For Comparison: "Unsupported" OS and mish-mash old and not-so-old PC [ Edited ]

[jros83]

I wanted to post this in hopes that it may help narrow down what exactly is causing people the most common technical issues. Not issues with actual game mechanics, but more for people who can't launch the game at all, get bad stuttering, frequent CTDs etc. I was thinking how fortunate I am that I do not get these issues (I have crashed twice, but I know exactly why those crashes happened and it was VERY circumstantial so it's not a concern) even though my build is very much outdated. So I thought perhaps if I share some details of a PC running the Remaster almost 100% comfortably (once in a great while I get stuttering, it's usually only in RA, and only when a LOT is going on at once, and it clears up very quickly) while being old, it might help narrow some things down.

This PC was originally built in with hardware that was considered good in 2009 (!) with the only changes being 2 GPUs since then:

Processor: i7 quad core duo, a first gen i7. Definitely exceeds reqs but it's a FIRST GEN i7 ORDERED IN LATE 2009 LOL!

6gigs RAM

OS: Windows 7 64bit ("UNSUPPORTED" but no issues thus far)

1tb HDD, the original from 2009 (yes, I know, it's going to die soon, I'm prepared for that)

GTX-950

So what's interesting to note here is that I am running Windows 7 which is not supported (which, yes, I know this officially disqualifies me from official technical support). As well, I am not using an SSD hard drive, I'm still rocking classic HDD, and on top of that, it's OLD and already has 2 caution flags in its S.M.A.R.T. report. The GTX-950 is a non-issue; not beefy enough for most modern titles to run at their best but for this Remaster it's more than enough. Same with the RAM: woefully inadequate for modern titles but more than enough for the Remaster.

So despite using Windows 7 and an old HDD, I am having no issues. I notice a lot of talk around here and around the Steam forums of people saying not running an SSD is an issue, but here it's not an issue at all. 

So I'm sharing this as a counterpoint in hoping it might eliminate some theories and/or it might help narrow things down.

tldr; My rig is blah and my OS is unsupported but everything is running more than OK.

(In case any one is wondering; I'm still running this zombie because my financial priorities have shifted a great deal. Don't get old.)

[jros83]

Also I should point out, my comment applies to both pre- and post- first major patch.

And as an aside: If they decide to go ahead and do Tiberian Sun and RA2, I hope they stick to whatever formula they used for TD and RA, because I'd love to be able to run those as well on my zombie PC. I played RA2, but I didn't get around to TS (I know, heresy!) I went from TD to RA, RA2, then CnC 3 and later RA3. TS slipped by me. And then time just kinda... passed me by...

[Nyerguds]

@jros83 

The main cause for issues is generally the graphics card. It's been confirmed it has to fully support DirectX 11, or the sidebar won't draw correctly, and the game uses .dds files for map graphics and terrain decorations, and that is a file format (DirectDraw Surface) that is 100% intended to be loaded into video memory, so the graphics card needs to have a few gigabytes of VRAM.

Pretty much all issues I've seen were from people whose graphics cards were below those two specs.

[jros83]

Probably a lot of integrated cards/cards that need to use your PC's RAM.