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Messages in topic: EQ goes 64 Bit
MWunsch
Premium User

Nbr post: 108
Register: 7/15/03
Posted: 10/14/21, 11:58 AM

Morning all.

Today I checked the changes the ToL Beta patcher did and noticed some files, partially named "x64", were created or patched. I take this as hint EQ will join the 64Bit universe.

I don't know if this will affect Magelo's method to sniff in the running EQ client, but IMHO it's worth to mention it.

Kaliaila
Registered User

Nbr post: 66
Register: 12/23/02
Posted: 10/17/21, 2:22 PM

It's not presently working (missing various dlls) and likely not even going to happen anytime soon. Jenn (had discussed that they were working on a 64-bit client for a while. But it is a long process and no ETA on when it will go into effect.

Looking forward to it, so that I can actually have all my bags open without 1/3 of them not displaying.
MWunsch
Premium User

Nbr post: 108
Register: 7/15/03
Posted: 10/17/21, 2:35 PM

Well, the 64Bit files started with ToL Beta and every day the 64B it files are either patched or added. For now, they seem not to be used, but it's less than two months until ToL goes live and if they didn't have it almost ready, they wouldn't have added it to the Beta files.

Fenthen
Advisor

Nbr post: 1660
Register: 8/31/01
Posted: 10/18/21, 4:48 AM

I think they are a year or more away from a 64-bit client. As far as I know they have no dedicated developers working on this (very much needed) upgrade, so it's probably something they are dabbling with on the beta server. There might be a specific command to enable its usage and they might be testing very minor items, such as spell casting, currency, UI, etc.


Magelo profile #725 - Born July 1 1999, Magelo on August 31 2001
MWunsch
Premium User

Nbr post: 108
Register: 7/15/03
Posted: 10/18/21, 7:44 AM

I tried to start the 64Bit eqgame.exe, it fails to load due to some "graphics DLL". But they update the files almost every day now, so I have some faith .

Jelan
Admin

Nbr post: 11467
Register: 5/4/01
Posted: 10/25/21, 9:07 PM

I was kinda hoping EQ would never go to 64 bit lol and I am actually surprised they would allocate the resources to make it possible. Looks like I gonna have to keep this on my radar and probably invest the effort to make Magelo Sync compatible with 64bit games as well.. /sight
wakk
Registered User

Nbr post: 79
Register: 5/17/03
Posted: 11/2/21, 7:33 PM

Well as of today's producers letter it looks like the 64 bit client will be ready before the end of beta, will hit test in 2022 & they hope to have it finished early 2022

Jelan
Admin

Nbr post: 11467
Register: 5/4/01
Posted: 11/2/21, 8:27 PM

Thanks for the update wakk, I guess I will have to prioritize it sooner than later.
Fenthen
Advisor

Nbr post: 1660
Register: 8/31/01
Posted: 11/3/21, 2:22 PM

https://www.everquest.com/news/sixty-four-bit-servers-and-clients

"
We will begin rolling out the new 64-bit update to Beta in the coming weeks, and at that time you will need to run a 64-bit Windows OS to continue participating in Beta. However, the 64-bit update will not be launching with the launch of the new expansion: Terror of Luclin. You will still be able to enjoy EverQuest's 28th Expansion launch without any interruption on live servers. After the launch of the expansion, we will be updating the Test Server about a month before the full launch to live servers. This release to the Test Server is currently targeted for early 2022. We want to make sure this transition is as smooth as possible, so these dates are subject to change in order to make sure we can provide you with the best possible update. LaunchPad will automatically update your client and you will be able to enjoy EverQuest in a new and improved way. It is just around the corner so stay tuned for the Beta and Test Server announcements!

Officially, the sunsetting of the 32-bit client will take effect on the day that the 64-bit clients are released to the live servers. Because of this migration, we will no longer be able to support 32-bit systems.
"


Magelo profile #725 - Born July 1 1999, Magelo on August 31 2001
MWunsch
Premium User

Nbr post: 108
Register: 7/15/03
Posted: 11/3/21, 5:28 PM

Well, that year is pretty short, Fethen. Looks like the transition is less complicated than you assumed if they want to switch to 64 Bit in the early 2022, short after ToL release and inmidst of ToL raid bugfixes.

Sorry for causing any stress, Jelan, my intention was just to notify you and your team as soon as I noticed these traitorous files. I didn't know DBG was already THAT far in the transition.

Jelan
Admin

Nbr post: 11467
Register: 5/4/01
Posted: 11/3/21, 8:45 PM

No worry at all, I am very glad that you raised that topic and put this on my radar, front and center, even more so that they officially said that the day they release the 64bit client they will sunset the 32bit one...

It's a little surprise that they are pushing this aggressively now but you can be sure it was a major effort on their side. I have some suspicions that they had to transition simply because they are relying on third party libraries that are not maintained in 32bit any more and if they want / need to upgrade them, they have little choice but to move to 64 bit.
wakk
Registered User

Nbr post: 79
Register: 5/17/03
Posted: 11/5/21, 4:34 PM

I think the move to 64 bit got pushed up the schedule a lot due to so many of the crash errors that have plagued the game are basically out of memory bugs, they are right now the most common cause of game & server crashes.

Moving to 64 bit became the cheapest way to address those even given the expense involved, and since they want to future-proof the game those two things made 64 bit a much more attractive option.

64 bit servers and clients could be like taking off the ball & chain for EQ, it is for sure a big deal.

MWunsch
Premium User

Nbr post: 108
Register: 7/15/03
Posted: 11/6/21, 6:18 AM

I just got aware they will patch the BETA server on November 8th. This doesn't affect Live servers yet, but gives you a hint how far they are on their schedule.


II pretty much believe the 32 Bit client on the player's PCs isn't the problem. With "Most Memory Useage" my client rarely uses more than 1 to 1.5 GB.

The server is another thing. A world has hundreds of zones with thousands people being spread across them and an endless amount of NPCs roaming around. Add the actions which run in the background (groundspawns) and you pretty fast get to the state a single server can't handle this.

I assume DBG works around this by spreading a world over multiple servers which "only" need to access a shared database ("Who (Player) is where (zone)?") and then handle the actions inside their zone. But even if a server is maintaining just a single zone or raid instance, it can reach the memory limit when it comes to complex actions if 54 people, their pets and the script NPCs do their thing.

So many "small" servers cost alot of energy, maintaining and finally money. If you have a 64Bit based server which can handle multiple zones now, you'll need less server hardware, so maintaining and operating costs go down.

Jelan
Admin

Nbr post: 11467
Register: 5/4/01
Posted: 11/7/21, 9:17 PM

But a 64bit server backend does not / should not imply a 64 bit client at all so if the constraints are indeed on the servers, it's relatively straight forward to address, plus memory is relatively cheap and you can have quite a lot on a single server these days. The game is already sharded in a way so that a single zone of a given server can be dedicated to a single vm / machine if needed. That alone should give them plenty of room to scale.

So it's definitely about the client specifically, moving to 64bit will open up a lot of opportunities for them and being able to address more memory will definitely help.
Jelan
Admin

Nbr post: 11467
Register: 5/4/01
Posted: 12/16/21, 9:21 AM

Happy to report that Magelo Sync is ready for EQ 64 bit, I have been able to sync a few characters on the beta server already with the 64 bit client. This has been quite a challenging work but pretty happy this is behind us now.