I've just checked this with UAC ON...
Before turning it off, I deleted the high score and config files for one of my games from the Program Files folder. I then turned UAC ON and reset the PC, as you have to.
Following the reset, I logged into a standard account and played until I got a score high enough for the high score table. I then quit and checked the Program Files folder from the same account. A new high score and config file had been created.
I then logged out of that account and into the admin account (with UAC still ON). The high score and config files were present in the Program Files folder. I double-checked by looking for the virtualisation folder under the Users folder to check nothing was there. Nothing was there! Also ran the game to check it was loading these files and it was.
At this point I then turned UAC off again, reset and logged back into my admin account. I then checked again to see if all files were still present in the Program Files folder and they were.
To conclude, my games are not running in legacy mode, otherwise they would have stored their files in the virtual store under the current user's account (virtualisation is per user only).
It truly is getting weird, as we all seem to be having slightly different experiences here! Also, from the doc linked to above, it should be noted that virtualsation is disabled if UAC is disabled, so any program would probably fail under the new policies. Just goes to show that thorough testing of any game needs to be done under Vista!
My current project is nearing a stage where I'll let it loose to the community for some testing, which I hope will bring some light on this whole matter and ensure that I'm not missing something, but I can't see how when all my tests appear to work!
My tests have all been done from a version of my game installed properly - in other words, I used an installer and didn't just copy the files over to the Program Files dir.
I use SetFileMode on every file I create from within my games to ensure that everyone has access to read and write to these files.
Before turning it off, I deleted the high score and config files for one of my games from the Program Files folder. I then turned UAC ON and reset the PC, as you have to.
Following the reset, I logged into a standard account and played until I got a score high enough for the high score table. I then quit and checked the Program Files folder from the same account. A new high score and config file had been created.
I then logged out of that account and into the admin account (with UAC still ON). The high score and config files were present in the Program Files folder. I double-checked by looking for the virtualisation folder under the Users folder to check nothing was there. Nothing was there! Also ran the game to check it was loading these files and it was.
At this point I then turned UAC off again, reset and logged back into my admin account. I then checked again to see if all files were still present in the Program Files folder and they were.
To conclude, my games are not running in legacy mode, otherwise they would have stored their files in the virtual store under the current user's account (virtualisation is per user only).
It truly is getting weird, as we all seem to be having slightly different experiences here! Also, from the doc linked to above, it should be noted that virtualsation is disabled if UAC is disabled, so any program would probably fail under the new policies. Just goes to show that thorough testing of any game needs to be done under Vista!
My current project is nearing a stage where I'll let it loose to the community for some testing, which I hope will bring some light on this whole matter and ensure that I'm not missing something, but I can't see how when all my tests appear to work!
My tests have all been done from a version of my game installed properly - in other words, I used an installer and didn't just copy the files over to the Program Files dir.
Have you tried creating score file logged in as admin and then saving a score to it when logged in as a standard account? Your test is inconclusive since Admin has rights to all files.
I use SetFileMode on every file I create from within my games to ensure that everyone has access to read and write to these files.