For Super Earth, for storage: Helldivers 2 PC install drops to 23 GB
Arrowhead has started testing a huge storage cut for Helldivers 2 on PC, dropping the install size from around 154 GB to roughly 23 GB through a new “file size reduction” technical beta on Steam. The change was developed with PlayStation port studio Nixxes and brings the PC build much closer to the console versions in terms of footprint. The beta is already live, and players can opt in through the game’s Steam properties menu.
The team explains in its latest Steam tech blog that previous patches made only minor reductions while new content pushed the install size back up. The long term plan was to remove duplicated asset data that had been added to help mechanical hard drives seek data faster. With full de-duplication now in place, Arrowhead reports a saving of about 131 GB, or roughly 85%, compared with the current live build.
The main concern was always HDD performance, since early industry data suggested load times without duplication could be several times slower for mechanical drives. After measuring the new build, Arrowhead says that in HELLDIVERS 2 most loading time comes from level generation rather than streaming assets, and that this work runs in parallel with disk reads. As a result, mission loading on HDDs only increases by a few seconds in worst case tests, while SSD users see no practical change. The studio also notes that only about 11% of active PC players still use mechanical drives, and outlets report that the slim build should become the default version once beta testing finishes, with the older “fat” branch retired later.
PC Installation Size Update
We have followed through on our plans and made small reductions in the PC installation size over the last few patches while still adding new content. While this was a good start, our short term fixes have not been enough to keep up with all of the new content in the latest patch. The longer term goal has always been to bring the PC installation size much closer in line with the console versions. We are happy to report that, thanks to our partners at Nixxes, we have reached that goal much sooner than expected. By completely de-duplicating our data, we were able to reduce the PC installation size from ~154GB to ~23GB, for a total saving of ~131GB (~85%). We have completed several rounds of internal QA and are ready to roll this out to early adopters as a public technical beta. Our testing shows that for the small percentage of players still using mechanical hard disk drives, mission loading times have only increased by a few seconds in the worst cases. This is live NOW!Helldivers 2 Tech Blog #2 Steam
Helldivers 2 team notes that modders should be careful because enabling of this beta may break some mods. And keep in mind this is still Beta, gamers who are not concerned about storage space (although it is quite expensive these days), should just wait for the ‘slim’ version to arrive on all PCs.
Source: Helldivers on Steam
