News

Battlefield 3 won't support WinXP?
Posted: 30.12.2010 21:51 by JonahFalcon Comments: 30
It seems that the recently confirmed Battlefield 3 won’t support Windows XP or DirectX 9.

BF3 Blog noted that the new Frostbite 2.0 engine left both Windows XP and DirectX 9 out of the technical specs. DICE developer Johan Andersson then twittered: "Frostbite 2 is primarily developed for DX11. XP & DX9 is _not_ supported, 64-bit OS is recommended. Lots of time to upgrade if you havent!"

DICE hasn’t officially stated that Windows XP won’t be supported, and according to Wikipedia, 44% or so of all PCs out there still use Windows XP. However, BF3 Blog noted that a recent Steam survey showed that 25% of gamers on Steam still uses Windows XP, so that indicates that XP is no longer a viable platform.

Way back when, Links 386 forced PC gamers everywhere to upgrade processors. Battlefield 3 may be indication that the time of WinXP is coming to an end, so now many be the time for some gamers to finally upgrade to Windows 7.
Source: BF3 Blog
Related games: Battlefield 3 (PC)

Comments

By Arrecoolast (SI Core) on Dec 30, 2010
Arrecoolast
FINALLY devs are letting DX9 and WinXP go. :D They have hindered us for too long.
By Kres (SI Elite) on Dec 31, 2010
Kres
I'm ready to go OS wise, but hm not sure if my system can handle DX11 well. I'll keep an eye out for this. Want to do an upgrade anyway, but got no reason to. This may change that.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Dec 31, 2010
FoolWolf
About time I guess. Win XP isn't seeing any support really in other areas either so I guess it shouldn't be around to mess up for the new OS's.
With Win7 there is a great alternative out there.
By BoneArc (SI Elite) on Dec 31, 2010
BoneArc
yeah .... cant wait for Win8 , and BF 3 will surely be for it .. like come on .

but atleast BF 3 is coming out XP users !
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Dec 31, 2010
herodotus
Can't agree that not supporting XP and DirectX 9 this soon with a major title is a wise move. The cessation of support for Windows XP by Microsoft is looming, but until it happens game designers are rushing in too quickly to alienate a large part of the gaming community.
I've noticed more and more a rising antipathy toward XP gamers (thanks, Arecoolast) but not all gamers have brand spanking new PC's with Windows 7 and DirectX 11-compliant cards.
By neilmike (SI Core) on Dec 31, 2010
neilmike
i couldn't careless for wins xp...you people should start using windows 7 64bits...32bits operation is within windows7 64bits programs anyway....
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 01, 2011
herodotus
^ Why?
As I have many games that won't run on Windows 7 (or only in XP-mode), and am in no hurry to upgrade my OS nor hardware I don't see why W7-users feel the need to bash XP. I have 7 on my laptop, so use both and TBH, don't see the great attraction for 7...except it's new:(
Where did the sudden XP-hate come from (it's evident on many gaming forums). Leads one to believe that many, many users have very limited exposure to any other OS other than 7.
I'll be upgrading my desktop PC to 7 when I do an accompanyinmg hardware upgrade (virtually everything at this stage), and not before.

