OUCH!

[JudgeDredd]

DCS is moving to 64bit OS only.

Doesn't affect me - but I would think it may affect quite a few customers.

A snippet from their newsletter

Moving to 64-bit Operating Systems Only
As we move forward improving the DCS World environment, we are more and more often running into roadblocks that prevent us from doing so due to supporting 32 bit operating systems. This includes larger and more populated worlds with greater terrain mesh details and textures. By moving to 64 bit support only, we will be able solve this and allow larger missions with more units, and it will allow us to improve visual effects.
This change will be coming in the next few months.

[JudgeDredd]

Along with the negative (for some) - a positive for others....

Currently the team is focused on completing Flaming Cliffs 3 and continued updates and improvements to DCS World. Once Flaming Cliffs 3 is complete, more of our focus will shift to upcoming DCS titles like the F-15C, F/A-18C and Fw-190D9. Looking further out, Eagle Dynamics and our partners plan a large number of new modules that include the Su-27SM, F-86F, MiG-15Bis, MiG-21Bis, Hawk, Mi-8, Mi-24, OH-58 and AH-1G, to just name a few.

I don't know if the DCS titles are high fidelity sims similar to A-10 or whether they are "lighter" like Flaming Cliffs

F-15C and F/A-18C would be welcome HF sims if that's how they are going

[Greybriar]

Just an FYI, DCS = Digital Combat Simulator

[jomni]

Actually why would people still stick with 64 bit with the memory hungry software nowadays?

[LongBlade]

Actually why would people still stick with 64 bit with the memory hungry software nowadays?

Sorry, I didn't understand that. What's wrong with 64 bit systems?

[Ubercat]

Just an FYI, DCS = Digital Combat Simulator

Thanks, I was wondering WTH the OP was referring to!

[jomni]

Actually why would people still stick with 64 bit with the memory hungry software nowadays?

Sorry, I didn't understand that. What's wrong with 64 bit systems?

edit... why would they stick with 32 bit?

[JudgeDredd]

sorry about the DCS - bad habit of assuming

[LongBlade]

Actually why would people still stick with 64 bit with the memory hungry software nowadays?

Sorry, I didn't understand that. What's wrong with 64 bit systems?

edit... why would they stick with 32 bit?

Thank you :)

[Tuna]

Jomni probably meant to say why would people stick with 32 bit...

[son_of_montfort]

Still, with the large amount of 32-bit still out in the market, doesn't this limit their sales?

[JudgeDredd]

Jomni probably meant to say why would people stick with 32 bit...

Because moving to 64bit is another £100 I guess. Unless you go OEM which means you are also buying new hardware - which one could argue you may well need for DCS Simulations anyway.

What I was meaning by "OUCH!" is what are they doing about current Combined Arms/Flaming Cliffs 3/DCS Black Shark/DCS Warthog etc...are they going to make them 64 bit - and if they do, what does it mean for owners of the 32bit code? And specifically about DCS World. They are on about going to 64bit for more machines and bigger environment - but what about people who have "bought into" DCS World who have 32 bit machines? Are they going to be stuck with no DCS World?

Hopefully 32 bit code will be replaced with 64 bit code free of charge for people with the modules...but that still won't be any good for people with 32bit systems. So anyone who has a 32bit system and can't/won't upgrade has dipped out - even though they bought into DCS World.

I'm sure it won't be a big deal. Most people running DCS A-10C and DCS World will likely have a newish system and therefore possibly (probably?) have a 64 bit system. But there are possibly some who won't - and my thoughts (even though I have a 64 bit system and will likely be unaffected by the change - assuming free upgrades to the 32 bit codebase) immediately sprang to people with 32bit systems.

Just questions I was wondering about when I saw the news.

[Tuna]

Jomni probably meant to say why would people stick with 32 bit...

Because moving to 64bit is another £100 I guess. Unless you go OEM which means you are also buying new hardware - which one could argue you may well need for DCS Simulations anyway.

What I was meaning by "OUCH!" is what are they doing about current Combined Arms/Flaming Cliffs 3/DCS Black Shark/DCS Warthog etc...are they going to make them 64 bit - and if they do, what does it mean for owners of the 32bit code? And specifically about DCS World. They are on about going to 64bit for more machines and bigger environment - but what about people who have "bought into" DCS World who have 32 bit machines? Are they going to be stuck with no DCS World?

Hopefully 32 bit code will be replaced with 64 bit code free of charge for people with the modules...but that still won't be any good for people with 32bit systems. So anyone who has a 32bit system and can't/won't upgrade has dipped out - even though they bought into DCS World.

I'm sure it won't be a big deal. Most people running DCS A-10C and DCS World will likely have a newish system and therefore possibly (probably?) have a 64 bit system. But there are possibly some who won't - and my thoughts (even though I have a 64 bit system and will likely be unaffected by the change - assuming free upgrades to the 32 bit codebase) immediately sprang to people with 32bit systems.

Just questions I was wondering about when I saw the news.

When I bought my Win7 it came with two disks, one for 32 and one for 64.. I just upgraded my 14 year old when I bought him more memory... I will probably upgrade my 17 year old when I talk him into it.. he is crashing in games that the 14 year old is not (now that he's 64)..

both my laptop and desktop are 64 and I love it!

[Slick Wilhelm]

I would think that most flight simmers have the cash to upgrade to a 64-bit OS, if they already haven't. All that fancy HOTAS hardware is not exactly cheap. Not to mention that flight sims require some of the beefiest rigs out there to get acceptable frame rates.

Back in the day, I used to build myself a new monster gaming rig about every 18 months in order to keep my flight sims happy. Gotta love the current hardware, though. Thanks to some upgrading(RAM, Video card & SSD drive) and over-clocking, I'm still using the same rig I built in 2009.

[LongBlade]

We just bought my daughter a new lappy for Christmas.

It was bottom of the line, probably $350 (I'm actually using it now). I was shocked to discover it was 64 bit and quad core. We *might* have paid $30 more to get a slightly more robust system than another laptop (I don't remember whether we compared laptops of if my wife just bought one herself - it wasn't a difficult purchase that I had to agonize over balancing hardware versus cost).

Bottom line is that if this came with 64 bit, it's likely that it's becoming common. Or maybe we got lucky.