Hi all
I thought I'd post this article, because I LOVE Elite, Frontier: Elite 2 and Elite: Dangerous. I never actually played Frontier: First Encounters, but I'm sure I'd have loved it all the same. Conversely, I HATE windows. I hate that we're forced to buy windows "X", knowing full well that in 2-4 years, windows "Y" will come along, will make windows "X" obsolete, and we'll be forced to buy the new windows if we want to remain up-to-date. I bought a copy of Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit, though I'm currently running 64 bit, in the hopes of also being able to install Dragon Age: Inquisition soon
) years ago and I have NO desire to buy windows 7 now, especially when the release of windows 10 is only a few months away.
But if there was no way to play Elite: Dangerous on windows Vista, I would have gone ahead and bought windows 7 (windows 8 makes me sick just looking at it. I'd rather join the Foreign Legion than buy windows 8!) So I checked online to see if people were able to play Elite: Dangerous on Vista 64 and it seemed that people were actually doing it, and doing it without problems. And so I went ahead and bought my copy of Elite: Dangerous, expecting that I'd be able to install and run it without any problems either... Boy was I mistaken.
My first problem was with the Client Installer. Once I'd downloaded it, it refused to download said client. No amount of waiting, or clicking, or praying would get the Client Installer to actually work. I emailed tech support, but they sincerely apologised, explaining that because Vista isn't supported, they couldn't help me. So I went back to the internet to see if there were any solutions to this problem. Unfortunately, there weren't. The closest similarity was https://support.elitedangerous.com/kb/faq.php?id=72. They recommended downloading and installing Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.5. I tried this, but found no change. I suspected that Windows Firewall or my antivirus software might be blocking the Client Installer, so I created exceptions in both of them for the Client Installer, however, neither action had any effect. I was at a loss, and I even thought of trying to run the client installer in compatibility mode (done by right-clicking the file, going to "Properties" clicking on the "Compatibility" tab, then selecting "Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 95/ 98/ NT/ Xp...). However, when I right clicked the file and went to properties, I found something unfamiliar. Underneath the "Attributes" section on the "General" tab (which contains selectable options such as "Read-Only", "Hidden" and an "Advanced" tab there was a small graphic and a check-box. The accompanying text said something along the lines of "You have downloaded Client Installer from another computer. Click here if you understand the risks of Unblocking this file and wish to do so anyway." It was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for and exactly what I needed. I clicked the box and it worked. After doing this small, seemingly insignificant thing, Client Installer FINALLY started downloading the Game Launcher.
So, for the first problem (Client Installer not doing anything), the solution was to right-click the Client Installer file, go to "Properties", and to click the "Unblock" box at the bottom of the first (default) page. It is also HIGHLY recommended that you download and install Microsoft . Net 3.5 and 4.5.
The next problem turned up pretty quickly after that. After downloading all the tutorials and the game files, attempting to run either of these programs resulted in the error message "Unable to run file. d3d11.dll not found." I suspected that the file in question was a Direct X file, but I wasn't 100% certain. My first attempt to fix the problem was to simply download the d3d11.dll file from the internet and to drop it into my Windows/System32 folder (with no effect) and then the Elite: Dangerous game folder (again with no effect). Having failed so miserably now, I was at a complete loss. I was pretty sure that the d3d11.dll file was a Direct X file, but at the same time, the specifications for the game said that you needed Direct X 10 for the game to work. I.e. You did NOT need DX 11, so I didn't understand why it wasn't working. I went back to the internet to try to find a solution. All the recommendations pointed to a few simple fixes which I tried in order: First was to update all graphics drivers (my nvidia drivers were already up-to-date), second was to make sure that Windows Vista had Service Pack (SP) 1 and 2 installed. Even though I try to keep ahead of the constant windows updates, for some reason, my windows did NOT have SP 1 or 2 installed. So I used Windows Update and there it was: SP1 waiting to be installed. So I downloaded and installed it then restarted my computer and went back to get SP 2. Imagine my surprise when the only available update was SP 1!!! For some reason, Windows Update was unable to properly install SP 1 (and possibly SP 2 also). No matter how many times (and I did it 5 times) I downloaded and installed Windows Vista Service Pack 1, it never actually installed, so after rebooting, I was prompted to "install" it again.
