Istaria is now Vista compatible!

The information below is deprecated, however it is preserved for archival purposes. 

Problem

The game fails to launch under windows vista providing a windowed prompt stating "Failed to run Horizons.exe".

Vista ships with a different set of c runtime files than with xp.

Solution

1. Ensure your vista is patched to the current version with all automatic updates downloaded and installed (mine works as of 17/08/2007).

Install the following package from the microsoft website.

- http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=200b2fd9-ae1a-4...

This file has an updated version of the c runtimes which solves the issue under vista.

2. Ensure a rule for the Data Execution Prevention (DEP) is present for the horizons.exe file.

Click the start orb, right click computer and choose properties.

Choose advanced system settings

Choose settings under the performance section

Choose Data execution prevention tab

Add a rule for horizons.exe

Restart your pc.