SSD required?

[Kohryujin]

What exactly does this part System Requirements mean? Are they seriously saying that won't function at all without an SSD?

For context, I like to store all of my games on an external HDD, a drive I just recently upgraded, for portability. So while I don't mind the other requirements (even if they are a bit excessive just for 1080/60), are they seriously telling me that this entire game is impossible to run on a HDD? I find that hard to believe and kind of ridiculous.

So does anyone know if it will work on a HDD anyway despite the note? Or is it too early to know that?

Edit: I've tested it out on the beta and made a post below with the results. Short version: It's working fine for me without SSD.

[Fraktal]

SSDs are dirt cheap, HDDs are only good for storing family photos and movies tbh.

[Wild]

It will probably run but stutter constantly as it tries to load everything in real time 8x slower. External SSDs are easy to find nowadays with 1tb, and are quick enough as long as the usb port is 3.0 or higher.

[Dr. Raven]

I can only imagine it's not recommended cuz loading up the map for mission taking place would be extreme with just a regular HDD. You taking 2-5 minutes to load into the match or even longer to boot up the game is enough time that people assume the game isn't working at all.

[Kohryujin]

Thank you for an actual answer, I'll have to try it out then and see if it is a tolerable experience. I still find it odd they would design that way in the first place, couldn't they pre-load the majority of the needed data instead of trying to do it all on the fly? Or is this one of those things where devs think players are allergic to loading screens type deals?

[Rune]

Originally posted by Kohryujin:

Thank you for an actual answer, I'll have to try it out then and see if it is a tolerable experience. I still find it odd they would design that way in the first place, couldn't they pre-load the majority of the needed data instead of trying to do it all on the fly? Or is this one of those things where devs think players are allergic to loading screens type deals?

its also because all of the biomes/locals are seamless with no loading screens, a normal HDD won't be able to keep up with the power required to load things properly.

[Shoah Kahn]

Originally posted by Fraktal:

SSDs are dirt cheap, HDDs are only good for storing family photos and movies tbh.

That's not even remotely addressing the question that the O. P. asked...🙄

Originally posted by Wild:

It will probably run but stutter constantly as it tries to load everything in real time 8x slower.

It'll be about how the game engine streams the data; and given that the game seems to be more "open-world-ish" (no confirmation on absolute map area compared to 'World'), it will be constantly loading and unloading animals etc.... And if the Dragon's Dogma "II" fiasco is any measure (game framerate dipping below the 30s in populated areas), it's wholly redundant at this point to harp on the shortcomings of RE Engine.

[Sono]

probably not absolutely required but with an HDD you are likely to experience a lot of hitching and stutters as you move around the map and its loading in textures and assets on the fly. While I think the ridiculous CPU and GPU requirements for underpar performance is inexcusable, it is not that unusual for a game with a very large play space to encourage an SSD.

It probably will be possible, but you will also probably be dealing with the game locking up and stuttering quite often, especially when traversing the map.

[Keldric Usugi]

The others have given a good answer for why HDDs aren't recommended, but if you can swing it, I'd definitely recommend even a low storage NVMe M.2 if your computer supports them. It's great for games you play constantly, since the loading games can be quite short on them. If you're not interested in that, though, any decent speed SSD is going to be more than fine.

https://www.ibm.com/think/topics/ssd-vs-nvme#:~:text=For%20the%20fastest%20data%20transfer,speed%20of%20a%20SATA%20SSD. If you're curious about NVMe drives.

[Dagný]

Originally posted by Kohryujin:

So does anyone know if it will work on a HDD anyway despite the note? Or is it too early to know that?

It will ,,work" but apart from stutter which a few already mentioned you're gonna have N64 textures before the HDD slowly loads the textures and if you watched the gameplay even quickly turning the camera around has kinda slow texture loading on the PS5 and it has a SSD.

So this game will constantly load textures and HDDs can't do that quick enough.

[FluffySpartan]

i got an m.2 used for 25€ cheap af and a big performance boost. i only use it for my games.

[Feastables]

So get an external SSD instead? HDDs are running obsolete, man.

[Keldric Usugi]

Originally posted by Dagný:

Originally posted by Kohryujin:

So does anyone know if it will work on a HDD anyway despite the note? Or is it too early to know that?

It will ,,work" but apart from stutter which a few already mentioned you're gonna have N64 textures before the HDD slowly loads the textures and if you watched the gameplay even quickly turning the camera around has kinda slow texture loading on the PS5 and it has a SSD.

So this game will constantly load textures and HDDs can't do that quick enough.

To be fair, the LOD looked like it was destroying itself in the version Gamescom and PAX West showcased.

[Kohryujin]

I wanted to update this post since the beta is out for PC. For context my rig is slightly better than the recommended specs on the store page (RX 6700 XT gpu, Ryzen 5 5600X cpu, & 32 GBs of ram), I just don't have the SSD it says the game "needs" so I was rather concerned to say the least.

Well, I'm glad to say I have no idea what Capcom is on about. The beta has been running fine for me at medium settings, even with frame gen off. I've seen some other people having some peculiar texture problems, but that doesn't seem to be affecting me so far. So unless this is just because the desert in the beta isn't as taxing as other areas are going to be, there seems to be nothing wrong with running this game off of an external HDD.

Hope that helps anyone who had similar concerns as I did.

[Dave Johnson]

Originally posted by Kohryujin:

What exactly does this part System Requirements mean? Are they seriously saying that won't function at all without an SSD?

For context, I like to store all of my games on an external HDD, a drive I just recently upgraded, for portability. So while I don't mind the other requirements (even if they are a bit excessive just for 1080/60), are they seriously telling me that this entire game is impossible to run on a HDD? I find that hard to believe and kind of ridiculous.

So does anyone know if it will work on a HDD anyway despite the note? Or is it too early to know that?

This has been the case with many AAA games for the past few years.
Buying an SSD is nearly the exact same price as buying an HDD, unless you're getting something in the 4tb+ range (and HDDs in that range are generally slower as well, so not good for gaming at all).
Stop harping on developers and shell out the $50 for a 1tb SSD.
NVME or SATA, doesn't matter, just get whatever your motherboard supports.
There is no excuse for having no SSD at the tail-end of 2024 if you're planning on playing a massive AAA game.

[KingOfFriedChicken]

Originally posted by Sono:

probably not absolutely required but with an HDD you are likely to experience a lot of hitching and stutters as you move around the map and its loading in textures and assets on the fly. While I think the ridiculous CPU and GPU requirements for underpar performance is inexcusable, it is not that unusual for a game with a very large play space to encourage an SSD.

It probably will be possible, but you will also probably be dealing with the game locking up and stuttering quite often, especially when traversing the map.

It's in the required section so it is required, will it run on HDD? Maybe, but SSD loads so much faster and to have the seemless open world they are going for with the intense graphics and physics a HDD is likely to heavily stutter.

The beta is out though try it see how bad it is, probably not great.