• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Sony needs to address and fix the PS4's "Copying" of game updates; it's become unacceptable.

Boss Mog

Boss Mog

Member
So a couple of years ago Sony decided to change the way PS4 game updates work. Instead of just downloading the update and installing it into the existing game data, Sony decided to have the game make a complete copy of itself while installing the patch. Imagine a 100+GB game copying itself onto the same drive, meaning the drive head has to read and write at the same time, the result is obviously a super slow copying process which quite frankly has become completely unacceptable. I wanted to play a few rounds of Modern Warfare today before having to go out but because there was an update and the copying took about 40 minutes I wasn't able to play, even though the update itself was downloaded in seconds.

Sony needs to realize that people sometimes have limited time to play and having to wait 40 minutes (for basically no reason) is completely unacceptable. There have been times where I couldn't play with friends because one of us hadn't done the update yet. Sony implemented this to prevent file corruption during the update but I never had a problem with corrupted game files in the 4-5 years I used the PS4 prior to "Copying" being implemented. Neither has anybody else I know. And even if we did, it would be faster to re-download the whole game rather than go through this "Copying" method. At the very least Sony should give us the option in the system settings to disable "Copying" and take our chances with file corruption, it would be an easy decision to make for me and probably for many others as well. It would also save power and save the drive from unnecessary wear.

Push Square did an article on it recently, though they just explained it rather than criticize it which is disappointing:
www.pushsquare.com

Why Does PS5, PS4 Copying Update Files Take So Long?

What is copying on PS5 and PS4, and why is it so slow?
www.pushsquare.com www.pushsquare.com
 
Last edited:
I think there is more to it than just blaming Sony. Not all game patches need copying (old and current games), devs must somehow have a finger in it too.
 
Ar¢tos said:
I think there is more to it than just blaming Sony. Not all game patches need copying (old and current games), devs must somehow have a finger in it too.
Click to expand...
This is quite possible. I still think Sony should implement a setting that allows users to always reject "copying" and devs would need to accept it and serve up their patches without the "copying".
 
Boss Mog said:
This is quite possible. I still think Sony should implement a setting that allows users to always reject "copying" and devs would need to accept it and serve up their patches without the "copying".
Click to expand...
I assume it is related to the alpha updates. Smaller patches, but with copying requirements (basically applying changes to files instead of simply overwriting files with newer versions). While the patches that don't require copying simply replace whole files, being potentially bigger. That's my theory.
 
Agreed. It's ridiculous. Used to be an edge vs slow update Xbox for Sony too (maybe the Xbox does the same copying) so there must be some better solution for this. For both manufacturers.
 
Agreed. They should just create a "virtual disk" of the original game and than make a "snapshot" and write the new stuff into the snapshot. After everything is applied they should just "apply & delete" the snapshot how almost every virtual machine manager can do it. This way, they still have the original stuff when the update fails. The game could even get patched while you are still playing. Really don't know why sony does not work with such containers.
 
I hate that the only way to keep the system ready to play ASAP is leaving it on rest mode. I'm so used to turning it off.
 
Ar¢tos said:
I think there is more to it than just blaming Sony. Not all game patches need copying (old and current games), devs must somehow have a finger in it too.
Click to expand...

All TRC's are created by Sony. Developers must follow the rules outlined by them in order to get the games approved.
 
Poop! said:
All TRC's are created by Sony. Developers must follow the rules outlined by them in order to get the games approved.
Click to expand...
Since some patches require copying and others don't, that means that Sony gives devs more than one way to deal with patches, and it is up to the devs to choose whichever suits them better.
 
A 100MB patch can take an hour long to copy. A 1GB can take one minute to copy.

Explain that.

That's the case for a lot of game, especially R6 and Rocket League.
 
Last edited:
What they need to address is the damn storage requirement when downloading/installing.
The other day I had to update Destiny 2...

Update: 135-150MB.
Free hdd: 78GB

NOT ENOUGH, you need to free another 26GB to be able to download a
~150MB patch....
 
Yeah I updated Driveclub yesterday, I had like 40GB's free but because the total package eclipsed the copy size I had to delete another game to be able to update it. It's very stupid.
 
my story, when I wanted to play Fortnite on PS4 because I just turned it on looking through the store and thought, ok let's do some weekly challenges.

so I start Fortnite, and it needed an update... the update was 1GB in size.
it downloaded in less than a minute.
BUT then the copying started... it took so fucking long that at 50% of copying I said FUCK IT and turned on my Xbox One X,

remember, the PS4 was at 50% of the copying process at that time.

after booting the Xbox One X from a cold boot.
starting the Fortnite update, completely downloading and installing it, to booting the game and being in the main menu...

after all that the PS4 was still copying and at around 80%

HOW THE FUCK does Sony think that's ok?
 
Last edited:
I noticed this is an issue with newer games.

eg. every Hitman 2 update takes ages to copy.

