Steam Games Running in 32 bit mode.

[Keenantheplant]

I have a 64 bit processor and when i open task manager, games that im playing say (32 bit) next to them. Is that normal?

[thekeemo]

its normal it means the game was made in 32bit

[AlwaysFSX]

If the game is 32bit, it will run in 32bit mode. If it has a 64bit mode (which a loooooooot don't) then it should run in 64bit mode.

[simtransporter]

Suprisingly enough a lot of applications including games are 32bit, even today.

[Pugs501]

Suprisingly enough a lot of applications including games are 32bit, even today.

Give examples...

[Commander_Z]

BF4 has a 64bit executable

[simtransporter]

Give examples...

Just look inside this folder C:\Program Files (x86)

[Pugs501]

Just look inside this folder C:\Program Files (x86)

...

Ok?

[LogicalDrm]

Give examples...

 

Starting from Valves games, Portal, HL, CS, TF2. Software side almost everything launches as 32bit unless you select and make shortcut for 64bit. Even BF4 which became known for having only 64bit beta launches as 32bit by default. You have to set that to 64bit from Origin.

[T6kke]

Most games are still made only in 32 bit. What OS you are running does not change how the program is made.

 

The C:\Program Files (x86) folder that simtransporter gave as an example is a folder where 32 bit applications are installed by default on 64 bit OS(I actually know why there are separate folders for 32 and 64 bit programs when you can install them in any folder you want).

 

But if you want to know if the game should run in 32 or 64 bit you have to browse the game files to see if it has a separate executable for them. Or google if the game has separate 64 bit executable.

 

Steam should also automatically start with a 64bit version if the game has one. But I also think that game developer can set the default launcher executable. So even if the game has 64 bit launcher it still might start with 32 bit one because it was set to launch wit it.

 

 

In conclusion, yes it's very normal for most games to run in 32bit since most games only have 32bit version. And I would not really worry about since the performance difference is almost nothing.

[Lewellyn]

Most games are 32 bit and most support only 1 or 2 cpu cores. There are only a few games that fully support 64 bit mode and 4 cores, one being the current battlefield series on the frostbite engine.

 

You can check if the game has a 64 bit version by looking for it in the game files. For instance, Kerbal Space Program in my steam files has two different executables as well as a launcher. One is 32 bit and the other is ksp_64 which is 64 bit.

 

Most games are not really limited by running 32 bit, as they are generally optimized for performance. However, when heavy mods are installed this can cause games to crash as they hit a ~4GB limit of usable RAM.