Improved Fallout 4 performance on Xbox One with SSD

With Fallout 4 launching just yesterday, some techie sites such as Digital Foundry have been running tests with the final product on several platforms.

One of the most interesting results gathered from this analysis has to do with loading times, stuttering and performance on consoles depending on the hard disk drive of choice. Regarding resolution, both PS4 and Xbox One versions try to run at full-HD with 30fps, but, according to DF and similar reports from users, "both versions have issues maintaining their frame-rate targets", and when it comes to Microsoft system specifically, it "has a tangible disadvantage - there's a 'macro-stutter' issue that seems to be related to the game's background streaming technology".

Now, switching hard drive in PS4 makes very little difference (mostly on loading times), but it could make a real difference and even solve this issue on Xbox One. This is what you can do for now according to DF, with pros and cons:

"(...) until this is addressed via a title update, there is a workaround - albeit a somewhat impractical one. Completely eliminating the issue - at least on the test areas used in our initial performance analysis - is possible, but it requires mounting an SSD into an external USB enclosure, then copying the game data onto that drive. This is not completely ideal for a number of reasons: SSDs aren't cheap, and the USB caddy required only adds to the expense. So we thought we'd try another couple of solutions - a 7200rpm hard drive and a hybrid SSHD. The latter consists of a 5400rpm drive paired with a smaller SSD cache."

"Performance improves on both units, to the point where the 0fps drops we encountered are gone, but the stutter - though reduced - is still there, whether it's through standard traversal through the environments, or in accessing weapons you've not used for a while. Across our test clips, the 7200rpm drive seems to offer a small advantage generally over the SSHD, but there are hitches and stutters that seem to show more improvement on the hybrid drive. Both drives show a substantial uplift over the internal unit in that the 0fps macro-stutter is gone or massively reduced, but it's clear that only the SSD showed a complete fix in effect. And again, we should stress that owing to the sheer size of the game, our testing was limited to areas where we had existing data."

How has your experience with Fallout 4 on console or PC been? Leave your comment below to let us know.