XBox One status update (Dec. 19th)

FlayraFlayra Game Director, Unknown Worlds EntertainmentSan Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
edited December 2016 in Subnautica on Consoles
Hey everyone,

I'm getting a ton of e-mail and tweets about the status of the XB1 build, so I wanted to write up something for everyone to see.

Getting the XB1 version of Subnautica running as well as the PC version has been a HUGE amount of work. We vastly underestimated it. Max and Jonas have been working on it pretty much full-time for months and there's still a lot to do. Jonas just did finished a big rewrite of a system that, although it won't improve performance much right now, was necessary in order for us to make more improvements later.

Our goal is to release all of our big game updates both to PC and XB1 at the same time, but that's been a lot harder in practice. But we're quite far behind on the XB1 right now (2-3 months) and we need to fix that sooner rather than later. But every time we try to release, we've added something new to the game that must be handled again on the XB1 to avoid making it even worse.

However, we now have a certification slot reserved for tomorrow, Tuesday December 20th. As you may know, Microsoft must test and approve every build we release to the XB1 - this requires a bit of work from them so these "slots" are our appointments that we have to reserve ahead of time.

Originally this build was going to be the Precursor update, but we've found a new problem with save/load that's going to mean we're going to try to ship the Bones Update instead. But so much has changed there that there's a decent chance that build won't pass certification, which would mean we couldn't ship anything until January.

We'd like to keep this a lot more updated, but this is the best we can do for our small team right now. Thanks for being patient, if you are!
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Comments

  • xxxL3gitRushxxxxxxL3gitRushxxx United States Join Date: 2016-07-05 Member: 219606Members
    You guys are doing awesome, just keep on working hard and hope well get this certification passed.

    Keep up the good work Devs and Engineers, you guys are doing awesome. :smile:
  • Captn_MikroCaptn_Mikro Michigan Join Date: 2016-10-22 Member: 223287Members
    I figured out a formula in hab items base size etc. to keeping the current build game play happy 50 items including vehicles. keeps frame rate in check. it's a temp solution. till the updates come out.
  • CalvinTheDiverCalvinTheDiver A place Join Date: 2016-10-08 Member: 222971Members
    Good luck! Xbox is the only way I can play anyways.
  • gustavo_sanchezgustavo_sanchez Join Date: 2016-10-13 Member: 223103Members
    edited December 2016
    Flayra wrote: »
    But every time we try to release, we've added something new to the game that must be handled again on the XB1 to avoid making it even worse.

    And I think that's the problem right there. You need to stop adding new stuff until you get your base game right. When the game first came in GPP, it was much better than it is now because you blotted it before refining it. Now you have to rewrite stuff with stuff laid on top of it.

    Please guys, forget the new content for the moment, and make the Xbox port playable with the content it has right now.

  • wowwinkwowwink Merica Join Date: 2016-12-05 Member: 224596Members
    Can you do a retexture or deal with the frame rate
  • Racer1Racer1 Join Date: 2002-11-22 Member: 9615Members
    To stop all teams from adding content while a few developers "get it right" is a huge resource waster (for all of the other developers), and an incredible pressure on those doing the work - as everyone is waiting on them. There is no solution right now that everyone will be happy with, so UWE must keep plodding along. It is made even more difficult with Christmas around the corner, and everyone itching for a break.

    UWE will get all their ducks in a row, just not as soon as some would like.
  • gustavo_sanchezgustavo_sanchez Join Date: 2016-10-13 Member: 223103Members
    edited December 2016
    I'm not saying that some content creators sit idle while it gets fixed, I'm saying don't add it to the core game it until the game can handle it. Simple. At least for Xbox.
  • gustavo_sanchezgustavo_sanchez Join Date: 2016-10-13 Member: 223103Members
    edited December 2016
    I prefer to be 3 updates behind on a game that works well than to be up to par with PC and barely play it.
  • FlayraFlayra Game Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment San Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    Yeah it's not an option for us "not to add content" and just optimize instead. PC/Steam is the most important storefront for us and we can't stop adding content there and if we put our finger in the dam we'd never recover.

