DICE: Some Frostbite Games Will Require a 64-bit OS

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[citation][nom]A Bad Day[/nom]Agreed, especially for Bulldozer and Piledriver. All that's missing is Windows 7's or Windows Classic's UI. [citation]
There's already an application called Start8 from Stardock for Windows 8. While it doesn't eradicate the Metro GUI in its entirety, it does do the best job of reviving the Start button and Start menu.
 
thumbs up for your move to 64-bit OS requirement, but just remember not to go crying and blaming piracy if your games doesn't sell as much as expected....
 
[citation][nom]cumi2k4[/nom]thumbs up for your move to 64-bit OS requirement, but just remember not to go crying and blaming piracy if your games doesn't sell as much as expected....[/citation]

wont matter if the pirates dont have a 32-bit os
 
[citation][nom]threehosts[/nom]Why don't they skip this whole Windows thing and start developing for Linux instead?[/citation]

tch yeah that's gonna happen. Steam is starting to do more with linux but that's bout all I've heard. And given that I don't even like steam guess my machine is just stuck being a machine used for coding.
 
[citation][nom]threehosts[/nom]Why don't they skip this whole Windows thing and start developing for Linux instead?[/citation]

Because Linux users are only a small percentage of computer users/gamers. Nothing against Linux, but facts are facts.
 
I am pumped for more technology push in gaming but when it come to games... If i even see EA logo. It is game over because I wont buy anything from EA!
 
Good to see DICE pushing this. Though i don't want them pushing Windows 8...not that the OS is bad...just so MS knows people are better off with a choice...

Sadly, I'm not very sure i'm buying another EA game, unless it's gamer friendly.
 
I agree that if user experience needs more ram there should be no compromises ,but i don't get all the hate? Consoles are stuck with limiting memory and thats not going to change.And cheap port wont change that.So is the 32bit OS really the problem.After all 4GB isn't small at all.
 
I'm thinking that some of the newer games will start using 64bit instructions in their code as well, because despite what M$ Windows would have you think, a 32bit CPU is not inherently 4 GB of address space. I know this because I dual boot Win 7-64bit along with Ubuntu 12.04LTS-32bit (Which I found to be more stable than Ubuntu's 64 bit flavor) and guess what! Ubuntu 32 bit sees and uses all of my memory (6GB) minus what the hd2000 is using (which is usually between 128MB and 512MB but can go up to 1.7GB on massive video rendering). The point is the resources limit is artificially set by M$ for it's windows products. I remember all the crap we had to do to get around DOS's 640k limit which was again a limit of the OS not the hardware. In fact, I once owned a TRS80 Color Computer 3 that had an 8 bit processor, but was upgradable to 512K (supported by Tandy) or up to 8 MB by reprogramming the memory manager in the coco's GIME chip.

Sure CPU are limited by how many address lines it has (64k for the 6809E in the coco3) but a decent memory manager can use much more memory than this via page swaping. That is what the coco did and I suspect the same type of thing is happening in Ubuntu 32bit.

So if the new games just need more memory resources, then getting M$ off their butts and change their memory management software would be all that is needed (32bit Windows 'seeing' 128GB of memory isn't impossible and is pretty strait forward). Microsoft doesn't want to do that for whatever reason.

But I suspect many game and most other genres of development will (or are?) also using the new 64bit machine code instructions in development work. There are plenty relatively new compilers out there for various languages that compile 64bit instructions into it's executables. THIS kind of software wouldn't work on a CPU with a 32bit instruction set.
 
For those who are wondering why some people are still using 32-bit OSes, is because 64-bit OSes don't support 16-bit software.

Proprietary software are a pain to develop. Tons of red tape, funding issues and that's not including an ignorant management that doesn't understand why a still-functional 1990's software needs to be replaced.
 
[citation][nom]Achoo22[/nom]It's pretty retarded that this guy (who, as an artist pretty far down the totem pole, is absolutely unqualified to be making press releases) says that the games will require 64-bit operating systems instead of just stating that their games will require loading X amount of assets into RAM.As a general rule, 64-bit operating systems (and corresponding hardware) make access to more than 4GB of RAM easier - they are not, however, required. Doesn't anyone remember protected mode? LOADHI, farptr, and PAE are inconvenient, but workable.[/citation]
I'm pretty sure that rendering architect is more than qualified talking about their own tech. (He is one of the brilliant minds who programmed Frostbite2)

Check your sources before you say silly things. :)
 
[citation][nom]CDdude55[/nom]Good news, about time we see some devs push in the right direction. Besides legacy software compatibility there is no real reason for someone to stick with 32-bit.Though i think most people who use 32-bit OS's are just people who don't really understand or care about what any of it means, they'll continue running there 32-bit copy of XP as long as it opens of Microsoft Word. There is no real incentive for most people to move up to a 64-bit OS, hence i think that 32-bit OS's will still be large use into the future.It is up to Microsoft and other software devs to push foward and start creating more 64-bit orented software.[/citation]
This is true. A way they could do it is push people to use the 64-bit browser since most people simply use their PCs for skype, facebook and e-mail. More plugins need to be standard in the 64-bit browser before people feel 64-bit is the way to go.

Most productivity apps are headed in the 'as a service' direction as well, so the browser will be a standard method of delivery for just about anything the mainstream user runs.

The problem is many of these apps are still only being released for the 32-bit IE only world. Not good for the push to 64.
 
I've seen too few titles release with any 64 bit option. I'm looking forward to having actual 64 bit games available for the PC. It's about time the developers started taking advantage of the huge install base to gain some significant performance increases.
 
[citation][nom]sirencall[/nom]Thats a lie, win8 has better performance in games due to being less resource intensive[/citation]
By what 3%, like you'll really notice the difference. What you will notice is the stupid Metro UI.
 
[citation][nom]Achoo22[/nom]As a general rule, 64-bit operating systems (and corresponding hardware) make access to more than 4GB of RAM easier - they are not, however, required. Doesn't anyone remember protected mode? LOADHI, farptr, and PAE are inconvenient, but workable.[/citation]

As well as slower, most build on paging techniques. Inefficiency is not what anyone want and that is especially true when dealing with games rendering 3d gfx in realtime... So workable yes, optimal - far from it!
 
Even Battlefield 3 doesn't work very well with a 32 bit os on medium settings. I had to run mine at 1920*1080 with minimum settings on 32bit. Just for this I upgraded Win7 to 64 bit and now it works very well with my 6850.
 
[citation][nom]captaincharisma[/nom]or you could go for a and find that rare copy of windows XP x64 if you still like living in the stone age[/citation]

Many games (and programs) won't run on XP x64, I find it unlikely Frostbite would support it since XP loses all support in 2014 anyway.
 
yup...this is more than likely due to the next gen console using more ram and 64-bit native cpu. they wouldn't require 64-bit just for pc game. if so, they would have done it by now. the ram for the current gen console are so pathetic. sadly, console drives pc game development not the other way around.
 
Thanks DICE; now how about fixing the problems you created in BF3? You know, like patching weapon problems when they are discovered instead of waiting months and letting the game play get ruined.
 
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