Dice: Games That Require a 64-bit OS are Incoming

[The Wooster]

Dice: Games That Require a 64-bit OS are Incoming

You may want to upgrade your OS if you want to play DICE's future games on the PC.

Are you part of the shrinking minority of gamers still using a 32-bit operating system? Well you'd best upgrade, Mr. Flintstone, because the future is coming. And the future hates mildly outdated operating systems. According to a tweet from DICE's rendering Architect, Johan Andersson, some Frostbite 2 Engine games released in 2013 will require a 64-bit system to run. There's a legitimate technical rationale for the decision: a 64-bit OS can access a system's full complement of RAM, while 32-bit systems can only use four gigs at most.

Most modern systems have been shipping with 64-bit processors for quite a while, but many users held off making the switch to a 64-bit OS because the benefits didn't outweigh the extra hassle of finding compatible drivers and software. The release of Windows 7 made the change more palatable: According to Steam's most recent hardware survey, 53.86% of users use Windows 7 64-bit, while only 6.28% and less than 1% use the 64-bit versions of Vista and XP respectively. If you already own Windows 7 you don't have to upgrade, as each version of the OS - with the exception of Home Basic - comes with both 32 and 64-bit versions.

Source: Twitter [https://twitter.com/repi/status/204501258273427456]










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[MercurySteam]

I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<

Gah, Vista is a terrible OS, but finding DDR2 memory and installing it is fairly straightforward.

The percentage of people with 64-bit operating systems and a minimum of 4GB of RAM is becoming seemingly higher. If games do require 64-bit OSes in the next couple of years then most people won't be too inconvenienced by it. But I guarantee that there will still be complaints about it.

 

[NLS]

Looking forward to this. So far the only 64-bit application I run is photoshop. Great to actually get some use out of all that RAM I got. However, not sure how this will clash with their console releases. The 360 and PS3s respective 512MB each could prove difficult if DICE develop their games with 64-bit memory in mind.

 

[ASnogarD]

A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.
Seems more like the Vista issue, artificially increasing the requirements to push newer OS on customers rather than a geniune use for higher end technology.
We do remember what happened with Gears of War PC ( needed Vista for Dx10 and... AA support ), or Crysis 1 and how it needed Dx10 until a user made a config file that forced many of the so called Dx10 only functions to be enabled, on XP.
PC games, or rather ports of console games barely manage to get the keyboard and mouse working, lack basic tweaking ( like FoV ) and many options that used to be standard...

... so what the hell are they going to do with the 64 bit OS ?


Add more glare ?
Add more perks / streaks ?
Add more DLC ?
Copy Activision and CoD:MW more ?

 

[octafish]

I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<

Gah, Vista is a terrible OS, but finding DDR2 memory and installing it is fairly straightforward.

Oh it'd be no problem to buy some (even if it does cost like three times more than DDR3) and installing it. I'm just not sure it's worth bumping up my DDR2 or going all out and putting in a new motherboard with DDR3.

If you an Intel person, it would be well worth the upgrade to 1155. I don't think Bulldozer was particularly stellar though.

 

[evilneko]

Damn, I'm a 1%er! XD

A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.
Seems more like the Vista issue, artificially increasing the requirements to push newer OS on customers rather than a geniune use for higher end technology.
We do remember what happened with Gears of War PC ( needed Vista for Dx10 and... AA support ), or Crysis 1 and how it needed Dx10 until a user made a config file that forced many of the so called Dx10 only functions to be enabled, on XP.
PC games, or rather ports of console games barely manage to get the keyboard and mouse working, lack basic tweaking ( like FoV ) and many options that used to be standard...

... so what the hell are they going to do with the 64 bit OS ?


Add more glare ?
Add more perks / streaks ?
Add more DLC ?
Copy Activision and CoD:MW more ?

Load more shit into memory so it runs smoother? At least, that'll be the start of it. People already hack games (Fallout 3/NV, I think Oblivion too) to make them at least large address aware. I think Skyrim has it right out of the box.

 

[The Wooster]

A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression both the 360 and the original Xbox have 64-bit processors.

 

[vallorn]

you mean they're gonna make my 6 year old Dell laptop with 4 gigs of RAM and 32bit XP outdated!?

Spoiler

 

[devotedsniper]

I'm surprised theres even a 32bit version of windows 7 if i'm honest, i don't know any processor which hasn't shipped with 64bit compatability in years and years and years, hell i've been running 64bit for well over 6 years now (xp64 and 7 64) with no issues what so ever and that wasn't even with more than 4GB RAM (up until a couple of month ago i still had 4gb, now on 16gb.)

I've never really had any compatiabilty issues, all games are compatiable with 64bit, all drivers now a days (and have done for some time) come in both 32 and 64, I haven't run into any software which doesn't run in 64bit. Hell when 128bit comes out i'll probably be one of the first adopters provided my new CPU is old enough to warrant an upgrade.

