EU4 - Development Diary - 5th of February 2019

[RMS Oceanic]

So is the next major change going to be Pax Europa or whatever it's called, or will there be changes between now and then to redress the technical debt?

 

[Weyird]

Well, I'm glad I'm not one of the 1.1% that has a 32-bit system.
Really only that small a number has 32-bit? Still works out to thousands of unhappy players though, I guess.

What more will the devs be able to do if they aren't held back by 32-bit?

 

[Fekke]

Good call. 32-bit support is a thing of the past for heavy applications.

 

[Dakka]

Have you considered anything else on my proposals for improving the GC content? You said you would look into them and I just wanted to get an update on team thoughts.
Thanks, appreciate your time

 

[Cralius]

So what are the advantages of having 64-bit instead of 32?

 

[RhoxOS]

I'm suprised that 1.1% of users still use 32 bit computer.

 

[Cralius]

Should use up less memory when running the game, meaning the game will run smoother.

Finally some good performance improvements then

 

[PhoenixG]

So what are the advantages of having 64-bit instead of 32?

Mostly on preformance. Like less chance on lag at late game due able to access more than 4GB ram. Better graphic, but don't think it's the focus.

Also I think some bugs related to large numbers might be harder to trigger. Like the CTD when taking too much loans.

 

[Ailure]

I'm suprised that 1.1% of users still use 32 bit computer.

It used to be common especially for a bit during Win XP heyday to have 32 bit OS on a system supporting 64 bit otherwise. It also happens that people install the wrong version of the OS, especially those on low-memory systems where it might not seem to immediatly matter (but to be honest i have no idea how common this is). Kinda curious if it's possible to see how many of those 1.1% are 32 bit OS users on 64 bit CPU.

I think the switch to 64 bit is more to futureproof the game than necessarily improving performance though (unless there are planned changes that would balloon memory usage ). 64 bit porting can be anywhere from changing a simple few lines to being a huge overhaul depending on how the program is coded, a common saying is that MS opted to not include the Space Cadet Pinball game in vista cause they required all built in applications to be 64 bit, and the game physics broke apart when they tried to port it to 64 bit.

 

[Mindel]

We'll make further reminders regarding 32-bit support closer to the next update, but this will be months away.

Does this mean there won't be another bug-crushing update before the next major update? If that will be months away, maybe there is space to collect suggestions from people about additional bugs to fix before then.

 

[Fekke]

Surely this means larger datatypes?

 

[Eddi]

Also I think some bugs related to large numbers might be harder to trigger. Like the CTD when taking too much loans.

Uhm, just compiling as a 64bit binary doesn't magically change the internal size of variables and stuff. also, you can have 64bit integers in 32bit programs.

 

[lolada]

This comes with various advantages

Can we expect any visible performance improvements on our side for us that already use 64b.. or this is your/dev thing only - making it easier for you to maintain code?

 

[Ailure]

Uhm, just compiling as a 64bit binary doesn't magically change the internal size of variables and stuff. also, you can have 64bit integers in 32bit programs.

It can change it in some cases in C/C++ but setting a fixed width on integers is a incredible common (and good) practice in programming to prevent unpredictable results from porting to various platforms. So yeah it probably won't magically change the size of most variables, if the code follows good practice.

 

[mag_zbc]

Should use up less memory when running the game, meaning the game will run smoother.

Um.. no? Like, exactly the opposite - pointers will be using 64 bits instead of 32. If programmers are not planning to use specific 64-bit registers (for which they have no reason to in a game) there's no reason for this switch to affect performance whatsoever. The only difference may come from utilizing more than 4GB of RAM.

 

[By_Science!]

Bring on the Paradox64!

 

[TheWalttu]

Finally having 16gb of RAM is good for something!

 

[Metz]

With 64-bit compatibility, will this mean the game can support much more provinces on the map and things going on at the same time without adding lag?

 

[Fekke]

With 64-bit compatibility, will this mean the game can support much more provinces on the map and things going on at the same time without adding lag?

Not likely for current PDX titles running on older versions of the Clausewitz engine.