash

Anyone running FFXIV on Win 8.1? Is it better? Does it handle well?

Also, does know how to stop that stupid Win App Menu from popping up randomly while in gameplay on Win8?

I use Windows 8.1 and it works great for pretty much everything. I highly recommend you google and install "Classicshell" which will install a windows 7 style start menu, that in my opinion has more functionality than the real start menu. You can also disable active corners, which can be annoying for some, through the classicshell settings. With W8 you will get a start button with a shell icon, upgrading to 8.1 and reinstalling classicshell will give you a start button with the windows logo (if that matters to you).

Originally Posted by Leash

Anyone running FFXIV on Win 8.1? Is it better? Does it handle well?

Also, does know how to stop that stupid Win App Menu from popping up randomly while in gameplay on Win8?

Windows 8 is an upgrade from Windows 7 system-wise. 8 has better memory management, faster turn-on/shutdown speed, better network management and a bunch of tweaks that were not possible in Windows 7 that benefits the systems overall. The difference is not that huge, but it is there. Modern video games will most likely run slightly better on Windows 8 than on Windows 7. It will be more or less noticeable with "weaker" systems. That's the theory behind it. In practice, every computer is different, so the results will differ from a computer to another.


That said, Windows 8.1 is like a service-pack (with a fancier name and more drastic changes). It brings major updates to Windows 8 features, notably the Windows search, more customization for the App Menu and the return of a start button (but not the start menu, which Microsoft announced will be available for Windows 8 around 2015 for the next major update). If you have Windows 8, going for 8.1 is strongly recommended.

I used Windows 8.1 preview version, which didn't affect my applications/files, but going from 8.1 preview to 8.1 release forced me to re-install Windows (thus losing all application installed, yet keeping the files). I am not sure of the effects of going from 8 to 8.1 release.

For my own system and FFXIV:ARR, I can say it worked as well in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

For the App Menu popping during gameplay, my guess is that you press the Windows Key (the key in between Ctrl and Alt), which is a shortcut to the App Menu. That or if you still have Windows 8, if you click on the lower left corner of the monitor, it triggers the App Menu as if you had clicked there. With Windows 8.1, you no longer have the lower corner issue, since the start button is back. I can grantee though that Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 do not go into the App Menu by themselves without user interaction. It is highly probable that you do something "wrong" while playing, which trigger the App Menu shortcut.


Final words for the players out there: an operating system has two major components:
1. The user interface (what you see). That's about less than 1% of the OS (and that number is lower for most folks out there since they don't use, therefore see everything an OS has to offer).
2. The actual operating system (what you don't see). That's the remaining 99%.

If Microsoft made a mistake with Windows 8's user interface, as an operating system, it worked quite well and is definitely an upgrade from Windows 7. I would not recommend upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 8 as Windows 7 is already a pretty solid operating system and you won't gain much outside turning your computer on and off faster. If you are good with computers though, you can easily change the user interface of Windows 8 to one so close to Windows 7, most people would never notice.

I like to think one who knows how to deal with computers, knows how to adapt the computer to him/herself instead of adapting him/herself to the computer.

I have been playing on a windows 8.1 os for about 3 months now. Everything works fine for me. My normal os of choice is linux so the only application on the windows os is FFXIV. The app works well in both windowed add full screen mode. I do agree with LloydShade that the user interface of 8 / 8.1 is the worst I have ever seen, it fits a tablet not a desktop os. I say this because multi-tasking is significantly more difficult than it should be, this is due to many apps running full screen in windows 8. So if you are use to XP - Win 7 user interface you might not want to switch.

XIV runs close to perfectly on 8.1, and I'm running it on a Retina MacBook.

Originally Posted by Leash

Also, does know how to stop that stupid Win App Menu from popping up randomly while in gameplay on Win8?

Depends how drastic you want to get

I understand that my follow up post may be getting lost but I don't use the CRL to access my moves, I just use my mouse to execute my skills so my fingers are not in this general area. My hands are cupped over these buttons, it would be a challenge to hit this button. I've only seen a few other people posts about this issue on other forums.

I have my hot bars staggered near the center bottom of my screen, so they're nowhere near the corners of the screen. I do play this game windowed though, could this have an affect?

Also, this isn't a discussion on which OS is better. 8.1 just came out and just wanted some user feedback on it and see if it is worth upgrading it (since its free for Win8 users).

Really don't understand why people cling to the start menu so hard. It's a horribly slow way of getting to your content. Click->Click-Click->Found it!.

Why would you just not use shortcuts on your desktop, or pin items to your start menu, or even better....hit the windows key and type the first couple of letters of what you want to launch and hit enter.. super fast app launch

The new Start menu is just a flat view of the tree you had before. It's much quicker to find what you want, and use it. How often are you spending in your app find products that it's matters that damn much?