SWTOR 64-bit Guide

On March 28, 2023 Star Wars: The Old Republic introduced a new 64-bit Game Client. This is a technical change that may affect how well your computer can run the game, possibly allowing you to run the game smoother or at a higher graphical preset than you could before. In short, it allows the game to “use more of your computer” than it could before – allowing it to do the calculations that display the game to you on your screen faster and more efficiently.

Many players are reporting that the game now runs with less lag than it did before for them, especially in activities that have. Other players are reporting little to no noticeable change, and some players who were playing on the “very low” setting have been reporting some strange lighting/color issues. A small percentage of players have said they are unable to get the game to open. Luckily, the developers have been releasing suggestions on how to get your game running if it gets stuck!

Do I need to do anything to enable 64-bit?

No. Simply open the game launcher like you would normally, and the game will start updating. All players will automatically be using 64-bit, there’s no setting you need to enable. This is one of the reasons the update download is so big – if you are updating, it will be 35GB, because all the files are being re-arranged for 64-bit.

How long will it take to update my game to 64-bit?

The developers said it depends on your connection. With the tests the team ran, they found the following:

• Average/good internet connection + SSD
  • Launcher 24 minutes
  • Steam 11 minutes
• Fastest internet connection + SSD
  • Launcher – 9 minutes
  • Steam – 8 minutes
• Slower connection (5mb/s average download) + HDD
  • 150 minutes

I’ve seen most players report “roughly half an hour”. The longest I have seen is an estimated eight hours, haha! The full game download is about 45 GB, the update is about 35 GB.

I can’t get the game to open?

Are you able to log in to Star Wars: The Old Republic, but when you try and press play, nothing happens? Here’s some fixes!

SWTOR not Launching After Clicking Play

My server list is blank?

Are you able to log in to Star Wars: The Old Republic, but when you get to the server selection screen, the server list is empty or it gives you the error “Unable to retrieve server list.”? Here’s some fixes!

Empty SWTOR Server List Fix – “Unable to retrieve server list.”

What should I see is different when I log in after updating to 64-bit?

When you log in, things may look different, or exactly the same. There was no changes to the graphics of the game – but you may be seeing them on a different setting than before the update.

You can see if the game automatically chose a new graphical settings by pressing ESC on your keyboard -> choose Settings -> and choose Graphics from the side menu.

Graphics Quality Preset 

If things look different, you may want to try adjusting the “Graphics Quality Preset” dropdown higher or lower.

If you were playing on the lowest setting, the “Very Low” Graphic Quality Preset has was removed, and you will automatically be on the “Low” graphics setting instead.

Refresh Rate / Frame Rate

You may also want to try boosting up the Refresh Rate and Frame Rate setting to the highest they can go. These settings are similar, but not quite the same. The Refresh Rate options depend on your monitor, and your Frame Rate options depend on your Graphics Card. Both of these affect how “smooth” your game can look while running around or moving. By default, SWTOR and most games are 60/60, but if you have a nicer monitor or graphics card you may be able to boost it up.

BUG: “We are receiving reports that players are running at 60 FPS despite having a different rate selected on the options menu. To resolve this, select another rate and then change it back to the desired setting.”

If Things Look the Same…

If everything looks the same, that’s a good thing! Try running around and see if you “feel” any difference. Players are reporting that these background technical changes are most visible in group combat activities, or in areas with lots of players around. What exactly you’ll see or not see depends on your personal computer. But look out to see if the game “feels” like it is running smoother – it may feel less “jittery” or “laggy”. Even if things look the same, try adjusting the two settings above to boost them up and see if you can run the game higher! Some players are reporting that the game is running great with the same settings as before, but runs smoother, so they decided not to change their settings after testing out the options.

What did Bioware say about the 64-bit change?

Bioware has only posted snippets about this big change, likely because it will affect every player differently and they can’t make any promises about how it will affect an individual player’s computer. Here is some of the things they have said.

Player Reports

Here’s some things I’ve seen players saying about how the game runs in 64-bit. You’ll see a lot of variation!

