Windows 7 And Windower = Head >>> Wall *repeat*

Ok, I know that Windower is a bit of a taboo subject... But I need help.

I just installed Windows 7 on my PC and so far I like it, but I just can't seem to get Windower running smoothly. I've followed all the instructions from the Windower Forum and downloaded that hook.dll thingy and managed to get windower working except the overlay resolution was in 800 x 600 (the item menu's and equipment menu's take up nearly 1/4 of the screen)

So I shut PoL down, adjusted the resolution in both FFXI config and Windower config to 1024 x 768 (which is what I had to do on Vista) and now as soon as I hit "play game" Play Online crashes.

I've tried just about everything I can think of - putting the resolution back to it's previous setting, re-installing the hook.dll thing, deleting Windower and starting again... But nothing works, the second you press Play Game it crashes. This would be a good time to point out that I'm not a "PC kinda guy" and I know next to nothing about how the damn thing works, but any help would be greatly appreciated.

Also, playing FFXI w/o Windower feels strange... I dont think of it as a crutch, more like a little helper that screams at me "hey, Chaos Roll's gonna wear off in 15 seconds, might wanna do something about that..."







Ok... It's become a bit of a crutch for me... especially on COR, {Help me out!}

I will probably be in the same boat when I get Windows 7... :/ wish I could help!

you ALWAYS have to right click on windower.exe > RUN AS ADMINISTRATOR you must do this or it will not load FFXI. No you can not do "fix compatability" or anything, you can run it under windows 7 compatability, but you must click on "run as administrator" every single time you load windower.exe.

Yeah, it just sort of sits and does nothing when you double click it.

I can get as far as "a word to our players" then "play" and then it crashes, but first time round it worked fine - it was only after I changed the resolution that I started getting the problem :(

I've had to "Run as administrator" for a long time. It doesn't work if I try to start it normally.

Do you have the Vista/7 PlayOnline?
If not, get it from the POL website.

Have you downloaded the patched Hook.dll from the forums?
If not, do that.

Second, the problem with Windower on 7 is that for some reason it wont activate directx on its own, so you need to jump start it. Known methods to do it are, load IE8 then Windower, you can close IE8 when you're ingame, or have the Calendar or CPU Meter Widget on your desktop.

See how that goes ^^.

I'm running Windows 7 Pro x64 with no problems at all, just follow the above steps, good luck ^^.

I'm not sure if I have Vista/7 Playonline, I'm looking into that now, just tried playing through Windower with IE open and still no luck lol. Thanks for the advice ^^

I've had that happen before where Windower/POL worked fine until I made changes to the resolution, then crashed after hitting "Play" when the actual XI window tries to open. This occured on XP for me and was due to me trying to use a resolution my graphics card didn't support.

Try using this to set your overlay, background and even launcher.ini resolutions all at once in the same area, that way you'll know you aren't just making a random little mistake: http://www.ffxicalculator.com/

The last tab/panel of that application is "FFXI Settings" where you can make these changes instead of using the official utility or registry hax.

As a sidenote, just in case you haven't already, definitely comb over the Windower forum's Windows 7 thread in case anyone else has similar problems, or try mentioning it there as well.

not quite, i never right click windower.exe when i run windower. i have windows7 ultimate, and have had it for about a week or two before the official release =p, i finally got everything to work. MAKE SURE UAC IS TURNED OFF 100%!(cant stress that enough)if you do not know how to turn off UAC in windows 7, google it~ >o

after that run in compatibility mode just for good measure, i run it just fine, i did have to replace my hook.dll with the modded one made for windows7 on the windower.net forums tho. the only thing i cant do is dualbox :(, my 75 rdm taru is fairly lonely >o.

someone in the windower forums suggested opening IE before loading PoL, and they said to keep it up and it prevented the game from crashing? idk i never had that problem lol..just keep digging or praying for a windower upgrade after next update o/

It's alive!

Big thanks to Ihm for advice on Vista/7 Playonline, Downloaded that lastnight from PoL and installed this morning.

Everything is working great now, basicly if you get stuck just do what Ihm said lol ^^

if you are running windows 7 just have one or two windows from IE running OR (if you dont like IE) have the calendar gadget running and it should solve your problems

First off let me start off by saying, yes I know this isn't a tech-support forum (and whatnot) where I will get the best answers, but I wouldn't mind opinions/suggestions/etc.

