Confusion about Visual C++

JohnnyGui

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Hey all,

Yesterday I installed a game and I noticed it installed Visual C++ 2005 x86 Redist along with it. I noticed there is a SP1 and a x64 version of the Visual C++ 2005 on microsoft.com and I have few questions about this:

1. I have a x64 system. Does the x64 version of the Visual C also cover 32 bit software like the game I just installed? Or do I have to install the x86 to be able to run 32 programs?

2. If there's a SP1 version of the Visual C, does it also cover the non-SP1 version? Do I have to remove the non-SP1 one first before I install the SP1 one?


I'm running Windows 8 Pro 64 bit. I would be grateful if someone could shed some light on this since it has confused me for quite a while now.

Thanks in advance,

JohnnyGui
 

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Generally, games will install the correct version (weather you are running 64bit OS or 32bit)
Generally, the redist that is provided with the game is probably 32bit and should work out of the box without having to do anything further.
You should not have to do anything further.

When you run Windows Updates, it may update visual c stuff, but it shouldn't matter or cause the game to not work.
But, that depends on the game and how it was developed and if they coded it properly to work with future updates etc.
It all depends on what the dev's did in general.

Which game are you referring to?

To elaborate a bit more, if you are an avid gamer, you could end up with several different versions of Visual C Run time installs.
I have seen a few different ones on my system before.
 

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I'm referring to Batman Arkham Asylum.

The thing is, seeing a better version of Visual C like the SP1 one makes me think it is better (performance- and bugwise) to uninstall the old Visual C that came along with the game and install the x64 SP1 version. That is ofcourse, if those versions also cover the Visual C version (x86) the game needs. Hence my question.
 

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there is no real way to know till you do it.
Certain games will only work with certain versions, as far as I know.

I think, as long as all the libraries are there, it should be fine, however, I don't think you will gain anything, performance wise from doing so.

The only real way to gain performance in games is a better video card, CPU, Faster ram (not more, just faster, 4G is plenty for any gaming rig, any rig really, unless you are going into Virtual Machines, Graphics or Audio/Video creation and Encoding), even then, faster ram will not see a huge improvement.
And possibly SSD drive for faster loading times.

Games in general today rely more on the GPU overall, usually.

The visual C stuff is only there because they may use things that are not nativly installed on any OS. They are there to provide code to make a particular part of a game work,, not exactly better, but just work in general.

let me reiterate,, it might make some part of a game work better in general, but not from an exact performance stand point, as far as upgrading the visual c stuff. just to get it working proper in game. I hope that makes since. at least sort of. not sure how to explain it at the moment.
 

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    Win 8.1 Pro
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I just let my system handle it as its not worth the effort to figure it out. I have seen some Event Errors when a particular version is required and not found but is easily fixed with the addition of the required version. As you can see I have a lot of versions on my system but its only 81MB total so I don't worry about it. I don't know what programs put them there so I leave them alone.

VIrtual C++.PNG

Jim :cool:
 

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there is no real way to know till you do it.
Certain games will only work with certain versions, as far as I know.

I think, as long as all the libraries are there, it should be fine, however, I don't think you will gain anything, performance wise from doing so.

The only real way to gain performance in games is a better video card, CPU, Faster ram (not more, just faster, 4G is plenty for any gaming rig, any rig really, unless you are going into Virtual Machines, Graphics or Audio/Video creation and Encoding), even then, faster ram will not see a huge improvement.
And possibly SSD drive for faster loading times.

Games in general today rely more on the GPU overall, usually.

The visual C stuff is only there because they may use things that are not nativly installed on any OS. They are there to provide code to make a particular part of a game work,, not exactly better, but just work in general.

let me reiterate,, it might make some part of a game work better in general, but not from an exact performance stand point, as far as upgrading the visual c stuff. just to get it working proper in game. I hope that makes since. at least sort of. not sure how to explain it at the moment.

I understand your point completely. However, seeing there are also SP1 versions of the redistributables I thought there must improvemens at least bug en security wise. That's why I thought it would be better to have the SP1 version.

So I guess I have to uninstall the provided Visual C and try the newer one to know if it covers it or not.

@ Phone man: I'm very critical on installing things on my PC. That's one of the reasons I want to uninstall any versions that are already covered by others (removing the x86 and install the x64 one for example). I don't want to have too much cluttered software on my PC :p
 

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honestly, you can try it, but I wouldn't.
 

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So I uninstalled the Visual C that came with the game and guess what; the game runs perfectly with the Visual C++ 2010 SP1 x64 that I already have installed a while ago. Looks like it doesn't even need the older 2005 version (??), so maybe the game-included Visual C version was the minimum requirement in case someone doesn't have any Visual C installed??
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (Update 1) Pro 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Asrock Pro4 Z77
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Geforce GTX 660Ti
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That is possible. It will install that version regardless, I think that they will install it again, even if it is there.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 8.1 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    I7-3770K
    Motherboard
    ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77
    Memory
    CORSAIR 8GB 2X4 D3 1866
    Graphics Card(s)
    EVGA GTX680 4GB
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ASUS 24" LED VG248QE
    Hard Drives
    SAMSUNG E 256GB SSD 840 PRO -
    SAMSUNG E 120GB SSD840 -
    SEAGATE 1TB PIPELINE
    PSU
    CORSAIR GS800
    Case
    CORSAIR 600T
    Cooling
    CORSAIR HYDRO H100I LIQUID COOLER
    Keyboard
    THERMALTA CHALLENGER ULT GAME-KYBRD
    Mouse
    RAZER DEATHADDER GAME MS BLK-ED
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    APC 1000VA -
    LGELECOEM LG 14X SATA BD BURNER -
    CORSAIR SP120 Fans x 3 -
    NZXT 5.25 USB3 BAY CARD READER -
    HAUPPAUGE COLOSSUS
Shouldn't it appear in the programs list under Control Panel in that case? Because it only shows I have Visual C 2010 installed. I remember the first time I started up the game an installation of Visual C 2005 showed up and it appeared in the Programs list afterwards. Now, after I have uninstalled Visual C 2005 and played the game several times, I still can't find any Visual C 2005 in the list nor any related files in the Program Files folder.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 (Update 1) Pro 64 bit
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    CPU
    Intel i5 3570K
    Motherboard
    Asrock Pro4 Z77
    Memory
    8 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Geforce GTX 660Ti
    Hard Drives
    Hitachi HDS921010DLE630
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