Is it possible to migrate the client from x32 to x64?

[Kuqsal 241]

Dear friends,

I am thinking about converting my x32 client to x64; do you think that makes sense?

How difficult is it to convert to x64?

How many days do you think it would take?

[Gurgarath 3698]

Hello,

Yes it is, and it can make sense in specific scenarios. It is not a silver bullet, it will not make your client magically faster (it may even be a bit harder to run on lower-end computers), but it is a nice update to have. Back in the days it would have been way harder (and it was), as we had nothing to move forward and just ourselves, internet and die-and-retry. Now with the amount of libs that has been shared or replaced, you can "easily" have them in x64 and update, it is way easier. You can check Distraught's shared sources which already has a 64 bit client, which is a base you can build upon.

 

[SinusAlpha 3]

Yes, technically you can port everything and its possible but in my opinion it offers no advantage. However it is very interesting for modernization purposes. The source code was written for a 32 bit architecture and this affects both the client and server source code. Porting from 32 bit to 64 bit is easier than the other way around but some ABI dependent types still need attention. If you dont want to change anything in the source code then you should compile it on 32bit.

[Ripped 0]

Chatgpt just did mine, Kraizy 2014 base files, no additions or packages. I'm working on locally. Will open a thread once I spot any visible performance gains. 

Edited September 8 by Ripped

[TheEqualizer 117]

15 hours ago, SinusAlpha said:

Yes, technically you can port everything and its possible but in my opinion it offers no advantage. However it is very interesting for modernization purposes. The source code was written for a 32 bit architecture and this affects both the client and server source code. Porting from 32 bit to 64 bit is easier than the other way around but some ABI dependent types still need attention. If you dont want to change anything in the source code then you should compile it on 32bit.

64 bit offers many advantages, performance being the most important. In my experience, just porting to 64 bit can get you a 10-15% perf boost.

Some hardware vendors are dropping support for 32 bit systems, so 64 bit offers better compatibility with modern devices.

In my opinion every, a client should support both 32 and 64 bit builds.

Doing this is not even complicated, the hard part is usually obtaining 64 bit libs. If you have the libs, the rest is simple (although a bit time consuming).

[SinusAlpha 3]

8 hours ago, TheEqualizer said:

64 bit offers many advantages, performance being the most important. In my experience, just porting to 64 bit can get you a 10-15% perf boost.

Some hardware vendors are dropping support for 32 bit systems, so 64 bit offers better compatibility with modern devices.

In my opinion every, a client should support both 32 and 64 bit builds.

Doing this is not even complicated, the hard part is usually obtaining 64 bit libs. If you have the libs, the rest is simple (although a bit time consuming).

Hello, in my opinion are minimal performance differences possible but i think they are not particularly significant. Only compilation as a 64 bit application does not automatically mean that the client has been cleanly ported to 64 bit. I think that porting from 32 bit to 64 bit involves more than just linking different libs and recompiling, a proper port also requies checking the code for 32 bit assumptions and adjusting it accordingly.

[TheEqualizer 117]

4 hours ago, SinusAlpha said:

Hello, in my opinion are minimal performance differences possible but i think they are not particularly significant. Only compilation as a 64 bit application does not automatically mean that the client has been cleanly ported to 64 bit. I think that porting from 32 bit to 64 bit involves more than just linking different libs and recompiling, a proper port also requies checking the code for 32 bit assumptions and adjusting it accordingly.

The performance difference is definitely not "minimal". When I said "compile in 64 bit" I meant after properly porting the client code (which, as I said, is not hard but time consuming).

If you did not see any meaningful perf difference than that is your experience with it, which is OK, since each port is different we cannot make direct comparisons.

The advantages of 64 bit also go beyond performance.

[SinusAlpha 3]

34 minutes ago, TheEqualizer said:

The performance difference is definitely not "minimal". When I said "compile in 64 bit" I meant after properly porting the client code (which, as I said, is not hard but time consuming).

If you did not see any meaningful perf difference than that is your experience with it, which is OK, since each port is different we cannot make direct comparisons.

The advantages of 64 bit also go beyond performance.

A port may also involve additional changes such as different libraries, compiler settings, dependency versions, or modifications to the code. Those changes can have a much larger effect on performance than the 32 bit to 64 bit on x86_64 architecture switch itself.