Okay, so I recently got a refurbished laptop with Windows Vista 32x SP2. Everything was going good! Although recently I haven't been able to install programs or update (windows updates and flash player mostly). I get errors, saying that I cannot access certain folders. I am the only user on the computer and I have check and I am listed as an Admin so I have no clue what is wrong. I have tried everything I found while searching the web. Perhaps a virus or Vista malfunction? I don't have the Vista discs, but I do have the ones for my old PC. Though I was considering upgrading to windows7. What should I do. Also the laptop I am using has the touch screen stuff, If I installed Vista/Windows7 would I have to re-download all the drivers to be able to use the touchscreen? D:

I would fresh install windows 7 on a newly formatted hard drive partition no matter what. Something is very misplaced or wrong if you are locked out of folders or files completely when under an administrative account.

Also windows 7 is VERY VERY VERY beautiful when it comes to newer systems concerning drivers. I never had to install a single driver on my PC or laptop when i installed it last weekend.

Windows 7 is light years better than vista and finally on par with XP concerning performance.

Btw i just learned the calendar gadget trick myself, i couldnt understand what i did to break windower for like 2 days straight and then i saw that ***lol.

Wish i knew that before i downloaded and installed/reinstalled and disabled/enabled plugins 100 times trying to figure out wtf i did lol.

Okay, I was considering buying Windows 7 Home Premium, didn't want to get too fancy with it. But when I saw that it was ~$120 I had to think it through. Then I started thinking would that mess up the drivers. I am not a big tech-savvy person, but I am pretty sure there are drivers installed on this [HP Pavilion tx2500 Notebook PC] that are needed to be able to use the touchscreen/stylus and I didn't want to go through a big complication having to find out how to obtain the required drivers/files/programs necessary to run these services. But now that I think about it if I were to load up the Windows7 disc and install it wouldn't erase the HP files right? Only the Vista are being replaced with Windows7.

yeah nothing factory would remain installed. If you wanted some of those features check the disc that came with the laptop (hopefully it came with one).

I personally deleted the recovery partition to get my space back. I only installed some of the features for the LCD screen near my keyboard and the keys for volume/settings particular to my laptop.

You should have zero driver problems and even if you did again just check with the CD.

Also if you purchase the upgrade Windows 7 it shouldn't be 120$ it should be a little less i think.

found it for $85. And no, the laptop didn't come with any discs, well it came with 2, Office OneNote and some image editing program. I didn't get the original discs. Is there a way I can request them from HP or something?

Typically yes but it's not worth the 50$+Shipping they want you to pay for it. If anything drivers are a free download from the website anyways.

It's a gray area otherwise on laptop hoykeys and specific tools the laptop may have come with from a factory image.

But i want to say your relatively safe and have nothing to worry about with a fresh windows 7 installation.

My windower don't work anymore after the update. After I click on play game and after the opener, i click 'accept' then it crashes. every single time! i even tried re-downloading windower but it still happens. I can play without windower but why would you wanna do that?? lol

the listed shipping from amazon is only $3.99.

Maybe I can e-mail HP or if they have a forum website I can ask there for the rundown, unless they ex-communicate me for purchasing a REFURBISHED HP lol. >_>
Maybe try starting it up without any plugins?

Time for a mini-necro bump since someone asked about Windows 7 + FFXI + Windower the other day.

I finally got everything working last night on my new HD.

FFXI was loading fine at the resolutions I chose (1024x768 is what I usually use). Windower would crash once I got to the point of FFXI actually opening (past the 'don't forget blah blah blah' screen). I tried quite a few things with no luck. The new hook.dll would get it a tad farther, but still crashed. I rolled back the hook.dll to the previous version.

I lol'd when I came across a post on a Windows 7 thread on the windower forums about opening the calendar gadget before opening FFXI. Last night I got so frustrated I actually tried it. It worked. Plug-ins and everything else work (including the latest recast).

One note though, don't try to install anything while it's running. I know some people may think it's silly to do that anyway. Keep in mind that it's a fresh install and I was trying to get other programs installed while waiting on assaults to start.

I hope this helps with those that are trying to get everything running on Windows 7. If I find a better solution than the calendar gadget, I'll post here again.

Didn't even bother to read thread but:
Using beta HOOK.DLL for windows 7?
Disabled UAC (User Account Control)?
Running as administrator?
Tried starting windower with Internet Explorer or Windows Live Messenger open?
Tried manually adjusting your registry to reflect the resolution settings you need?

I was having this same problem after installing Windows 7 and could not get it to work for three days.

I spoke with the windower team regarding this in an IRC channel. It seems that after you have tried all of the above methods that downloading the new windower and running it in the background before hand will resolve the issue.

I had never heard of the calendar idea, but it appears to work a similar way.