Testing 64-bit on the PTS!

[JackieKo]

Hi everyone, 

Surprise! Players can test 64-bit on the PTS right now! As mentioned in the letter from Keith, we are getting ready to move to 64-bit. This is the thread that can be used to submit feedback. Please also read through the PTS article and this post entirely before jumping into the PTS. We are currently looking for how well the game runs in this environment and would like the following feedback. 

Did you experience a crash? If so, please provide:

• System specs - processor, video card, OS version
• What were you doing before the crash happened?
• Please provide a DxDiag report and send it to support@swtor.com with the subject line 64-Bit PTS Testing

As there are thousands of permutations of processor, memory, graphics card, etc…we're especially on the hunt for issues that show up with specific configurations. Please play as you normally would, and if there is anything strange happening, let us know about it! 

Known issue: Trees and foliage as they will look broken or be completely invisible. Upgrades are being made with the modeling software that builds these environment assets which is why they will not appear as functional during this phase of testing.

Special notes: 

• This phase of testing will feature 7.2 content
• As all the assets are being updated, players should expect a near full download of the game when downloading the PTS
• Character copy is available

Thanks!
 

EDIT: Updated to read that this PTS patch will feature 7.2 content instead of 7.1.1. 

[AMAirlines]

Hey Jackie. Out of curiosity, if the game is moving to 64-bit, does that mean the credit cap will be increased from 2^32 (4.29 billion) to 2^64 (Nearly unlimited?) due to the 32 bit integer limit being gone?

I think it would be a tremendous help if so

[raikme]

This is HUGE. 

Downloading PTS right now, will edit this reply with all the tests and conclusions.

EDIT: Dantooine on Live servers - 45-80fps with lots of stuttering.

         Dantooine on PTS - 140+ fps all the time killing mobs and explosions.

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by raikme

[SteveTheCynic]

5 minutes ago, AMAirlines said:

Hey Jackie. Out of curiosity, if the game is moving to 64-bit, does that mean the credit cap will be increased from 2^32 (4.29 billion) to 2^64 (Nearly unlimited?) due to the 32 bit integer limit being gone?

I think it would be a tremendous help if so

(sarcasm) Obviously, because the fact of compiling it as a 64-bit program automatically means that all integer variables, including in the databases, are automatically converted to 64-bit integers. (/sarcasm)

Sorry about the sarcasm.  In reality, this doesn't happen, especially if they were declared as "a 32-bit variable" rather than "a variable of at least 32 bits".  (I've been a professional developer for what will soon (less than two weeks time) be 34 years.)

It doesn't even mean that making that change is automatically easy, for other reasons.  Nothing stops you telling a 32-bit compiler that ===> that variable should be a 64-bit integer, and the compiler will transparently take care of how to manipulate it.

[Sleeperzz]

What are the chances of Windows 7 64 bit  still  being supported?     Still working   for now   Regular servers.  

Edited December 20, 2022 by Sleeperzz

[SteveTheCynic]

1 minute ago, Sleeperzz said:

What are the chances of Windows 7 64 bit  still  being supported?     Still working   for now   Regular servers.  

The change to 64-bit won't make any difference to that unless they've done it by updating the underlying engine and along the way they picked up something that disabled Win7 compatibility.  Windows 10 32-bit(1), of course, will no longer be supported.

(1) Yes, that's a thing.  Windows 11 doesn't have a 32-bit build.  The mighty EDLIN is no longer with us.

[SteveTheCynic]

Preliminary test: Yes, that works.  I got the PTS client up to just over 3GB of memory in a single process, and no "(32 bit)" next to it in Task Manager...

[ReveredDead]

43 minutes ago, AMAirlines said:

Hey Jackie. Out of curiosity, if the game is moving to 64-bit, does that mean the credit cap will be increased from 2^32 (4.29 billion) to 2^64 (Nearly unlimited?) due to the 32 bit integer limit being gone?

I think it would be a tremendous help if so

Yeah that's a great idea. Let's make the already outrageous and out of control in game inflation even worse with UNLIMITED CREDIT CEILING. 

Meanwhile on fleet: "WTS BLACK/BLACK DYE 50B!!"

[AMAirlines]

41 minutes ago, ReveredDead said:

Yeah that's a great idea. Let's make the already outrageous and out of control in game inflation even worse with UNLIMITED CREDIT CEILING. 

