Not even sure how to name this-- a concern for specs?

[yerro]

Hey, I'll try to keep it neat'n brief.

Excursus for the sake of the story you're about to delve into, I've been using an Asus G-series laptop for gaming for the last 5 or so years. So as all other things, even the beastliest gaming engines get old. My lil' baby wasn't spared that miserable fate. All in all, I'm planning to sell it and get myself a neat, more mobile (just more compact and lighter) . Like a netbook?

So yeah, being a -dedicated- Paradox Interactive fan (I've played more of your guys' games than those I haven't, and I tried all in your original Grand Strategies genre), I definitely want to be able to play your titles. EU4 being one of them. You know it's actually a funny story how I came across said "GS" genre -- back as a teen I didn't really have a computer, so I hung around computer clubs and internet cafes, and what got my imaginative mind off was, sometimes just -reading- about a game, not even playing it. Yeee, I had subscriptions to more than one gaming magazine. <: That's where I found Vicky. In the darkest corner of the last page (I'm not slandering, but you gotta understand, everyone was hooked up on major titles back then, no one knew Paradox Interactive) with its hilarious -- even for those times -- Pentium III 450Mhz / 128RAM requirements. You could just say, "just-- make sure minesweeper works on your PC and then that game will".

I won't get distracted! Happens to me a lot, gettin' side-tracked and all. So yeah, I wasn't / I'm not really looking for an end-game machine this time around, I wanted to play just my lovely basic set of games -- I don't really feel much interested in the most recent titles like the Division, GTA V, etc. I did spend a little bit of my "tech browsing" time pondering about how much I'd have to kick up extra for an engine that'd run something more than the basics, like perhaps CS:GO, Payday 2 or Diablo 3, but I never thought I'd be left baffled by the facts that-- a basic netbook wouldn't likely handle EU4, while it could very well do some browser games like Anno Online or whatever, that seem-- pardon me, just like they put a little bit more focus on the graphics.

So yeah, here comes the tl;dr -- I'm stunned. Smite requires less minimum and recommended VRam than EU4. Guys, why? Where did that come from? EU4's practically a table-top game, most people don't even use the terrain mapmode that shows all the trees (and even that shouldn't be that much of a strain on the system?), you could carve an EU4 map out with all the various chips and play it as a table-top game without a computer, so what's in the code that needs 1gb+ VRam? Sorry, I'm not experienced with technology at all, I know that there's a mysterious word, namely "optimization", that seems to be the bane of all otherwise decent games, but please, someone make sense of this to me -- Smite, far more graphically intense with its varying spell effects, skins and whatnot, needs less than EU4/CK2/Vicky2?

And maybe if a dev comes across this, maybe you could take note of it. I mean I love your games for a range of reasons -- I'm into realistic, hardcore, challenging games (I know EU4 is the least hardcore of them all but still!), but one of its neat features has always been (or it apparently, it just seemed to me that it was), the availability on practically any computer.

// Just a random concerned member of the community, (sorry I didn't live up to the promise of keeping it brief, and it's far from being well-constructed),-- msclne.

 

[Wagonlitz]

The reason that PDS games have got more and more intensive (and that isn't just EU4); if you can't run EU4 you can't run CKII either. And probably won't be able to run HOIIV either.
The reason being that more and more things are being simulated. In CKII for instance you will have hundreds of thousands of characters interacting with each other in the end game. And EU4 has several computing heavy mechanics too. The truth is that every new mechanic you add will most likely make the game more computing intense, unless you manage to optimise the game enough to counter it.
I for instance think that the EU4 trade mechanics are quite computing intensive, but I am not sure. And I don't know which mechanics are the most computing intense.
With regard to the table top then remember that it was much more simple that what the game is today.

And you won't be bottlenecked by graphics. You will be bottlenecked by the processor. There is a very good chance that a netbook doesn't have a processor good enough to run the game---or at least good enough to not have intense lag.

 

[yerro]

Computing, fine! But most of the netbooks I've come across miss out on the Video unit / Video memory requirement. I found a couple of netbooks that seemed to be satisfactory in terms of their CPU. Like I said I do understand that budget netbooks and small-screen laptops won't pack a punch (to reduce overheating, energy consumption/battery life, etc), but I just didn't expect EU4 to have their requirements that high up.

 

[Emre Yigit]

Computing, fine! But most of the netbooks I've come across miss out on the Video unit / Video memory requirement. I found a couple of netbooks that seemed to be satisfactory in terms of their CPU. Like I said I do understand that budget netbooks and small-screen laptops won't pack a punch (to reduce overheating, energy consumption/battery life, etc), but I just didn't expect EU4 to have their requirements that high up.

