Every time there is a new patch for Fortnite on the PS4, it goes through this process where it is preparing to update. This takes around 15 minutes to complete and then the patches are usually around 200mb and download in a minute or so. Is there something wrong with my PS4 that it is really slow when preparing to download patches?
I have a PS4 Pro and a 100mb connection. The download itself is very quick, it is the part that comes before the download that takes really long. Anyone know what is causing this?
1 Answer
This has been something that was introduced to save users having to download massive patches for games that get updated frequently. I’m not sure why it is as slow as it is and I’m sure in time the PS4 will get a patch to make it more efficient. For now we are stuck with the slow process of preparing for update with all PS4 games, not just Fortnite.
The PS4 does this to check and see what data from the patch you have already. For example, if you were to play Fortnite for the first time, it would need to download all 7 patches (like the PS3 did and it sucked), but it doesn’t. Instead it downloads one patch that contains everything you need. So when it is preparing for the update the PS4 is actually checking to see what data you already have and preparing the data needed to tell the server what data needs to be downloaded.
This was done back when games like world of tanks came out. A developer might release a small 50mb patch, but due to how the PS4 handles patches the entire 10gb history of patches was downloaded each time. Making it slow for gamers and difficult for devs to release quick updates.
This solution does need work, but it’s better than the massive downloads of the past. I’m not sure why Sony find this so difficult to implement, but maybe the will get it right some day.