Windows 'Vista'; 64 bit or 32 OS for Terragen 2 and 0.09?

choronr · April 16, 2007, 08:15:22 PM

I will soon be loading 'Vista' into a new machine I am building. Will Terragen 2 and 0.09 run with the 64 bit operating system; or, must I use the 32 bit version?

Oshyan · April 16, 2007, 09:15:58 PM

Planetside is not yet able to test the 64 bit version of Windows Vista in-house but we will ensure compatibility before the final release. We have had several reports of TG2 and 0.9 working successfully under Vista and have tested Vista 32 bit (Business version) with both TG 0.9 and TG2 in-house. In some cases TG2's 3D preview exhibits some minor visual artifacts which can usually be corrected by a graphics driver update. Otherwise everything seems to work fine. Please do report your findings in Vista 64 bit.

Btw, on a personal note, my own (admittedly limited) personal experiences with Vista have not been positive at all. I would caution against upgrading unless you have a good, specific reason (or reasons) to do so.

- Oshyan

l.a. akira · April 16, 2007, 09:56:46 PM

has anyone checked if tg2 runs on 64-bit machines running the 64 bit xp?

Oshyan · April 16, 2007, 09:57:45 PM

Yes, we have tested TG2 on XP x64 and it runs fine. We have not done extensive testing in regards to memory utilization, etc. but in general it should function at least as well as on XP 32.

- Oshyan

gradient · April 17, 2007, 12:15:30 AM

Bob:
Hope you've got at least 3 gigs of ram in that new machine.....LOL!.....
Oshyan states in the following thread that TG2 needs 3+GB of ram for best performance in Vista
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1345.0

choronr · April 17, 2007, 12:31:57 AM

@Gradiant: The beast will have 4GB of RAM on an Intel MB AND quad core extreme with the BFG Nvidia G8800 GTX SLI graphics cards; and, a 1000 watt BFG power supply. I want to see if I can dim the lights in the neighborhood (or fry my electrical system) when I first turn this on. I will dedicate this machine to Terragen work.

@Oshyan: Thank you; to be on the safe side, I will load the 32 bit system in lieu of the 64 bit. I don't expect the 64 bit system would be that much faster.

Bob

gradient · April 17, 2007, 12:40:00 AM

@Bob....Ouch, A true beast of a machine!!! I can see it now....mysterious brown-outs occurring throughout the US......oh, it's just folks doing 75hr TG2 renders....LOL!!!

I'm still sitting on the sidelines....no sense for me to upgrade now...if I did, my machine would be out of date by the time TG2 final comes out.

Looking forward to seeing some of your new renders...will have to go visit Rendo again.

regards,

choronr · April 17, 2007, 12:50:50 AM

@John: I am still not sure whether to install the 32 or 64 bit system. It is good to hear that Oshyan has had some positive reports from others who installed the 64 on a Vista OS. However, Microsoft says once you install one or the other system, you can't go back (this is unfair; especially at the cost). I have the 'Ultimate' version (not the upgrade; but, full version).

My current system is almost five years old and its performance is getting a bit flaky. A few weeks ago I replaced the CMOS battery since I was beginning to lose time.

I've been working at CompUSA for the past several months trying to gain more knowledge about building my first system. Unfortunately, the company is closing more than 1/2 of its stores nationwide and Canada - ours included.

Bob

The Geostation · April 17, 2007, 03:00:32 AM

Quote from: Oshyan on April 16, 2007, 09:57:45 PM
Yes, we have tested TG2 on XP x64 and it runs fine. We have not done extensive testing in regards to memory utilization, etc. but in general it should function at least as well as on XP 32.

- Oshyan

It's been quite stable on my XP 64-bit operating system too

Andrew

Oshyan · April 17, 2007, 01:54:48 PM

Quote from: gradient on April 17, 2007, 12:15:30 AM
Bob:
Hope you've got at least 3 gigs of ram in that new machine.....LOL!.....
Oshyan states in the following thread that TG2 needs 3+GB of ram for best performance in Vista
http://forums.planetside.co.uk/index.php?topic=1345.0

Actually I was referring more generally to Vista's memory needs and performance characteristics, not specifically TG2 under Vista. From the benchmarks I have seen there is a dramatic improvement in performance of all applications in Vista when there is 3GB+ available.

- Oshyan

mr-miley · April 19, 2007, 04:40:29 AM

I may be wrong here, but I thought the major benefit of running any bit of software on a 64 bit OS was the amount of RAM that could be dished out to any one app. In a 64 Bit system a single app can utilise far more RAM than it can in a 32 bit system. I think it is slightly connected to the system being able to access more than 4GB of RAM..... then again, what do I know

Oshyan · April 19, 2007, 01:39:02 PM

Any 32 bit application that is not optimized for the "high memory" option can only ever access a maximum of 2GB of memory, no matter how much is available and regardless of whether the OS is 64 bit. Those applications that have been programmed to take advantage of the "/3gb" switch ("high memory") can use up to 3GB, I believe. Only true 64 bit applications can take full advantage of greater than 2/3GB of memory in a 64bit OS.

- Oshyan

dhavalmistry · April 19, 2007, 02:53:45 PM

can TG2 take advantage of more than 3 GB memory right now???

Oshyan · April 19, 2007, 03:37:28 PM

No, TG2 is not yet 64 bit.

- Oshyan

Allegro · April 20, 2007, 08:23:02 PM

I haven't had any problems running on it. It's never used more than 2 gb of memory on my x64 machine... and I have 6gb of ram.