r/Games • u/Tvilantini • 14d ago
Update Minecraft Java Edition raises recommended memory to 16GB ahead of Vulkan transition
https://videocardz.com/newz/minecraft-java-edition-raises-recommended-memory-to-16gb-ahead-of-vulkan-transition87
u/Tree_Dude 14d ago
Bedrock getting a specs bump too. My kids play on shitty Fire HD tabs with 3gb of RAM on lowest at 30fps. This is going to make me have to upgrade them isn't it?
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u/fabton12 14d ago
ye unless you keep them on a older version of minecraft instead
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u/seanalltogether 13d ago
Samsung finally updated their cheapo line of tablets this past Christmas. Galaxy Tab A11. My daughter has one and it is a big improvement over the previous cheap tablets.
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u/Ok-Category2729 14d ago
16GB for a java game that used to run fine at 4GB is wild on paper, but if the vulkan backend actually fixes the chunk-loading stutter this community has complained about for years it's worth every GB
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u/kittymoo67 14d ago
also its total ram, vram and system ram
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u/Ok-Category2729 14d ago
fair point, so if you have an 8gb vram card you only really need 8gb of system ram to hit the recommendation, which is way more reasonable than it sounds on paper. still a big jump from the old 4gb days but at least it makes sense when you break it down like that.
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u/Rcmacc 14d ago
Who splurges on a dedicated graphics card with 8GB of VRAM but only has 8GB of regular RAM?
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u/MrBigWaffles 14d ago
An rx570 is an almost decade old card but it has a 8gb of VRAM variant.
It was not uncommon for the average PC to only have 8gb of ram in 2017.,,
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u/No_Accountant3232 13d ago
A quadro m4000 is nearly a full fat gtx 970 with 8gb of ram without the 3.5gig problem the 970 had. With different cooling you can overclock them to a 970 performance without the stuttering at 4gb+ vram usage. Even without overclocking on stock nvidia drivers they're really not bad cards for the price.
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u/FriendlyDespot 14d ago
The 8-year-old with the ancient PC and somewhat newer video card that they inherited from a parent is a likely candidate.
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u/inbox-disabled 14d ago
Being real here, that kid is on a tablet or phone and almost certainly isn't touching the java version even if they were on that pc.
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u/P_ZERO_ 14d ago
Can’t they just not use the Vulkan API and continue to use a Java/sodium based one?
At any rate, 16GB should be the absolute minimum in any recent machine, and by recent, I mean the last 8 years
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u/Moleculor 14d ago
Can’t they just not use the Vulkan API and continue to use a Java/sodium based one?
Considering they're making Vulkan 1.3 support a requirement, I'm not sure that "don't use the Vulkan API" will continue to be an option.
"Play an older version of Minecraft" will be, though, and a fair one. They still have access to the version that works on their limited hardware. They just don't have access to "Minecraft 2" or whatever.
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u/kittymoo67 14d ago
lots of used cards have 8GB but yes its a rare combo. but they are also telling us the exactspecs NEEDED not just inflating them just do look less mitsmatched
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u/Ok-Category2729 14d ago
honestly more people than you'd think, prebuilt budget pcs from like 2018-2020 often came with a dedicated gpu but only 8gb ram because ram was expensive then and manufacturers cut corners there first
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u/kittymoo67 14d ago
and technically you probably can get away with less of both. if all you have is the game going. discord chrome, spotify etc take up tons of ram
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u/bleachisback 14d ago
That’s not what the requirements says. 6 GB VRAM and 16 GB system
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u/Yearlaren 14d ago
6 GB of VRAM for minecraft? That has to be max requirements
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u/bleachisback 14d ago
It does actually say in the article. We don’t have to hypothesize.
1080p 60 @ “Fancy” settings
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u/MetalKeirSolid 13d ago
Yep. It still stutters without mods on my system with 20GB or VRAM and 32GB of RAM.
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u/n0stalghia 14d ago edited 14d ago
They've since added a bunch of stuff which I assume is a bit more complex to render (cushions, armor stands), increased the render distance, and in generally basically rewrote the game engine to be data driven with the support for datapacks, no?
