Fallout 4 received a next-gen upgrade recently to bring the almost decade-old game up to date with today’s visuals. The update wasn’t received pretty well on release with bugs all around, the Xbox players weren’t able to use 4K settings, PS Plus players didn’t receive the free next-gen upgrade, missing textures and so on. However, they improved on the upgrade over time, but it is still buggy on the Xbox Series X/S and not up to the point on the PS5 and PC.
Fallout 4 next-gen upgrade performance issues
Starting with the consoles, the update is supposed to provide graphics modes, the first one being the performance mode which runs the game 4K 60 FPS and the other mode is quality, which runs the game at 4K 30 FPS. The update doesn’t have HDR or Ray tracing, which is okay, but it isn’t working as intended on the Xbox Series X/S consoles, as players cannot access the 30 FPS mode at all. Bethesda recently cleared the air about this stating that on the Xbox Series X/S, the game runs at 4K 60 FPS on all modes, however, “performance Mode is more aggressive in lowering settings to maintain this target.”
Quick note on Fallout 4 Next Gen Update on Xbox Series X. It actually targets 4k 60fps in all modes. Performance Mode is more aggressive in lowering settings to maintain this target.
Hope this clears up any confusion. Keep the feedback coming and thanks for playing! https://t.co/RfGn4o2JMj
— Bethesda Game Studios (@BethesdaStudios) April 27, 2024
PS5 vs Xbox Series X/S performance comparison
A video on the Digital Foundry YouTube channel (via Eurogamer) provides us with an in-depth review of the next-gen upgrade and also the comparison of the graphics between the PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S and it seems that the upgrade is working as intended only for the former as the ultra-quality mode is only available on the PS5. Series S on the other hand runs the game between 1080 to 1440p on the 60FPS. However, the 30 FPS mode doesn’t feel as high quality on the PS5 either as it falls behind a PC running the game on 4K ultra settings.
PC performance issues
Coming to the PC, things aren’t great on this side of things either as the ultra-wide display support on the PC is not up to the mark, with UI elements getting stretched, several visual bugs during menu screens and of course the mods breaking down due to the update. On top of that, the Nvidia PhysX support for Weapon Debris causes the game to crash, which is an issue that was prevalent before the update too. Hopefully, Bethesda will be able to make things better through future patches.