• mmCion: 32 bit makes it so the code can have 2^32 so the max is number in a 32 bit game is 4,294,967,296 (number which you see as the limit of credits and RAM it can use. 64 bit allows 2^64 so you are now talking in the 18 quintillion values.
• lonkeyy: Woah, this runs so much better in 64 bit. Got everything maxed out, 180 refresh rate 200 frame rate. Jeeeeesus they did some wizardry
• Lithium_Almond: 64 bot so far so good for me, Im playing on a gaming latop and was having some lag issues before the update, didnt like ultra graphics but when i put it back to my previous cuztom settings is running so much smoother now
• Kratyxin: Game will not run. Not happy. Adding DX9 does not fix the problem launcher does nothing after pressing “play”
• DarthDragonWolf: i can tell the game is loading faster than it used too
• HipHobbesT: I see no difference at all….but my performance bottleneck always was my CPU
• mmCion: I did Nightmare pilgrim full group 64 bit. was exactly the same as before, slideshow, so not bad, but no improvement :)
• carry_0n_gaming: i dont know if it has anything to do with the update but my game loaded up a hell of a lot quicker
• Shad0wkhan: framerate is maxing out. its great
• Skaal__: need to run some 16m or world bosses with everything on that’ll be interesting
• learntrainplay2: seems smoother to me
• mosdef5: Better
• firekin_: It’s smoother for me, but barely. It seems to rely much on if I’m alone or not
• Eksys: I went from Medium to Ultra for streaming. I can handle Ultra when I’m not live, but Streaming took up too much resources before the 64-bit update.
• shelby: update on lag and 64bit for me – 0 lag on gods a lil lag on fleet running on very high settings :) missing trees on rishi for some reason but seems really smooth and looks cleaner. i ran gods on imp side on very high graphics and it didn’t lag once :’) imp side i would always switch to low or very low because of all the lightening before 64-bit
• TuxedoChief : This update broke the game for me. I went from pleasantly playable 60 in almost everywhere except for the later stuff like Onderon and Mek-Sha to flailing wildly between 10 and 30 just sitting on my ship.
• freespace303: Anyone else getting huge performance issues since the patch? Yes I switched it from ultra to medium, disabled AA. In windowed and windowed full screen I get huge framerate pacing issues, much worse than before. And in full screen it wont go over 60hz now, and when I select another refresh rate the game freezes and I have to manually close it via Task Manager pc specs – Win10 – 10850k + 1080TI + 32gb – 34″ ultrawide – 3440×1440@175hz (gsync)
• PK_Sovereign: I’m so stoked because I have a good set up but this game always ran so hot.. now I’m on high and it runs colder then when it did before on low
• HurricanePickles: You may need to adjust your graphics. For some reason when I logged in the graphic preset was set to ‘Low.’ I changed it back to high and it looks just like it did, except it runs better.
• nsaasu: if you’re collecting info on 64 bit client, it made no difference for me. i tried different settings and ended up using exactly the same settings as before.
• desert__ray: Hello everybody! So what do you think about this long-awaited 64bit update? Apart from invisible platforms at Soa(lol) I saw no major differences. Also Gharj was bugged, rock platforms didn’t spawn so it was a massacre in the lava lol we didn’t wipe only because dps was huge, 4ppl constantly above 31k
• obiwanomalley: Ran Pilgrim yesterday afternoon. Was working fine on ultra. Also, GPU temperature is lower than where it was pre 64-bit
• stepkkrew: Just a repost: My computer vs swtor was pretty interesting – took me 3 hours to download the update, then when I did, I had a bug regarding no servers showing up. I was finally able to get it working – lot of trial and error and researching answers. I FINALLY get in and the server notice of the game going down in 15mins lol
• TUBBABUTTA_: 64-bit was a definite improvement for me on my work computer which runs a Nvidia GTX1650 with 3 monitors wok programs going and about 50 tabs open in browsers… and I was able to run with minimal lag in highest graphics mode and even better once i switched frame rates to 120
• Tardis1916: for those wondering about 64bit on potato computers, it runs pretty well… for a potato.
• Helle: So far the game looks nicer but my laptop is doing worse. Combat in WZs is freezing things up more than ever now. I’m to the point of just giving up and doing solo FPs for grinding any kind of objective because between the combat lag and gimpy hand/wrist, I can’t be of any help in a group.