Hello Games has announced the next update for No Man’s Sky and that update is called the Next Generation. No prizes for guessing what the entails. Yep, No Man’s Sky will be getting a free update that will bring enhancements for the PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. Current players will be able to move their current gen saves to the next consoles. On Xbox consoles those saves will be compatible automatically while on PlayStation players will have to upload save data for the PS5 version.
The full patch notes for the Next Generation update can be seen below.
NEXT GENERATION CONSOLE SUPPORT
- No Man’s Sky is now compatible with PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
- Save games can be transferred from previous console generations to their next generation equivalent.
- PSVR owners can continue to experience No Man’s Sky in Virtual Reality on PlayStation 5 via the backwards compatibility functionality.
- PlayStation 5 users can use the Activities feature to track and manage their Journey Milestones.
- PlayStation 5 users now experience feedback directly through the triggers of their pad.
- Added support for Tempest 3D AudioTech on PlayStation 5.
VISUAL ENHANCEMENTS
- Rendering quality has been significantly increased for next generation consoles.
- Base complexity rendering limits have been removed for next generation consoles.
- For next generation consoles and PCs running on “Ultra” settings, the distance at which detailed grass, plants, rocks and other objects are shown has increased.
- For next generation consoles and PCs running on “Ultra” settings, the density of terrain details such as foliage, fungi and rocks has been increased.
- Texture and geometric detail on a large number of objects such as foliage, fungi and rocks has been significantly increased.
- Improved the visual effect of grass being pushed aside when walking through it.
- Fixed an issue that caused the water horizon to appear bumpy.
- Fixed an issue that could occasionally cause grass to fail to render.
- Fixed an issue that caused butterfly bellies to be unintentionally always white.
- Fixed an issue that caused planetary lighting to change after opening and closing Photo Mode.
- Fixed an issue that could cause foliage to disappear when moving the camera in Photo Mode.
- Refreshed the set of community images on the Mode Select screen.
- Updated the style of the hazard protection icons on the HUD.
- Updated the style of the icons displayed by mission notifications and markers.
PERFORMANCE & STABILITY
- Fixed a number of rendering-related crashes on PS4.
- Fixed an issue that could cause very large saves to fail to load on PC.
- Optimised terrain generation on Xbox One.
- Introduced a significant number of performance optimisations for all platforms.
QUALITY OF LIFE
- Improved the feel of space combat. Target locking has been improved, and enemy ships are now more visible with cleaner UI.
- The camera shake caused by gassy hazardous flora has been reduced.
- The camera shake when shooting nearby objects has been reduced.
- Hover text has been added to banner emblems in the Appearance Customiser.
- On PS4 and Xbox One, when adding a No Man’s Sky friend who is playing on on the same platform, players are now also presented with the option to add them as a PSN or Xbox friend.
MISC BUGFIXES
- Fixed a rare blocker where some players on older saves would be unable to progress in the Atlas Path.
- Fixed some rare cases where multiplayer sessions could fail to resume correctly after suspending the game on Xbox One.
- Fixed an issue that could cause a blank Galactic Map when joining a multiplayer game while the host was mid-warp.
- Fixed an issue where NPC pilots landing on planets could disappear for some players in a multiplayer game.
- Fixed an issue that could cause players to load into the wrong system when joining a multiplayer game while the host was on the other side of a portal.
- Fixed an issue that could prevent players from redeeming the pre-order bonus if it was installed while the game was running in the background.
- Improved the alignment of the camera when interacting with damaged containers.
- Fixed an issue that could cause ships docking in a Space Station to have incorrect collision.
- Improved the collision of doors on bases, making them easier to walk through.
- Fixed an issue that prevented base decals from being deletable after placement.
- Fixed an issue that could cause multiple mission notifications to display simultaneously and overlap.
- Fixed a rare case where the tutorial notifications would constantly flicker when starting a new game.
- Fixed a rare issue that could cause inactive missions to progress when using the Multi-Tool Scanner.
- Fixed a number of incorrect text responses in NPC interactions.
Source: Hello Games
MrYd
The VR statement there is confusing everyone. Does it mean only the PS4 version has VR, but you can play that version on the PS5 because of the BC thing? Or does it mean the PS5 version has VR because PSVR is backwards compatible with the PS5? If you can get the adapter for the camera.
Hopefully Sony are going to say something about VR on the PS5 very soon.
ron_mcphatty
That is super confusing and a bit worrying, I’m sure we’ve had a story before about save games being transferable to PS5 but not back again to PS4, so could playing the next gen version stop you from continuing your game in the PS4 VR version?
That aside, what an incredible upgrade!! Hello Games, you’re the nuts.
MrYd
The save game “issues” seem to be down to Sony counting the PS4 and PS5 versions of a game as a different thing. Clearly it’s not a good idea for games to be able to access the save games from different games.
The way around it seems to be to upload the save from the PS4 version and download it to the PS5 version. Even if the file is exactly the same, it’s coming from somewhere the game is allowed access to, and then being saved to it’s own space on the PS5 filesystem. If the file is exactly the same, there’s no reason it can’t go both ways.
So no real reason you can’t take the save game back to the PS4 version. Other than nobody would want to go back to the PS4 version, unless that’s the only way to get VR. Sony really need to say if the PS5 can do VR or not, other than for PS4 games running in BC mode.
TSBonyman
I also hope Sony clarify and detail exactly how PSVR will function with PS5 soon. I was really counting on an enhanced NMS PSVR experience on PS5 but now it sounds like we’ll just get an emulated PS4 Pro version.
Hard to believe NMS is one of my most anticipated PS5 games! xD
MrYd
Is there any possibility the PS4 version might have improvements when running on the PS5? Obviously it could benefit massively from being installed on the SSD (although I might miss some of those initial loading screens – it sometimes throws up a particularly good bit of music)
But then it doesn’t really make much sense that you’ve got to run the PS4 version on the PS5. What happens when you put the disc in? Does it see a PS4 game wanting to install and just go “Hang on, there’s a PS5 version. Let’s download that instead”. We don’t know if you can have both the PS4 and PS5 versions installed at once. That seems unlikely, surely?
I think the problem is Sony don’t want to talk about VR too much at the moment. Which is fair enough when the PS5 is the big thing they understandably want to be promoting. But there’s 6 million PSVR owners who would probably say “take my money, now” as soon as Sony said NMS has native PS5 VR support. Or Hitman 3 (situation there seems just as confusing).
Good news is, they’ve just said how to get the adapter, so hopefully they’ll say more about VR soon. And when PSVR2 comes along, hopefully that’ll be supported by the PS4 VR games that get PS5 versions. Maybe sometime in the next 12-18 months?
TSBonyman
Yeah, i would expect some level of enhancement and i can understand Sony wanting to retain some talking points right up to launch but the drip-feed isn’t ideal either.
Speaking of loading screens – i am embarrassed to say that last night i realised for the first time that those ‘Progress ..%” numbers that pop up whilst loading are actually the games’ loading progress – i always thought (and wondered why) it was showing me the discovery progress of various random systems xD
MrYd
I wouldn’t be too embarrassed about that. I assumed the same thing until just now.
I spent several hours yesterday helping out one of my Star Wars Squadrons friends who’d not played NMS for years. You can get started a lot quicker if someone’s throwing stacks of useful things at you. But I did discover several things I didn’t know. After over 4 years. Like the fact that the Space Anomaly is both an individual instance and a multiplayer instance at the same time. You summon it, others can’t see it. They summon it as well, and you can meet up inside.
I also found the huge worm, finally. And discovered that shooting whispering eggs while you’ve got a newbie with you is the funniest thing ever.