System Requirements :: Firewatch PC Support

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goobie [developer] 8 Feb, 2016 @ 11:16am

System Requirements

Minimum Spec:

OS: Windows 7 or higher 64bit
Processor: Intel Core i3 2.00 GHz or AMD equivalent
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce 450 or higher with 1GB Memory
Storage: 4 GB available space
DirectX: DX11

What do you mean by “Minimum”?

This configuration is the lowest spec’d machine we feel will provide an acceptable customer experience. This is not the lowest possible config to get the game to boot, but anything lower than this we consider unsupported.

In real terms, we set this benchmark at stable 30FPS on Low graphics settings.

Firewatch can be configured to have even lower than Low settings (shadows can be turned off, detail distance can be dropped) but, in the same way that the resolution can be dropped to something like 600x800, we do not feel like the technical minimum we allow for Firewatch is an acceptable experience.

What is the “Recommended” config?

Due to the massive number of possible hardware configurations, differences between hardware manufacturers, and range of display resolutions we are not comfortable recommending a specific configuration, or setting a benchmark for what that spec would display (60FPS at 1080p? 60FPS at 1440p? 120FPS at 1080p? 144FPS at 2k?).

This is an estimate based on our testing, but on a GeForce 760 with 3rd Gen or newer Core i5 you should usually get 60FPS at 1080p with High settings.

Do I really need 6GB of RAM?

On a 64-bit OS with 4GB of memory you should be able to play the game most of the time but there are a few cases where you may outrun our streaming system and having only 4GB of memory can cause frame-rate hitches or stability issues. We know the game runs fine with ~5GB but listing that as a requirement felt strange since that's an extremely unlikely config (one that we couldn't even test on!). With 4GB of RAM you probably will not be able to play above Low graphics settings.

32 Bit OS’s are only able to utilize a maximum of ~3GB of system memory, and are unsupported at this time.

How the heck do I know if my GPU will run Firewatch?

Nvidia and AMD GPUs use a different naming convention.

For Nvidia, the first (leftmost) number represents the generation of card. So the GeForce 6XX series are contemporaries. The next number represents type, going from 2 to 9. A GT 620 is a low-end card, a GTX 650 is a mid-range card, a GTX 690 is the top of the line (in 2012 at least). The rightmost number is an extension of the middle number -- a GT 645 is between a 640 and a 650.

For AMD the convention is slightly different. RX represents market segment,R5 is entry level, R7 is the mid-market, R9 is enthusiast or high-end. The leftmost number represents generation, the middle number represents type, the rightmost number (and trailing letters) are modifications.

Nvidia and AMD switched naming conventions at different times, so the generations are not directly comparable.

This can be a bit complicated when comparing cards across different generations and manufacturers. The GeForce 450 is a mid-range card from 2010. It is (roughly!) comparable to the GeForce 740 or the Intel Iris 6200. The GeForce 450 is slightly more powerful than the Radeon R7 250, but is absolutely smoked by the R7 260.

Integrated GPUs

We are not officially supporting integrated GPUs (like the Intel HD series, or the Intel Iris series).

There is a large gap in performance between integrated and dedicated GPUs. The game as it exists may still work on some integrated GPUs however you may have bouts of hitching or sub-30FPS gameplay. We do not enforce (ie. the game will still boot without) a dedicated GPU, but we do recommend one for stable framerate.

If you are attempting to play Firewatch on an integrated GPU, try using Low graphics settings and a low resolution that maintains your display’s aspect ratio. You may also want to ensure you aren’t running off battery power, and have your integrated card’s power settings set to Maximum Performance.

This game runs like [expletive redacted] on my sick laptop rig

Firewatch may not be using your laptop’s dedicated GPU by default. NVIDIA and AMD have slightly different ways of enabling an application to use the dedicated GPU by default.

For Nvidia you can change the default from your Nvidia Control Panel.
For AMD you can change the default from the Catalyst Control Center.

Check out http://www.howtogeek.com/175281/how-to-force-graphics-options-in-pc-games-with-nvidia-amd-or-intel-graphics/ for a detailed walk though.

If your laptop does not have a dedicated graphics card, please see the Integrated GPU section above. We are not officially supporting integrated GPUs.

Last edited by goobie; 9 Feb, 2016 @ 9:52am

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Showing 1-11 of 11 comments

Stoibs

8 Feb, 2016 @ 8:17pm

Hello.
A day or so ago in some thread you made mention that this PC support sub-forum would be made and that directions as to how to manually adjust the FoV would be forthcoming.
Is this just as simple as looking for an .ini file somewhere and adjusting the value, or is something else more involved required?
I can guarantee that this will probably be asked a lot come tomorrow post-launch. I figure putting it here in the sticky (Or even better in a sticky on the main forum where it's more visible) ahead of time to pre-empt some of this would be prudent.

