Horizons: 64 bit only; DX11 only

[Agrar Therenus]

Sometimes the integrity of the game comes first. 32-bit just won't cut it for the added complexity of planetary landings.

In fact I'm amazed there isn't an uproar, as is usually the case in this rather over dramatic culture of gaming we live in these days.

 

[lysan]

Its a good thing, a mandatory decision and I congrats FDEV that they made this decision. Upgrade not downgrade is what we need.

 

[irongut]

64 bit is a good thing, it enables the game to address a lot more memory. All you 32 bit hold outs have a maximum of 3.3Gb (ish) available to apps even if you install more. It is possible to push that to 4Gb but it is not easy or for the non-technical. 64 bit Windows will run all your 32 bit apps and enable you to run 64 bit only apps too. With the free upgrade to Win10 you have little excuse for not replacing your old 32 bit Vista, 7 or 8 with some nice shiny.

And if you don't have DX11 then you are using XP or earlier and should just go ahead and throw your computer in the bin.

 

[lysan]

64 bit is a good thing, it enables the game to address a lot more memory. All you 32 bit hold outs have a maximum of 3.3Gb (ish) available to apps even if you install more. It is possible to push that to 4Gb but it is not easy or for the non-technical. 64 bit Windows will run all your 32 bit apps and enable you to run 64 bit only apps too. With the free upgrade to Win10 you have little excuse for not replacing your old 32 bit Vista, 7 or 8 with some nice shiny.

And if you don't have DX11 then you are using XP or earlier and should just go ahead and throw your computer in the bin.

 

[stevesideas]

Aren't Microsoft giving free updates to win 10. I'm sure win10 is 64bit only so I don't see what the problem is. Just update your OS.

 

[Brimstone]

Guys, you don't need to rebuy windows in order to get a 64 bit version. All you need to do is download an 64bit ISO from Microsoft, put it on a USB or DVD, then re-install Windows using the key you already have. The only thing you need to be careful of, for example, is getting a 64 bit version of Windows 7 home premium if you have Windows 7 home premium 32 bit. You cant download Windows 7 Professional if you have Home Premium, because then your key will not work for that version.

 

[Florizel]

And if you don't have DX11 then you are using XP or earlier and should just go ahead and throw your computer in the bin.

Isn't there also variants, that some people have WIN64 (XP, Vista, WIN7, WIN8 etc), but directx10 graphic cards? Is here statistic about them too?

 

[Cosmo]

Horizons: 64 bit only; DX11 only = more RAM can be used for better graphical fidelity with the highest settings.

 

[Roybe]

Guys, you don't need to rebuy windows in order to get a 64 bit version. All you need to do is download an 64bit ISO from Microsoft, put it on a USB or DVD, then re-install Windows using the key you already have. The only thing you need to be careful of, for example, is getting a 64 bit version of Windows 7 home premium if you have Windows 7 home premium 32 bit. You cant download Windows 7 Professional if you have Home Premium, because then your key will not work for that version.

I thought this was the case. I suggest you make a thread with this as its header so that folks do not throw money at M$ for no good reason. The flip over to Win 10 was quite easy and the only issues I had were with sound drivers...and since I have an overrtooled bunch of sound things this made sense to me.

 

[EUS]

Guys, you don't need to rebuy windows in order to get a 64 bit version. All you need to do is download an 64bit ISO from Microsoft, put it on a USB or DVD, then re-install Windows using the key you already have. The only thing you need to be careful of, for example, is getting a 64 bit version of Windows 7 home premium if you have Windows 7 home premium 32 bit. You cant download Windows 7 Professional if you have Home Premium, because then your key will not work for that version.

News to me, I always thought you could only reinstall the same version (including bit) for the key.
Thanks for the info.

 

[Ganos_Lal]

A cautionary note .... in the past the limiting factor for an upgrade from 32 to 64 bit was the availability of 64 bit drivers for your hardware. This may still be the case with older hardware, so beware and check or you may find it will cost you more than an OS upgrade.

Play your way
GL

 

[_Agamemnon_]

Sometimes the integrity of the game comes first. 32-bit just won't cut it for the added complexity of planetary landings.

In fact I'm amazed there isn't an uproar, as is usually the case in this rather over dramatic culture of gaming we live in these days.

[Uproar] They've been working on Horizon for how long? Nine months?
So for that long they've known it would be 64-bit only. Why not let people know that well in advance?
Why not inform those thousands of customers that they will need to upgrade to play it?
Not only software but maybe even hardware for some.[End Uproar]

That's all I can muster right now because, sadly, I dont really care what happens to this game anymore...
64 bit is only for the consoles. To unify the game into one for all platforms. It will not do anything to improve the PC game.

 

[the100thmonkey]

I guess it is unfortunate for those that may no longer be able to play.

Well, given that the game needs a dual-core CPU with some chops at minimum, the 64-bit instruction set is supported by the hardware. Anyone with a 32-bit OS could upgrade, although I just looked at Amazon UK and ebuyer, and my first thought was "bloody hell the UK's expensive!"

