PS5's SSD Too Fast for Unreal Engine 5, Forces Code Modifications
The speeds provided by the SSD on the PS5 required changes to Unreal Engine 5's code. Epic Games has modified the I/O areas to allow for faster data transfer.
- The hardware capabilities of the SSD in PS5 forced some of the code of Unreal Engine 5 to be rewritten;
- Fast SSDs in new consoles are a big leap forward in technology, removing the limitations of older mechanical storage methods.
Much has been written about the speed of SSDs in the new Sony PlayStation 5 console. It's designed to provide no loading screens and the ability to create incredible game levels. But it turns out that high performance hardware is not enough. With Unreal Engine 5 as an example, you can see that the software also needs to be properly prepared to enjoy the benefits of the hardware.
According to VG24/7, part of Unreal Engine's code had to be rewritten to exploit PS5's full potential. Nick Penwarden, vice president of Epic Games engineering, said:
"The PlayStation 5 provides a huge leap in both computing and graphics performance, but its storage architecture is also truly special. The ability to stream in content at extreme speeds enables developers to create denser and more detailed environments, changing how we think about streaming content. It’s so impactful that we’ve rewritten our core I/O subsystems for Unreal Engine with the PlayStation 5 in mind,”.
The computing capabilities of the existing consoles have grown from generation to generation. But the limitations of HDDs have become more and more apparent. The use of high-speed SSDs in PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X is a powerful technological leap forward. However, it requires a new approach to software design in order to fully enjoy the benefits of high-speed transfers. To see it for yourself, it's worth seeing the Unreal Engine 5 demo running on PlayStation 5:
