PC Patch For 'Resident Evil 7: Beginning Hour' Demo Adds Support For Older CPUs, Optimizes HBAO+

The frightening Resident Evil 7: Beginning Hour demo has been out on PC for a week, but Capcom added a new patch that addresses a graphical issue as well as support for older CPUs.

Specifically, the graphics issue is in regard to HBAO+, Nvidia’s ambient occlusion feature that creates more realistic shadows. Capcom was a bit vague on the issue, but it did say that the feature’s overall performance was optimized with the new patch.

In terms of CPU support, the demo now works with processors that don’t have the SSE4.1 instruction set. This includes Intel’s Core 2 series and AMD’s Phenom lineup. However, it’s unclear if the support for older CPUs will extend to the final product. At the moment, the game’s official specs show that the minimum CPU requirement is an Intel Core i5-4460 (Haswell, 3.2GHz) or an AMD FX-6300 (Vishera, 3.5GHz).

The patch also included a fix for an issue that caused the game’s screen size to change when the game switched from full-screen to windowed mode. Also, the purchase button in the game now correctly directs you to the full game’s store page. If you're terrified to play the demo, you can always read about my experience with the PlayStation VR version of the demo from E3.