Witcher 3.......64 bit?

[prince_of_nothing]

Witcher 3.......64 bit?

DICE recently unofficially announced that Battlefield 4 will be 64 bit only by posting the system requirements for their alpha trial:

Although there have been a few games in the past with 64 bit clients, none of them to my knowledge were designed from the ground up to be a 64 bit game.

So Battlefield 4 from that perspective is pretty groundbreaking. I can definitely see 64 bit helping a game like Battlefield 4 though, with it's massive maps and huge 64 player battles.. Access to greater than 4GB of memory not only means larger and more complex maps, but faster loading times as well and less hard drive access which means smoother gameplay.

I can also see 64 bit helping a game like the Witcher 3. The Witcher 3 will be to my knowledge, the first game of it's kind. It will be non segmented, which means no chapters, and it will be completely contiguous, which means no loading screens or artificial transitions in the game World.

Basically, all of this will require a LOT of memory. Now Witcher 2 uses quite a bit of memory as well, and that's a 32 bit game. I've seen Witcher 2 use as much as 1.8 GB of memory on my machine, with peaks to 1.9GB. And that's just walking around Flotsam and the surrounding forest. I never checked how much memory it was using in other areas, so it could use more.

But DX9 is a memory hog, so I would expect that if the Witcher 2 had been DX11 instead of DX9, it would use less memory than it's DX9 counterpart due to greater efficiency.

But the Witcher 3 will be according to reports, 35 times bigger than the Witcher 2, which is incredible; and that's not even taking into account no loading screens and no artificial boundaries.. Stream technology has made large games possible, even on memory deficient platforms like the Xbox 360 and PS3. But, given the reputed size of the Witcher 3, it comes as no surprise that it doesn't support the older consoles. There has to be a breaking point after all, where streaming data from the HDD/SSD just doesn't cut it anymore because the amount of data is just too much for the relatively slow speed of the HDD/SSD..

Now with that said, I doubt very much that the Witcher 3 will be 64 bit only. I think they would have announced that already if that was the case. Still, it's interesting to see peoples' opinions on this, as the Witcher 3 will undoubtedly be one of those rare titles which promote system upgrades.

 

[Georgie_Porgie]

In the age where you can have up to 32GB of RAM I would definitely like to use more than 2 or 3GBs. Though I believe I never played a game which support 64 bit client so don't really know how it works. I wouldn't mind if TW3 had one

 

[ironclaw]

I'm running 8GB of ram, and it would probably be a bad idea for the witcher 2 to use any more than 5GB. But I probably will go to 16 in the near future (2 years).

 

[prince_of_nothing]

In the age where you can have up to 32GB of RAM I would definitely like to use more than 2 or 3GBs. Though I believe I never played a game which support 64 bit client so don't really know how it works. I wouldn't mind if TW3 had one

It works just the same as a regular 32 bit game, except the game can use more than 4GB.. But of course, the game has to be able to use more than 4GB for it to be considered a true 64 bit game.

And that was the problem with games in the past where the developer merely patched in a 64 bit exe on a game designed primarily for 32 bit processors and called it a day.

Battlefield 4 will be different though, as it's built from the ground up to be 64 bit, so the engine will be capable of using more than 4GB of memory.

 

[gibb_geralt]

Pretty sure that's just for the alpha. Can't imagine them not releasing it on Windows 8 or 32 bit computers.

 

[prince_of_nothing]

I'm running 8GB of ram, and it would probably be a bad idea for the witcher 2 to use any more than 5GB. But I probably will go to 16 in the near future (2 years).

I think you meant Witcher 3.

I have 16 GB in mine right now, but most of it goes to waste because all I use my computer for is gaming and 99% of games use less than 2GB of memory.

But it was cheap, and my Core i7 3930K has a quad channel memory controller so I figured why not?

 

[prince_of_nothing]

Pretty sure that's just for the alpha. Can't imagine them not releasing it on Windows 8 or 32 bit computers.

No it's not just for the alpha. They made statements last year that future Frostbite powered games would require a 64 bit OS. Most people didn't think they were talking about BF4, but I guess they were:

DICE's engine goes 64 bit only

At any rate, it makes no sense for the Alpha to be 64 bit while the retail to be 32.. If the alpha engine is 64 bit only, then you can be sure the retail will be 64 bit as that's a low level design choice and it makes no sense for them to pour resources into making a 64 bit engine without putting it to use.

