PlayStation 4.5 Update Brings HDD Support, PS4 Pro 'Boost Mode' (theinquirer.net)

Sony has officially pushed out the PlayStation 4.5 System Update, codenamed "Susuke," which brings a new Boost Mode for PS4 Pro owners and lets PS4 owners download and install games directly to USB 3.0 hard drives up to 8TB in size. The INQUIRER reports: PS4 Pro owners are also being treated to a new Boost Mode, will offer improved performance for PS4 games released before the Pro console. "This feature has been designed to provide better performance for select legacy titles that have not been patched to take advantage of the PS4 Pro's faster CPU and its faster and double-sized GPU," Sony said in a blog post. "This can provide a noticeable frame rate boost to some games with variable frame rates, and can provide frame rate stability for games that are programmed to run at 30 Hz or 60 Hz." The PS 4.5 update brings an improved 2D mode to owners of Sony's PlayStation VR headset, which the firm claims will improve the resolution of the system screen displayed on your TV is significantly better when you're out of VR mode. The resolution of Cinematic Mode on PlayStation VR is also getting a boost, with Sony noting "if your PS VR screen size is set to Small or Medium, the frame rate of content viewed in Cinematic Mode goes up from 90Hz to 120Hz with this update." Other new features include added support for voice chat when using Remote Play on Windows, Mac or an Xperia device, an 'Off Console' icon that tells gamers when a friend is logged in but away from their device and updates to the PS Messages and PS Communities apps on iOS and Android.

Comments

Wish they would update Dark Souls and Bloodborne

[HalAtWork]

Boost mode does nothing to improve the frame pacing issues on this game or Dark Souls 3, it would be nice if they updated both of these games to have an option go remove the frame rate limit, or did a full PS4 Pro patch.

Oh great.

[PhunkySchtuff]

Just when I was planning to slack off work this morning and play Horizon Zero Dawn, along comes an update and I'm going to have to watch a progress bar crawl across the screen instead.

Re:Oh great.

[SuperKendall]

Happily I was planning to play Horizon Zero Dawn tonight, so the heads up on this update is nice - I can get the update done before now before I settle down to play later. One of the few times in life Slashdot has actually been useful.

Re:Oh great.

[bug_hunter]

Well you could not run the update and play Zero Dawn in offline mode (since as far as I understand it the game has no online features anyway).

Re:Oh great.

[byrtolet]

Replying to undo wrong mod.

Re:Oh great.

[donaldm]

Just when I was planning to slack off work this morning and play Horizon Zero Dawn, along comes an update and I'm going to have to watch a progress bar crawl across the screen instead.

Wow, you must have a really unusual PS4 because mine just downloads in the background even when i am playing a game. When I am finished playing I do have the choice of installing when I want (sort of like my Linux updates) which then takes about five minutes with two reboots (Linux takes one reboot if you have a kernel update). Oh, the humanity.

Are you sure you have a PS4? and if you do are you sure you know how to use it properly?

Re: Wish they would update Dark Souls and Bloodbor

[thundercattt]

I was actually wondering if it'd do anything for DS3 since their final DLC content comes out in a couple weeks

Re:Everything that used to make consoles superior.

[bug_hunter]

The big issue with modern consoles is they fix bugs?

That is nice for them...

[Anonymous Coward]

..but can we run Linux?

Re:That is nice for them...

[AC-x]

yes

Warning: Update bricked my PS4 Pro

[SuperKendall]

Just a heads up, after installing the update my system will no longer start. When it tries to start I get a message saying it's checking storage, which goes to about 20%, then jumps to 100% and just says "there's a problem starting your system, connect a controller via the USB port and press the PS button". Only I have a controller connected and pressing the button does nothing... hmm.

Re:Warning: Update bricked my PS4 Pro

[SuperKendall]

"Only I have a controller connected and pressing the button does nothing."

Umm, I do have a USB cable connected as I said?? Not sure what you were trying to say there except make a Star Wars reference.

Re:Warning: Update bricked my PS4 Pro

[SuperKendall]

That's what Sony support said to try, didn't help.

Re:Warning: Update bricked my PS4 Pro

[Wulf2k]

Does the light come on the controller, indicating that it's at least getting power from the USB cable?

Does using a paperclip to push the tiny button in the hole in the back of the controller reset it and allow it to connect?

Re:Warning: Update bricked my PS4 Pro

[SuperKendall]

Side note on my problem - turned out my controller cable was bad, a new one was fine and pressing the PS button actually did do something.

From there though nothing else worked. I tried to re-install the update, same problem. I tried all of the various Safe Mode menu items first, resetting settings and restoring the database both failed with errors. So in the end all that was left was to re-init the system...

I even tried pulling the drive to see if I could save off the save game files myself, but I couldn't read the custom Sony file system and after a little research it wasn't totally clear which filesystem support I'd need to install to read it - and I figured the save game files were probably tied to the installation anyway so even if I could save them off I probably couldn't use them again.

Re:Everything that used to make consoles superior.

[darkain]

Bugs and glitches in old games generally add to their value as a bonus for more experienced players to exploit to do crazier things, such as speed running. Also, glitches sometimes work their way into actual game play down the road, such as wall jumping in Mario 1 being a main feature of Mario 64.

Update on update: Had to re-init PS4

[SuperKendall]

Of course, the warning that PS Plus "was about to expire" meant it had expired weeks ago... so no saved game backups for any recent games... which were the only ones I cared about. Sigh. Oh well, I only had 40+ hours in Horizon Zero Dawn.

Fuck. You. Sony.

Re:Boycott Sony

[Desler]

Wow you're so edgy.

Last feature in readme..

[Roskolnikov]

3D-Bluray support added to PSVR headset... there have been some work arounds but this is a good thing.

No, not saved

[SuperKendall]

First of all, I do give Sony credit for still keeping saved stuff even after the Plus subscription drops... not sure how long but my saved stuff was there.... from three weeks ago.

My beef is that The console had been giving me messages my Plus subscription "was about to expire", not that is HAD expired - so nothing had been saving for 2-3 weeks... normally that would not be so bad but I had put in 40+ hours on a new game (Horizon Zero Dawn) so none of THAT progress was saved, there was nothing saved from that game at all.

That I thought I was paying for

[SuperKendall]

It's Sony's fault that you relied on a service you weren't paying for ... ?

I'm blaming Sony for not letting me know the subscription had expired. I was somewhat relying on a service that I thought I *was* paying for.

To be fair, I am ultimately responsible for not making SURE the system was backing up files before I installed the patch. It's not like Sony auto-updates, I was the one that said "I would like you to install this patch", I was the one who trusted that a major patch version would not hose my system... I had just been lulled into a false sense of security, which led to disaster. But I can blame Sony very specifically for giving me a message that indicated backups were still happening, when they were not.