this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
21 points (100.0% liked)
Gaming
4557 readers
267 users here now
The Lemmy.zip Gaming Community
For news, discussions and memes!
Community Rules
This community follows the Lemmy.zip Instance rules, with the inclusion of the following rule:
You can see Lemmy.zip's rules by going to our Code of Conduct.
What to Expect in Our Code of Conduct:
- Respectful Communication: We strive for positive, constructive dialogue and encourage all members to engage with one another in a courteous and understanding manner.
- Inclusivity: Embracing diversity is at the core of our community. We welcome members from all walks of life and expect interactions to be conducted without discrimination.
- Privacy: Your privacy is paramount. Please respect the privacy of others just as you expect yours to be treated. Personal information should never be shared without consent.
- Integrity: We believe in the integrity of speech and action. As such, honesty is expected, and deceptive practices are strictly prohibited.
- Collaboration: Whether you're here to learn, teach, or simply engage in discussion, collaboration is key. Support your fellow members and contribute positively to shared learning and growth.
If you enjoy reading legal stuff, you can check it all out at legal.lemmy.zip.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
The OS takes its chunk of RAM. And I'd imagine most people don't close all unnecessary background processes when launching a game. So they'll have Steam and Epic and Discord and the management software for their RGB (multiple, if the individual components are mismatched) and their browser with like 30 tabs open in the background. Under these circumstances, it's not outside the realm of possibility that 8GB of RAM is gone even before the game is launched.
True, but for minimum requirements, I'd expect that they consider the case where most of the unnecessary processes are closed. Also, only 30 tabs? Rookie numbers!
Fidelity creep is also a thing. Unless you're going for a deliberately retro or stylized look, you need high detail assets and lots of them on screen at once. Otherwise you'll never hear the end of "gaem bad cuz PS2 grafix lol."
Environment textures are huge. Main character textures are huge. And you're not loading just one file, you're loading multiple files per model. The diffuse map, the specular map, the reflection map, the normal map, the subsurface scattering map for any organic models. And gods help you if your character model has interchangeable parts, because you'll be loading the whole set of textures for every element of those as well. These things add up very quickly.
And you still need space in the RAM for your code and physics and worldsim calculations, animations, everything going on under the hood. So I dunno, 16 doesn't sound outlandish these days.