System Requirements

tl;dr

With the release of EVE Online: Dominion this winter the minimum system requirements needed to run the EVE client will become Windows XP Service Pack 2.  We will at the same time officially support Windows 7.

Updates, updates, updates, ...

The history of EVE is the history of continuous enhancements, updates, upgrades, and new and improved technology; both client and server software updates as well as hardware upgrades. When writing this dev blog I compiled a list of technical dev blogs since 2007 that relate to new or improved technology:

• Common technology
  • Stackless Python 2.5
  • StacklessIO
  • Engineering updates
  • More engineering updates
• Client technology
  • EVE Voice
  • Trinity, the first graphics update
  • Client performance enhancements
  • Apocrypha, the second graphics update
  • Audio update
• Server technology
  • EVE64
  • Server performance enhancements
• Hardware
  • Server hardware upgrades
  • More server hardware upgrades
  • Network upgrades
  • Database upgrades
• Community technology
  • EVE API
  • Static Data Export Database

Why do we constantly update EVE? "Why can't you just keep it the way it is?"

We update EVE because EVE needs to be fresh, vibrant and cutting-edge. EVE should be immortal, just as you, the pod pilot.

With the release of EVE Online: Dominion this winter we are yet again adding more new technology. Dominion will be the third graphics update and then, as CCP Pleognost detailed in his dev blog on the new in-game browser, we are updating the IGB in Dominion using the Chromium browser toolkit.

Increased minimum system requirements

Introducing new technology has at times required that we update the minimum system requirements needed to run the EVE client. Adding new technology sometimes entails that old technology must be left behind.

Currently the minimum system requirements are Windows XP but with Dominion they will become Windows XP Service Pack 2. This is due to Chromium's dependence on Windows HTTP Services version 5.1 (winhttp.dll).

The increased minimum requirements will affect 0.4% of our Windows XP users. There is a direct update path for these users: To update to the latest Service Pack, currently Service Pack 3, at the Microsoft Update website. This update is free of charge for Windows XP users.

Other options include upgrading to Windows Vista or Windows 7.

Official Windows 7 support

With Dominion we will be officially supporting Windows 7. We have been testing Windows 7 since December last year and our bi-weekly platform tests are run on several Windows 7 configurations.

Microsoft has announced Windows 7's general retail availability on 22 October but already about 8.8% of our Windows users use Windows 7. The majority of our Windows users are still using Windows XP, or 49.5%, with 41.7% using Windows Vista but the increased Windows 7 usage has been at the expense of Windows XP.

Here is an overall breakdown of all operating systems in September 2009:

• CCP Explorer