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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

Little things can often matter a lot and when it comes to streamlining a game's memory usage, every gigabyte counts. One of the developers at Larian, makers of Baldur's Gate 3, has shown that the team's recent hard work has resulted in a 34% reduction in VRAM usage for the forthcoming Xbox Series S version.

The good news was shared by Swen Vincke on Twitter, via a short post with two graphs showing how the RAM and VRAM loads of the Series S port of Baldur's Gate 3 have been significantly reduced in recent weeks.

It's worth noting that out of all the platforms that Larian has developed its masterpiece for, the Xbox Series S is probably the most restrictive. This is because it only has 8GB of high-bandwidth memory, to store the game while running and use as VRAM (the remaining 2GB gets used for system functions).

The graphs start at the beginning of September, with the game using just over 5.2GB for general game RAM and around 3.5GB for VRAM. By November, though, Larian had shaved this down to 4.7GB and 2.3GB respectively. The RAM reduction is a pretty decent 10% drop but the reduction in VRAM usage is a massive 34%.

Clearly, we have no idea what Larian has specifically done to achieve this, but it's unlikely to just be a case of rendering at a lower resolution or using smaller textures. The evidence for this is that the memory testing shows only small improvements throughout September and October. If merely lowering the settings was the only thing required, then the developers would have done this much sooner.

Baldur's Gate 3 dev shows off the level of optimization achieved for the Xbox Series S port, which bodes well for future PC updates

Larian must have cast a transmutation spell on the code to get these gains.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Magic Carpet]

Series X 13.5 usable Ram
Series S 8 Usable Ram

10 percent still not enough to make up for that blunder of tiny ram in the series tiny s.


Edit it's even smaller

 

[acm2000]

"benefit all platforms"

Series S has saved the generation.

 

[SEGAvangelist]

Pretty cool that it will benefit all platforms. Thanks, Phil.

 

[analog_future]

Yeah but the Quantum Error team said it was impossible to run a game that looks like this on the Series S:

 

[FrankWza]

Xbox Series S is probably the most restrictive.

it's unlikely to just be a case of rendering at a lower resolution or using smaller textures. The evidence for this is that the memory testing shows only small improvements throughout September and October. If merely lowering the settings was the only thing required, then the developers would have done this much sooner.

 

[rodrigolfp]

I thought general RAM usage on consoles was lower than VRAM.

 

[cireza]

Good job on their part, but when I see such a huge gain (in what, a few months ?) I can't help but think that developers have taken bad habits because of how powerful hardware is nowadays.

 

[Schmick]

FrankWza

Xbox Series S is probably the most restrictive.

Compared to PS5, Xbox Series X and PC.

it's unlikely to just be a case of rendering at a lower resolution or using smaller textures. The evidence for this is that the memory testing shows only small improvements throughout September and October. If merely lowering the settings was the only thing required, then the developers would have done this much sooner.

Wow, so spending the time to optimise for the XSS will actually improve things across the board. This is good news for all owners of the game. Chapter 3!!!!!!

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

While it's great to hear this benefits everyone, I see this as confirmation that devs are grossly underutilizing these consoles and using the power they have on tap as a way to brute force through poorly optimized code.

 

[Punished Miku]

Good job on their part, but when I see such a huge gain (in what, a few months ?) I can't help but think that developers have taken bad habits because of how powerful hardware is nowadays.

It's pretty obvious they weren't done optimizing this for even PC when it came out if Act 3 takes such a huge dip in performance. After that would be PS. After that would be Xbox.

 

[Kappa]

Ps5 release showed us that the series s specs deff was not the issue lol. Glad they are putting in actual work into fixing it

 

[crackajack]

Good job on their part, but when I see such a huge gain (in what, a few months ?) I can't help but think that developers have taken bad habits because of how powerful hardware is nowadays.

Any optimisation is probably hard work but 10 and 34% appears like the stuff was rather rough at release date and not really well done at all- relying way too much on brute force.
Bad optimised games are imho holding us more back than a console that may or may not be ideally scaled for its intended purpose.

 

[FoxMcChief]

FrankWza


Compared to PS5, Xbox Series X and PC.

Wow, so spending the time to optimise for the XSS will actually improve things across the board. This is good news for all owners of the game. Chapter 3!!!!!!

Devs actually doing work pays off. Who knew!?

Any optimisation is probably hard work but 10 and 34% appears like the stuff was rather rough at release date and not really well done at all- relying way too much on brute force.
Bad optimised games are imho holding us more back than a console that may or may not be ideally scaled for its intended purpose.

This is the problem, 100%. And I’m not talking about the Series S. Devs could be getting way more out of these games if they took more time optimizing them. Instead, they want the tech to do the hard work.

 

[Topher]

Pretty cool that it will benefit all platforms. Thanks, Larian.

ftfy

 

[alienator]

The team of XBS engineers that microsoft send couldnt accomplish this in the few weeks they where there? a few months ago?

 

[SlimySnake]

While it's great to hear this benefits everyone, I see this as confirmation that devs are grossly underutilizing these consoles and using the power they have on tap as a way to brute force through poorly optimized code.