Meanwhile on fleet: "WTS BLACK/BLACK DYE 50B!!"

People already sell stuff for high prices, a higher limit won't stop that lmao. Just means less trades and less scams.

It is not hard to survive this economy

[AMAirlines]

1 hour ago, SteveTheCynic said:

(sarcasm) Obviously, because the fact of compiling it as a 64-bit program automatically means that all integer variables, including in the databases, are automatically converted to 64-bit integers. (/sarcasm)

Sorry about the sarcasm.  In reality, this doesn't happen, especially if they were declared as "a 32-bit variable" rather than "a variable of at least 32 bits".  (I've been a professional developer for what will soon (less than two weeks time) be 34 years.)

It doesn't even mean that making that change is automatically easy, for other reasons.  Nothing stops you telling a 32-bit compiler that ===> that variable should be a 64-bit integer, and the compiler will transparently take care of how to manipulate it.

yea, I'm also a programmer, not as long as you obviously so I'm not gonna come out here and deny everything you said. I was just wondering if this was a route they were thinking of going in.

[OlBuzzard]

2 hours ago, JackieKo said:

Hi everyone, 

Surprise! Players can test 64-bit on the PTS right now! As mentioned in the letter from Keith, we are getting ready to move to 64-bit. This is the thread that can be used to submit feedback. Please also read through the PTS article and this post entirely before jumping into the PTS. We are currently looking for how well the game runs in this environment and would like the following feedback. 

Did you experience a crash? If so, please provide:

• System specs - processor, video card, OS version
• What were you doing before the crash happened?
• Please provide a DxDiag report and send it to support@swtor.com with the subject line 64-Bit PTS Testing

As there are thousands of permutations of processor, memory, graphics card, etc…we're especially on the hunt for issues that show up with specific configurations. Please play as you normally would, and if there is anything strange happening, let us know about it! 

Known issue: Trees and foliage as they will look broken or be completely invisible. Upgrades are being made with the modeling software that builds these environment assets which is why they will not appear as functional during this phase of testing.

Special notes: 

• This phase of testing will feature 7.2 content
• As all the assets are being updated, players should expect a near full download of the game when downloading the PTS
• Character copy is available

Thanks!
 

EDIT: Updated to read that this PTS patch will feature 7.2 content instead of 7.1.1. 

HOLY COW !!!

Ummm  ... yeah .. the old man might be able to test this one!!  I'll definitely look into it!!

[/two thumbs up]

[OlBuzzard]

1 hour ago, SteveTheCynic said:

The change to 64-bit won't make any difference to that unless they've done it by updating the underlying engine and along the way they picked up something that disabled Win7 compatibility.  Windows 10 32-bit(1), of course, will no longer be supported.

(1) Yes, that's a thing.  Windows 11 doesn't have a 32-bit build.  The mighty EDLIN is no longer with us.

For whatever it's worth ... I'm appreciative of the fact that there are folks around like you who really do understand the tech side of this!

[SteveTheCynic]

1 hour ago, AMAirlines said:

yea, I'm also a programmer, not as long as you obviously so I'm not gonna come out here and deny everything you said. I was just wondering if this was a route they were thinking of going in.

They might or might not, but it can be done without switching the client to 64-bit.  My intent was mostly to draw attention to the way the two parts are unrelated to each other.  Sorry if it came off a bit harsh.

[Screaming_Ziva]

3 hours ago, AMAirlines said:

Hey Jackie. Out of curiosity, if the game is moving to 64-bit, does that mean the credit cap will be increased from 2^32 (4.29 billion) to 2^64 (Nearly unlimited?) due to the 32 bit integer limit being gone?

I think it would be a tremendous help if so

I just tested this and no, the 4.29b cap is still there (for now at least).

[Drendal]

Amazing news for the game! Thank you!

[eabevella]

Guess the game isn't dying after all /jk

Jokes aside this is big and good upgrade, even though my knowledge regarding 32 vs 64 bit is basically "64 bit better" lol

[dwiekopy]

That`s great news! Now they can change the engine and move to Unreal 5!

Edited December 21, 2022 by dwiekopy

[Sundown]

This is really big! Thanks for showing that there is refactoring going on behind the scenes, it is raising hope there might be more in store for us.