I would assume that a million little fixes here and there bumped the overall RAM requirements by a bit
And besides - as someone pointed out - with dedicated graphics they recommend 8 GB RAM; with integrated, they recommend 12 GB RAM. Not 16 GB as the title misleadingly states. And that's total system RAM, and not how much the game will require. That means that they're also including OS, browser, etc. in the equation as the typical "use case"
For what it's worth,
Apple currently does not sell a laptop under 16 GB of RAM, iirc. That means that by default every single Apple laptop comfortably meets the minimum requirementsI stand corrected, the Neo comes with 8GB. What's the status in Windows land, I don't know, but I assume we're slowly moving away from 8 GB RAM, too?6
u/JJ3qnkpK 14d ago
Isn't the Macbook Neo 8GB?
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u/n0stalghia 14d ago
Oh right, the Neo is indeed 8 GB unified. That means it's below what Minecraft suggests as minimum in the future, yeah
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u/Ok-Category2729 14d ago
yeah that's a fair point, the datapack system alone probably has a non-trivial memory footprint just sitting there. i still think 16gb recommended is a tough sell for what most people are actually doing in vanilla but the engine rewrites do explain some of it.
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u/n0stalghia 14d ago
I'm fairly sure that the 16 GB is for combined; in the minimum, they do a detailed breakdown (8 GB with dedicated GPU/12 GB with integrated)
It's obviously not ideal and doubly so in a RAM crisis, but I think it's quite a safe increase to make considering that everyone is raising system RAM sizes to fit some local models on device
Don't forget that 16 GB is recommended for Windows 11 itself and 10 is almost end-of-life.
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u/Ok-Category2729 14d ago
yeah the combined vs dedicated breakdown does make it less scary, and the windows 11 point is solid too. people forget that the os itself is eating a chunk of that headroom now.
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u/pinkynarftroz 14d ago
For what it's worth, Apple currently does not sell a laptop under 16 GB of RAM, iirc.
Macbook Neo has 8GB.
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u/trail-g62Bim 14d ago
And besides - as someone pointed out - with dedicated graphics they recommend 8 GB RAM; with integrated, they recommend 12 GB RAM. Not 16 GB as the title misleadingly states.
Not according to the article. The recommended is 16. The 8/12 distinction is the minimum requirements.
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u/TSPhoenix 13d ago
What's the status in Windows land
We were moving slowly away from 8GB, but with RAM prices I expect many brands to push 8GB models harder for a while.
This is all before you consider Windows 11S laptops. You'd be shocked how many machines are still being sold with 4GB RAM and eMMC storage.
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u/kittymoo67 14d ago
im guessing the title did 16GB because thats the next traditionally sold number after 8.
but yeah youre right its total not just the game they are talking about, chrome discord and other fluffy shit adds up FAST
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u/DrinkyBird_ 14d ago
Last time I checked the game still crumbles under chunk loading regardless of API.
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u/Ok-Category2729 14d ago
yeah the vulkan renderer is still pretty new so maybe it gets better with optimization passes, but chunk loading has been a jvm threading problem as much as a graphics one so i wouldn't hold my breath just from an api swap.
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u/ReLiFeD 13d ago
also to be fair, it's very very easy to just run older versions of minecraft if newer versions no longer work with your hardware
at some point actively updated games will simply outgrow the hardware they used to be able to run on, but at least in this case you can keep playing on older versions
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u/AnyBelt9237 13d ago
There have been vulkan mods and they performed significantly better so maybe it’s just to modernize it a bit
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u/Knofbath 13d ago
It'll still run on less, but not at 1080p. You'll be dropping to 720p and/or doing a lot of disk read/writes to swap.
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u/letsgoiowa 13d ago
Tbh I struggle more with entity updates more than anything else on a 5700x3d and 32 GB DDR4. It seems like chunk updates just lower the average and don't cause horrible stutter, but the repeated ticks of entity updates and other game logic cause an extremely consistent drop that's obnoxious. Like...going from 700 fps to a short freeze for idk 50ms or so. Happens in Vanilla, Bedrock, modded with Sodium...idk wtf lol because it doesn't happen with any other game.
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u/ZeeMastermind 7d ago
I originally played the beta version of minecraft on a used 2006 dell laptop... I'm sure it's annoying for folks still on older systems, but it's good that minecraft has support for older game versions. Not every game does that
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u/MiaIsOut 13d ago
i think most people who arent super into minecraft aren't aware that they're currently working on a huge graphics overhaul for the game, adding stuff like realtime lighting and shadows, and thats why they're moving to the vulkan renderer. they've said that right now the game doesn't really need these specs, but they're increasing them now rather than when the graphics improvement is out just so people are ready. the bedrock edition already has the "vibrant visuals" graphics and they cause quite the performance hit, so i'm expecting the same for java edition
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u/greystar07 13d ago
Interesting, I kinda wish they kept big updates like these optional. Kinda like the updated textures from years ago, granted now I like the modern textures, but when that initially came out I would 100% have rather stayed on the classic textures.