    If we separate the two completely then it means we split our development resources and have an "A" and a "B" experience, which we really don't want to do. We've already downsampled a lot of the textures in the XB1 to make it run better but we'll just keep optimizing and eventually the two will be in parity.
  • Lost2AvariceLost2Avarice Seattle Join Date: 2016-12-18 Member: 225125Members
    Flayra wrote: »
    But every time we try to release, we've added something new to the game that must be handled again on the XB1 to avoid making it even worse.

    And I think that's the problem right there. You need to stop adding new stuff until you get your base game right. When the game first came in GPP, it was much better than it is now because you blotted it before refining it. Now you have to rewrite stuff with stuff laid on top of it.

    Please guys, forget the new content for the moment, and make the Xbox port playable with the content it has right now.

    i think they are doing what they can and as such they are focusing on our frame rate as well
  • Angelic_RazgrizAngelic_Razgriz USA Join Date: 2016-05-23 Member: 217379Members
    Glad to see some sort of update on the forums finally! You guys just keep trucking and if it takes a bit longer that's alright!
  • coldsteelleggcoldsteellegg U.K. Join Date: 2016-05-23 Member: 217374Members
    Flayra wrote: »
    Hey everyone,

    I'm getting a ton of e-mail and tweets about the status of the XB1 build, so I wanted to write up something for everyone to see.

    Getting the XB1 version of Subnautica running as well as the PC version has been a HUGE amount of work. We vastly underestimated it. Max and Jonas have been working on it pretty much full-time for months and there's still a lot to do. Jonas just did finished a big rewrite of a system that, although it won't improve performance much right now, was necessary in order for us to make more improvements later.

    Our goal is to release all of our big game updates both to PC and XB1 at the same time, but that's been a lot harder in practice. But we're quite far behind on the XB1 right now (2-3 months) and we need to fix that sooner rather than later. But every time we try to release, we've added something new to the game that must be handled again on the XB1 to avoid making it even worse.

    However, we now have a certification slot reserved for tomorrow, Tuesday December 20th. As you may know, Microsoft must test and approve every build we release to the XB1 - this requires a bit of work from them so these "slots" are our appointments that we have to reserve ahead of time.

    Originally this build was going to be the Precursor update, but we've found a new problem with save/load that's going to mean we're going to try to ship the Bones Update instead. But so much has changed there that there's a decent chance that build won't pass certification, which would mean we couldn't ship anything until January.

    We'd like to keep this a lot more updated, but this is the best we can do for our small team right now. Thanks for being patient, if you are!

    hey man thanks for the update could you help me with my youtube as im maken videos on your game on XB1 could you try put a stat or a post about me doing your game on xb1 if you could that would be AWESOME an PLEASE take your time with this update
  • gustavo_sanchezgustavo_sanchez Join Date: 2016-10-13 Member: 223103Members
    Flayra wrote: »
    This just in from Max: The Bones Update just passed Microsoft certification.

    We're going to do a little more sanity checking on it today and schedule it for release HOPEFULLY for tomorrow.

    Glad to hear that.
  • Captn_MikroCaptn_Mikro Michigan Join Date: 2016-10-22 Member: 223287Members
    that was quick, mikro scratch head how they push that through so fast. must be holiday thing
  • Yargish89Yargish89 new mexico usa Join Date: 2016-05-27 Member: 217575Members
    i think it says on the Microsoft forums they try to have it within a few hours
  • SnowballSniperSnowballSniper Join Date: 2016-12-02 Member: 224443Members
    Flayra wrote: »
    This just in from Max: The Bones Update just passed Microsoft certification.

    We're going to do a little more sanity checking on it today and schedule it for release HOPEFULLY for tomorrow.

