BioWare surprised players in the final days of 2022 when it was announced thatStar Wars: The Old Republicwould finally be upgrading to a 64-bit client. 11 years have passed after BioWare launched theStar WarsMMORPG, which is practically an eternity when it comes to gaming hardware. For long-running games like MMORPGs, major upgrades are a necessity in order to catch up with new technology standards.
AlthoughStar Wars: The Old Republictransitioning to 64-bit codemay not be an incredibly flashy announcement, the move profoundly influences the game’s future possibilities in terms of performance, development, graphics, and even game mechanics. Big leaps like this are also a great sign for the game’s future development, as it shows that BioWare is investing heavily in preparing the game for the future. Despite some controversial changes in recent updates, fans of the game can all agree that it’s encouraging to seeThe Old Republicattempting to grow in meaningful ways.
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Star Wars: The Old Republic Can See Major Performance and Visual Improvements
One of the most glaring limitations ofStar Wars: The Old Republic’s32-bit client is the fact that 32-bit can only utilize a maximum of 4 GB of RAM. This was acceptable in 2000s-era gaming, but today over 51 percent of Steam users have 16 GB of RAM, while 22 percent have at least 8 GB of RAM. This means that a vast amount of players aren’t able to fully utilize their hardware inStar Wars: The Old Republic,which contains thousands of objects, items, and characters that can quickly use up that memory.Moving to 64-biteffectively eliminates that limitation and opens the door for tons of other improvements.
Although it probably won’t look as good as the now-on-holdKnights of the Old Republicremake, the move to 64-bit opens the door for tons of visual improvements to the game. Access to more memory means a larger number of more complex objects can be placed in the environment, which can lead to far more detailed levels, effects, and models. 64-bit also paves the way for further upgrades, as competing MMORPGGuild Wars 2rapidly implemented DX11 soon after switching to 64-bit.The Elder Scrolls Online, which uses the same engine asStar Wars: The Old Republic,also switched to 64-bit/DX11 in a move that allowed the game to implement features like DLSS, an upscaling technology that provides massive performance boosts.
The Future of Star Wars: The Old Republic Is Looking Brighter
BioWare’s emphasis on revamping many of the game’s systems through major updates shows that there’s a lot of potential in the game’s future. Completely reworking the UI and a recent overhaul of the game’s map system are just some of the notable changes from recentpatches forThe Old Republic. With 64-bit opening a floodgate of possibilities, there may be some more big changes on the horizon. Although the game performs well enough in the basic overworld and questing content, major issues can start popping up in larger-scale activities that involve groups of players like Warzones, world bosses, and operations.
Star Wars: The Old Republic’s warzoneshave long been its main source of PVP, as large-scale open-world PVP such as those frantic days on Ilum has all but evaporated due to the new world instancing system. With a more optimized client and better resource management, PVPers may be able to see some more ambitious warzones featuring larger teams. Operations and flashpoints are also great places to showcase new effects and more detailed environments that would’ve reduced the 32-bit client to an unplayable slideshow. Although major changes may be further down the road, players can still expect some immediate benefits from the change. The 64-bit client is currently available on the public test server, though players have predictably been reporting a number of crashes and visual bugs as BioWare works out the issues.
Star Wars: The Old Republicis available on PC.
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