In your OP you were talking about 1GB VRAM being a little surprising. That is actually pretty light-to-average nowadays, even if you're not buying a high-end computer, but don't worry - EU4 should run perfectly well on that. What you should make sure is that your GPU is a good one - and anything that's come out in the last two or three years should be fine. And your CPU should be good too. If you're using a notebook, it'll all probably be working off a SSD, so that won't be a problem.

FWIW, I bought an ASUS Zenbook about four years ago and can just still play CK on it, though it is slow.

 

[Soranya]

Regarding the Graphics Processor / Ram - could very well be that some of the simualtion code runs on your graphics card for performance reasons.

 

[Wagonlitz]

Regarding the Graphics Processor / Ram - could very well be that some of the simualtion code runs on your graphics card for performance reasons.

It used to be so; don't know if it still is.

 

[yerro]

In your OP you were talking about 1GB VRAM being a little surprising. That is actually pretty light-to-average nowadays, even if you're not buying a high-end computer, but don't worry - EU4 should run perfectly well on that. What you should make sure is that your GPU is a good one - and anything that's come out in the last two or three years should be fine. And your CPU should be good too. If you're using a notebook, it'll all probably be working off a SSD, so that won't be a problem.

FWIW, I bought an ASUS Zenbook about four years ago and can just still play CK on it, though it is slow.

Yeah, I'm well-aware 1gb VRAM is nuttin when it comes to modern computers and whatnot, but the point I'm addressing is that Paradox Grand Strategies have always been known for their simplicity in terms of-- graphics and whatnot, it's basically a table-top game with a multitude of digits that only few understand and can make sense of. I was aiming to get something like a netbook, actually. So I did understand a large share of games I currently play wouldn't run on it; I tried to see if there were any more expensive (13'' laptops perhaps) options that'd let me get a bit of more horse power under the hood, but one thing I never assumed is that I'd have trouble running say, EU4 on a netbook. Hell, even Smite is less demanding in terms of Video RAM, lol. That's the shocking part forme.

Regarding the Graphics Processor / Ram - could very well be that some of the simualtion code runs on your graphics card for performance reasons.

I'm afraid I don't really understand computing that well. :c I mean, I'm sure they're putting it to good use, but it's just shocking to me that some more graphically intense games require less powerful of a GPU, whereas EU4, seemingly simplicity itself, threatens to eat your VRAM raw'n dry.

 

[Emre Yigit]

Oh, I agree. For a strategy game, it is awfully demanding on the GPU, etc. I don't know, but I would expect that the need for the VRAM doesn't arise just from the trees and rivers, but all those lovely 1K armies, swaying in the breeze, too.

 

[yerro]

Oh, I agree. For a strategy game, it is awfully demanding on the GPU, etc. I don't know, but I would expect that the need for the VRAM doesn't arise just from the trees and rivers, but all those lovely 1K armies, swaying in the breeze, too.

Hopefully Paradox will just consider this when creating and optimizing their new games. I mean, I get that graphics are a thing, but one definitive feature of Paradox strategies has always been its simplicity in graphics. You pretty much just have digits all over and merely models that signify army positions, s'about it. :c Just didn't expect to run into problems with EU4 line of games. Thought they'd be my companion even if I grab the oldest netbook out there -- apparently I have to search consistently for something that'll cope, lol.

 

[Tr1gg3r]

yer, think im reaching my 4yr old laptops limits with stellaris, should be alright as long as im frugal with the settings.
- intel i5 2.6 ghz
- Nvidia 750m 2gb ddr3
- 2 x 4gb ram.(8gb)
fingers crossed
Might be time to upgrade to desktop maybe

 

[jdrou]

Hopefully Paradox will just consider this when creating and optimizing their new games. I mean, I get that graphics are a thing, but one definitive feature of Paradox strategies has always been its simplicity in graphics. You pretty much just have digits all over and merely models that signify army positions, s'about it. :c Just didn't expect to run into problems with EU4 line of games. Thought they'd be my companion even if I grab the oldest netbook out there -- apparently I have to search consistently for something that'll cope, lol.

The "no need for complex graphics" idea pretty much died 9 years ago when they released EU3 though. I certainly can't see requirements going down. In fact they have been going up over time in patches to the point where EU4 will no longer run on systems that met the requirements when it released.

 

[Wagonlitz]

In fact they have been going up over time in patches to the point where EU4 will no longer run on systems that met the requirements when it released.

That is mainly CPU wise though.

 

[jdrou]

That is mainly CPU wise though.

I was referring to RAM and OS versions mainly. Can't run with only 2 GB RAM and no longer works on Windows XP at all.

 

[JakeCourtney]

It's time for an upgrade my friend.