    Time to remove my "make subnauticaXbox great" tags.
  • OtakuPandaCXOtakuPandaCX Join Date: 2016-12-19 Member: 225158Members
    My plan was to grab Subnautica on Steam for the updates but if the performance on Xbox One is improved, that'd be awesome.
  • FlayraFlayra Game Director, Unknown Worlds Entertainment San Francisco Join Date: 2002-01-22 Member: 3Super Administrators, NS2 Developer, Subnautica Developer
    Even though passed certification, a horrible bug snuck through that they didn't catch. So we had to pull the build. It's a really difficult and extremely frustrating process for us as we're used to being able to ship when we want to. But with Microsoft the process is full of multi-day delays and it's extremely error-prone.

    So it looks like the soonest it's going to go out now is January 3rd. It's possible it will show up before then, but not likely.
  • Lost2AvariceLost2Avarice Seattle Join Date: 2016-12-18 Member: 225125Members
    Flayra wrote: »
    Even though passed certification, a horrible bug snuck through that they didn't catch. So we had to pull the build. It's a really difficult and extremely frustrating process for us as we're used to being able to ship when we want to. But with Microsoft the process is full of multi-day delays and it's extremely error-prone.

    So it looks like the soonest it's going to go out now is January 3rd. It's possible it will show up before then, but not likely.

    Take your time bro and have a happy holiday! i hope others can also understand the amount of effort you are all doing to make a great game! just to give you an update on my end everything in game is amazing minus the frame rate takes me 10-15 min to walk around my base but still well done and still having fun i found out if i dont make a cyclopse i get better frame rate. as of currently i just restart the game over and over again lol. again thanks for all your work on subnautica!
  • Dutchman141Dutchman141 the Netherlands Join Date: 2016-05-18 Member: 216936Members
    edited December 2016
    Flayra wrote: »
    Even though passed certification, a horrible bug snuck through that they didn't catch. So we had to pull the build. It's a really difficult and extremely frustrating process for us as we're used to being able to ship when we want to. But with Microsoft the process is full of multi-day delays and it's extremely error-prone.

    So it looks like the soonest it's going to go out now is January 3rd. It's possible it will show up before then, but not likely.

    Geesh man, aren't you supposed to test things before you send it to ms for certification instead after it?
    People get hyped and hope it passes cert. and then this.
    I know you guys do your best but don't get people's hopes up and then turn it down again.

    I know this game is in preview but I bought it on day one for the Xbox, it would be nice to be able to actually play it for once.
    The current state with the framerate drops etc. makes it impossible to play and it's been this way far to long.

  • sirius247sirius247 Join Date: 2016-06-07 Member: 218234Members
    And yet another HUGE disappointment. Really frustrating that the Xbox version is so behind, I believe it's 3 updates behind. And at this rate soon it'll be 4.
  • TheChefTheChef Michigan Join Date: 2016-12-23 Member: 225388Members
    Flayra wrote: »
    Even though passed certification, a horrible bug snuck through that they didn't catch. So we had to pull the build. It's a really difficult and extremely frustrating process for us as we're used to being able to ship when we want to. But with Microsoft the process is full of multi-day delays and it's extremely error-prone.

    So it looks like the soonest it's going to go out now is January 3rd. It's possible it will show up before then, but not likely.

    While it is a disappointment that the build was pulled (not going to lie, I checked for the update every day for the past 3 days), I do understand why it was pulled which is why I'm not terribly upset or mad about it. You guys are working hard and I know waiting will pay off in the end so take your time! It is a great game so far, just the frame rate is an issue. Keep up the good work!
  • 0x6A72320x6A7232 US Join Date: 2016-10-06 Member: 222906Members
    sirius247 wrote: »
    And yet another HUGE disappointment. Really frustrating that the Xbox version is so behind, I believe it's 3 updates behind. And at this rate soon it'll be 4.

    Apparently MS should hire UWE to do qc for them, as UWE caught this massive bug and they didn't. Then again, before that happened, it got past UWE the first time, so...


    How exactly does the cert process work? I thought bug-testing was before hand, but apparently it's only a quick bug-test?

    You'd think MS would cut you some slack, seeing as the buggy version passed their inspection, and if all you're doing is patching that bug, then really, it's just an improved version of the one that they certified for release. but you know, corporations make about as much sense as the federal government with some things. squeeze.gif
  • Officer_543Officer_543 46807 Join Date: 2016-12-01 Member: 224400Members
    OOOOOOH THE GOVERNMENT DISSED EVEN THE TWO actually you might ban me for saying this hehe
  • Yargish89Yargish89 new mexico usa Join Date: 2016-05-27 Member: 217575Members
    seriously I was all hyped up ready to play the game again bet another pc update comes before console again
  • AntoneCampbellAntoneCampbell Chapel Hill North Carolina Join Date: 2016-12-19 Member: 225177Members
    edited December 2016
    Any else kinds feels like they shouldn't have released this game on Xbox if they weren't gonna give the same amount of care and attentiveness as the give the pc version. He said it plainly that the pc version is there main focus. They should've let it stay there if they were gonna do Xbox players like this. I mean I understand they are trying but how much do you not have to care for them to release content like this with the games play-ability so limited to about zero most times. I just feel like we are going to get a big let down. I know games previews that came from pc and runs way better than full games by huge developers, is because they know they have a rep to build and that rep will stay with you no matter how many games you make. They'll always say "this game was good, but I remember how subnautica for xb1 was always like a last minute shove through the door before it closes thing." I just wish you guys understood that we want to be able to like you and have so much hope and faith in you but at times it's like you guys don't really care about the console side of your community only because it's harder to do than pc. This goes for Microsoft too because like you said the cert has to go through them first and they just send crappy stuff out without a care in the world if we like it or not as long as we pay for it. But I hope everyone has a good Christmas. That includes you unknown world! Sometimes you gotta tell the truth whether it's nice or not.
  • DaveyNYDaveyNY Schenectady, NY Join Date: 2016-08-30 Member: 221903Members
    edited December 2016
    It's a game Still In Development, if you don't have the willingness to be patient for them to get it right for your preferred system, then go away for a few months and do other things.
    You already bought it, so it's going to be here when you come back and you will most likely be a much happier camper at that point because the game will be in better shape.

    There's no reason to get all morose and blame the Dev's for something that is inherently a problem when dealing with Microsoft, and also when creating new computer-game software.


    Just a bit of gratefulness wouldn't hurt either, considering they could have decided from the outset not to have to deal with Microsoft's complicated and annoying approval process.

    Of course if they had, then some folks might not have anything to whine/complain about.
    Just something to consider for a moment when submitting ones next post.



    Remember also, that a lot of folks are having problems playing the game on their PC's as well, so it's not just X-Box players that are bummed.

    B)


  • CristofCristof Join Date: 2016-11-10 Member: 223778Members
    We all know its under development and yes, it's been established that the patches have caused PC users performance problems as well. I know they're aware of it, and are working on it, and will patch it eventually. I believe the frustration is stemming in how far behind the xbox version is behind the PC in content.

    I was enjoying the game on both platforms and my PC died, so now i can only play it on Xbox and i keep hearing all the hype over the new additions and content they're releasing that we've already been so patiently waiting for, and yet nothing is changing on the console version. No bones update, no traces of the precursors, no progress at all for months.

    I know they're working hard on the game and it is clearly in development. I love the game and look forward to (one day) trying all of this content i keep hearing/reading about. The devs are doing a great job on the game thus far, and i appreciate their dedication. But it is also frustrating to think that at this rate, the pc version will likely be completed and released well before the xbox version catches up to where the steam updates currently are.

    The best advice given in this thread is to take a few months off and come back to hopefully at least an update or two.

    In the meantime, Happy Holidays, hope you've found another game to play in the meantime :smile:
  • Dutchman141Dutchman141 the Netherlands Join Date: 2016-05-18 Member: 216936Members
    I keep hearing that it's best to take a month or so off, I've already been doing that because the game is literally unplayable with these framerates, for months!
    The devs are doing a great job? On pc maybe but definitely not on Xbox, for months.
    It's a game in development? Content wise maybe but definitely not in functionality, for months.

    I regret buying this preview, I've bought others that do develop well, this one?.........no.
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