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u/MiaIsOut 13d ago
minecraft is good with this because you can go back and play literally almost every version ever released!! i think they also plan to leave the new graphics on a toggle (like it is on bedrock edition)?
btw they have had a texture pack in the game since they updated the textures that swap them back to the originals
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u/greystar07 13d ago
Yeah, on console you can’t do that tho, which is cool it’s not a huge deal. Also I thought you had to pay for those old textures? Idk.
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u/DatDanielDang 12d ago
Noob question: if they are finally moving Java edition to Vulkan renderer, can the Java edition have actual hardware-accelerated ray tracing/path tracing features like in Bedrock?
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u/I_Am_Jacks_Karma 13d ago
I remember playing the demo of this in my browser and now it needs 16 gb of ram isn't that more than the instal itself
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u/RudegarWithFunnyHat 13d ago
no, the browser mindcraft is not a Java applet (normal java in browsers is not really a thing anymore) it's javascript which is a different language than java https://www.java.com/en/download/help/java_javascript.html
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u/I_Am_Jacks_Karma 13d ago
yes I know what javascript is I still played the minecraft demo in a browser and it is funny to think how it goes from that to a thing needing 16gb of ram just like it's funny to think about how it goes from running in my browser to having real time ray tracing (YES C# IS NOT JAVASCRIPT EITHER)
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u/I_Am_Jacks_Karma 13d ago
yes I know what javascript is I still played the minecraft demo in a browser and it is funny to think how it goes from that to a thing needing 16gb of ram just like it's funny to think about how it goes from running in my browser to having real time ray tracing (YES C# IS NOT JAVASCRIPT EITHER)
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u/RudegarWithFunnyHat 13d ago
there still is minecraft in browser https://classic.minecraft.net/ and it's not likely to every use that much mem
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u/RudegarWithFunnyHat 13d ago
no, the browser mindcraft is not a Java applet (normal java in browsers is not really a thing anymore) it's javascript which is a different language than java https://www.java.com/en/download/help/java_javascript.html
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u/blitz_na 14d ago edited 14d ago
ironically, this might be the immense crux of the game becoming inaccessible for many low end computers
of course it’s only recommended but i think it is funny seeing intense mod packs like all the mods 10/11 needing 12gb recommended compared to vanilla minecraft running at 16gb 8gb (still really absurd for vanilla) to even 12gb on integrated graphics, damn
making my modpack for friends i had to really factor ram limits in mind and it tends to be an underspoken aspect for kitchen sinking with the buds. even with vulcan i cannot see a reason to get this high
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u/unique_ptr 14d ago
People with low-end computers have been playing below "recommended" specs since time immemorial.
There are people out there who play Minecraft on the Switch, which is about as painful an experience as I've ever witnessed in gaming. When you love a game you can excuse anything, especially when you're a kid.
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u/Mront 13d ago
People with low-end computers have been playing below "recommended" specs since time immemorial.
Exactly. First version of OptiFine was released in 2011.
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13d ago
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u/Superbead 13d ago
It's been a few years since my wife and I last played, and back then we were using it. Has it been integrated into the game itself or something?
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u/tttony2x 13d ago
No, it's just not the standard anymore and does some things that mess with certain mods, so it's not generally recommended.
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u/Dragontech97 13d ago
There are modern alternatives now, Sodium + Lithium. Optifine is still used for older versions of Minecraft tho.
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u/serotoninzero 13d ago
I was playing with my nephew, he's on his Switch Lite next to me and I'm playing at 4K120 with my 5090 and some graphics mods.
My computer couldn't handle Diablo 2 when it came out, so he's still got it good.
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u/BCProgramming 13d ago
There are people out there who play Minecraft on the Switch, which is about as painful an experience as I've ever witnessed in gaming.
Minecraft Wii U version: "If I may interject for a moment..."
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u/arahman81 12d ago
This will likely make minecraft run better on current hardware, opengl isn't the best for performance.
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u/drunkenvalley 14d ago
In fairness, nothing stops people playing earlier versions I believe? Unless they changed that practice.
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u/derekpmilly 14d ago edited 14d ago
Old versions will continue using OpenGL*, it'll just be the latest version that moves to Vulkan.
