How old of a computer can run this game? I bet my computer can't!

Since this game is written in c++(and not java like minecraft is), there might be hope for me to play this game on my extremely old computer. Here are my specs:

Pentium 4 2.8 gh
1.5 gig ram
ATI Radeon 9250 pro 128 MB
Windows XP SP3

My biggest concern would be what pixel shader version the game requires. My video card only supports v1.4 I have tried to play games that require v2.0 and they simply don't work. I am wondering if the devs can give me a rough guess if this game will run on my PC. Also, will there be a demo available?

EDIT: How do I edit the title of this thread? lol COMPUTE HAHA!

 

This game can run on older computers, but I am not entirely sure about yours. I would guess that your RAM might be okay, although it wouldn't hurt to upgrade that. Windows XP SP3 should be supported, seeing as many people still use it... as for the other things, I'm not sure.

 

Downgrading from SP3 to SP1 might help, too. However until the specs or game comes out, we have no way of telling if you can run it or not

 

I'm sure you know this, but Tiy has tested and ran the game on an entry level Macbook with solid 60 FPS. Even so, http://playstarbound.com/faq/ says they don't know the system requirements yet, since they're always changing the game and working on optimization. Cheers

 

Just have to wait and see.
The devs said that they've managed to run it on a fairly old computer, but that was awhile ago, and the specs have probably increased a little bit, no matter how optimized they've got it.
That being said, we have no way of knowing what the "old computer" is.

 

Im pretty sure i heard that the file size was around 2 gigs at the moment, but that could be false.

 

That's not advice that I would recommend, and I'm not sure how it might help.

To the OP, the video card is the component I would have the most concern about. However, your system may well still be capable of playing starbound, but until we have a bit more info there's really no way to be sure.

 

128 MB will run it, i'm sure.
you don't really need my 2 GB GDDR5 to run starbound
The RAM may be a problem, though. No worries, RAM is cheap and is available for even laptops.

 

nobody knows

not even... Squidward's House

 

I'd say "try terraria", but terraria is not really amazingly optimized. If I have background turned on in that game, it's not really the definition of smoothness, I have no idea what is causing it since I can run Dead Space 3 on high settings with no problems at all and that's a whole different level.
We just can't say for sure now, game is still in development, new things are being added, some things (probably) remooved, still being optimized. But wait and see for yourself, I am sure we will get PC requirements as soon as it is possible.

 

1.5 gigs of RAM?

Holy hell. It's time for an upgrade.

 

As said, biggest concern here is your video card, then your RAM, possibly.

For the video card, if you prefer to stay with ATI cards, i can't really help you there.
Otherwise, i could suggest a modest Nvidia Geforce 430 GT. That's the card i have and it run all the recent games very nicely, and is cheap (50-65$, i'd wager).

For the RAM, i'd go for 3-4 gb. More than that and it would be a waste, unless your system is 64 bits, and i don't think so.
They're relatively cheap.

However, for starbound, i *think* you'd be alright. Shader version might stop you as you said, but the rest would be okay, not without hiccups.

 

Reminds me of wanting to run Portal on my old computer. The graphics card had no pixel shaders (only vertex) it was so old. End up hacking something together using SwiftShader, but the game ran like molasis unless I had the lowest possible settings and it was in the tiniest resolution window. Then as long as nothing to intense was happening I could get enough FPS to play... (My results might be skewed from the fact I was also running it under WINE on linux, I really was not supposed to be playing it)

Anyhow, not sure since I have no idea what shader version the game will need. Like sankto said you might want to try and find some more RAM and a decent graphics card. You can buy that stuff new, online, or at one of those mom and pop tech stores. Getting a card with at least shader v 2.x or 3.x would be a good investment since that coupled with at least buying a 2gb stick of RAM should allow you to play at least some of the more modern low end games.

 

Really, I think your biggest problem will be RAM, which is handy, since it's super cheap now and easy to install. I'd recommend boosting it to 4GB at least, but more than that won't hurt. This game is set to be more optimized than Terraria or Minecraft, so if neither work, don't fret.

 

Yep, really as long as it doesn't require a Directx, OpenGL, or Pixel shader above his current card the Ram would be the next biggest thing, Since even if the game has a very low memory footprint 1.5 GB would still be quite tiny and not leave much room to work with.

 

Oh wait, he's running SP3 isn't he? Doesn't that mean the system will only recognize a maximum of 3GB? I seem to remember having that problem a long time ago.

 

32 bits systems can only recognize approx. 3 or 4 GB of ram. Win XP is usually seen as a 32 bits system, and 64 bits started to be popular along winVista.

More wouldn't hurt sure, but it won't do anything.

 

Ah, it must have been a 32 bit system I had all those years ago then. I remember having more RAM than the system could actually use, which was a pain. And I only say that more wouldn't hurt because you never know when you'll get lucky and find components for really cheap prices, sometimes even cheaper than lower spec stuff. A while ago a guy I know was giving away some extra RAM he didn't need. It was pretty high spec for the time too. Shame I didn't need it.

 

I only ever knew one person who used Windows XP x86_64 and he did 3D modeling for a living.

 

1.5 RAM?
Windows XP?

Starbound probably will run on your computer, but expect frame skips and low fps during boss battles and a lot of action going on.