But if you fire up something old, like Watch Dogs, it copies fast.
 
GrayFoxPL said:
I noticed this is an issue with newer games.

eg. every Hitman 2 update takes ages to copy.

But if you fire up something old, like Watch Dogs, it copies fast.
Click to expand...

it's something about how newer PS4 games are stored I think.
this whole copying bullshit started around early last year I think.

the fact that it's still a thing is ridiculous imo
 
My guess is that Sony isn't going to fix a damn thing this late in the generation.

It's going to make the SSD in the PS5 seem that much more attractive. Planned obsolescence and all that.
 
jshackles said:
It's going to make the SSD in the PS5 seem that much more attractive. Planned obsolescence and all that.
Click to expand...
The SSD would make things faster, but this method would mean a lot more write operations than you'd ideally want when using an SSD. Instead of just updating what you have where possible, rewriting numerous extra GBs every time you update, needlessly, will shorten the lifespan of the SSD.
 
DonF said:
I hate that the only way to keep the system ready to play ASAP is leaving it on rest mode. I'm so used to turning it off.
Click to expand...
If there is a game you play everyday leave it in rest mode or put it on an hour before you start playing, so all downloads and installs are sorted ahead of time...….
 
It's even worse when multiple games update at the same time. Downloading, copying, and installing all take longer as it tries to do them all at the same time, and they slow to a crawl or stop completely until another task finishes. Not really sure how it all works, but yes, it's very annoying to have to wait around for all of that. Nearly every week after update Tuesday, I have to deal with this waiting around for multiple game updates malarkey.
 
Boss Mog said:
So a couple of years ago Sony decided to change the way PS4 game updates work. Instead of just downloading the update and installing it into the existing game data, Sony decided to have the game make a complete copy of itself while installing the patch. Imagine a 100+GB game copying itself onto the same drive, meaning the drive head has to read and write at the same time, the result is obviously a super slow copying process which quite frankly has become completely unacceptable. I wanted to play a few rounds of Modern Warfare today before having to go out but because there was an update and the copying took about 40 minutes I wasn't able to play, even though the update itself was downloaded in seconds.

Sony needs to realize that people sometimes have limited time to play and having to wait 40 minutes (for basically no reason) is completely unacceptable. There have been times where I couldn't play with friends because one of us hadn't done the update yet. Sony implemented this to prevent file corruption during the update but I never had a problem with corrupted game files in the 4-5 years I used the PS4 prior to "Copying" being implemented. Neither has anybody else I know. And even if we did, it would be faster to re-download the whole game rather than go through this "Copying" method. At the very least Sony should give us the option in the system settings to disable "Copying" and take our chances with file corruption, it would be an easy decision to make for me and probably for many others as well. It would also save power and save the drive from unnecessary wear.

Push Square did an article on it recently, though they just explained it rather than criticize it which is disappointing:
www.pushsquare.com

Why Does PS5, PS4 Copying Update Files Take So Long?

What is copying on PS5 and PS4, and why is it so slow?
www.pushsquare.com www.pushsquare.com
Click to expand...
This is probably done to improve read and write times while playing since so many games depend on streaming and probably file corruption, it sucks to wait tho, i agree.
Also, before the long copying long times there used to be long preparing to download or something similar, it's like they just changed the order of the time spend waiting to before downloading to after downloading.
The only problem i have with this is not the time but the space requirement, sometimes it gets ludicrous.
 
I fucking hate it!
500MB fix patch for your 100GB game?
Sure, let's wait 50min to copy the WHOLE FUCKING GAME.
Redundant piece of crap.
 
Keihart said:
This is probably done to improve read and write times while playing since so many games depend on streaming and probably file corruption, it sucks to wait tho, i agree.
Also, before the long copying long times there used to be long preparing to download or something similar, it's like they just changed the order of the time spend waiting to before downloading to after downloading.
The only problem i have with this is not the time but the space requirement, sometimes it gets ludicrous.
Click to expand...
No that's not true. Destiny 1/2 never had to re-download the game every time patches happen. That's like 60+GB download every time new content gets pushed.
 
Yeah it's annoying as fuck. Especially while i was still playing a ton of Warframe. They updated fairly frequently and the whole process of a smaller patch took up hours
 
Absolutely, download speeds and copying speeds are atrocious. The latter is probably on the PSN end rather than the console, but still.

The dreaded "Copying..." is easily one of my biggest issues with the console.
 
01011001 said:
my story, when I wanted to play Fortnite on PS4 because I just turned it on looking through the store and thought, ok let's do some weekly challenges.

so I start Fortnite, and it needed an update... the update was 1GB in size.
it downloaded in less than a minute.
BUT then the copying started... it took so fucking long that at 50% of copying I said FUCK IT and turned on my Xbox One X,

remember, the PS4 was at 50% of the copying process at that time.

after booting the Xbox One X from a cold boot.
starting the Fortnite update, completely downloading and installing it, to booting the game and being in the main menu...

after all that the PS4 was still copying and at around 80%

HOW THE FUCK does Sony think that's ok?
Click to expand...