My only realistic solution to this was to go to the Microsnot website itself, and manually download and then install SP 1 first and SP 2 after. Be prepared for a lengthy wait when doing this. SP 1 in particular takes an inordinately looooooong time to install properly. Eventually, I had both SP 1 and SP 2 properly installed on my Vista 64 system and was ready to play Elite: Dangerous. However, the problem persisted. d3d11.dll was still missing in action, and Elite simply wouldn't run without it. At this point, I suspected sabotage. So I ran a full system virus scan, which came back clean. No nasties present. Next, I performed an admin level sfc /scannow command to make sure my dll files were all in order. They were... Oh, an admin level sfc / scannnow command is done by going into the start menu, typing cmd, right-clicking on the .exe file that comes up, and then running the program as an administrator. When the cli (dos-like interface window) pops up, you simply type "sfc /scannow" and let the computer perform its secret magic. It will check and try to fix any irregularities in the Data Link Libraries (dll's) on your computer. However, everything seemed to be in order. I went to so many different places on the internet to try a find a way to download and install Direct X 11, but all I could find was Direct X 9.0c and another version which simply appeared to be called Direct X tm. Just to be safe, I downloaded EVERY Direct X file I could find, and tried installing each and every one of them, but they all told me the same thing; I already had the most up-to-date version of Direct X installed (Going to the start-menu and typing DxDiag.exe will run the Direct X diagnostic tool. Mine informed me that I was running DX 10 on my computer. Make sure yours is running DX 10 at least, too).
At this point, I was out of ideas. I was concerned that my video card was perhaps too old or that I really did need to buy a copy of windows 7, so I gave up for the better part of a day. As a last-throw-of-the-dice, I went back to Windows Updater and checked to see if there were any updates that might address the issue (now that I'd finally installed SP 1 and SP 2) and was utterly shocked to find that there were 183 downloads/ updates, totalling almost 1 gigabyte, just waiting to be integrated into my computers system. Once completed, I was required to restart the computer and the first thing I did once it had rebooted was to try launching Elite: Dangerous. It FINALLY worked!!! So the d3d11.dll file, if it ever was a Direct X file, was downloaded, installed and properly applied in one of the 183 different updates that only became available after installing SP 1 and SP 2. So ultimately, I'm not exactly sure which action it was that solved this final problem, so I'll include all the important bits:
For the other problem, getting the Game Launcher to run Eliteangerous after receiving the error message: "Error. Unable to run file. d3d11.dll not found." The solution appears to be: (1) Install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2. DO NOT use Windows Updater to perform this task. Download and install these files manually from the Windows website. After this step, use Windows Updater to download and install ALL the 183-odd updates (most of which appeared to be for the newly installed Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.5 updates). It is also HIGHLY recommended that you have the most up-to-date versions of Direct X, of Microsoft Visual C++ (DX 9.0c and 2 versions of MS Visual C++ can be found in the Elite: Dangerous file, under the "Redis" folder) and of your graphics drivers. Once done, restart the computer. Elite: Dangerous should then run without any problems
So, to summarise, if you want to avoid having any problems with running Elite Dangerous on your Windows Vista 64 system, I'd recommend doing the following:
1) Install Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5
2) Install Microsoft .Net Framework 4.5
3) Install the newest version of your graphics drivers
4) Install Vista Service Pack 1 (MANUALLY, Do NOT use Windows Updater for this task)
5) Install Vista Service Pack 2 (probably best to download and install this one manually too)
6) Download and install Direct X or get it from the ED files ('x':\Program Files (x86)\Frontier\EDLaunch\Redis\DX9
7) Download and install Microsoft Visual C ++ or get it from the ED files ('x':\Program Files (x86)\Frontier\EDLaunch\Redis\VS2010 and VS2012)
8) Restart your computer then run Windows Updater. Check for updates and install each and every one that you find
9) Make sure that Client Installer and the Elite Game Launcher are not blocked by Windows Firewall or your anti virus software.
10) You might need to right-click the Client Installer and click the box marked "Unblock" in the bottom-right corner.
I certainly hope that that should cover all the potential problems someone might encounter while trying to install/ run Elite: Dangerous on a Windows Vista 64 system. While the wonderful men and women and GODS at Frontier do not support Vista as an operating system, I'm sure that we -as a community- should be able to puzzle out any problems that might arise.
