64 bit client coming in Q1 of 2016

Delsskia · November 2015

For the life of me, I can't figure out why this info isn't on the Official forums...

ZOS_MattF 15 points 3 days ago
64 Bit client is planned for the Q1 Update (i.e. the next big one). Mac users will see dramatic performance increase when we do this, as well as 64-but windows users. My main gaming machine is Windows, but I'm on the road enough with my Macbook Pro 13 retina that I definitely know what you are talking about.

https://reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/3thlqh/welcome_to_the_elder_scrolls_online_orsinium_aua/cx68eid

MissBizz · November 2015

It is.

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/222288/awesome-news-64-bit-client-confirmed

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/231947/question-about-64-bit-client

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/232471/reddit-matt-firor-claims-dramatic-pvp-lag-fix-incoming/p1

Delsskia · November 2015

People have been talking about a 64 bit client since early beta. These forums are peppered with questions and comments about it as well as the very rare and very vague ZOS response that it'll happen someday. My confusion comes from the fact that an actual target date was posted in the reddit forums by Matt Firor rather than in the ESO official forums. Just seems rather odd that news this big wasn't announced here first.

That said, it is VERY welcomed news.

MissBizz · November 2015

The first mention that they were working on a 64 bit client was on the forums. As well, the reddit AmA was announced on the forums so that forum-goers could be aware to check it out. They do those AmA's on reddit so that more people can join in, rather than only those who already had forum accounts set up. They do make sure to let us know in advance and supply a link when it goes live.

Delsskia · November 2015

Please stop trying to hijack this thread with contrived arguments. The post is about the awesome friggin news that a target date has finally been announced for a 64 bit client and that it's coming sooner rather than later. Just celebrate the good news rather than attempting to find something to argue about.

duncan_cougarpreeb18_ESO · November 2015

well anything that keeps crashing the client in a matter of seconds of PvP now would be welcome

Gilvoth · November 2015

would i have to re-install elderscrolls online to be able to switch over? i am 64 bit and i bet this might help my game alot, but im scared id have to re-download the entire game to do it

KhajitFurTrader · November 2015

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

would i have to re-install elderscrolls online to be able to switch over? i am 64 bit and i bet this might help my game alot, but im scared id have to re-download the entire game to do it

Very unlikely, since most of the data like sound, speech, meshes, heightmaps, etc., i.e. the bulk of the client can just stay the same. An educated guess says that it's very likely even the existing textures can stay the same. A patch (no re-install necessary) will bring the changes to the binary (i.e. renderer), libraries, shaders, and NPC models (for FaceFX) where needed.

All in all, we might see a patch download roughly the size of IC (there will be new content in it, after all), unless the existing textures need to be overhauled or tweaked as well. I'm talking about the switch to OpenGL 4.1 here, btw. Going 64-bit only would just mean to replace the binary and third party libraries.

Gilvoth · November 2015

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

would i have to re-install elderscrolls online to be able to switch over? i am 64 bit and i bet this might help my game alot, but im scared id have to re-download the entire game to do it

Very unlikely, since most of the data like sound, speech, meshes, heightmaps, etc., i.e. the bulk of the client can just stay the same. An educated guess says that it's very likely even the existing textures can stay the same. A patch (no re-install necessary) will bring the changes to the binary (i.e. renderer), libraries, shaders, and NPC models (for FaceFX) where needed.

All in all, we might see a patch download roughly the size of IC (there will be new content in it, after all), unless the existing textures need to be overhauled or tweaked as well. I'm talking about the switch to OpenGL 4.1 here, btw. Going 64-bit only would just mean to replace the binary and third party libraries.

that sounds AWESOME! i hope your right.

henrycupcakerwb17_ESO · December 2015

Delsskia wrote: »

For the life of me, I can't figure out why this info isn't on the Official forums...

ZOS_MattF 15 points 3 days ago
64 Bit client is planned for the Q1 Update (i.e. the next big one). Mac users will see dramatic performance increase when we do this, as well as 64-but windows users. My main gaming machine is Windows, but I'm on the road enough with my Macbook Pro 13 retina that I definitely know what you are talking about.

https://reddit.com/r/elderscrollsonline/comments/3thlqh/welcome_to_the_elder_scrolls_online_orsinium_aua/cx68eid

JESUS HOLY MARY MOTHER !!!!!!!!!!

stevenbennett_ESO · December 2015

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

dwemer_paleologist wrote: »

would i have to re-install elderscrolls online to be able to switch over? i am 64 bit and i bet this might help my game alot, but im scared id have to re-download the entire game to do it

Very unlikely, since most of the data like sound, speech, meshes, heightmaps, etc., i.e. the bulk of the client can just stay the same. An educated guess says that it's very likely even the existing textures can stay the same. A patch (no re-install necessary) will bring the changes to the binary (i.e. renderer), libraries, shaders, and NPC models (for FaceFX) where needed.