[Jerba]

I've noticed one bug: In the bottom-left of the map window, the thumbnail is black instead of showing the map: https://i.imgur.com/ie1JFdY.png

So far, I'm not noticing much of performance improvements; worse, loading into areas takes much longer now, e.g. for Corellia I had to wait 1m50s (stuck at 40% for most of it); on the second attempt it only took 17 seconds. I assume that's because there's not many players online, so it takes a while for a new area server to spin up on AWS. I do hope that on the live servers, there'll be some hot spares so we don't have to wait that long.

Edited December 21, 2022 by Jerba

[HobbesToo]

The first issue I noticed is that the server select screen is empty.

[wwefarming]

il y a 59 minutes, HobbesToo a dit :

The first issue I noticed is that the server select screen is empty.

Same thing happen to me and it ends up with the error message "we can't retrieve servers list..." 

 

Also I'm not sure if it's normal as it's my first time trying out the PTS but everytime the launcher switch between the Live game and PTS, it always redownload around 8GB of data for some reason. It's not practical at all when you have a weak download speed with your wifi and you don't have unlimited phone data

 

 

Edited December 21, 2022 by wwefarming

[JediQuaker]

17 hours ago, ReveredDead said:

Yeah that's a great idea. Let's make the already outrageous and out of control in game inflation even worse with UNLIMITED CREDIT CEILING. 

Meanwhile on fleet: "WTS BLACK/BLACK DYE 50B!!"

You know, you can already put over 100 billion in your Legacy storage. Increasing your personal credit limit won't affect that.

[mCion]

TLDR: everything seems to be working at acceptable levels. No crashes. Minor bugs.

What I did

Spoiler

created a new character, did a conversation, wondered around Tython, loaded a copy of character, wondered around fleet, changed loadouts, entered 3 flashpoints, soloed entire  Ruins of Nul. Sent companions on Crew missions. Crafted some items.

granular feedback

Spoiler

-Some crafting categories's names are missing/invisble. For example, under Armormech the "Assembly components" name is missing [blank]. Can still click to expand. Other category names are visible such as "medium armor".

-Foliage on old planets is missing as noted in known issues.
-Foliage seems better in new content like Ruins of Nul.
-Everything seemed slightly smoother? (may be due to lack of other players around, may be to something else).
-Most of the game runs about the same, with stutters on loadout changes, few on moving camera around, etc.
-Character copied over was semi naked on load screen. A copy of the copied character with garbage name was also present (I assume this has to do with PTS itself and not 64 bit)

dxdiag basic specs

Spoiler

------------------
System Information
------------------
      Time of this report: 12/21/2022, 12:23:35
             Machine name: XXXXXX
               Machine Id: XXXXXX
         Operating System: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit (10.0, Build 19044) (19041.vb_release.191206-1406)
                 Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
      System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
             System Model: B450 AORUS PRO WIFI
                     BIOS: BIOS Date: 11/27/19 15:47:53 Ver: 05.0000E (type: BIOS)
                Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 3600 6-Core Processor               (12 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
                   Memory: 16384MB RAM
      Available OS Memory: 16334MB RAM
                Page File: 18229MB used, 2969MB available
              Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
          DirectX Version: DirectX 12
      DX Setup Parameters: Not found
         User DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
       System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
          DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
                 Miracast: Available, no HDCP
Microsoft Graphics Hybrid: Not Supported
 DirectX Database Version: 1.0.8
           DxDiag Version: 10.00.19041.2075 64bit Unicode

My feedback on PvP revamp in 7.2

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926635-feedback-from-a-new-pvp-er-first-post/ 

My Economy, Markets, etc. suggestion

https://forums.swtor.com/topic/926718-economy-comprehensive-suggestions-gtn-credit-flows-market-participation-market-regulation-etc/

[denavin]

22 hours ago, AMAirlines said:

Hey Jackie. Out of curiosity, if the game is moving to 64-bit, does that mean the credit cap will be increased from 2^32 (4.29 billion) to 2^64 (Nearly unlimited?) due to the 32 bit integer limit being gone?

I think it would be a tremendous help if so

I find it interesting that the First post in this thread is asking how much more credits can be stuffed into the economy, and not how the game play will be effected but rather how much more money can I horde.😞

[raikme]

I tested Crisis on Umbara and the difference is 15+fps 

https://streamable.com/tj95w7