If you're trying to run Elite Dangerous on a Windows Vista system, I really hope the above essay helped you. If you're still having issues, please post them here. Let's see if we can't work them out together
Peace
Raz
I thought I'd post this article, because I LOVE Elite, Frontier: Elite 2 and Elite: Dangerous. I never actually played Frontier: First Encounters, but I'm sure I'd have loved it all the same. Conversely, I HATE windows. I hate that we're forced to buy windows "X", knowing full well that in 2-4 years, windows "Y" will come along, will make windows "X" obsolete, and we'll be forced to buy the new windows if we want to remain up-to-date. I bought a copy of Windows Vista (32 and 64 bit, though I'm currently running 64 bit, in the hopes of also being able to install Dragon Age: Inquisition soon
) years ago and I have NO desire to buy windows 7 now, especially when the release of windows 10 is only a few months away. But if there was no way to play Elite: Dangerous on windows Vista, I would have gone ahead and bought windows 7 (windows 8 makes me sick just looking at it. I'd rather join the Foreign Legion than buy windows 8!) So I checked online to see if people were able to play Elite: Dangerous on Vista 64 and it seemed that people were actually doing it, and doing it without problems. And so I went ahead and bought my copy of Elite: Dangerous, expecting that I'd be able to install and run it without any problems either... Boy was I mistaken.
My first problem was with the Client Installer. Once I'd downloaded it, it refused to download said client. No amount of waiting, or clicking, or praying would get the Client Installer to actually work. I emailed tech support, but they sincerely apologised, explaining that because Vista isn't supported, they couldn't help me. So I went back to the internet to see if there were any solutions to this problem. Unfortunately, there weren't. The closest similarity was https://support.elitedangerous.com/kb/faq.php?id=72. They recommended downloading and installing Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.5. I tried this, but found no change. I suspected that Windows Firewall or my antivirus software might be blocking the Client Installer, so I created exceptions in both of them for the Client Installer, however, neither action had any effect. I was at a loss, and I even thought of trying to run the client installer in compatibility mode (done by right-clicking the file, going to "Properties" clicking on the "Compatibility" tab, then selecting "Run this program in compatibility mode for Windows 95/ 98/ NT/ Xp...). However, when I right clicked the file and went to properties, I found something unfamiliar. Underneath the "Attributes" section on the "General" tab (which contains selectable options such as "Read-Only", "Hidden" and an "Advanced" tab there was a small graphic and a check-box. The accompanying text said something along the lines of "You have downloaded Client Installer from another computer. Click here if you understand the risks of Unblocking this file and wish to do so anyway." It was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for and exactly what I needed. I clicked the box and it worked. After doing this small, seemingly insignificant thing, Client Installer FINALLY started downloading the Game Launcher.
So, for the first problem (Client Installer not doing anything), the solution was to right-click the Client Installer file, go to "Properties", and to click the "Unblock" box at the bottom of the first (default) page. It is also HIGHLY recommended that you download and install Microsoft . Net 3.5 and 4.5.
The next problem turned up pretty quickly after that. After downloading all the tutorials and the game files, attempting to run either of these programs resulted in the error message "Unable to run file. d3d11.dll not found." I suspected that the file in question was a Direct X file, but I wasn't 100% certain. My first attempt to fix the problem was to simply download the d3d11.dll file from the internet and to drop it into my Windows/System32 folder (with no effect) and then the Elite: Dangerous game folder (again with no effect). Having failed so miserably now, I was at a complete loss. I was pretty sure that the d3d11.dll file was a Direct X file, but at the same time, the specifications for the game said that you needed Direct X 10 for the game to work. I.e. You did NOT need DX 11, so I didn't understand why it wasn't working. I went back to the internet to try to find a solution. All the recommendations pointed to a few simple fixes which I tried in order: First was to update all graphics drivers (my nvidia drivers were already up-to-date), second was to make sure that Windows Vista had Service Pack (SP) 1 and 2 installed. Even though I try to keep ahead of the constant windows updates, for some reason, my windows did NOT have SP 1 or 2 installed. So I used Windows Update and there it was: SP1 waiting to be installed. So I downloaded and installed it then restarted my computer and went back to get SP 2. Imagine my surprise when the only available update was SP 1!!! For some reason, Windows Update was unable to properly install SP 1 (and possibly SP 2 also). No matter how many times (and I did it 5 times) I downloaded and installed Windows Vista Service Pack 1, it never actually installed, so after rebooting, I was prompted to "install" it again.
