Lol I very much think alot of the comments going through this thread are misleading... So you think more ppl own a pc capable of modern aaa pc gaming aih I think you'll be rather off the mark there even if more ppl play games on pc than say xbox alot of those ppls machines with be just as out dated as xbox. Don't get me wrong the best is always the best and when I'm financially back on my feet ill be have me a new uber rig but yuh must see how pc is mine field for devs?

Well then in the future you have to use an emulator as well, unless they design a working backwards compatibility system, because you won't be able to run any program that hasn't been made in the next 4 years...

Yeah of course that's true... You ovouisly as psychic a d can see inside beths minds... Plz it's a business get over your self. They give out modding tools that only hinder the sale of there own mods. Something few compNys would do.

Ok so what you're saying is having a 64-bit exe will future proof the game for 10+ years?

I think there's more than that to think about, like what was said above, hardware compatibility, cpu+mobo features etc.

Windows OS release dates are usually ~3 years apart. Window 8 comes out next year, making Windows 9 due date around 2015. We could lose x86 support in just 4 years.

Sorry for going off topic, but high-res. textures and all the DLC in the world could not fix Dragon Abomination Age 2. :brokencomputer:

64-bit or not, TES will always eclipse the Dragon Age series. N.B. I loved DA:O but it was nothing, even compared to Morrowind.

Ok correct me if I'm wrong mate. If Windows 9 doesn't support x86, but CPU technology will do, then couldn't we just install a 32-bit XP/Vista/Windows 7 and dual boot?

I support this thread. :thumbsup:

There are still many users using 32-bit of course. But it is becoming old tech, and 64-bit is becoming the norm. Most Windows PC's as far as I know are coming with a 64-bit OS. With 32/64 support on a lot of applications, I don't see why newer games wouldn't follow suit.

As I said, an old OS may not be compatible with future hardware. There is no Intel TurboBoost for XP or Vista for instance. There is other security functions going into W8 and you can assume newer versions of TurboBoost and other security functions embedded in the Intel CPUs will only work with the later OSes they were designed for.

In short, there either needs to be an x64 .exe or a whole bunch of workarounds with their own issues ranging from cost to compatibility because of the lack of an x64 .exe.

This is why I'm starting to hate PC Gaming....you don't have to deal with this stress with console games.

What stress? Just buy a new OS after the first or second price drop. Problem solved. And dont buy every single new OS, skip a generation. Im waiting on 8, but im gonna skip 9, and go to 10. Simple.

You are probably thinking of the install size on your hard drive.

RAM = Random Access Memory

When you boot up Windows it loads itself into your PCs RAM.

When you launch a program like a game it also loads itself onto your PCs RAM.

To check to see how much RAM ( or memory ) you have installed just open the start menu -> right click my computer -> properties. It will be listed on that page that pops up.

As for the topic.. If the game isnt going to take advantage of larger memory setups then I guess there really isnt a need for a 64bit exe.

There is some software that is already dropping their 32 bit versions. I can't think of any games, but Adobe After Effects is only available as a 64 bit version.

Which is hilarious considering that Xbox 360's AAA market is the smallest. It has collapsed massively over the last year or two. Xbox 360 is getting four? exclusives this year. PC and PS3 are both in the double digits for 2011 exclusives. PC and PS3 markets individually are both bigger than the 360 market. Just goes to show how shrewdly MS has leveraged their platform to developers.

But no, a PC version isn't surprising. The PC market is bigger than PS3 or Xbox 360 market. Not making a PC version is a terrible business move.



Since Oblivion, sadly. Xbox version of Morrowind had serious PC port issues, just like Deus Ex on PS2 (which is where my hatred of console gaming started oh so many years ago. As great as Deus Ex was, it was gutted a year before release to try and fit it onto the PS2's hardware / control scheme / low resolution. It could've been so much more. All for a port that never got released due to "unsatisfactory quality.") Honestly, the Xbox & Xbox 360 are the worst things to ever happen to the gaming industry. The Playstation was a shame too. The Dreamcast was a better console (but not controller), and years ahead of its time. A proper industry would have only two consoles: The Dreamcast 3 and the Wii.

it wont be using 64 bit because well...console players want to play skyrim to you know.

Hardly an excuse for not having a 64 bit version (it is possible to have both).

Alright!

Someone state how hard it is to actually get the 64bit exe in the game. I need a real assessment with no short cuts, and not one single corner cut. Paste the actual instructions programming language if you can.

What exactly does it mean if it has not 64-bit exe for a Windows 7 64-bit machine?

It will still run, but it will only be able to use a up to like 2 gb of RAM. Once you start modding, that can be nothing. Plus, if you look at the other thread on the topic, there's a possibility that within four years or so, 32 bit architecture will be dead.

Several of those games are not 64-bit games, and neither is The Witcher. They just had patches released so they would run better (or at all) on a 64-bit OS while still being 32-bit software.


A 32-bit EXE and a 64-bit EXE will not use the same amount of RAM, the 64-bit EXE will use more because the pointers and so on are larger.


Do you seriously belive that fake rumor? :blink:

We won't see any 128-bit OS anytime soon, if ever. Ever. And x86 won't die anytime soon either, there is simply too much software available using it. If Microsoft dropped their 32-bit support in future 64-bit Windowses, they would recive hell not only from users but from companies as well.


If the 32-bit EXE have the "IMAGE_FILE_LARGE_ADDRESS_AWARE" switch enabled, it can use up to 4GB RAM in a 64-bit Windows.

And no, there is no possibility that x86 is dead within 4 years, at all. Well, I guess it would be dead if Earth exploded, but then that would be the least of our problem.

I remember when Windows 95 hit the market and all of the DOS/Windows 3.1 software was immediately obsolete and unusable.

Yeah, but then there's games pushing graphics all the time even though 90% of the time I use my PC for Internet (I feel as though the Radeon card I got 3 years a ago was a waste, since there was only one or two games that truly used it, everything else was several years old).

They did say Skyrim will be ported from Xbox 360, so maybe the requirements won't be too much higher than Oblivion.

...oh :sadvaultboy:

Lots of people are forgetting this. It can happen.

Either you move forward, dropping the old crap, or you stagnate.