Just Look at the starfield patch. Improved vram and cpu utilization, and ended up massively increasing overall performance.

Respawn has also done similar upgrades but not to the same effect.

 

[DenchDeckard]

So, series s development actually benefits the other machines!?

 

[FrankWza]

Compared to PS5, Xbox Series X and PC.

So, the entire rest of the industry minus Nintendo which they're not developing for. Isn't that the point? Who else should we compare this to?

Wow, so spending the time to optimise for the XSS will actually improve things across the board. This is good news for all owners of the game. Chapter 3!!!!!!

Or, not having to spend time on S would allow for time to optimize the other versions. Effort=time/money /resources. We were told many times on gaf that all it took was some sliding and a pinch of scaling...

Devs actually doing work pays off. Who knew!?

Everyone. It's Extra work. See Mtrix demo and gargantuan effort.

 

[Knightime_X]

Devs who ported games to switch are lmao at those who struggle porting to series s

 

[Three]

So, series s development actually benefits the other machines!?

Optimization benefits everything but I'm here wondering what benefit this freed RAM brings if there isn't going to be something added to use up that memory on the other machines? Should we expect a higher res texture pack or something for the game now or does this lower RAM usage somehow affect performance?

 

[yamaci17]

Optimization benefits everything but I'm here wondering what benefit this freed RAM brings if there isn't going to be something added to use up that memory on the other machines? Should we expect a higher res texture pack or something for the game now or does this lower RAM usage somehow affect performance?

of course it does affect performance

a being reliant on ram hits so much will also have low cpu performance ceiling

the less data you move in and out of ram, the more performance the cpu might have

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Yeah but the Quantum Error team said it was impossible to run a game that looks like this on the Series S:

I dont know about that.

The super detailed orange lungs in the bottom left corner look like the best visuals on Earth that would even bring an 4090 to its knees.

 

[adamsapple]

Yeah but the Quantum Error team said it was impossible to run a game that looks like this on the Series S:

That gun texture looks like it takes up 4GB VRAM itself.

 

[SHA]

Switch 2 version incoming.

 

[adamsapple]

Or, not having to spend time on S would allow for time to optimize the other versions.

Alan Wake 2 was predominantly developed as a 30 FPS game, the work on Series S directly led to the game having a 60 FPS mode.

3 minutes onward.

 

[dem]

While I’m all on board with a Pro console..

Developers do their best work when they are restricted and can’t be lazy. Optimizing for console has always brought out crazy performance improvements.

Some of the stuff on Switch is amazing for the piece of crap it is. That’s why I’ve never really understood the Series S hate.

 

[Heisenberg007]

Pfft, somebody needs to tell them about The Slider™.

 

[supernova8]

Optimization benefits everything but I'm here wondering what benefit this freed RAM brings if there isn't going to be something added to use up that memory on the other machines? Should we expect a higher res texture pack or something for the game now or does this lower RAM usage somehow affect performance?

Sounds like

XSS: "I fell into this wet puddle so now we all know not to fall into puddles. You're welcome!"

XSX: "Why not just avoid the puddle in the first place"

XSS: Umm...

 

[sinnergy]

It's pretty obvious they weren't done optimizing this for even PC when it came out if Act 3 takes such a huge dip in performance. After that would be PS. After that would be Xbox.

That was always the case … weak hardware makes you innovative, focused, to make the best . Look at switch games , some ports where thought they could never run. And more capacity machines will benefit from the series s optimizations

 

[Punished Miku]

That was always the case … weak hardware makes you innovative, focused, to make the best . Look at switch games , some ports where thought they could never run. And more capacity machines will benefit from the series s optimizations

Agreed. Whenever anyone is talking publicly and repeatedly about inability to get something running on a system, my alarm bells go off. Quantum Essence devs and these devs. They're not exactly the same, since it is possible local splitscreen was still pushing it considering MS couldn't even get that working in Halo - but I honestly just had a feeling the second they made that such a public discussion that the game was barely scraping by the finish line in terms of optimization, and they probably hadn't even started work on Xbox in earnest.

 

[struggler_guts]

God I freakin love Larian

 

[M1chl]

Well if they find something which lower foot print without gimping the game or graphics quality its always good to see, I am hopeful for that "all platforms will benefit" part.

 

[twilo99]

xss forcing developers to do their job?

 

[twilo99]

That’s why I’ve never really understood the Series S hate.

More of herd mentality situation for the most part.

 

[Schmick]

So, the entire rest of the industry minus Nintendo which they're not developing for. Isn't that the point? Who else should we compare this to?


Or, not having to spend time on S would allow for time to optimize the other versions. Effort=time/money /resources. We were told many times on gaf that all it took was some sliding and a pinch of scaling...

Well turns out that spending time on the S makes the developers optimise better and as gamers that's is exactly what we want.

 

[Three]

of course it does affect performance

a being reliant on ram hits so much will also have low cpu performance ceiling

the less data you move in and out of ram, the more performance the cpu might have

Sometimes, if it was just generally wasting RAM bandwidth but this doesn't talk about a bandwidth or a CPU issue more just memory usage as a whole. If this is done by having less assets in RAM at a time it may even mean more data moving in and out of RAM. I'd be interested to see what this brings in terms of future patches for other systems.