I appreciate that not everyone wants to drop 75 quid on an OS, however. To me that's another argument in favour of a Linux client, although I wouldn't be surprised if there were more than 8,000 people who'd be prepared to pay for a Linux version, lifetime expansion passes included.

 

[Astral Crawler]

[Uproar] They've been working on Horizon for how long? Nine months?
So for that long they've known it would be 64-bit only. Why not let people know that well in advance?
Why not inform those thousands of customers that they will need to upgrade to play it?
Not only software but maybe even hardware for some.[End Uproar]

That's all I can muster right now because, sadly, I dont really care what happens to this game anymore...
64 bit is only for the consoles. To unify the game into one for all platforms. It will not do anything to improve the PC game.

That's not it ; FD had planned to support both 32-bit and 64-bit, but have (unsolvable?) issues with the new shaders with the 32-bit build. Since that is used by less than 1% of players, is really obsolete tech, and 64-bit upgrade is always an option (unless your CPU predates 2006), ditching 32-bit its the sensible thing to do. Keeping 32-bit would have dragged development backwards much more than a supposed 'PC dumbed down to align with XBone'

 

[Ganos_Lal]

Aye, I think the argument is that you require DX11 for Horizons anyway, and those with DX11 on Win32 are very very few, if any at all

The fact that your OS has DX11 installed does not mean you are DX11 compliant, you still need a capable graphics card.

Play your way
GL

 

[Kristov]

[Uproar] They've been working on Horizon for how long? Nine months?
So for that long they've known it would be 64-bit only. Why not let people know that well in advance?
Why not inform those thousands of customers that they will need to upgrade to play it?
Not only software but maybe even hardware for some.[End Uproar]

That's all I can muster right now because, sadly, I dont really care what happens to this game anymore...
64 bit is only for the consoles. To unify the game into one for all platforms. It will not do anything to improve the PC game.

They tried to make it both 32 and 64 bit, but the 32 bit kept crashing, too many issues with DX11, and they simply decided it wasn't worth the effort and went straight 64 bit. The Cobra engine is a native 64 bit engine, and only the PC version uses the 32 bit executable, so not a big surprise really. Mac and XBOne are already 64 bit...so how exactly is this console consolidation? This is to make the graphics work for Horizons, which is DX11 only, nothing previous.

And the switch to full on 64 on PC now opens up full DX12 implementation, so we can, hopefully, expect to see better graphics from here on out.

Oh, and there's no Mac or XBOne version of Horizons..it wasn't for consoles at all...why do people keep assuming that?

 

[b1ker]

The fact that your OS has DX11 installed does not mean you are DX11 compliant, you still need a capable graphics card.

Play your way
GL

Will my current card work? - AMD Radeon HD 5700 Series

 

[Duckfather]

Aren't Microsoft giving free updates to win 10. I'm sure win10 is 64bit only so I don't see what the problem is. Just update your OS.

Nope. If you have 32 bit Win7 / 8.x, it will upgrade to 32bit Win10. You can then get the 32 bit OS to create installation media for Win10 64 bit and install all over again though, but it's not a widely known feature.

 

[_Agamemnon_]

They tried to make it both 32 and 64 bit, but the 32 bit kept crashing, too many issues with DX11, and they simply decided it wasn't worth the effort and went straight 64 bit. The Cobra engine is a native 64 bit engine, and only the PC version uses the 32 bit executable, so not a big surprise really. Mac and XBOne are already 64 bit...so how exactly is this console consolidation? This is to make the graphics work for Horizons, which is DX11 only, nothing previous.

And the switch to full on 64 on PC now opens up full DX12 implementation, so we can, hopefully, expect to see better graphics from here on out.

Oh, and there's no Mac or XBOne version of Horizons..it wasn't for consoles at all...why do people keep assuming that?

Everything since 1.3 points to consolidation between the platforms. The "optimizations" made to the game has been nothing but downgrades for the PC game.
There are many threads about this already.
There's no Mac version since Horizons will not work on the current software. Did Frontier tell them that when they released ED for Mac? No.
Did Frontier know it would not work? Yes, they did.
If what you say about the Xbox game and Horizons is true, do the Xbox players know this?

I'm glad for you that you're hopeful for this game. I wish I could share that outlook.
I dont even play this game anymore, I just pop in at these forums at times to see if I can find a reason to do so again.
Not so this time.

 

[Jerakeen]

I really don't understand why anyone is still running on 32 bit. We've all had 64 bit processors for years. Why stifle your PC like that? It's like buying a 12 cylinder Ferrari and taking half the plug leads off.

And more to the point, if you're a Luddite who insists on running 10 year old equipment I'm sorry but I don't see why the rest of us should be held back until you decide it's time to upgrade.

I could understand people sticking with 32 bit back in the Windows XP days. 64 bit XP was useless for home use but Windows 7 onwards has been fine.