(Unless ofcourse between the preview builds and now you've implemented this into the game options themselves, which would be ideal)

Microsoft Excel has Firewatch

9 Feb, 2016 @ 12:19pm

Hello
I have a i7 (3.6ghz turbo), 8g of ram, 4g of vram (Nvidia 950m) and I cand get more than 13 fps on low. What I can do?

ctyree

9 Feb, 2016 @ 4:36pm

I have an i7 quadcore, 16Gb of Ram a Nivida GTX 960m 4GB and I'm lucky to get 30 FPS on Medium

K705

9 Feb, 2016 @ 11:48pm

optimization, developers, do you use it?

Figtree

10 Feb, 2016 @ 8:22am

i have an i7 2,4Ghz 8gb ram and nvidia 920m will i play the game nicely?
plz help I really wanna know if i should buy the game or not

Last edited by Figtree; 10 Feb, 2016 @ 8:58am

Satoru

10 Feb, 2016 @ 8:42am

Originally posted by ctyree:
I have an i7 quadcore, 16Gb of Ram a Nivida GTX 960m 4GB and I'm lucky to get 30 FPS on Medium

You're likley not forcing the Nvidia card via the Nvidia Control Panel

Satoru

10 Feb, 2016 @ 8:43am

Originally posted by Fresh Lemon:
Hello
I have a i7 (3.6ghz turbo), 8g of ram, 4g of vram (Nvidia 950m) and I cand get more than 13 fps on low. What I can do?

You're likley not forcing the Nvidia card via the Nvidia Control Panel

SpindleShanks has Firewatch

10 Feb, 2016 @ 1:23pm

Cant even play the game since ive bought it, everytime i start a new game it crashes on loading up, i have a GTX 770 which fully supports DX11 and its above the recommended requierments for this game, i am totally lost as to what to do now as i simply cant even play the game. Ive tried reinstalling my drivers, reinstalling vcredist and rebooting, forcing DX11 to run on firewatch.

Here is my full system specs:

Processor Information:
Vendor: AuthenticAMD
CPU Family: 0x15
CPU Model: 0x2
CPU Stepping: 0x0
CPU Type: 0x0
Speed: 4018 Mhz
8 logical processors
4 physical processors
HyperThreading: Supported
FCMOV: Supported
SSE2: Supported
SSE3: Supported
SSSE3: Supported
SSE4a: Supported
SSE41: Supported
SSE42: Supported

Network Information:
Network Speed:

Operating System Version:
Windows 10 (64 bit)
NTFS: Supported
Crypto Provider Codes: Supported 311 0x0 0x0 0x0

Video Card:
Driver: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770

DirectX Driver Name: nvd3dum.dll
Driver Version: 10.18.13.6175
DirectX Driver Version: 10.18.13.6175
Driver Date: 22 Jan 2016
OpenGL Version: 4.5
Desktop Color Depth: 32 bits per pixel
Monitor Refresh Rate: 60 Hz
DirectX Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770
VendorID: 0x10de
DeviceID: 0x1184
Number of Monitors: 1
Number of Logical Video Cards: 1
No SLI or Crossfire Detected
Primary Display Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Desktop Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Primary Display Size: 20.08" x 11.42" (23.07" diag)
51.0cm x 29.0cm (58.6cm diag)
Primary Bus: PCI Express 16x
Primary VRAM: 2047 MB
Supported MSAA Modes: 2x 4x 8x

Sound card:
Audio device: 23MP65-4 (NVIDIA High Definitio

Memory:
RAM: 8174 Mb

Miscellaneous:
UI Language: English
Microphone: Not set
Media Type: DVD
Total Hard Disk Space Available: 2811387 Mb
Largest Free Hard Disk Block: 1764973 Mb
OS Install Date: Jan 01 1970
Game Controller: None detected