And DICE were amongst the first to use DX11 only, so I wouldn't put it past them to do something like this either..

 

[JackalJ]

I guess this trial is just for testing it on a specific set up, Might be cool if cdpr also did something like this. That way they don't have to buy different setup themselves and instead release some sort of benchmark to find the recommended specs.

 

[Agent_Blue]

I'm all in for 64 bit. Wouldn't that alienate a fair share of gamers though?

 

[prince_of_nothing]

I'm all in for 64 bit. Wouldn't that alienate a fair share of gamers though?

Most gamers, with the exception of a stubborn few have been on 64 bit platforms for years. The ones that aren't are either casual gamers (ie internet gamers), or die hard Windows XP fanatics clinging to their ancient OS like a tick clinging to a dog that has been swept away by a tsunami..

 

[ironclaw]

if anyone is still running a 32 bit system, they probably wouldn't be able to run the witcher 3 acceptably anyway.

Update: and if they do have a system capable of runningthe witcher 3 and a 32 bit os, then the upgrade of the os is obvious anyway.

 

[jediknight16]

32 bit is dead and obsolete by now, but most of games are still developped on 32 bit because it's cheaper and it allows older computers to run them. This is going to change in 2014, but there will still be a lot of developpers who will make 32 and 64 versions in order to satisfy everybody. Don't expect full games only 64 bit before 2015 or later, and for the witcher 3 we don't know what will it be

 

[CostinRaz]

I'm all in for 64 bit. Wouldn't that alienate a fair share of gamers though?

Not that many as you might think.

On the Steam Hardware Survey one can see that that 53.5% of users have Windows 7 64 Bit, another 11.8% use Windows 8 64 Bit, so around 65.3% of all steam users have a Windows 7 or Windows 8 in 64 bits while only 14% have Windows 7 or Windows 8 32 bits. Keeping in mind that Witcher 3 will be DX11 only then they aren't denying that many people.

 

[Marsep]

CD Projekt RED already confirmed that The Witcher 3 is planned for 64bit Only. A very demanding game.

Recently CD Projekt RED improved upon the original version of REDengine, appropriately named "REDengine 3." Designed to run exclusively on a 64-bit software platform, CD Projekt RED created REDengine 3 for the purpose of developing open world video game environments, which it has planned for The Witcher 3 (2014 release) and Cyberpunk 2077 (2015 release). REDengine 3 is a new technology, utilizing the 64-bit precision of modern personal computing.

That's official.

 

[Aditya]

I don't care either way, but wouldn't 64 bit be better since this game would require a very decent to high end PC for the full experience?
And regarding BF4 which I don't care about, no windows 8? that's crap, although people have wrong notions and complete ignorance when it comes to many such things, and majority have win 7, still it's kinda pathetic they won't support the latest os.

 

[username_2064020]

It's about goddamn time to get rid of 32 bit as a standard on desktops.
I mean, 32 bit CPUs aren't even produced anymore since 2004/2005, why are we dragging so much?

 

[username_2314262]

Considering the next gen consoles are 64 bit (finally) its about time games are made 64bit.

Steam info on users using 64 bit OS is above, and honestly i find it odd that some people still use a 32bit OS.

 

[501105]

One thing this news does very much confirm is that next generation games/consoles are going to change things a lot. I was looking at buying a new video card to prepare, but better to buy a mostly new pc early next year.

 

[prince_of_nothing]

CD Projekt RED already confirmed that The Witcher 3 is planned for 64bit Only. A very demanding game.

Recently CD Projekt RED improved upon the original version of REDengine, appropriately named "REDengine 3." Designed to run exclusively on a 64-bit software platform, CD Projekt RED created REDengine 3 for the purpose of developing open world video game environments, which it has planned for The Witcher 3 (2014 release) and Cyberpunk 2077 (2015 release). REDengine 3 is a new technology, utilizing the 64-bit precision of modern personal computing.

That's official.

Awesome if true, but do you have a source for that?

 

[Username.]

It's about goddamn time to get rid of 32 bit as a standard on desktops.
I mean, 32 bit CPUs aren't even produced anymore since 2004/2005, why are we dragging so much?

I miss 64-bit executables, last game I've played that had them was Crysis. I blame consoles.