System Requirements & Hardware Compatibility ?

[kevin]

Operating System Requirements & Hardware Compatibility ?:

Document Revision: V0.02

This FAQ might be out of date, always check the home page versions for the most up to date editions

Hardware Requirements

 
Q. What are the basic hardware requirements of Playbasic ?

    A. PlayBasic was designed to keep the hardware requirements as low as possible, as such it'll happily run upon the vast majority of the home PC's produced within approximately the last 10 years.   Making game development accessible to virtually anybody willing to start learning.  

     While It'll run on even older systems,  We recommend a minimum of Pentium classed CPU with a speed of about 500mhz.  For a graphics card we've recommend a minimum of  8meg , preferably 16Meg video card for 2D graphics.      
 
               


Q. Do I need a 3D video card to use PlayBasic ?

    A.  No,  PlayBasic graphics engine uses DirectDraw DirectX API.    This interface is primarily for 2D drawing.    Most effects drawing is handled by the CPU.



Q. Do I need a 3D video card to use PlayBasicFX ?

    A.  Yes & No,  PlayBasicFX (The big brother of PlayBasic) uses the Direct3D API in DirectX.   Even though PlayBasicFX provides 3D hardware acceleration,  You can choose not to use it, and stick with traditional 2D blitting if you want.    However, that's probably unlikely, so you'll no doubt need a 3D video card if you want to use PlayBasicFX to it's full capacity.




Q. What Graphics API does  PlayBasic Use ? - OpenGL or DirectX ?

    A.   All current editions of PlayBasic & PlayBasicFX use some form of the DirectX graphics API.   PlayBasic uses DirectDraw interface, and PlayBasicFX uses the Direct3D interface.  

Operating Systems

Q. What Platform (Operating Systems) does PlayBasic work on ?

    A.   PlayBasic & PlayBasicFX (At this time) are built for use on the Window Operating Systems.      



Q. What Windows Operating Systems can PlayBasic be used on ?

    A.   PlayBasic is compatible with virtually all editions of the Windows operating systems since Windows 95.   So can therefor be used upon Windows 98, Windows98 SE, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Window 2003, Windows Vista and Windows 7.

    Moreover, we've heard reports of people running PlayBasic on Windows NT and TablePC's but haven't seen this myself.  



Q. Are there any known issues with PlayBasic on certain operating systems ?

    A. There can be, for example installing PlayBasic V1.63 on Windows Vista/ Windows 7, or trying to use older versions of the product on Window XP from a restrictive user account.   This can cause issues as those operating system tend to limit PB's file write access, which can stop PB from saving user preferences and in particular user activation of the retail versions.    Therefore we recommend upgrading to a minimum of PlayBasic V1.64i on these operating systems.    You can run older editions, and for how to do that read the Upgrading FAQ.



Q. Do I need to install DirectX ?

    A.   Depends, if you're using say Windows XP or an older Windows operating system, and already able to run other DirectX based applications on your computer, then NO,  it's clearly already installed.  Which will be the vast majority of the windows users.

    If not, then you'll need to install DirectX9.  Why Dx9 ? - because this package includes all of the fall back editions of the Direct X also.   See the link bellow.

    There are some exceptions however,  If you're running Windows Vista or Windows 7, which you may know includes DirectX10/DirectX11 (and a version of the Dx9).   If you're aware of this,  then you'll no doubt assume you won't need to install the older edition of DirectX9.   Well unfortunately, even though you have DirectX installed, the edition Microsoft ship with Vista/Win7 doesn't actually include the older versions such as Direct X 8, 7 etc etc.  It's these old versions that PlayBasic requires.   So if you try PlayBasic and it's unable to launch any programs, then you may need to be install DirectX9, so your system has fall back DirectX compatibility. Annoying, I know !

    You can check if your system has DX9 installed by using the System Compatibility Tester on the www.PlayBASIC.Com site.

    If your system doesn't have DX9 installed - Then Click here to download Get Direct X9 Installer  (Which includes Dx9 and all old versions)



Q. Can PlayBasic be used on LINUX / MAC operating systems via some type emulation ?

    A.   Possibly.  We have heard of people running PlayBasic on under some linux distro via WINE for example, but have not tested this out in-house.  So it might well be just a rumor.  But if you're willing to try it some time, we'd love to hear how you got on.