Low RAM warning

Seriously, this game needs one.

The variable ram usage depending on system can cause slowdowns and crashes, which many casual users can't comprehend. Even advanced user might not be able to instantly spot the issue. There have been quite a few bug reports, also on steam forums, where people often didn't have enough RAM or played on too large system.

Many games can crash when using to many mods, but overburdening the RAM can be easily done with Vanilla functions of Planetary Annhilation, namely creating to big/many planets.

IMO there should be a warning when the unused RAM falls under a certain threshold, e.g. 500mb, and an additional display showing free memory in the System Editor.
Best case would be with a question mark-button opening a screen with an understandable explanation what increases RAM usage (ofc planets+proportional size), how much should be left free for actual games (because of units/UI), and why it can cause a crash/slow down the pc.

Personally, I have to switch between game and Task Manager when creating big systems. That's just a bit janky, i think the additional functionality would help all players.

Yeah systems should be categorised into bands 2gb (if anyone still uses the 32bit version on windows?), 4gb, 6gb, 8gb, 12gb and 16gb maps. TA had this (although replace gb with mb!) and it would give people a very obvious indicator of if they should be joining a game or not.

stupid! stupid! stupid! wedding! just pop out for a sec while they're doing the "you may now kiss the bride" that's the dullest moment! and they don't need your help at that time!

it's these kinds of insights and ideas you have that make you absolutely vital to my livecast!

Lol I wondered what you were on about at first :S Yeah sorry I'm not available for the live cast! Maybe you could do a few if it's successful?

Yeah, that would be a great system. It's even good for the very casual users, since they could just go with trial&error.

The Steam Page itself says minimum requirement is: "4 GB RAM". If somebody tries to run this game on a 2 GiB system (or evne just buys it when it is clear it will not run) it is just plain user error.

And developers cannot guard against user error.

I will.

Depends. I imagine the 2GB would be pure map-size, a pc's RAM usage is dependant on much more elements like OS and background processess. And 2GB+OS+UI would be very close to the limits.

+1, Also *when PA first hit Alpha* there was a 32 bit version for windows. This is inherently limited to 2gb of usable ram (maybe 3gb with a patch). I'm not sure if that is even available any more though?

3.something GiB, usually. As RAM and device IO have to share the 32-bit adresses, there is quite a bit of loss.

The steam page says the PC version can run on a 32-bit CPU, so I asume it might inlcude the 32-bit client.
Still a 4 GiB minimum requirement and a 32 bit Client kinda defeat themself.

The minimum used to be 8 GB, also, I know two people who play with 2GB, fps is better than you expect

The real issue arrises with system rendering times after the lobby.

Aw, I was playing last night, and the amount of 10+ planet systems I saw was ridiculous! no wonder people are having crashes left right and centre, they are trying to melt their computers from the inside...
I think having the number of players turn red when it thinks there are too many players is a start (which already happens). But it needs some sort of indicator that you are picking too many planets for a fun game if you have double digits and all massive planets.

Going into the lobby and seeing most of the games having ten planets makes me do a sad. All those games are going to be full of noobs who quit playing because the game runs so damn slow.

I think not. One day you gotta be realistic and say PA is a 4-gig of RAM minimum-game. period.

no, there was no way to circumvent 2GB limit on XP

aside from that another min spec that PA should clearly state is 64-bit as you really need the processing horsepower.

Good luck

Yay, good luck, keep us up to date

Great stuff!

Edit: And a chap of your caliber doesn't need luck

consider PA a next gen game...update your stuff...PA may not look like the part on the surface...but planets and units moving around on a true 3d plane is seriously taxing (and also insanely awesome that uber managed to pull it off)

It should have a warning about planet size for example "one or more planets in this system are over 1000 radius. May cause crashes or major lag." Just something to let people know that it's to much.