No Man’s Sky has finally landed on PlayStation 4 after what feels like an age of patient waiting, and according to an early analysis of how the hugely-ambitious indie game runs, Digital Foundry says you can largely expect smooth sailing in terms of performance, regardless of what’s going on at any given moment.
The site notes that:
Whether it’s shooting chunks through the terrain, or sprinting around full-felt, that 30fps target doesn’t waver. And from the first 12 planets we’ve discovered and put to the test, it doesn’t appear to matter what climates or weather conditions are in play.
However, there are some specific circumstances where performance levels dip noticeably, with Digital Foundry noting that the frame rate can plummet to as low as 20fps, especially when travelling at high speeds close to a planet’s surface.
Big drops do kick in when you really stress the engine, notably with fast movement near the ground in your aircraft. For example, frame-rates can plummet once you land on a brand new planet, and then immediately boost across its surface. In this case, the PS4 is struggling to meet the 33.3ms per-frame render time, while generating new scenery and details on the fly. These are calculations made a split-second before revealing the new terrain or object, and when it can’t keep up, we see dips to the 20fps line, and sometimes even lower.
Don’t fret too much though, it appears as if there’s simple method players can follow to bring the chugging performance back to an acceptable level.
This lasts as long as you continue pressing the engine and keep boosting full-speed in one direction. But once you double back on yourself with a full 180 turn, or even slow down, suddenly we’re back to an even 30fps again. From here, the frame-rate issues disappear once you start moving again,” explains the tech blog.
Have you put any time into No Man’s Sky yet? If so, let us know what your early impressions of Hello Games’ space exploration sim have been. For those waiting for reviews before they take the plunge, you’ll have to wait a little bit longer – the game was under embargo until yesterday due to the developer wanting to wait until a day one patch had gone live.