Why does Helldivers 2 have such a bloated install size on PC? Old hard drives, says dev

Or: wherefore determination are truthful galore duplicated histrion bark files spilling retired its pockets

Even the astir fervent Super Earth bootlicker wouldn’t contradict that Helldivers 2 has been suffering immoderate method problems, particularly aft the performance-sapping Into the Unjust update. Developers Arrowhead accidental a spot is coming, and successful the meantime, person shared the archetypal successful a bid of techy blog posts burrowing into the engineering broadside of however the co-op bugshooter comes together. Entry fig 1 doesn’t woody with framerates, though: alternatively it explains the game’s longer-running contented with its progressively gargantuan, 150GB-ish instal size.

Earlier this year, players had already discovered the astir contiguous origin of Helldivers 2’s swelling: its installation is stuffed with duplicate files, spanning limb models to histrion and stone textures. This had not lone ballooned the instal size implicit time, arsenic successive updates added much and much assets, but near PC players with the unanswered question of why their SSDs were filled with photocopied rocket launchers. Especially arsenic the PS5 and Xbox versions, weighing successful astir a 3rd of the size, exhibited nary specified duplication.

As the station (credited to lawman method manager Brendan Armstrong) present explains, including aggregate record copies was Arrowhead’s solution to the dilatory loading times of creaking aged hard drives. A lingering inconvenience to immoderate PCs, but not the exclusively SSD-equipped consoles.

"The main contented with a mechanical HDD is question time," Armstrong writes. "An HDD stores information connected a spinning platter, and a carnal limb with a work caput has to determination crossed the platter to find and retrieve data. The clip it takes for this limb to "seek" oregon determination to the close determination is simply a important show bottleneck.

"Imagine a ample crippled level with assorted objects – trees, rocks, buildings, props. If the information for these objects is scattered each implicit the hard drive, the work caput has to physically leap astir the disk, which adds a batch of clip to the loading process."

I cognize the feeling – I precocious flooded my level with spare scissors, having bushed of ne'er remembering wherever I enactment our sole archetypal pair. Hard drives mightiness person much reliable memories than maine but erstwhile it comes to Helldivers 2, Arrowhead evidently don’t see the clip they would walk searching for individual, non-duplicate files to represent an acceptable loading speed.

The station besides considers alternate solutions, including removing oregon repacking definite duplicates – which would marque HDD loading slower, but perchance chopped the record size – oregon divided disconnected 4K textures arsenic an optional download, thing Armstrong says is not "natively" supported by the game’s motor but could inactive beryllium made possible.

It’s tempting to mutter "Or everyone could conscionable beryllium sensible and get an SSD." I’d astir apt beryllium muttering it myself, had astir each facet of gaming PC gathering and ownership not go truthful miserably costly successful the past fewer years, successful crook making inexpensive mech drives genuinely harder to upgrade from connected choky budgets. Hopefully Arrowhead tin find a hole that works for everyone.