My only realistic solution to this was to go to the Microsnot website itself, and manually download and then install SP 1 first and SP 2 after. Be prepared for a lengthy wait when doing this. SP 1 in particular takes an inordinately looooooong time to install properly. Eventually, I had both SP 1 and SP 2 properly installed on my Vista 64 system and was ready to play Elite: Dangerous. However, the problem persisted. d3d11.dll was still missing in action, and Elite simply wouldn't run without it. At this point, I suspected sabotage. So I ran a full system virus scan, which came back clean. No nasties present. Next, I performed an admin level sfc /scannow command to make sure my dll files were all in order. They were... Oh, an admin level sfc / scannnow command is done by going into the start menu, typing cmd, right-clicking on the .exe file that comes up, and then running the program as an administrator. When the cli (dos-like interface window) pops up, you simply type "sfc /scannow" and let the computer perform its secret magic. It will check and try to fix any irregularities in the Data Link Libraries (dll's) on your computer. However, everything seemed to be in order. I went to so many different places on the internet to try a find a way to download and install Direct X 11, but all I could find was Direct X 9.0c and another version which simply appeared to be called Direct X tm. Just to be safe, I downloaded EVERY Direct X file I could find, and tried installing each and every one of them, but they all told me the same thing; I already had the most up-to-date version of Direct X installed (Going to the start-menu and typing DxDiag.exe will run the Direct X diagnostic tool. Mine informed me that I was running DX 10 on my computer. Make sure yours is running DX 10 at least, too).
At this point, I was out of ideas. I was concerned that my video card was perhaps too old or that I really did need to buy a copy of windows 7, so I gave up for the better part of a day. As a last-throw-of-the-dice, I went back to Windows Updater and checked to see if there were any updates that might address the issue (now that I'd finally installed SP 1 and SP 2) and was utterly shocked to find that there were 183 downloads/ updates, totalling almost 1 gigabyte, just waiting to be integrated into my computers system. Once completed, I was required to restart the computer and the first thing I did once it had rebooted was to try launching Elite: Dangerous. It FINALLY worked!!! So the d3d11.dll file, if it ever was a Direct X file, was downloaded, installed and properly applied in one of the 183 different updates that only became available after installing SP 1 and SP 2. So ultimately, I'm not exactly sure which action it was that solved this final problem, so I'll include all the important bits:
For the other problem, getting the Game Launcher to run Elite
angerous after receiving the error message: "Error. Unable to run file. d3d11.dll not found." The solution appears to be: (1) Install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 and Service Pack 2. DO NOT use Windows Updater to perform this task. Download and install these files manually from the Windows website. After this step, use Windows Updater to download and install ALL the 183-odd updates (most of which appeared to be for the newly installed Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.5 updates). It is also HIGHLY recommended that you have the most up-to-date versions of Direct X, of Microsoft Visual C++ (DX 9.0c and 2 versions of MS Visual C++ can be found in the Elite: Dangerous file, under the "Redis" folder) and of your graphics drivers. Once done, restart the computer. Elite: Dangerous should then run without any problems So, to summarise, if you want to avoid having any problems with running Elite Dangerous on your Windows Vista 64 system, I'd recommend doing the following:
1) Install Microsoft .Net Framework 3.5
2) Install Microsoft .Net Framework 4.5
3) Install the newest version of your graphics drivers
4) Install Vista Service Pack 1 (MANUALLY, Do NOT use Windows Updater for this task)
5) Install Vista Service Pack 2 (probably best to download and install this one manually too)
6) Download and install Direct X or get it from the ED files ('x':\Program Files (x86)\Frontier\EDLaunch\Redis\DX9
7) Download and install Microsoft Visual C ++ or get it from the ED files ('x':\Program Files (x86)\Frontier\EDLaunch\Redis\VS2010 and VS2012)
8) Restart your computer then run Windows Updater. Check for updates and install each and every one that you find
9) Make sure that Client Installer and the Elite Game Launcher are not blocked by Windows Firewall or your anti virus software.
10) You might need to right-click the Client Installer and click the box marked "Unblock" in the bottom-right corner.
I certainly hope that that should cover all the potential problems someone might encounter while trying to install/ run Elite: Dangerous on a Windows Vista 64 system. While the wonderful men and women and GODS at Frontier do not support Vista as an operating system, I'm sure that we -as a community- should be able to puzzle out any problems that might arise.
If you're trying to run Elite Dangerous on a Windows Vista system, I really hope the above essay helped you. If you're still having issues, please post them here. Let's see if we can't work them out together
Peace
Raz
