Subnautica and Below Zero Launch Week Development Priorities
Hi Subnauts!
We are overwhelmed by the reception to Below Zero’s launch on Friday, and the team is immensely proud that we were able to simultaneously bring the game to so many platforms. We’re also proud to have brought the original Subnautica to the PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch platforms as well. What a wild ride!
All that said, no launch is perfect, and the team has been keeping a close eye on issues that players have been reporting since the game’s launch. There are a few bugs that are particularly concerning for us, and we wanted to take a moment to review what those are and which ones are currently under investigation.
❗ Disclaimer ❗
This isn’t everything we’re looking at. Weighing and addressing these issues is a delicate balancing act, so we ask for and thank you for your patience while we begin the process of stamping them out one by one.
Critical Issues:
[Subnautica – Switch] Report of saves crashing while loading.
We have a patch in the works that’s already in testing. This patch includes:
- Fix for freeze at 40% of loading saved game
- Fix for crash on loading save game if player saved in Cyclops
- Fix for base rebuild sometimes pushing player outside of the base causing physics simulation issues (and maybe even crash)
This patch should enable you to play your previously “corrupted” save files, so we recommend holding onto them until this patch ships.
[Subnautica – PS5] Game locked at 1080p.
There was a bug introduced very late in development that incorrectly capped resolution for Subnautica at 1080p. The fix is very straightforward and that change is already in testing. While this issue isn’t actively harmful for players, we felt it was important to fix this right away as the game advertises 4k resolution, and we wanted to honor that commitment.
[Below Zero – All platforms] Terrain loading error and unable to save.
We’ve seen reports from some players that terrain can fail to load. This can result in an inability to save the game, or crashing, which is causing players to lose progress. We’re working on it, and while we have some theories about what may be causing this, it is going to require a thorough investigation from our team before a fix is ready.
[Below Zero – Switch & PS4] Crashes while set to Japanese
We’ve received reports of a crash, or crashes, experienced by Switch and PS4 players, some of whom have their language set to Japanese. Like aforementioned bugs, this may not be one issue but multiple issues. Regardless, we have started an investigation into this issue and will let you know when we have more information.
In the meantime, if you are experiencing this specific issue while your game is set to Japanese, we are looking for PS4 save files to investigate further. If you can assist with that, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us on our support email: subnautica-support@unknownworlds.com
[Below Zero – PS5] Various crashes
In general, our crash rate is higher than we would like on the PS5. We have begun investigating various avenues for a possible cause or causes.
Additional Issues:
In addition to these bugs and fixes, we also have a few other updates in the works. We can’t give you an exact date, but the following are also in development right now (we’ll talk more about our future plans this summer!)
[Subnautica – Windows Store PC] Support for Save Roaming
We have a patch planned for the Xbox One, Xbox Series, and Windows Store that will enable support for Cloud Roaming on the Xbox Family of devices.
[Below Zero – Steam PC] Support for Steam Cloud Saves
We are still in the process of refactoring the underlying system for saves on Steam. Some of you may remember Cloud Saves were temporarily enabled with the Seaworthy update, but shortly thereafter we rolled back the change due to some concerns about speed and stability.
[Below Zero – Xbox, PlayStation, Switch] New languages
We are planning on additional language support for the following languages on consoles: Polish, Finnish, Slovak, and Hungarian. Thank you to our community translators and admins for all their hard work in translating these languages! If you would like to participate in translations, join our active community of translators on the Translate Hub.
As always, we want to thank you for bringing all of these issues to our attention by using our feedback features in-game, in our Discord, and across social media. It has enabled us to identify critical issues faster, and to get in touch with you directly to reliably reproduce and investigate them further.
– Unknown Worlds Team