 

[Gambit2483]

Would be a shame for them to put all this effort for it to run on Series S and it end up selling like crap anyways...a shame indeed.

 

[twilo99]

Would be a shame for them to put all this effort for it to run on Series S and it end up selling like crap anyways...a shame indeed.

Whatever they found in terms of optimization for the series s should trickle down to all other platforms, which is a net positive for everyone who enjoys this amazing game.

So, all of their effort is not wasted at all..

 

[skit_data]

While it's great that the net result was something that benefits all it's also worth noting how damn long this actually seem to have taken for them to solve

 

[DaGwaphics]

People joke, but the XSS really should help with optimization and ensure that players get the most out of their XSXs and probably their PS5s as well. They can't be sloppy with memory or gpu resources on XSS out of necessity, which means these resources will have a well optimized baseline.

The Ori dev talked about how all the work they put in getting the Switch version running helped them go back and improve the Xbox version.

 

[DanielG165]

We had already gotten a good glimpse of what developing and optimizing for the SS allowed Remedy to do with Alan Wake 2 (having a 60fps mode), so it’s great that Larian has all but confirmed that, indeed, the Series S will be a boon for optimization going forward.

 

[FeralEcho]

While it's great to hear this benefits everyone, I see this as confirmation that devs are grossly underutilizing these consoles and using the power they have on tap as a way to brute force through poorly optimized code.

Is this such a surprise with the way this generation has looked graphics wise?! While impressive most games are just faster loading with 4k 60 fps slapped on it and that's it.Devs don't code to metal anymore.Even Unreal Engine 5 games....they look nowhere near as impressive as the first demo or the Matrix demo.Devs are too busy building boring 1000 km wastelands of nothing interesting happening on screen instead of focusing on tight story campaigns with insane graphics.Thats why for example Alan Wake 2 is so impressive and a breath of fresh air among this open world bonanza of garbage.Remedy actually gave a shit.

Can't believe we needed Series S's inadequacies to point that fact out.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Can they not just release it on the X and work this shit out in the meantime?

 

[sinnergy]

People joke, but the XSS really should help with optimization and ensure that players get the most out of their XSXs and probably their PS5s as well. They can't be sloppy with memory or gpu resources on XSS out of necessity, which means these resources will have a well optimized baseline.

The Ori dev talked about how all the work they put in getting the Switch version running helped them go back and improve the Xbox version.

People don’t joke , they think MS were retards when coming up with a Series S and X, even devs want to take the easy route ! More than half the world is , yeah , easy money.

But in the old days , you had weak hardware , a d stuff looked great, and only looked even greater when years passed. SNES for example ended with games like Donkey Kong Country 3 and rendering ranger.

 

[sinnergy]

Can they not just release it on the X and work this shit out in the meantime?

And only see people complain? Please no.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

And only see people complain? Please no.

I wouldn't

 

[sinnergy]

I wouldn't

I wouldn’t either, but I predict we will see the whole front-page here full with complain topics.

 

[Mr.Phoenix]

Is this such a surprise with the way this generation has looked graphics wise?! While impressive most games are just faster loading with 4k 60 fps slapped on it and that's it.Devs don't code to metal anymore.Even Unreal Engine 5 games....they look nowhere near as impressive as the first demo or the Matrix demo.Devs are too busy building boring 1000 km wastelands of nothing interesting happening on screen instead of focusing on tight story campaigns with insane graphics.Thats why for example Alan Wake 2 is so impressive and a breath of fresh air among this open world bonanza of garbage.Remedy actually gave a shit.

Can't believe we needed Series S's inadequacies to point that fact out.

Technically some of us have been saying this for a while. And yes, its not really a surprise.

I do not care what anyone tells me, or whatever the fuck type of modern rendering techniques anyone says is the reason, why? Because I have seen what was possible on a 1.8TF PS4. 1.8TF!!!! you cannot tell me that hardware with almost 8x the raw raster performance, alongside overall faster render output and better rendering architecture all around, struggles to even render 1440p@30fps today and that is ok. I mean, I said it some time ago, the order 1886 is still a better-looking game than most of the current-gen games making the rounds today. And that is just a fact. look at FF16 for eg, that game has no RT, is no better looking than HFW on the PS4 or even TLOU2, but look at how it performs. And I could go on and on and on....

I have also said that it doesn't matter how much power you give devs to do anything, they would usually find the easiest way to go about making their game, and now, that easiest way is not to bother opimizing because there is enough power in these consoles to push past their poor code.

 

[cartman414]

People don’t joke , they think MS were retards when coming up with a Series S and X, even devs want to take the easy route ! More than half the world is , yeah , easy money.

But in the old days , you had weak hardware , a d stuff looked great, and only looked even greater when years passed. SNES for example ended with games like Donkey Kong Country 3 and rendering ranger.

It's a matter of working with what you have.

I still think the Series S is a pointless nerf. Like an ugly, asymmetric haircut/shave.