Well you were both negligent to disregard the previous generations of OS with x64 support, but either way, x64 is the majority and Windows 9 will not support x86 most likely. W8 is out next year, W9 is out in another ~3 after that. That is 4 years away. Can you imagine Skyrim not running on a new OS a mere 4 years from now.

Skyrim NEEDS a 64bit .exe!!

Yup. I was really just enforcing your point. Projekt was focused on PC development not console, so this is an anomaly given that more than 80% of the game market is for consoles. The XP list is very old and on an even older OS. Granted it's still x64 architecture, but it's nothing more than a clunky polished turd.



I'll reiterate; Projekt developed the game for the PC. BGS and most other "main stream" developers focus design for console sales. Period. Since xbox and pc share similar architecture it's safe to assume we will not see a significant increase in 64bit multi-core support until the release of the next gen of consoles. Can BGS do it now? Sure they can. Will they? Doubt it.

Anyway, I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

W8 is out next year, W9 ~3 years after that. There's a good chance W9 will not support 32bit. If somehow it stays till W10, giving another ~3 years... that's still just 7 years.

You guys need to include an x64 .exe for the longevity of a playable Skyrim.


[I know there was another topic, but I felt this was too important to get hidden in the backpages of another thread. Even if it gets closed, at least I can be sure it was seen.]

Plus we dont want crashing like we saw in oblivion with a lot of mods because SR can only use ~2gigs of memory on our 4-8 gig average systems.

There's no reason to think the next Windows will be 64-bit exclusive, and there are no reasons either to release 128-bit CPUs/OS's. Not when even 64 bit technology is SO underused.

Besides, sadly it's little probable that the next-gen consoles (720 and PS4) will have 64-bit CPU's, so with a little of bad luck most games will still be stuck with ridiculous 32-bit .exes for another 5 years since their release.

Of all the PC features I wanted a 64 bit exe was about the least likely. Best keep your copy of Win 7 handy in the future. I doubt we'll see a 64 bit exe till like the Xbox1440 when the consoles finally catch up with today's hardware.

Bethesda doesn't support games very long after release with the cutoff point seeming to be the release of the GOTY version. For example, Oblivion doesn't officially support Windows 7.

You guys aren't getting it... a 32bit .exe won't run if the OS doesn't support x86. Your Skyrim disc could be a coaster in as little as 4 years on W9



AMD new APU Llano and CPU Bulldozer both support 128bit. 128bit is here, now.

At this point I'm feeling rather lucky we are even getting a PC version or that they acknowledged its existence. :confused: Anything that doesn't start with "X" and end with "Box" seems to be an after thought.

Yeah, RAM limitation svcks (and I naive person hoped TES5 will fully use my SSD potential)
But I see this as one of things that is fixed with patch

Did Bethesda listen when people said they wanted more DX 11 features or just better graphics for the PC? No.

I doubt they will listen now as well, sadly, even though I do agree with you.

Bethesda has utterly failed with the PC version, while DICE has won.

What else then games can take advantage of a 64b exe (except maybe graphics and video editors)!! Please, I know I'll still be playing Skyrim in 10 years just like I play Morrowind, OB and Fallout3. And I wish they were really optimised to use multi-cores and 64b exe too! I don't even ask for extras to go with a 64b exe, but please, we all know mods will!

Hmmm, one can dream...

Actually, Bethesda did listen. Skyrim does support DX11 features. It doesn't utilize it much, but it is there for future use.

And why wouldn't it support it again?

Because computer technology doesn't stop moving forward just because the video game industry can't pry itself away from 6 year old tech.

Supports? Uses? It supports it but it will never be used for Skyrim's future. It uses no features at all, except for the optimization stuff itself that DX11 comes with.

Weird, my modern computer can still easily play 20 years old software without any problem...



Also, this article talks about Servers. If you use a Server OS to play games, you're doing it wrong.

32bit support [aka x86] is an instruction set used by various OSes, whether they are for home or servers. The Server OS has discontinued x86 to be capable of 128bit support, they are not compatible with x86 anymore. PCs for home use will likely face the same issue with the release of Windows 9 [or whatever it will be called].

The reason your 20yo software works is because x86 was developed in 1978.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86

Why not 64 Bit? Easy Answer.

Bethesda's main platform is the Console, specifically the XBox. The PC is and always will be in the future a console port with little to no changes or enhancements.

One reason why I won't bother with the PC version most likely this time around.

I don't think so, you must be used emulator or virtual machine to run it on modern PC with modern OS.

It is good that DX11 is there for whatever modders may come up with. It is a matter of increased possibilities.

I was thinking that. Even 10 years after Arena came out people needed to use emulators to run DOS games on XP. Honestly who cares if in 10 years Skyrim won't run on Windows? We're seeing it happen with games already. Rise of Nations doesn't run on Windows 7.

The answer to the problem is dual-boot Win9+Win7 = problem solved :thumbsup:

Thats work only with software compatibility, dual boot will not help if old software cannot work with new hardware, for example many old games have problems with GPU and CPU.
Question in other 64Bit support help if you large memory load because you can use additional memory, heavy modded Oblivion work better when more resources is free, fro example LOD, loaded cells, scripts and AI schedules, unless devs optimize such aspects in Skyrim in compare to Oblivion

One thing people need to keep in mind is that if and when they do go to 64bit support, not all mods may end up following. The tools used to make mods like OBSE and the Stutter Remover aren't cheap. There is easily a jump of $400US between the tools that work on 32bit apps and those that work on 64bit. Some modders may choose not to support the 64bit executable.

That would cost me like $400 for 2 retail copies of the last OS to support x86... or a new OEM for each new laptop and desktop I get. That's not going to happen. Furthermore, features like Intel's Turbo or security features for their CPU are in the newest OS, having an old OS on a new machine will be a liability.