[2021] Texture and asset loading issues after 2.4.4 - PS4Pro/PS5/Base PS4

Merged another thread into this one dealing with a slightly different outcome of the same issue. Also changed the title of the topic to better identify the problem.

To summarize, the issue seems to stem from a bottleneck on loading assets (being textures, models or geommetry). It does seem to be worse on PS4Pro and PS5 systems, most likely due to the enhanced settings for the Pro model, which the PS5 also inherits. Installing on an SSD (or a PS5’s internal storage) alleviates, but does not stop these issues, especially on Pro and PS5.

These are the issues now being looked into. There’s no ETA we can share at the moment for a fix, but at the moment this sits as the top issue in terms of priority for PS4 internally.

That issue is solved and coming with the next patch. Unfortunately, pushing patches on PS4 (and Xbox) is not as easy and immediate as on PC. But it is coming.

Our latest status update about this issue can be found here:

@SquashEm Thanks for the video. It matches the results of our investigations More on that on the last paragraphs.

@speedice That also seems to align with what we’ve finding out through testing.

We’ve been testing this collating it with other reports we’ve received on Xbox (in particular One S models). The issue at hand seems to be caused by some out of memory issues and it is mostly happening once the database (savegame) reaches a certain size/ complexity. Meaning, those who have just started playing on singleplayer or smaller servers start to find this issue a few dozen hours into the game, while in bigger saves, private servers databases and official servers, this issue can manifest itself right away due to the amount of assets that needs loaded in.

That’s what we’re now looking into and trying to squash. With 2.4.6 we’ve added more optimizations that will mostly address the hitching/freezing also reported on consoles, but for the memory issues, we don’t have any ETA we can provide at the moment.
Once again, and for clarification:

Hey there,

Just another quick update on this issue:
We’ve bundled a first round of optimization fixes in 2.4.6, which we aim to release sometime this month. It has currently undergone internal and closed beta testing, and has been sent to certification. At this point we’re waiting to see if the patch passes certification or not, and if not, how to address that.
This round of fixes will likely alleviate, but not completely fix the problems discussed in this thread. They address hitching and freezes, and loading times for game assets.

Most of the feedback and results obtained for the issues on this thread, which are mostly related to the Exiled Lands causing bottlenecking on the system’s resources, are being worked for 2.5. A large number of fixes and optimizations for shaders, assets and memory management on the Exiled Lands on consoles are being, as of the time of this writing, worked on and bundled into 2.5.
For this update, we still don’t have any estimate, but given its size, it will be released first on Testlive to identify possible issues with the update itself. From there, it usually takes around a month to release live, depending on factors like feedback received, critical issues identified and in the case of consoles, certification.

Hey all,

Last night we pushed to Testlive the initial build for Update 2.5. In it, we’ve included most of the optimizations we’ve been working on to alleviate the issues you’ve been encountering in PS4 and PS5. In particular:

Update 2.5 is still away from being released live, as it is currently planned to stay on Testlive for at least a month. However once it is finally released, we hope it improves the issues you all have been reporting.

Regarding 2.4.6, it has already been released on PC and Xbox, and it is coming to Playstation. It’s currently undergoing the last steps of certification and we sincerely aim to release it as soon as it is possible. In it, we’ve included the first batch of optimizations. You can see them reflected in the Xbox notes:

These are the fist round of optimizations and will help improve, but not significantly, most of the general performance issues.
And yes, before you ask and unrelated to this thread, in 2.4.6 there’s the fixes for nudity and Twitch drops.