Helldivers 2 is currently in a rough state with developer Arrowhead Game Studios working on major performance and technical fixes following the game’s Into the Unjust update.
Alongside crashing issues and unstable framerates, one huge issue for the game on PC is the sheer size of the game compared to other platforms. At the time of writing, Helldivers 2 is still 150GB on PC compared to just 40GB on console, and many gamers find that unacceptable.
In a statement to fans, the studio’s deputy technical director explained that the game is built with asset duplication in mind to support gamers running the game off a hard disk drive. As a result, no major changes can be made until Arrowhead is certain “most of our PC players are using SSD drives”.
“Much of the data in the PC version of HELLDIVERS 2 is duplicated. The practice of duplicating data to reduce loading times is a game development technique that is primarily used to optimize games for older storage media, particularly mechanical Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) and optical discs like DVDs,” they explained.
Asset duplication like this exists due to the slow read speed of hard drives which have long seek times as the spinning disk literally moves to find your files. SSDs are near instant in this regard so files don’t need to be duplicated to the same degree
When asking if Helldivers 2 should continue to keep supporting HDDs, Arrowhead explained that they don’t know how many players on PC are still using the older storage solution.
“The truth is that we don’t currently know. Even the Steam user surveys are unable to give us data on mechanical HDD use in the overall gamer population,” the developer said. “Our best estimates put it at around 12% of all PC gamers but the data is very unreliable and relies on a lot of extrapolations. Until we can more accurately determine the number of mechanical HDDs that HELLDIVERS 2 is installed on, it is difficult to know how many players will be impacted by reducing the amount of data duplication. Even if that number is small, keep in mind that the load time for each player dropping into a mission is determined by the slowest member of the squad.”
Arrowhead explained that they cannot massively decrease file size without making the game load 10 times slower for HDD users. Additionally, users with a HDD in your squad would make the initial load longer for all players as matches start at the same second for everyone.
“Until we live in a world where we know that most of our PC players are using SSD drives, sacrificing some extra hard drive space is necessary”
Arrowhead Deputy Technical Director
Nevertheless, the studio is making some changes to less common files that will stop the file size from growing above 150GB for the foreseeable future.
“We’re exploring taking some of the worst offenders in terms of duplication and de-duplicating them by putting them in “very common assets” bundles which will always be loaded under set conditions (eg- specific faction/biome),” they continued. “This does mean that loading times will get a bit worse for players using mechanical HDDs – it is unfortunate but unavoidable.”
Another option for Helldivers 2 is making 4K textures an optional download for everyone. However, this type of package isn’t supported by the studio’s engine and is a method the studio will “only consider if we’re unable to make a big enough impact with our other solutions”.
“Until we live in a world where we know that most of our PC players are using SSD drives, sacrificing some extra hard drive space is necessary to ensure we’re all able to load into missions in a reasonable amount of time,” they concluded. “We’ve clearly reached the limits of how much duplicated data is acceptable so smarter solutions and compromises are now required. We are very carefully weighing up the costs and tradeoffs of the options we have, and we’ll be sure to find a better balance between loading times and installation size soon.”
Helldivers 2 asset duplication is only a requirement due to the game’s support of mechanical hard drives. In a time where many games require SSDs, not even NVMe drives, it seems silly to hold back the game to support technology that seems out of spec with the game’s recommended system requirements. Additionally, some players may only be storing the game on a cheaper hard drive due to how much space the game takes up on a more expensive SSD.
If you currently play Helldivers 2 on PC, it’s worth leaving a comment somewhere in Arrowhead’s official channels. If you’re one of the few gamers still using a HDD for the game, it’s worth telling the studio.