Installed software:
Adobe Acrobat Reader DC
Adobe Flash Player 19 PPAPI
Adobe Refresh Manager
AdVenture Capitalist
Among the Sleep
Any Video Converter 5.7.8
Apple Application Support (32-bit)
Apple Application Support (64-bit)
Apple Mobile Device Support
Apple Software Update
ARK: Survival Evolved
Arma 2
Arma 2: British Armed Forces
ARMA 2: British Armed Forces - Data cache removal
Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead
Arma 2: Private Military Company
ARMA 2: Private Military Company - Data cache removal
ATI Catalyst Install Manager
Audacity 2.1.1
AVG
AVG 2015
AVG Web TuneUp
AVG Zen
Battle.net
Battlefield 4™
Battlelog Web Plugins
BattlEye for OA Uninstall
BattlEye Uninstall
Besiege
BioShock
BIT.TRIP RUNNER
Bonjour
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Cheat Engine 6.4
Cities: Skylines
Company of Heroes (New Steam Version)
Core Temp 1.0 RC6
Cradle
Darkest Dungeon
DayZLauncher version 0.0.2.4
Dear Esther
Don't Starve
Don't Starve Together Beta
Dying Light
Elite Dangerous Launcher version 0.4.4084.0
Emily is Away
Empyrion - Galactic Survival
Epic Games Launcher
EPSON SX440 Series Printer Uninstall
ESN Sonar
Fallout
Fallout 3 - Game of the Year Edition
Fallout 4
Far Cry 4
Firewatch
FMW 1
Fran Bow
From Dust
Game of Thrones - A Telltale Games Series
Garry's Mod
Gone Home
Google Chrome
Google Update Helper
Grand Theft Auto V
Hearthstone
iCloud
iTunes
Java 8 Update 73 (64-bit)
Java Auto Updater
LAME v3.99.3 (for Windows)
Layers of Fear
Left 4 Dead 2
Life Is Strange™
McPixel
Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5.2
Microsoft DVD App Installation for Microsoft.WindowsDVDPlayer_2019.6.13291.0_neutral_~_8wekyb3d8bbwe (x64)
Microsoft Games for Windows - LIVE Redistributable
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable
Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable (x64)
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.30729.4148
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x64 9.0.30729.6161
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.17
Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 Redistributable - x86 9.0.30729.6161
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x64 Redistributable - 10.0.40219
Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 x86 Redistributable - 10.0.40219
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x64) - 11.0.61030
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 Redistributable (x86) - 11.0.61030
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x64 Additional Runtime - 11.0.61030
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x64 Minimum Runtime - 11.0.61030
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x86 Additional Runtime - 11.0.61030
Microsoft Visual C++ 2012 x86 Minimum Runtime - 11.0.61030
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x64) - 12.0.30501
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Redistributable (x86) - 12.0.30501
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Additional Runtime - 12.0.21005
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x64 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.21005
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Additional Runtime - 12.0.21005
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 x86 Minimum Runtime - 12.0.21005
Microsoft Xbox 360 Accessories 1.2
Nexus Mod Manager
NVIDIA 3D Vision Controller Driver 352.65
NVIDIA 3D Vision Driver 361.75
NVIDIA Control Panel 361.75
NVIDIA GeForce Experience 2.9.1.35
NVIDIA GeForce Experience Service
NVIDIA Graphics Driver 361.75
NVIDIA HD Audio Driver 1.3.34.4
NVIDIA Install Application
NVIDIA LED Visualizer 1.0
NVIDIA Network Service
NVIDIA PhysX System Software 9.15.0428
NVIDIA ShadowPlay 2.9.1.35
NVIDIA Stereoscopic 3D Driver
NVIDIA Update 2.9.1.35
NVIDIA Update Core
NVIDIA Virtual Audio 1.2.34
Oddworld: New 'n' Tasty
Office 15 Click-to-Run Extensibility Component
Open Broadcaster Software
OpenAL
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Outlast
PAYDAY 2
PULSAR: Lost Colony
PunkBuster Services
Razer Synapse
Rise of the Tomb Raider
Rockstar Games Social Club
Samorost 2
Serena
Shell&ServicesEngine 3.0.3
Shelter 2
SHIELD Streaming
SHIELD Wireless Controller Driver
Sid Meier's Civilization V
Skype™ 7.17
Sniper Elite 3
SOMA
STAR WARS™ Battlefront™
STAR WARS™ Battlefront™ Beta
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Steam
Tales from the Borderlands
The Beginner's Guide
The Cat Lady
The Evil Within
The Fish Fillets 2
The Forest
The Long Dark
The Plan
the static speaks my name
The Tiny Bang Story
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead: Season Two
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
This War of Mine
TP-LINK TL-WDN4800 Driver
TP-LINK Wireless Configuration Utility
Uplay
Visual Studio 2012 x64 Redistributables
Visual Studio 2012 x86 Redistributables
War Thunder
Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine
Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide
WinRAR 5.21 beta 1 (64-bit)
Zombeer

scratch

10 Feb, 2016 @ 2:36pm

ASUS N551JM

i7-4710HQ @2.5GHz (8 logical)
12 Gb Ram
running with GTX 860 2GB
SSD

The question - "how does this game manage to laggy on a low graphics settings???"

UPD:
ok, i found the answer - even if i click "run with GTX 860" the game seems to use integrated Intel HD GPU

===========================
UPD2: Solution
close steam, than start the game from the actual .exe file "Firewatch.exe" with forcing it to use Nvidia GPU

Now i have cool fps on Ultra settings :)

Last edited by scratch; 10 Feb, 2016 @ 3:05pm

Nicholin

2 Mar, 2016 @ 2:13am

I got NVIDIA GT9500 though, i even check the minimum specs. After loading my save file
it crashed like a seconds. Also i even tried the -force -d3d9

Windows 8.1
Processor: Intel Pentium E5700
Memory: 2GB DDR2

2 Graphics card:
Intel GMA 3100 Graphics (Not in used)
NVIDIA GT9500 (Driver version 340.52)

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