All in all, we might see a patch download roughly the size of IC (there will be new content in it, after all), unless the existing textures need to be overhauled or tweaked as well. I'm talking about the switch to OpenGL 4.1 here, btw. Going 64-bit only would just mean to replace the binary and third party libraries.

I don't *think* the switch to OpenGL 4.1 will require a textures update, but even if it does, it's still only a fraction of the overall game size. And it's worth every GB I need to download, and then some. I'm *really* excited about this new client…

Now all I need to do is upgrade my Mac OS… because I'm still using 10.8.5. (I need to do that before my trip up north anyway, when I'll be switching back to using my Mac Laptop, since I've heard reports Orsinium already requires 10.9…)

I predict a much earlier PTS release than usual for this DLC because the 64 bit client will need a LOT more testing. Although I don't think we'll see it until after Christmas.

Marques · December 2015

Will the 64 bit client on the Mac include the face animations for NPC models (FaceFX)?

Pomaikai · December 2015

Marques wrote: »

Will the 64 bit client on the Mac include the face animations for NPC models (FaceFX)?

Yes

Marques · December 2015

Pomaikai wrote: »

Marques wrote: »

Will the 64 bit client on the Mac include the face animations for NPC models (FaceFX)?

Yes

Fantastic. Any other known benefits or improvements of the new client other than FaceFX and more addressable memory?

stevenbennett_ESO · December 2015

Marques wrote: »

Fantastic. Any other known benefits or improvements of the new client other than FaceFX and more addressable memory?

More addressable memory ought to make it much more stable and it should perform better overall. OpenGL 4.1 support ought to make a huge visual improvement and probably give a faster frame rate. Gamepad support should be in there as well. There will probably be a bunch of bug fixes which have been held off until the new client, but on the flip side, being new code, expect brand new bugs as well. Here's hoping for a fairly long PTS beta test before they need to release it.

KhajitFurTrader · December 2015

stevenbennett_ESO wrote: »

Here's hoping for a fairly long PTS beta test before they need to release it.

Seconded.

From experience I hereby foretell that leftover bugs of the category "frequent and/or reliably reproducible game stoppers" will be caught and thoroughly squashed after a few PTS builds, while some minor and more recreating oddities will get caught iteratively after release on live, when the masses put hours into playing and the reports start tumbling in. Crashes form malloc() exceptions shall be a thing of the distant past, but systems with 4 gigs of RAM will still run into trouble (e.g. memory thrashing) much sooner than those with ample memory, i.e. 16 GB and up. There will be people asking why their Mac won't run the client no more, or why it doesn't use the new renderer (if OGL 2.1 should stay as a fallback option), even though their Macs run OS X 10.9 or newer -- I then shall make a macro to paste both the link to Apple's OpenGL Compatibility Chart and the Mac Minimum System Requirements, in which the requirements for both Mavericks and an OGL 4.1 capable GC are listed ever since April 2015.

But, you know, that's all in a day's work.

Rockingberg · December 2015

It's about time Mac is getting a refurbish on graphics. Honestly, I thought about giving up ESO thinking they left mac in the dark with updates. Every patch, I would check and see if they added FaceFX or any graphical change with mac. Right now, I payed for the Orsinium DLC and their mouths don't even move. I mean, cmon! I just hope to see this change in the early months of the next year. I play this game partly for the immersion and lore and the fact that I can't even immerse myself in the new story anymore feels meh.

Coridato · December 2015

I'm so sorry if somebody has already mentioned this, although does the addition of a 64-bit client add controller support for Apple users? It seems as though I'm getting one for christmas, and would love to be able to actually use it without using an external client to keybind the controls on the controller. This is very exciting, and I can't wait to see how the performance improves!

EDIT: Sorry, just skimmed through the thread and it's replies, so my apologies if I missed something, also. What are the odds that there will be some game-breaking bugs as I believe I saw it somewhere in the thread...

stevenbennett_ESO · December 2015

The controller support on Mac was announced as delayed until the 64 bit client, so I would say "almost certainly" to your first question.

Since it's a new client, I would expect some game breaking bugs ON THE PTS SERVER, while the new client is being tested on a wide scale for the first time. Most of them will be graphics glitches and crash bugs, and many of them will be both on PC and Mac since the 64 bit client is being released on both systems. I actually expect to see a LOT more of these on the PC than the Mac, because it has to deal with a much larger variety of hardware, but the Mac bugs might take longer to fix because it's got more isolated code. (This is roughly comparable to what happened at the original launch -- Mac had a very short beta test compared to PC, yet was much less buggy at launch, but then it took longer to fix the Mac bugs...)

You probably won't see many, if any, quest type bugs show up because they're all scripting and thus mostly unaffected by the client executable.

That said, I fully expect all the significant game breaking bugs to be fixed by the time the client is released to the general player base. If you're concerned about them, don't play on the PTS. I wouldn't worry at all about it for the general launch - in fact, by then, I'd be FAR more excited about the overall improvement it's going to have by going to 64 bit and switching to a more modern version of OpenGL.