I don't see it being a problem for any PC gamer, Console Gamers will more than likely suffer till the next gen is out due to the lack of memory (one of the biggest reasons for the 64bit push is the fact that 64 allows programs to use more than 2GB of RAM each, not to mention it's faster than 32bit as it handles twice the amount of data at a time).

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I could be wrong, but I was under the impression both the 360 and the original Xbox have 64-bit processors.

Yeah, it does. The 360 anyway. Can't imagine how bad the games would be running under a 32bit cpu.

Huh, I read a while back that Windows 8 will have an x360 emulator built in. Interesting.

 

[Tony2077]

guess it going to pay off since the moment i got windows 7 i went 64bit the other one didn't work

 

[Doom-Slayer]

I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<

Eeeeew...I had 8gb of DDR3, upgraded it to 16GB for giggles haha. Only cost me like $70. Its definably worth the step up though, load times go soooo much faster. Skyrim loads in like..10 seconds for me.

 

[blackrave]

So Frostbite2 is being developed for next gen consoles?
Good to know.

 

[number2301]

As a point of accuracy, a 32 bit system can only address 4Gb RAM in total. That's system and video RAM combined..

Besides, XP is 10 years old now, if you're still running that for God's sake treat yourself!

 

[gigastar]

A bit silly to say the least, as the consoles aint 64bit ( at least the 360 isnt ), and DICE ( or more to the point , EA ) wont develop a PC only title.

Want to be proven wrong? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generals_2]

 

[ASnogarD]

I just checked up...and yes the 360 does use a 64 bit CPU ( my bad, sorry ), which is unusual as the console only has 512MB of RAM, so what is the 64 bit CPU doing ?
I thought the only difference between 32 and 64 bit was memory limits ?

None the less I still stand by my point that the requirement is odd as only the PC could make use of the extra RAM and even the 32 bit OS can use 4 gigs of RAM ( if its set to be aware of the higher address range ) while the 360 has 512MB RAM and the PS3 sits with 256MB RAM.

I am cynical of most announcements of this type as there is no business reason to need to force the requirement as the PC already has more capability than both consoles ( if properly coded ).
FYI I am already using a 64 bit system with 8 gigs of RAM so its not like I am complaining I would have to upgrade, just very sceptical.
I see the issue of the hardware side of the business, hardware demands increase when the software makes more demands for performance, but as the current software is mostly forcused on platforms with hardware that is several years old and already outclassed by todays standard units... how can one justify the requirement for higher tech on the one platform that is already way ahead of the other platforms, and isnt properly utilised anyways.
The only way to fully utilise the PC hardware is by making a PC only title, which cant be justified as it would be too expensive to develop with too much risk the investment would not see any returns due to the diminished marketbase.

The only reason I can see this requirement making sense is to push up hardware sales via artificially increasing the requirements.
The next gen consoles are still at least 1 year away, and even those wouldnt have a lot of RAM ( costs too much, so its unlikely ) so why the need for the PC platform ?

EDIT: I forgot about that game , but as it only comes out in 2013 I wouldnt be all too suprised to see a 360, and even a PS3 version announced nearer release date ( RA3 had 360 versions IIRC ). Its also a RTS so while it will be like CoH in that it has great visuals and destruction, it wont be fully utilising a PC capability ( except maybe Dx11 tesselation and some other effects that I barely notice in current Dx11 games ( like Shogun 2 or Crysis 2 ) )

 

[MercurySteam]

I'm still running Windows Vista 32-bit with 4GB of DDR2 RAM. I'm definitely going to upgrade to 7 at some point soon but a RAM upgrade would be such a hassle >.<

Gah, Vista is a terrible OS, but finding DDR2 memory and installing it is fairly straightforward.

Oh it'd be no problem to buy some (even if it does cost like three times more than DDR3) and installing it. I'm just not sure it's worth bumping up my DDR2 or going all out and putting in a new motherboard with DDR3.

That would require a CPU upgrade, but if you're going from Core 2 to 2nd Gen Core Processors then the upgrade is worth it.

 

[Athinira]

I just checked up...and yes the 360 does use a 64 bit CPU ( my bad, sorry ), which is unusual as the console only has 512MB of RAM, so what is the 64 bit CPU doing ?
I thought the only difference between 32 and 64 bit was memory limits ?

Many computations algorithms can take huge advantage of 64 bit programming. The original Crysis, which came with both 32 and 64 bit executables, would typically run with 5-10% more FPS on the 64 bit one.

Computer chess is the field where 64 bit programming is the most advantageous. The speed gain (how fast the computer thinks) is 100% on a 64 bit computer chess engine compared to 32 bit. If you make use of some other 64-bit only features (including Large Pages), the speed gain will typically hit 120%. Every modern chess engine comes with both 32 and 64 bit applications for this reason.