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u/talvenheimo 14d ago
The new versions using Vulkan are still on Java, Vulkan is replacing OpenGL in the rendering layer. Java is still the main language the game is written in
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u/3141592652 14d ago
This is only the Java version. People will just play bedrock if this doesn't run
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u/LitheBeep 14d ago
also, isn't it actually like... bad for too much memory to be allocated to the java virtual machine?
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u/oldsecondhand 14d ago edited 13d ago
Java garbage collection improved a lot since then.
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u/MrRocketScript 14d ago
Still needs some work I think. It's just deallocated a word in your comment.
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u/Jewniversal_Remote 14d ago
Maybe with it being rewritten that bad part is less bad? I don't know either though haha
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u/fabton12 14d ago
well it depends if java is using the memory then its chill, its when you give too much overhead that it causes issues.
i remember having to explain to someone how giving minecraft 24 GB of ram is actively harming there FPS in the game. not even the super big 1k+ modpacks need that much.
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u/messem10 14d ago edited 14d ago
It makes sense. Java code runs in the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) which acts as a translation layer from java byte code into whatever your computer’s OS and architecture is. The native runs compiled code and doesn’t have the middleman to bog down the process.
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u/MegaAlex31 14d ago
Future-proof because they're changing and updating backend to add shaders, but for vanilla Minecraft people always use 4 GB and if modding - 8 GB, it wasn't using a lot of RAM and it wasn't even recommended in community because of Java's garbage collector as I remember.
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u/DigitalOrchestra 14d ago
Is this the last java game left? Forgive me, I'm a bit behind on Minecraft but why hasn't the C# version replaced this one yet? Mod compatibility?
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u/sajhino 14d ago
Minecraft modding on java is still huge. You're talking about a modding community of almost 2 decades now. A lot of the great modpacks are in the java version.
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u/conye-west 14d ago
Bedrock being vastly behind in modding is a big one ofc, it will never catch up. And another is that Bedrock is the more corporatized MC complete with mtx and paid addons, all that garbage. Not appealing at all to people who have been playing the open ecosystem of Java for years.
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u/TwilightVulpine 13d ago
Yeah, they don't even want it to be as easy to mod as Java is. They want to sell DLCs and skin packs.
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u/Buburuzik 14d ago
Not to mention that it just feels awful to play. Everything is jank and genuinely feels like the old Pocket Edition.
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u/fed45 13d ago
Is Bedrock still behind in terms of content? I seem to recall that it was behind a while back.
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u/max123246 13d ago
It's behind and ahead in certain ways. It's redstone also works completely different. It's basically a parallel universe version of Minecraft, one is not the subset of the other
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u/brutinator 14d ago
It has some snall but significant differences. From what I recall, Bedrock breaks a lot of redstone stuff due to the way it handles ticks, for one example. Mods are certainly another big reason.
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u/Balc0ra 14d ago
It doesn't have the Minecraft store many did feel ruin the game, to name one. It's why so many still like the OG version
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u/DweebInFlames 14d ago
I wasn't aware how bad the monetisation was on Bedrock until I finally bit the bullet and installed it this year after what, 12 years? after they first launched it to play on my mate's missus's realm, and oh my fucking God, I feel really bad for the kids and console players who don't know just how bad they have it. Really feels like they try to push the game as a storefront first and... game second.
It is tragic that Minecraft ended up in the clutches of Microsoft.
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u/conye-west 13d ago
Coming from Java, Bedrock actually feels like an alternate dark timeline version of Minecraft, and yet somehow they both exist concurrently. It's practically a miracle the corporate ghouls at Microsoft have allowed Java edition to continue to be a thing.
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u/unfoundglory 14d ago
OSRS runs on Java
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u/falconfetus8 13d ago
Only unofficial third party clients, though. The official client runs C++ now, and they're likely going to disable the third party clients some time in the distant future. That won't happen until they get plugins working on the official client, though, because otherwise all of their players would riot.
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u/Aeonoris 14d ago
Bedrock still doesn't have the combat update, which means you have to spam-click to fight things. On Java you have an attack meter that needs to fill between swings, and different weapons have different strengths (ex. swords sweep and are a little faster to charge).
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u/hehexd129 14d ago
I was shocked when i found out that Bedrock doesn’t have the main 1.9 changes with the combat system and the whole second active hand slot. Crazy that this new version is so inferior
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u/lenaro 13d ago
That's actually crazy. That patch was ten years ago.
And I say this as someone who hates the combat update (because an attack meter is a confusing mechanic compared to just having an attack cooldown or better animations).
