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DF: Fallout 76 Patch 1.02: Does The 47GB Patch Really Improve Performance?

chandoog

chandoog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,114
The short answer is no.

​


A follow-up to our initial analysis. Does this latest update resolve any of the performance issues or glitches we saw originally? Tom dives in to find out with every console version re-tested.

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TL;DW summary for anyone who can't watch the video:

- Patch 1.02 is 47GB on both PS4/XBO. PC update is 15GB.
- The patch seems to copy over most of the game files, the patch size doesn't add on top of the already installed data (i-e 45GB beforehand, 47 GB afterward. Not 45 + 47 )
- Basic resolution metrics remain the same, nothing has been compromised visually with the patch.
- Frame time spikes galore still present.
- Stutters still present on all consoles despite Bathesda's claim to have fixed it in the patch notes.

- XBX version runs better in the trouble area where it dropped to 10 FPS before, but has potential for big drops elsewhere.
- OG PS4/XBO and Pro also still have plenty of frame drops. Pro drops to 19~20 FPS when using flame effect based weaponry as pointed out.
- Network metrics, time of day and other factors also likely contribute in the incredibly uneven performance for the game.
 
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Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
14,002
Crazy how such a big patch can do so little.

Also makes sense now why they put so little effort in to patch their games. Clearly they haven't put their games together in a way that makes them reasonable to patch.
 

VG Aficionado

Member
Nov 6, 2017
1,385
Conkerkid11 said:
Crazy how such a big patch can do so little.

Also makes sense now why they put so little effort in to patch their games. Clearly they haven't put their games together in a way that makes them reasonable to patch.
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Quite honestly, they'd better focus on fixing bugs and crashes than improving performance at this point in time.
 
Bansai

Bansai

Teyvat Traveler
Member
Oct 28, 2017
11,421
dis gun b good

uDWP4Rh.gif


Curious to see what that humongous patch did.
 
OP
OP
chandoog

chandoog

Member
Oct 27, 2017
20,114
- Patch 1.02 is 47GB on both PS4/XBO. PC update is 15GB.
- The patch seems to copy over most of the game files, the patch size doesn't add on top of the already installed data (i-e 45GB beforehand, 47 GB afterward. Not 45 + 47 )
- Basic resolution metrics remain the same, nothing has been compromised visually with the patch.
- Frame time spikes galore still present.
- Stutters still present on all consoles despite Bathesda's claim to have fixed it in the patch notes.

- XBX version runs better in the trouble area where it dropped to 10 FPS before, but has potential for big drops elsewhere.
- OG PS4/XBO and Pro also still have plenty of frame drops. Pro drops to 19~20 FPS when using flame effect based weaponry as pointed out.
 
Grimminski

Grimminski

Member
Oct 27, 2017
10,187
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Conkerkid11 said:
Crazy how such a big patch can do so little.

Also makes sense now why they put so little effort in to patch their games. Clearly they haven't put their games together in a way that makes them reasonable to patch.
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All the files are stored in archives, and if you want to swap files out you have to unpack the archive and replace the files, and then compress it again with Bethesda's special archiving tool.
 
LightKiosk

LightKiosk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
11,479
VG Aficionado said:
Quite honestly, they'd better focus on fixing bugs and crashes than improving performance at this point in time.
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I'd normally agree, but a baseline performance should be priority for consoles (solid 30FPS minimum). Watching that video alone was starting to give me headaches seeing those drops on console, I don't know how people play that for hours on end and don't immediately get turned off by it.

This game is a turd in every sense of the word, and if patches that don't do much for the overall picture are a crazy size, it's obvious the game won't have much of a future and people who are data limited will suffer the most.
 

Mhj

Attempted to circumvent ban with alt account
Banned
Oct 30, 2017
879
Glad I haven't finished RDR2 yet, had this game as my next. Definitely skipping for the time being.
 
Taker34

Taker34

QA Tester
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
1,122
building stone people
They better get their shit together and fix patch size. Despite not having any data cap, downloading 50GB is time consuming and unnecessary. I'm curious if performance will ever become acceptable. ZeniMax did a great job with ESO so hopefully they'll equally invest into Fallout.
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
14,002
Taker34 said:
They better get their shit together and fix patch size. Despite not having any data cap, downloading 50GB is time consuming and unnecessary. I'm curious if performance will ever become acceptable. ZeniMax did a great job with ESO so hopefully they'll equally invest into Fallout.
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ESO's a completely different thing with a completely different game engine.
 

