7 TO 8.1 (Upgrade thoughts and concerns)

Hi everyone. I’ve been wanting to upgrade to 8.1 for a while now, but I’m curious how Unreal Engine 4 will run on it.
I would like to hear any feedback and advice on matter. And share your experience from using UE4 with 8.1.
Also if you’ve upgraded from 7; how was your experience? Any performance differences?

On another note How does VS Express run on 8.1? Also if you use Maya, 3ds Max, ZBrush, ect. how is the performance and reliability?
A few of my game developer buddies tell me upgrading to 8.1 was the best move. I’m aware of some of the performance boost with 8.1 but I just want some outside feedback. I guess I’m still kind of holding back even though I hear good things from it.

P.S. Will I have trouble loading projects from 7 to 8.1?

PC Specs:
**Motherboard: **MSI 890FXA GD70
RAM: Corsair Vengeance (16GB)
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T, (3.3GHz 6 cores)
GPU: AMD XFX R9 270X
OS: 7 (obviously)

UE runs fine on 8.1, so do all the apps I have been using. I don’t think there should be any problem loading projects from win7, I doubt they are anyhow tied to os version.

Upgrade from 7 was ok too, I just installed classic start menu which is free (http://www.classicshell.net/) to avoid the fancy tablet tiles menu thingie.

As for performance, I’m not sure, I have upgraded to 8/8.1 some time ago, but generally it is supposed to be faster. Surely I can’t say it would be slower :slight_smile:

Besides a few annoyances that MS pushed into win 8 (like the tablet tiles which are supposed to be removed in 9) which can be avoided/fixed easily (still it’s a bit stupid that users have to “fix” the os after installation) it’s just another not worse then win7, more probably same on some places and a bit better on other places.

When you say UPGRADE FROM 7 are you:

  1. Talking of an in place upgrade with 7 left installed but upgraded to 8.1?

OR

  1. Talking of a Clean install where your 7 data is backed up, drive formatted and 8.1 is clean installed?

Been in IT biz for years I would highly recommend 2. OK it is pain in a*s - but you dont inherit any past issues with old 7. Yes it means backup of data and reinstall of all applications. Thats why I use two drives in my PC. C Drive for and applications, D Drive for data … makes life easier for kind of thing.

I upgraded my PC from Vista through 7 to 8.1 and had no problems with that.

Yeah that’s what I mean, I agree it’s much better.

Well then - no probs here also. All applications working fine inc UE4 and all my 3D applications.

As was mentioned - install classicshell when finished, it will boot Win 8 into the classic desktop with the old start menu. However you will also have access to the new desktop via the fly out charms bar over right of scteen.

http://www.classicshell.net/

I did the upgrade twice. First time around I lasted about 2 days before I decided it was rubbish and went back to Win7. Months later I made the decision again to upgrade and force myself to use it for 1 month, then decide. After about 1 week I loved it and it’s now my preference. I don’t use that classicshell thing, because i don’t actually use the start menu (event when running win7) in the sense of clicking start->programs->app folder->… I just press the window key on my keyboard, type what i want and press enter. Exactly the same concept applies in win8.

Overall it does “seem” a bit more lean then win7, however you wont really notice any performance difference running with your applications. I didn’t. The OS just seems to boot a bit quicker, maybe a few seconds, that’s about it. Never had any compatibility issues with any apps. Just make sure any hardware (esp printers) you have has driver support.

yeh its a good upgrade, i personally think ue4 is faster in 8.1 cause 8.1 uses less resources and ram which is awesome. !

Ha, yeah I do the same thing. It’s just easier and faster. I’ll take a look around too see if any of my hardware drivers support 8.1
Thanks for the feedback.

Nice! My friend uses ZBrush a lot so he brags about that in 8.1 a lot. So it’s nice to know it helps out UE4 a little. :slight_smile:

Been using 8.1 for a while and really like it personally. I never use the metro menu either, rather than adding in classic shell, right click on the taskbar and choose Toolbar -> New Toolbar and then set the folder to:

C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs

Everything you install will be added to the list, you can move the toolbar around, I keep it beside the sys tray for convenience, click on it and it will show all your shortcuts. :slight_smile:

Just wait for . :wink: About windows 8.1 with UE… I can say : I won’t ever go back to windows 7. And I even don’t like metro.

UE4 runs great on win 8.1
Also, I would never, ever go back to 7, even though Metro is an abomination. Just install classic shell or similar modification and win 8.1 blows everything out of the water.

I am not installing 8.1 on my curent rig. I may do so for a new ‘breasty’ rig I will be building. Glad to know there is no.

Yeah! I just found out about that. The Insider Program started yesterday…Would be nice to try and get in. I just hope that all my hardware will have the proper drivers for 10. But it’s not set to release until Fall 2015 so I should have some pennies saved up by then to upgrade if I have to :D. Honestly it may be until the later half of 2016 before I get it…Just to let them work out all the bugs when it comes out (Or just be daring and get it on day 1)…Look’s like I’ll be sticking with 7 for a while.

…Hmm. I still may want to get 8.1 though…I don’t know anymore, now that 10 was announced :p.
Although your claim makes me want to go ahead with it.

Hello,
i did the set-up two days ago and i got a big surprise. It deleted my programmes folder so i had to re install all (not so bad, i have a clean c: now ) but not my documents. I don’t know if it was a bug but in case of, if you have some stuff there you want to save, move them before the upgrade.

About 8. At first it was really confusing for me, but after 2 days swimming in, i agree that it once you have learn a bit, it is cool to use.

Yeah! I just found out about that. The Insider Program started yesterday…Would be nice to try and get in. I just hope that all my hardware will have the proper drivers for 10. But it’s not set to release until Fall 2015 so I should have some pennies saved up by then to upgrade if I have to :D. Honestly it may be until the later half of 2016 before I get it…Just to let them work out all the bugs when it comes out (Or just be daring and get it on day 1)…Look’s like I’ll be sticking with 7 for a while.

…Hmm. I still may want to get 8.1 though…I don’t know anymore, now that 10 was announced :p.
Although your claim makes me want to go ahead with it.
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I upgraded to 10 morning. Haven’t had a single yet in the first few hours of use. Nvidia 8 drivers seem to work just as good on 10. Have UE4.5 and 4.4 installed and they’re working fine. Pretty happy with the OS overall.

Additional Input - I’m one of the few that actually preferred 8/8.1’s GUI to 7. I found 7 Aero theme BS completely absurd and a horrible resource hog.

Hmm… Very interesting. I got my 10 the other day. I’m hesitant to install it since I have a dozen of 3D and 2D software for work. And since freelancing/contracting from home is my only means of income; I’m afraid to risk it. That being said I’m rocking an AMD R9 270X (equivalent to nvidia gtx 760). So I need to see if the drivers are supported. I thought about buying an inexpensive HDD and install 10 on that partition so I can switch back to 7 to safely work on my projects. And of course the other for experimenting and testing…What are your thoughts on ?

And I agree. 7 Aero is expensive, there are ways to ease the load but not like Windoes 8. Very fast, and takes less resources, and the tiles were actually pretty cool…But I love the 10 layout; a mix of the regular Start menu and tiles.

…Months later. Unreal Engine 4 is so sexy on 8.1! Just got it a few weeks ago :slight_smile:

I had no problem running Unreal Engine on 8. But I couldnt handle 8`s layout so I downgraded to 7. I dont like to be forced to use something that I dont really like :stuck_out_tongue: