Cross-Save // PlayStation 5 Pro // The Normandy Returns

November 7, 2024.

Hello,

This year has already been a very busy one for No Man’s Sky, with 6 updates already this year, including the huge Worlds Update. Our last update, The Cursed, dropped just a couple of weeks ago, and players have been loving the spooky Halloween vibe.

In game development some features take weeks or months, and others take years. Today we are releasing some features that have been years in the making.

Cross-Save

Starting from today we are rolling out Cross-Save support on all platforms. This has been a huge undertaking, and is one of most requested features.

 

Being able to jump seamlessly between platforms is really transformative. Players can play from the comfort of their sofa on console, continue an Expedition on the move with Switch or Steam Deck, build an incredible base on their beefy PC rig, and view it in incredibly immersive Virtual Reality.

No Man’s Sky now supports Cross-Play and Cross-Save between a huge number of platforms including PC, PlayStation 4 & PlayStation 5, Xbox One & Series X/S, Game Pass, GOG, Nintendo Switch, Steam Deck, PlayStation VR 1 & 2 and PCVR.

Adding the ability to transfer saves between platforms via a server is especially difficult for No Man’s Sky, as the work involved increases with each platform supported and how long folks have already been playing for. Both those numbers are large for our tiny team.

It’s very common for players to rack up thousands of hours of saves exploring across space, building elaborate bases and cataloging their discoveries, with incredibly detailed saves. Adding Cross-Save for us is a little bit like moving house, the longer people have lived there the more complicated it is to move them! We also have players who played once at launch, eight years ago, suddenly loading up that save on a platform that didn’t even exist back then!

For these reasons we have secretly been introducing the technology for this update for over 6 months. We are now ready to start rolling Cross-Save out to a small number of players. From today, all No Man’s Sky players can connect their different platform accounts together at https://cloud.nomanssky.com/cross-save. A subset of players will then be admitted to the beta. Participants in the beta will be able to upload and download saves from any connected platform, via the in-game save screen. In the coming weeks, all players will be invited to do so.

PlayStation 5 Pro

PlayStation 5 Pro releases today and is an incredible feat of engineering. We were so excited to get our hands on it from early days of development. We couldn’t wait to see what was possible in No Man’s Sky with so much power at our disposal!

We’re excited to be able to share an enhanced version of No Man’s Sky for PlayStation 5 Pro with players at launch. Bringing even more detail and higher image quality than ever possible on console before.

 

 

PlayStation Spectral Super Resolution (PSSR) allows for incredible upscaling to provide crisp 4K resolution at 60fps. No Man’s Sky will also be an early supporter of 8k resolution, with the universe looking incredible in 8K at 30fps.

As well as a much sharper resolution at higher framerates, the increased power of the PlayStation 5 Pro has enabled us to ramp up the graphical quality across the board. Players on PlayStation 5 Pro will see improved lighting, with ultra quality reflections and higher quality ambient occlusion in all modes. Explore the most beautiful and detailed alien worlds No Man’s Sky has to offer, for the first time on console.

 

 

Not only this, but all of these improvements also come to PSVR2! With our most stunning virtual reality imagery offering an even more immersive experience for Travellers amongst the stars.

The small team at Hello Games like nothing more than to play around with new technology. From supporting our players on first generation hardware, right back to Switch and PlayStation 4, to the highest end PCs, next generation consoles, and now support for cutting edge PlayStation Pro 5 is available at launch as another free update.

 

 

The Normandy Returns

Everyone here at Hello Games is a huge sci-fi nerd. One of our absolute favourite series is the incredible Mass Effect games. To join in Mass Effect’s annual N7 celebrations, we are pleased to welcome the legendary SSV Normandy SR1 back into No Man’s Sky!

 

It was back in 2021 that the Normandy made its first appearance in one of the first expeditions we ever ran. The limited-time expedition starts today, runs for two weeks and culminates in players being able to claim the Normandy for their fleet.

In the intervening years since that event, we have welcomed a huge number of Travellers, not least a whole new cohort of Switch players and an increasingly large number of Chinese fans. Many of these new players have envied those who proudly displayed their Normandy in their frigate collection.

 

 

Mass Effect fans know that this legendary frigate only appears when it is most needed! Today, and for the next two weeks, as a love-letter from one science fiction game to another, we are giving everyone another chance to encounter the Normandy in an overhauled version of the original mission and add it to their collection.

Huge thanks to our friends at EA and BioWare for helping make this happen.

It has been a momentous year for No Man’s Sky in a number of ways. We’re so grateful to be able to continue this journey with you.

And if you’re interested in following along with updates for our upcoming project, Light No Fire, you can wishlist it on Steam here.

 

Our journey continues.

Sean

5.25 Patch Notes

  • Cross-Save is now enabled for No Man’s Sky, allowing players to transfer save games between all platforms. This feature is being released as a limited beta with a restricted number of places, which will be increased in the coming weeks. All players are invited to read about the feature, and connect their platform accounts via the “Getting Started” link here.
  • The Beachhead expedition begins today, and will run for two weeks. Alongside Priest Entity Nada, investigate mysterious fluctuations in history already written – and recruit the legendary SSV Normandy SR1 into your fleet.

 

  • Fixed a crash related to loading Multi-Tools.
  • Fixed a rare crash on PlayStation consoles.
  • Fixed a memory crash on Xbox consoles.
  • Fixed an issue preventing older PS4 saves from being loaded.
  • Fixed a rare crash on Xbox when loading certain save games.

 

  • Fixed an incorrect icon for the Grub Cocoon at the Quicksilver Synthesis Companion.
  • Fixed incorrect icon and text in the Catalogue archive for The Cursed.
  • Repositioned the save indicator on the main menu.