Hardware Recommendations

Desktop or laptop computers, however many netbook models are designed to work well with 2D graphics but are not up to snuff when trying to deliver 3D graphics animation. We suggest trying Alice on the netbook that will be used with Alice before purchase.

1 GB RAM (2 GB or more is recommended, but not required)

VGA graphics card capable of high (32 bit) color and at least 1024×768 resolution (3D video card gives faster performance, but is not required) Sound card

Two- or three-button mouse. The touchpad on a laptop may be used. Please note, however, that arranging 3D objects in a virtual world is easier with a mouse than with a touchpad.

Windows

Windows (Windows XP, Vista 32-bit, Vista 64-bit, Windows 7 32-bit, Windows 7 64-bit, Windows 8 32-bit, Windows 8 64-bit (thanks pcwiz84 for Win8 info), Windows 10)

NOTE: The Intel Integrated chipset that is found on many notebook, netbook, and other machines has trouble trying to run Alice. Some higher-end Vista machines have also had difficulties. Decreasing hardware acceleration or decreasing color resolution (from 32 bit to 16 bit) has sometimes been helpful. See also the note below on updating video drivers.

Mac

Mac OS X 10.6 and later

Linux

Ubuntu, Red Hat

Alice needs 250MB of free space

Please have opengl drivers and a Java Runtime Environment.

Video Requirements

A frequent cause of problems encountered when attempting to run Alice are out-of-date video drivers. This is recognizable when a red-screen occurs in the scene view or the run-time window when the Run button is clicked. It may also represent as striations on the render screen. We recommend updating your graphics card drivers as a possible solution.

We have also found issues with graphic cards compatibility with JOGL (the interaction between Nvidia, Windows, and JOGL). If you see colored stripes when running Alice worlds this may be the issue. We found a thread here related to this issue:

http://forum.jogamp.org/SOLVED-Purple-and-Green-Lines-Stripes-on-All-JOGL-Windows-td4040923.html

The last two comments suggest a fix by prioritizing the dedicated card over the integrated. [SOLVED] Purple and Green Lines/Stripes on All JOGL Windows [SOLVED] Purple and Green Lines/Stripes on All JOGL Windows. I have a JOGL project that used to work perfectly. I moved to a new PC and now it doesn't. Not even the old builds that were packaged...

We hope this helps and are working to further improve Alice all the time so hope that other upgrades and updates may alleviate this issue. We know changing settings on the computer is not ideal.