NOTE: Remember when Microsoft decided to make "HALO 2" Vista-only to promote Vista sales? Wow, wasn't that a success...not. Think you'll find DICE and EA find the same problem here.
By chiefone (SI Veteran Member) on Jan 01, 2011
chiefone
Win xp is 10 years old... time to let it die. It was a good OS for many years, but it can't be compared to a modern OS like Windows 7. And their is no excuse not to upgrade... most students can get it for about $20 at their school, and if you are not a student an upgrade from vista or xp is only around $100.
And DX 10 will still work! Any graphics card from the last 4 years is DX 10 (since the GeForce 8000 series). And if you don't have a DX 10 card, you need to upgrade your ancient hardware so you can play modern games! An ati 5570 or Nvidia GT240 is only $80.
By Arrecoolast (SI Core) on Jan 01, 2011
Arrecoolast
I don't hate on XP, I just think that if devs are gonna keep devoting some of their time to support an old OS we're never gonna get far anytime soon.
By K3Spice (SI Core) on Jan 01, 2011
K3Spice
I feel bad about xp users, but really just upgrade that OS to 7 its sooooooo much better. I am happy about the unsupported dx9 though. The reason being that my new build is going to own at dx11 and that also means more optimizing and better graphics for dx11. And dx11 is obviously going to be a pc only option...
By oav (SI Newbie) on Jan 01, 2011
oav
Happy New Year! It's a pity, but I will not reinstall the system because of one game. I don't like 7. so - I will not play this game
By unsilviu (SI Core) on Jan 01, 2011
unsilviu
Windows XP was the best OS of its time... so good in fact, that Microsoft didn't make any other OS's for a long time. This made people get used to it and only it. The OS should evolve. I've had it with using 7 so happily at home, and then I go someplace where there is still XP, with all of its limitations. They are minor, indeed, such as not being able to minimize all windows, or drag and maximize, but they add up... Not sure if forcing this is good for a game dev, though.
By hunter612 (SI Core) on Jan 01, 2011
hunter612
I'd rather skip the game. XP was a great OS and I hate windows 7. As Herod said...this technique to promote Windows 7 might fail just like Halo 2 did.
By FoolWolf (SI Elite) on Jan 01, 2011
FoolWolf
I have no hate for Win XP - it is just about time to get on the wagon and strive for something better IMO.
The Halo 2 problem was just that they tried and promote an OS that went from 1 to the next. BF3 is going from one to the next and one further. Few computers today come with XP, when I bought mine here in Sweden last year - it was not an option to go with XP at all. Never missed it. Vista? A crappy memory hogging beast but Win 7 reminds me of XP - just more modern and user friendly.

Keeping OS's alive this long just reminded me of how nice MS really is afer all compared to the Apple guys ;) When they change - they change hard and over a very small window in comparison.

I have no games that is working in Win XP but not in Win 7 except for Neverwinter Nights - but I don't play that any longer. If I wanted to - GOG has a release that is Win 7 compatible.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 01, 2011
herodotus
The change to 7 is inevitable, however my two biggest points are:
1/ It requires upgrading of present hardware if your gig components are over two years old (it's just the way it is). If the cash isn't there yet, then the whole upgrade goes on hold
2/ Launching "BF 3" without XP support, before M$ even stops supporting the OS (which they will do probably some time this year) is a very big, and to my mind unacceptable risk. We don't know the game will even hold the quality of previous "BF" titles, or be so altered by the experience of "MoH" and "BF:BC 2 - Vietnam" as to alienate it's target audience.

Still believe it's a very risky move by EA/Dice when EA is striving to get back to the top of the Publishing heap (a position it lost some time ago).

As far as the battle of the OS's goes, Linux is still the best by far. Just a shame the Unix system didn't take off like Apple and Microsoft did.
By hellweed (SI Core Member) on Jan 01, 2011
hellweed
DX10/DX11 is not only one graphics API. There is still OpenGL. I dont see why good looking games cant be for WinXP.
By Wowerine (SI Elite) on Jan 01, 2011
Wowerine
Die XP. Its time to die. People always stay up to date with your OS-ses :)
By bosnian_dragon (SI Core) on Jan 02, 2011
bosnian_dragon
I am using WinXP & Win7 in dual-boot mode, and I think that all people who are bashing WinXP are immature. No hard feelings of course.
By bosnian_dragon (SI Core) on Jan 02, 2011
bosnian_dragon
I mean, Windows7 is really goood, but some people just don't know where to put limits. If you want to purchase a brand new computer with state-of-the-art hardware, then go for it, but leave the oldskoolers in peace! No one's stopping you from buying new stuff, nor we are discouraging the development of new Operative systems, we're just trying to make some people think twice before they decide to make sudden moves like this one.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 02, 2011
herodotus
Agree there with you Bos_dragon - some of us, more than you'd know don't have the cash right now to splash out a few grand on all the upgrades our rigs need (mine needs at least a grand to bring it up to snuff...stuff isn't cheap in Oz).
@Wow.
Of course you're up to date:)
Hopefully I'm no more than 6 months away...cash permitting.
By RaviL (SI Core Member) on Jan 02, 2011
RaviL
The only reason Win 7 is better than XP is the DX11 support, if you want DX11 than it's worth buying Win7 if not XP is still good for use even in gaming.
The fact that BF3 wont support DX9 that means that the graphics will look like lets say way better Crisis, in my opinion.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 02, 2011
herodotus
Well I certainly hope the graphics look better than "Battlkefield F2P" (even though it is still in closed beta - it's pretty cartoonish). I'd say it has more to do with Physsics effects than actual, graphics, and is that to be more GPU-intensive, rather than CPU?
By chiefone (SI Veteran Member) on Jan 03, 2011
chiefone
@Herodotus... any computer from the last 3 years should run windows 7 fine. My 4 year old HP laptop runs it without any problems.
1.73 GHz Core Duo
2 GB ram
Geforce go 7600 256 MB
~50 second startup time on a 5400 rpm drive

