Robocode/System Requirements

Page describing the system requirement for installing and running the Robocode game.

Robocode requires Java

In order to install and run Robocode Java^TM must be pre-installed on your system. The current versions of Robocode requires at least Java 5 (aka Java 1.5.0) or preferable a newer version. Please notice, that Java can be downloaded for free, and will run on most operative systems. Also notice, that it is the Java SE (Standard Edition) we mean when talking about Java in this context.

Do I have Java already?

Before downloading and installing Java, you should first check if you have Java installed already, and also if you have the required version of Java for installing and running Robocode.

You can check this from this page: http://www.java.com/en/download/installed.jsp

JRE or JDK?

You can choose between installing:

• The JRE (Java Runtime Environment), which consists of the Java Virtual Machine used for executing Java programs.
• The JDK (Java Development Kit), which contains a bundle of software for developing Java programs, and which also includes the JRE.

The JRE is the core part of Java, and typically takes up less space on your system, and is faster to download. So if you are new to Java, and just want to have a quick look at Robocode, I recommend that you download the JRE. If you are already used to program in Java, you might prefer the JDK. Notice, that you can always install the JRE first, and then the JDK later on, if you want to.

Robocode just requires a JRE and includes the Jikes compiler, which can be used for compiling robots, if no other compiler is available.

32-bit or 64-bit Java?

If your operative system is not designed for 64-bit (like e.g. Windows Vista x64), you should never install a 64-bit version of Java. If you are running 64-bit, then the normal Java versions will probably run just fine on your 64-bit system. In general, I recommend that to stick to the normal (32-bit) versions of Java if you are running on Windows. The reason being, that currently you'll need to set up stuff manually when installing a 64-bit version of Java for Windows in order to let it run properly without any problems. Also notice, that the 64-bit versions of Java currently lack of tools like the Java Plug-in or Java Web Start for Windows.

Make sure Java is configured properly

In most cases, when people run into problems when trying installing and running Robocode, 95% of the problems is due to a faulthy Java installation, wrong Java configuration, bad Java VM implementation and similar. Therefore, please read and follow the installation notes for how to install and configurate Java for your specific system.

In some cases, people have more than one version of the JRE and/or JDK installed in their system. This is not necessarily a problem as long as your system has been properly configured to handle all of them. So if you (or any of your programs) don't need an older version of Java, then should uninstall it. The lesser Java Runtime Environments you have installed, the better, as your system might not get confused when it have to choose which Java version to use.

If you must choose between Java versions from different vendors, you should prefer the versions from Sun, which are typically less buggy than the ones provided from other vendors. At least, that is my experience.