Considering it takes you a minute to download a 1GB file, the only thing that surprised me there is the PS4 managed to copy 30% in what 6-8 minutes tops.

But yeah the copying is ridiculous it's one of the primary reasons that made me make my X primary console.
 
Mithos said:
What they need to address is the damn storage requirement when downloading/installing.
The other day I had to update Destiny 2...

Update: 135-150MB.
Free hdd: 78GB

NOT ENOUGH, you need to free another 26GB to be able to download a
~150MB patch....
Click to expand...
It's actually related because as I explained in the OP, the Copying is the game making a complete copy of itself so you need to have enough space for the game to make a complete copy of itself in order to install the patch.
 
Gerdav said:
Considering it takes you a minute to download a 1GB file, the only thing that surprised me there is the PS4 managed to copy 30% in what 6-8 minutes tops.

But yeah the copying is ridiculous it's one of the primary reasons that made me make my X primary console.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the percentage indicator isn't completely correct, it's often that the first half takes wither way longer than the second half, or the other way around.

we don't know on what that percentage indicator is based on... some systems show the percentage based on the total file size, some based on the amount of individual files no matter how big or small they are.
 
When I had a PS4 I would usually only turn it on twice a week or so. It seemed like every other time I wanted to squeeze in a quick play session it forced some update. It really got in the way.

It really made me appreciate the sleep button on Switch which is just instant. And if there is a game update, you have the option to skip it for now and get right to the game.

It's crazy what a difference this small change makes.
 
wow, this is some shitty ass OS coding even by Sony standards. I sold my ps4 back in february so I never got to experience this, I think. But what if a game like RDR2 (last game I played on the console) which is upwards of 100Gb gets a small ~5Gb update? It'll take almost an hour just to make a second copy? Thats, wow.
 
angelic said:
I had to free up 30gb on my 60gb ps3 to buy Drakengard 3 off the store, I needed twice the space.
Click to expand...
Now that shit pisses me off. Had a 2GB patch for Call of Casual and then it said I didn't have enough space even with about 80 gigs left. So I had to delete a game just for this bullshit patch. Or rather, for the game can copy itself over just in case the file corrupts anyway.
 
prag16 said:
The SSD would make things faster, but this method would mean a lot more write operations than you'd ideally want when using an SSD. Instead of just updating what you have where possible, rewriting numerous extra GBs every time you update, needlessly, will shorten the lifespan of the SSD.
Click to expand...
This seems like a big deal if it carries over to next gen then.
 
prag16 said:
The SSD would make things faster, but this method would mean a lot more write operations than you'd ideally want when using an SSD. Instead of just updating what you have where possible, rewriting numerous extra GBs every time you update, needlessly, will shorten the lifespan of the SSD.
Click to expand...
SSDs have an insane amount of longevity. You wouldn't have to worry about the lifespan unless you're running a server on your console or something.
 
Antwix said:
SSDs have an insane amount of longevity. You wouldn't have to worry about the lifespan unless you're running a server on your console or something.
Click to expand...
Well, they definitely have limited amounts of write cycles before cells start to fail. But you're probably right. I'm probably more thinking of the early SSDs from years ago, and the technology has definitely improved since then.
 
Call of Duty Modern Warfare had a 2gb update, I downloaded it a hour ago.
Currently 78% copying complete.
This ain't no "I wanna change my username" petty shit, this fucking shit has to stop NOW.
the PS4 installed and updated fast beforehand, now it's worse then the PS3.
I have fast Internet so the copying process is the only thing I face, I really feel sorry for those that wait hours to download a massive updated and get this stupid copying shit thrown in their face afterwards.
 
Last edited:
Boss Mog said:
So a couple of years ago Sony decided to change the way PS4 game updates work. Instead of just downloading the update and installing it into the existing game data, Sony decided to have the game make a complete copy of itself while installing the patch.
Click to expand...

That's data security 101. If you're about to change something crucial and you're not sure it will work, you back it up!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

In the last 2 years, Windows updates have become much bigger
8
215
Sardaukarama replied
Xbox Game Pass ‘has become too expensive,’ says Microsoft’s new gaming chief in leaked memo - Preparing to Address Pricing Concerns
2 3
142
1K
Lucie Goosey replied
Capcom Continues To Demonstrate Why Its The Current Industry Darling and updated the sales figures of many of its main titles
Business Game Dev Sales-Age 
17
274
Hadoukens replied
CAPCOM Reveals 93% of Its Game Sales Are Now Digital, PC has also become the main platform, accounting for around 54.5 percent of their total sales
Business Game Dev  2 3 4
174
777
DrFigs replied
Square Enix Needs to Modernize Its IP, Former Exec Says
Opinion Game Dev  2
67
642
Liopleurodon replied
Top Bottom