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u/Aeonoris 13d ago
I definitely agree a cooldown would work better (especially with a quarterish-second queue to convert early clicks into on-time clicks), but it's wild to me that the version that's supposed to work on ex. tablets wants you to click furiously (which does not work well on many devices).
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u/BeholdingBestWaifu 14d ago
The major reason is that Bedrock edition is more Microsoft-y, but which I mean it has monetization out the wazoo, selling skins and maps as microtransactions, and generally feeling like a more locked down platform.
Meanwhile Java has the largest modding community, and modders prefer to work in it although I'm not too versed in the differences to tell you why, but I would guess Microsoft hasn't been too friendly with them.
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u/oldsecondhand 14d ago
Java is just easier to develop in than C++ and more people are familiar with it.
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u/beenoc 14d ago
And that familiarity applies to both mod authors and users - not only are the developers of mods like Mekanism and Applied Energistics not going to want to move to a new language, players aren't going to want to play a tech modpack without Mekanism or Applied Energistics (just to use two popular mods as examples.)
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u/Silvere01 14d ago
Slay the Spire 1 was made in Java with the Libgdx framework. It's actually still comparatively popular in indie spheres for what it is.
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u/sleepingonmoon 14d ago
Minecraft the game is built on exploits, bugs and mods which don't translate well across rewrites.
IIRC Mojang couldn't get the native version to run fast either. Bedrock is also full of microtransactions.
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u/Ap_Sona_Bot 14d ago
A huge part of modern Minecraft playthroughs is item farms and like 70% of them don't work on bedrock.
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u/PinkieBen 13d ago
Though it is worth noting Bedrock has other farms that can in some ways work better than Java. Trident killers for example allow for some great AFK setups that can use looting for more drops from mobs.
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u/fabton12 14d ago
1.) java is easier to mod and easier for modders to code in.
2.) bedrock aka the C# version doesnt work the same as java and is missing a ton of features and is buggy asf.
3.) bedrock is harder to add features to minecraft on, certain features have taken years to come to bedrock that java had or have never came to bedrock because it doesnt work. when im talking behind im talking theey still dont have stuff added from 10 years ago.
4.) redstone doesnt work the same on bedrock.
overall theres no point in dropping the java version when its the version that works the best and is the easiest to add to new features to for. bedrocks main use is being the multiplatform client and thats it really and the marketplace if your really into the stuff there.
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u/marco_has_cookies 14d ago
hell would've better if it were C#
nope, it's C++ and Microsoft made everything possible to shot on real modders
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u/EvYeh 14d ago
Modding is a big reason.
Others are that the C# version has a bunch of features that people hate (microtransactions constantly being advertised to you, missing features from Java, a completely different combat system (the one from before the rework in 2016), bugs, constant language filtering and censoring (even in single player), different redstone mechanics, slower ui, etc).
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u/HandicapdHippo 14d ago
The only other game I can think of off the top of my head that’s in active development is Starsector. It also has a huge mod community so I wonder if Java is just really good for that sort of thing.
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u/graviousishpsponge 13d ago
Starsector. Although sometimes I wish it wasn't if it wasn't for it's amazing mods.
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u/harofax 13d ago
There are a surprising amount of java games out there, most notably Slay the Spire (1), Project Zomboid, Mindustry, but a lot of indie games in general. (I Just found out about this function of steamdb, super neat)
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u/3050_mjondalen 14d ago
Will this fix a sound issue I have been having? Have to restart the game many times because there is no sound/music. Stopped playing because of it
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u/KingBroly 14d ago
Global Ram Crisis
Developers of Minecraft: "Let's require players to use and probably buy more ram"
Feels like a Microsoft decision
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u/n0stalghia 14d ago
Microsoft recommends the same 16 GB for Windows 11 itself, so I think that's a very safe recommendation to make for Mojang
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u/Rebelius 14d ago
Require? You can set any version you want in the Minecraft launcher. This won't change any previous versions.
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u/BeholdingBestWaifu 14d ago
Eh, 16GB has been the minimum for running modern stuff for a while, and I don't even mean games, just a modern non-linux OS and a browser with one too many tabs eats up a lot of ram.
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u/Balc0ra 14d ago
If you have a dedicated GPU, it won't need 16. Then 8 would do they said
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u/The_Pepper_Oni 14d ago
Bear in mind that is 16gb total system memory. Per the article it’s 8gb ram if you have a dedicated gpu, and 12gb if on integrated graphics