Deleted member 9182

Banned
Oct 26, 2017
547
Honestly, I just don't know how they're going to be able to patch the performance of this game. It sounds too much like the optimisation that's required for this game has to be done with virtually every system that's running on screen at any one time, which in itself would require an engine-wide optimisation program by the engine team.
 
Hawk269

Hawk269

Member
Oct 26, 2017
6,072
It feels a lot better on "X" and like the video it does have issues still. It was a small step forward, but still a ton of work to be done.
 
Kintaro

Kintaro

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,331
chandoog said:
- Patch 1.02 is 47GB on both PS4/XBO. PC update is 15GB.
- The patch seems to copy over most of the game files, the patch size doesn't add on top of the already installed data (i-e 45GB beforehand, 47 GB afterward. Not 45 + 47 )
- Basic resolution metrics remain the same, nothing has been compromised visually with the patch.
- Frame time spikes galore still present.
- Stutters still present on all consoles despite Bathesda's claim to have fixed it in the patch notes.

- XBX version runs better in the trouble area where it dropped to 10 FPS before, but has potential for big drops elsewhere.
- OG PS4/XBO and Pro also still have plenty of frame drops. Pro drops to 19~20 FPS when using flame effect based weaponry as pointed out.
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Probably should edit this in to the OP.
 
Dictator

Dictator

Digital Foundry
Verified
Oct 26, 2017
4,956
Berlin, 'SCHLAND
I honestly think they have such a big patch instead of delta patching is because they do not pay for bandwidth on consoles, unlike PC.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
117,303
90% chance it's not even really a patch. They're just making you download a completely new version of the game.
 
AegonSnake

AegonSnake

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
9,566
Jason needs to do a follow up article on why this particular game needed a 47GB patch. If this isnt an engine issue, i dont know what is.
 
StuBurns

StuBurns

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Banned
Nov 12, 2017
7,273
I'm not sure we can call them patches when it just replaced the entire fucking game, assets and all.

What the actual fuck.
 
SJRB

SJRB

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
4,861
So eh.. what DOES 47 gigabites get you, if not a performance upgrade?
 
henhowc

henhowc

Member
Oct 26, 2017
33,869
Los Angeles, CA
sounds like a bugfix patch as opposed to a performance one. performance is probably going to be much harder to tackle if its all over the place
 
Plum

Plum

Member
May 31, 2018
17,348
Dictator said:
I honestly think they have such a big patch instead of delta patching is because they do not pay for bandwidth on consoles, unlike PC.
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I wouldn't put it past them. That they can do this whilst so many Americans still have highly restrictive data caps is just terrible.

SJRB said:
So eh.. what DOES 47 gigabites get you, if not a performance upgrade?
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Seems like it gets you the majority of what the original version had with an extra 200mb or so of fixes to go with.

You're downloading most of the game again, essentially.
 
Plum

Plum

Member
May 31, 2018
17,348
PetrCobra said:
I take it there is no way to lower the resolution on the Pro/X consoles then? Honestly, in exchange for a better performance, that would seem like a fair deal to me...
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I didn't see any in the beta, and considering Skyrim is still completely locked to 4K on Pro and X even though 4K makes those versions run worse than the base console counterparts, I don't think there will be one any time soon. I'm not so sure a resolution decrease would help anyway; the games have already got dynamic resolutions and the FPS problems are clearly caused by more CPU-related issues than GPU-related ones.
 
ShinobiBk

ShinobiBk

One Winged Slayer
Member
Dec 28, 2017
10,132
Let's see who fixes this game first
Random fans, who maybe aren't even being paid to fuck with this
Or
Huge company with many programmers at their disposal who's literal job it is to make video games

I know who I would bet on
 
Taker34

Taker34

QA Tester
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
1,122
building stone people
Conkerkid11 said:
ESO's a completely different thing with a completely different game engine.
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Yeah as a top tier ESO leaderboard raider I know this but supporting Fallout similarly like ESO should yield similar results. Both games released with very different flaws but it's theoretically nothing that a moderately sized dev team, time and monetary support from Zeni can't fix.
 

Deleted member 31423

Account closed at user request
Banned
Nov 6, 2017
1,201
So the patch is just making you redownload the game essentially. How is bethesda considered a triple A developer again? How a company with so much money can release so many bug filled technical messes. I'll never understand.
 
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