Re: How do you guys make sure XSI files and Softimage 7.5+ files will open in 2016?

[Jason S]

I don't know.. just installed XSI ModTool 4.2 (2004 ~11 years ago) on Windows 8, Maybe I missed something, (that I should've done for it to not work) but Install went fine, no button click or other interface issues, loaded-up sample scenes, & posed-up RedJaiqua without running it in any sort of compatibility mode, and also loaded bunch of addons from that time. But I'm sure Soft will break by tomorrow at most  ;-| Quick! Move to Maya before it's too late! (the friendly future of 'high-end' 3D?) If soft wouldn't be run, it would more likely be because our spirits would have been broken as opposed to the actual software.           On 12/26/14 12:14, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: l was just supporting what others have already said.  xsi was "certified" for Windows Xp, but a few months later when vista came up, you could not click buttons on the message boxes (ex: "would you like to save the scene?"), rectangle select broke, several features failed to work due to folder permissions, netview broke, help files in hlp format were no longer supported, etc.  I should know, i had to fix some of that stuff.  Later Microsoft made a security patch to a visual c++ that broke plugin binary compatibility and later a change to how DLLs are found which broke some add-ons.  Microsoft is always threatening to block active scripting, the engine at the core of XSI.   Since windows 8 they have given up on backwards compatibility at all cost, you need to preserve your old runtime environment if you want to safely be able to run XSI in ten year and not just an archive of the old installers.  It's common sense and the subject of this thread. On Dec 25, 2014 8:00 PM, "Jason S" <jasonsta...@gmail.com> wrote: > > On 12/23/14 12:15, Luc-Eric Rousseau wrote: >> * Safe keeping the installers is no security, >> they may not run at all in the future, >> being tangled in microsoft "MSI" installer tech and other things... >> >> * Older 32-bit Softmage installers already don't run because >> they have a 16-bit component which won't run on 64-bit Windows... > > > Whew!  By the sound of that, Softimage won't be running next year! > > And why does Soft so often needs to be  picked-up and dusted-off from the floor (?) ;-] > > > But sure "at some point in the future", Soft would inevitably start having issues on newer setups, > when Virtual Machines would come into play. > > *Yet*.. when do you think would that be? > Soft was certified compatibility on win8 at a very early stage of the os release, > and would surely still run fine on the next OS  which is itself for some time down the line. > > if not also the OS after that. > (os ver. coming out every couple of years, quite consitantly with 3 versions back compatibility modes) > > So we're looking at at least 8, if not 12+ years. >