No Man’s Sky Next on PC is lovely, but suffers performance issues, says Digital Foundry

Digital Foundry gave No Man’s Sky Next PC a go, and while it was found to be visually appealing, it lacks a bit when it comes to performance.

The No Man’s Sky Next PC update was released last week, giving Digital Foundry plenty of time to try this version out. It was also released for Xbox One and PS4.

According to DF’s Alex Battaglia, No Man’s Sky Next looks beautiful, but the “range of performance problems and issues” with the game caused some disappointment.

Performance even on a high-end PC “doesn’t seem to be where it should be,” reads the Digital Foundry report.

“Basics like v-sync don’t seem to work properly… and user-friendliness comforts and presentation create a genuinely poor introduction to the game,” said DF. “For a title that has improved so dramatically since launch, we genuinely hope to see Hello Games make one last push to make life easier for PC users.

“The implementation of v-sync doesn’t seem to act as it should, and there are profound performance implications as a result. With v-sync enabled on a Ryzen 7 1700X/GTX 1070 system, frame-rate monitors report a solid 60fps; however on-screen motion is plagued with stutter. Running captured footage through our tools, the game seems to ricochet between 16ms and 33ms frame-times.

“Turning off v-sync seems to put the game into a borderless windowed mode, where frame-rate can exceed 60fps but there’s no sign of any tearing. It’s an improvement but it’s still not working correctly.”

When the team switch to using a PC featuring a Core i5 8400 and a GTX 1060, v-sync did work and frame-rate reported correctly. Still, performance “hard-locks” to either 30fps or 60fps. Turning v-sync off worked in this case, but the only way to get a “triple-buffered, smoother v-synced experience,” was to run it in windowed mode.

Another system was tried, and there were pros and cons in that case as well.

Digital Foundry said one of the biggest challenges was tweaking the settings and trying to optimize the game. Luckily, the team has put together a video guide to getting optimal settings for No Man’s Sky Next PC. It also provides information on how much performance you can save. It’s posted above, as you can obviously see.

If you want to get into the actual, technical, nitty-gritty of the report, give the link above a click.

A patch was recently released for No Man’s Sky Next PC. Patch 1.52.1 fixed a few bugs in both the single-player and multiplayer. Notes are below, and the changes will roll out to consoles soon.

No Man’s Sky Next PC – patch 1.52.1

• Fixed a case where invalid characters could cause saves to fail to load
• Fixed the Base Restoration mission failing to find a proper site for your legacy base
• Fixed an issue where players would not know the Living Glass recipe after upgrading their save
• Fixed an issue where players would not know the Blueprint Analyser after upgrading their save
• Fixed an issue where players would not know the Frigate Fuel blueprint if they undertook the fleet tutorial in multiplayer
• Fixed a number of issues with Galactic Commission missions that involved freighters
• Fixed an issue where players would not see their ships docked aboard a freighter when loading
• Fixed an issue where players would see multiple ships docked on the same landing pad when loading
• Fixed an issue where the freighter bridge would unload after accepting a mission from the Galactic Commission Terminal
• Fixed an issue where players would be jettisoned into space after warping aboard another player’s freighter
• Fixed a number of text bugs
• Fixed a number of incorrect prices

If you’re just getting started and need some pointers, check out our No Man’s Sky Next FAQ. It gives you information on how to switch to third person, how to use the Refiner, and how to find the Sky Fleet Command Room.

There’s also our No Man’s Sky Next guide on where to find Chromatic Metal, Pure Ferrite, Sodium Nitrate, and more.

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