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Microsoft Will Soon Start Bundling Drivers With Windows Store Games (thurrott.com)

Posted by msmash on from the improving-things dept.

Microsoft will start bundling drivers with Windows Store games to improve the performance of the game once downloaded. A report on Thurrott adds: This will work by the game download trigging Windows Update to acquire the minimum driver requirements to make sure that application works as intended. This may perturb some users who like having complete control over the driver updates for their hardware as this auto-download mechanism will overwrite the existing installation of the driver. Of course, you can still roll-back the update but hopefully Microsoft gives us a way to stop the auto-download of the driver via the Windows Store when this feature arrives.

17 of 102 comments (clear)

  1. Great! by geek · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What could possibly go wrong?

    1. Re:Great! by supremebob · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This might not be a bad thing IF Microsoft prompted you with a dialog box like this first:

      "We detected that you're using $GRAPHICSCARD driver $OLDVERSION. This game requires driver version $NEWVERSION. Would you like us to upgrade it?"

      Knowing Microsoft, though, they'll automatically "upgrade" the driver in the background and leave you scratching your head for awhile when the screen is stuck at 1024x768 resolution after you reboot.

    2. Re:Great! by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem is Microsoft is only looking at the requirements for a single application.
      Updating the drivers might work out great for that particular application, while completely borking up others you may have.

      On the tablet I use ( Wacom Mobile Studio Pro ) in addition to disabling as much of the telemetry as I can, the home router has
      instructions to prevent any tablet data from leaving the local network at all.

      If necessary, I can transfer files locally to and from a NAS unit when at home or I can just use a USB stick if necessary.

      I want the programs I have running on the tablet to perform without hiccup or issues. Something that's impossible to do when
      MS shoves an update down and breaks a bunch of shit in the process.

    3. Re: Great! by fisted · · Score: 2

      you don't need to touch the registry. [...] open file location of cortena. Rename the folder.

      That really is a worse hack than fucking with the registry.

      --
      CLI paste? paste.pr0.tips!
    4. Re:Great! by EndlessNameless · · Score: 2

      It's actually easy to clean up:

      Dism /online /Cleanup-Image /StartComponentCleanup /ResetBase

      This applies to 8/8.1/10. There is a vastly different method for Windows 7.

      Note that you lose the ability to uninstall old updates when their files are purged, so it might be best to run this a week or two after patching.

      --

      ---
      According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
  2. Obvious Solution by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Don't play games off Windows Store.

    1. Re:Obvious Solution by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      No you got this backwards. There's an obvious problem: People already don't play games off Windows Store.

  3. For folks who haven't been follwing the latest... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Windows Store == games for windows live, just for Windows 10.

    It's basically their own special sandbox that they get a cut of, which is rife with technical hickups, and no guarantee you'll keep what you buy when the service is (nigh inevitably) shut down in (roll 2d8) years.

    Lots of multi-platform development tools have added Windows store as a publishing output, but honestly, a regular-old Windows exe put out to GOG/Steam is the best choice, looking at every single example of income streams I've seen.

  4. IF NOT XBOX: PunishUser(_IncompatDrivers) by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 4, Insightful

    IF NOT XBOX:
        PunishUser(_IncompatDrivers)

  5. Easy fix.. by wbr1 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    Fuck windows store games.

    Problem solved.

    Really, with Steam, GOG, etc who needs it? I game like crazy and use window 10. Windows store games--not even once.

    --
    Silence is a state of mime.
    1. Re:Easy fix.. by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Fuck windows store games.
      Problem solved.

      There was never a problem to begin with. People have been shunning the Windows Store from day one.

  6. Separation by darkain · · Score: 2

    Will Microsoft then FORCE driver developers to decouple the ACTUAL drive from the shit bloat software that comes with them? Who the fuck needs a 300MiB download just for a video driver? The hardware vendors do, which over 90% of that is bloatastical bullshit, mostly just "fancy" ads for other games, or optional (but a pain in the fucking ass to remove) graphics utilities nobody asked for or even wanted in the first place.

  7. Will the bug of nvidia updater and windows update by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Will the bug of nvidia updater and windows update both auto updating drivers in a loop come back?

  8. Read the headline and the first thing I thought by PJ6 · · Score: 4, Funny

    was Microsoft struck a deal with Uber.

  9. DLL-Hell 2.0? [Re:Great!] by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    So I install software X, and software Y breaks because they share drivers or libraries, and Y is not compatible with the newer version of the shared parts?

    This is what the famed DLL-Hell did. Is MS bringing that back? Hell, might as well bring back Clippy to make the nostalgia experience (nightmare) complete.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  10. Re:For folks who haven't been follwing the latest. by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

    Windows Store == games for windows live, just for Windows 10.

    It's basically their own special sandbox that they get a cut of, which is rife with technical hickups, and no guarantee you'll keep what you buy when the service is (nigh inevitably) shut down in (roll 2d8) years.

    Lots of multi-platform development tools have added Windows store as a publishing output, but honestly, a regular-old Windows exe put out to GOG/Steam is the best choice, looking at every single example of income streams I've seen.

    2d8? If I understand the lingo correct that's two 8 sided dice? Try flipping two coins instead. Heads = 1, tails = 0.

    --
    "That's the way to do it" - Punch
  11. Shamus Young Tried It by Kunedog · · Score: 4, Informative

    Two great articles by Shamus Young show just what a trainwreck the Windows Store is:

    http://www.shamusyoung.com/twe...
    http://www.shamusyoung.com/twe...

    I'm sure most here already knew that, but he really lays out how MS doesn't seem to care about the customer experience or competing with Steam (just muscling them out through lock-in). It's sad that Valve can't seem to make the Steambox concept work, but if MS's platform is the one that succeeds, then we all lose.