Linux is nice and I really want to like it, but not user friendly enough yet. I had to use the terminal (command prompt) to get my wifi card to work. Plus you can mess up the whole system with a few clicks, or if the package manager freezes on an install, and the only way to fix it is to do a complete reinstall or find someone really experienced. (trust me it has happened to me 4 or 5 times)
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 03, 2011
herodotus
Oh I know my Desktop PC can run W7, and all applications that aren't too old for it. However, it is widely recognised that 2GB RAM is the accepted amount of memory for XP, while 4GB is recommended for W7. This is so you get all the benefits W7 has to offer and also still run games/high-end graphic programs on the max settings you can on XP.
I run W7 on my laptop and I still am not that overly impressed. For the New Year:
AMD Phenom/ i7
AMD 6870 1GB/ 480 GTX
8GB RAM
1 Terrabyte HDD
Seagate Optical Drive
1.2 KHz PSU
Windows 7

All-in-all a fairly expensive layout for things I really only want, but don't need right now.
By chiefone (SI Veteran Member) on Jan 03, 2011
chiefone
What the heck do you need a 1.2 KW power supply for? Are you going to arc-weld a battleship in you backyard? I can see a 600W max if you are getting 2 or 3 6870's to put in crossfire. Most gaming computers come with a 300W to 500W PSU.

You can get a phenom II x6, ATI 5750, 8 GB ram and the works for around $900. Pop in the 6870 and your set.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 03, 2011
herodotus
600 Watt Max?
Damn man, my rig with two 8800 GT's in SLI blew my 650 Watt PSU within a week a couple of years back. Depends on what your running, and what your power needs are. Me, I like one PSU (say 450 W) to run the GPU alone, and a seperate PSU (say a 600 Watt) to run the rest of the rig. Optionallly, going for a single more powerful PSU is the choice I'd make. Nothing like the sound of an exploding PSU from overwork to dampen the day.
5750's are basicaly entry level to high mid-range categories now, so I am looking both at prices (which are very high here) and future-proofing (to the extent that one can with PC's).
By K3Spice (SI Core) on Jan 04, 2011
K3Spice
@cheifone 300W is not enough for any current gaming pc. If your not running sli/cf you normally want a minimum of 600W. My older computer I bought a new graphics card for only had a 300W power supply and I was limited in what I could choose. I couldn't even put a 9800 series card in it. Went with the 430 gt instead. And now my psu is stretched to its limits because of it.
By chiefone (SI Veteran Member) on Jan 04, 2011
chiefone
A prebuilt machine with a phenom II x6, and a 5750 comes with a 300 Watt power supply, and this counts as a gaming computer in my opinion.

Your right, 3 6870's would not work with a 600 W PSU. I was being sarcastic - that would be over $700 for the cards alone! But for a single card like you are considering a 600W PSU would work fine. A 8800 GTS needs about as much power as a newer 6870, so your old power supply would work fine for a single 6870. They both draw about 125 watts on idle and 250 on max load. In comparison, a 5750 uses about 75 watts so a 300W power supply should be fine, and a 500W or 600W should be fine for a single 6870.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Jan 04, 2011
herodotus
Pre-built always come under-powered and the first thing anyone knows to do is upgrade the PSU, GPU and RAM first thing if you're buying pre-built.
Tomaatoes/ tomatoes.
We could debate endlessly, and PC techs do. Money, however is the overriding issue. To buy a copy of just W7, without regard to any hardware is close to $200 here. That's money I just don't have.
By K3Spice (SI Core) on Jan 04, 2011
K3Spice
My 430 gt requires a minimum PSU of 300W. My newer card the 570 GTX requires a minimum of 550W. Thats without SLI btw.