Hardware and software requirements
Windows
| Minimum | Optimal |
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| Operating system | Windows 10, 64-bit Enforced: 64-bit | Windows 11, 64-bit |
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| Processor | 64-bit Intel or AMD (x64), 4 cores | 8 cores / 16 threads or more, with strong single-core speed |
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| Memory | 16 GB | 32 GB or more |
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| Graphics | A GPU whose driver offers Vulkan 1.3 Enforced — see which GPUs qualify | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or equivalent |
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| Video memory | 4 GB | 16 GB |
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| Driver | One that offers Vulkan 1.3 | The current driver from the GPU’s maker |
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| Storage | 5 GB free | 20 GB free on an SSD |
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| Network | Broadband | Wired Ethernet |
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| Sound and voice | Any audio output; a microphone for voice | Headphones and a headset microphone |
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Linux
| Minimum | Optimal |
|---|
| Operating system | Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, or another 64-bit distribution at least as recent (glibc 2.39, which the packages are built against) Enforced | The latest Ubuntu LTS, or a distribution as current |
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| Processor | 64-bit Intel or AMD (x86-64), 4 cores | 8 cores / 16 threads or more, with strong single-core speed |
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| Memory | 16 GB | 32 GB or more |
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| Graphics | A GPU whose driver offers Vulkan 1.3 Enforced — see which GPUs qualify | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or equivalent |
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| Video memory | 4 GB | 16 GB |
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| Driver | Mesa for AMD and Intel, or NVIDIA’s own driver, offering Vulkan 1.3 | A current Mesa, or NVIDIA’s current driver |
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| Storage | 5 GB free | 20 GB free on an SSD |
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| Network | Broadband | Wired Ethernet |
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| Sound and voice | Any audio output; a microphone for voice | Headphones and a headset microphone |
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Packaged as a Debian package, an AppImage and a tarball, all built on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
macOS
| Minimum | Optimal |
|---|
| Operating system | macOS 11 Big Sur Enforced; in-world web pages and web-based windows need macOS 12 Monterey | The current macOS release |
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| Processor | Apple silicon (M1 or newer) Enforced; Intel Macs are not supported | An M-series Pro or Max chip, for its larger GPU |
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| Memory | 16 GB unified memory | 32 GB or more |
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| Graphics | The Mac’s own GPU, through MoltenVK, which ships inside the app | — |
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| Storage | 5 GB free | 20 GB free |
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| Network | Broadband | Wired Ethernet |
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| Sound and voice | Any audio output; a microphone for voice | Headphones and a headset microphone |
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| VR | Not available: no OpenXR runtime exists for macOS |
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Which GPUs qualify
Any GPU whose driver offers Vulkan 1.3 runs Phostwood. What that leaves out, from gpuinfo.org’s driver reports:
| Maker | Qualifies | Left out |
|---|
| NVIDIA | GeForce GTX 745, 750 and 750 Ti (Maxwell), the GTX 900 series, and everything newer | Kepler: the rest of the GeForce 600 and 700 series, the Kepler Titans and Quadro K. Their last driver, 475.14, offers Vulkan 1.2 |
|---|
| AMD | Radeon RX 400 series (Polaris) and everything newer. On Linux, Mesa also takes the older cards below to Vulkan 1.3 | On Windows only: GCN 1 to 3 — Radeon HD 7000 and 8000, R5/R7/R9 200 and 300, Fury, and the R2 to R7 integrated graphics of those years. Their last driver offers Vulkan 1.2 |
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| Intel | 6th-generation Core (Skylake) graphics and newer, and Arc; on Linux, Broadwell too | Haswell and Broadwell on Windows, which have no Vulkan driver at all; on Linux, some Haswell chips |
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| Apple | Every Apple silicon Mac | Intel Macs, which Phostwood is not built for |
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VR
| Minimum | Optimal |
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| Platform | Windows or Linux Enforced |
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| Runtime | An OpenXR runtime: SteamVR or Meta Quest Link on Windows; SteamVR or Monado on Linux | SteamVR, the one tested so far |
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| Headset | A PC VR headset with Valve Index, HTC Vive or Oculus Touch controllers | Valve Index |
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| Graphics | Not yet measured | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080 or equivalent, with variable-rate shading for foveated rendering |
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For Phostwood 0.1.0. Reviewed 27 October 2026.