(Results and Testimonies) Running The Dark Ages on a SATA SSD?

[Koutchise]

Hey kings and queens of Rip and Tearing. Hope you're enjoying the game! Just want to ask a quick question in preparation for the global launch as with my case, I'd rather allocate space in my SATA than in my M.2. So just crowdsourcing information about this game's performance when put on a top tier SATA SSD.

How's it like? Did the game run at all? Let us kindly know, please!

EDIT: Some testimonies for those who are looking for answers:

Me
Reporting here as the game launched from my end! Working like a dream with a SATA SSD (870 EVO). Load times are immaculate.

zokumei
I've got it installed on a Seagate Firecuda shdd from 7 years ago. Played through the first level with no noticeable slowdowns or pop-in. I'm sure it's not the fasted load times and I wouldn't be surprised if more detailed areas start to have issues later but so far so good.

ADDITION: tonight's results - finished the 2nd and 3rd levels, still mostly smooth but not perfect. A couple small but noticeable hitches during a couple cut scenes and one HUGE stutter while replaying level 2 for a secret I missed the first time. It hit as I was running into a fight at the end of one major section of the map before entering the next major area. It was fine on the slower more exploratory run but evidently zooming through to get to the spot I needed didn't give it enough time to fully load in the background. Still playable but I can see why they don't recommend running this off spinning rust.


Doppi
Works fine on my SDD. Not even long loading times. I didn't even see that requirement before buying but works fine.

Elrond Musk
Runs flawless on my cheap SATA SSD.

.benefit.
Yes it runs fine on a sata SSD. Load times are nearly instant. I don't even know why they have loading screens in this game because it loads so fast.

Tony
I have the game installed on a 2.5 inch sata ssd & the game runs great. I am not seeing any slow downs from it not being installed on an nvme drive.

Gamma Ray
I'm running the game on a NAS hard disk. There's a bit of texture pop-in during cutscenes, kind of like an older Unreal Engine game from the PS3/360 era. Otherwise, it's fine. I didn't even know about a hard drive requirement.

[Icy1007]

No, it requires an NVMe m.2 SSD. Says so right in the system requirements. If you're okay with stuttering and framedrops then go ahead. Let us know how it goes.

[zokumei]

I've got it installed on a Seagate Firecuda shdd from 7 years ago. Played through the first level with no noticeable slowdowns or pop-in. I'm sure it's not the fasted load times and I wouldn't be surprised if more detailed areas start to have issues later but so far so good. Waiting a few extra seconds to load the level doesn't bother me any but your mileage may vary.

[Koutchise]

Originally posted by zokumei:

I've got it installed on a Seagate Firecuda shdd from 7 years ago. Played through the first level with no noticeable slowdowns or pop-in. I'm sure it's not the fasted load times and I wouldn't be surprised if more detailed areas start to have issues later but so far so good. Waiting a few extra seconds to load the level doesn't bother me any but your mileage may vary.

Hey man, thank you for the input! This will definitely be helpful for those who've wondered. Planning on installing this on a 870 EVO.

[Koutchise]

Originally posted by Icy1007:

No, it requires an NVMe m.2 SSD. Says so right in the system requirements. If you're okay with stuttering and framedrops then go ahead. Let us know how it goes.

So is your answer "No, it's not gonna run"?

[hypehype]

Originally posted by Koutchise:

Originally posted by Icy1007:

No, it requires an NVMe m.2 SSD. Says so right in the system requirements. If you're okay with stuttering and framedrops then go ahead. Let us know how it goes.

So is your answer "No, it's not gonna run"?

Ignore him, he does not know what he is on about.

Yes there is a difference in loading times between HDD and SSD but the difference between sata SSD and nvme is so small it is not noticeable.

I have an nvme with about 3000 mb/s read write speed. It still takes forever to load GTA5 lol.

In fact, most CPU can't currently keep up with the speed of a ddr5 7000+ mb/s nvme so you might even waste money bottle necking your system.

Also there is CPU cache and ddr ram you need to factor, it's not just the SSD that determins the speed at which a game loads and its smoothness.

The speed is for transferring large GB or tb files it does not help that much in gaming.

+ All the new games coming out that need to 'install shaders' every time you log in has set us backwards.

This is why I hate developers, new tec makes them lazy.

[Koutchise]

Originally posted by hypehype:

Originally posted by Koutchise:

So is your answer "No, it's not gonna run"?

Ignore him, he does not know what he is on about.

Yes there is a difference in loading times between HDD and SSD but the difference between sata SSD and nvme is so small it is not noticeable.

I have a ddr5 nvme with about 3000 mb/s read write speed. It still takes forever to load GTA5 lol.

In fact, most CPU can't currently keep up with the speed of a ddr5 7000+ mb/s nvme so you might even waste money bottle necking your system.

Also there is CPU cache and ddr ram you need to factor, it's not just the SSD that determins the speed at which a game loads and its smoothness.

The speed is for transferring large GB or tb files it does not help that much in gaming.

+ All the new games coming out that need to 'install shaders' every time you log in has set us backwards.

This is why I hate developers, new tec makes them lazy.

He is correct that id list a NVME is a requirement. And probably a lot of people might not realized they installed them on storage that are not NVMEs for sure. It's for this specific game but I appreciate you taking the time to explain it on a general sense that I'm sure will do okay with The Dark Ages in particular.

[Doppi]

Works fine on my SDD. Not even long loading times. I didn't even see that requirement before buying but works fine.

[Koutchise]

Originally posted by Doppi:

Works fine on my SDD. Not even long loading times. I didn't even see that requirement before buying but works fine.

Hey there! Thank you so much for replying. Hope you're enjoying rip and tearing with just a couple of seconds added in loading times!

[Elrond Musk]

Runs flawless on my cheap SATA SSD.

[.benefit.]

Yes it runs fine on a sata SSD. Load times are nearly instant. I don't even know why they have loading screens in this game because it loads so fast.

[Koutchise]

Thank you guys! May these help those who'll need it.

[Enizer]

I strongly suspected this is the case, another developer(i forget who it was) explained ssd requirement, in their case it was just a "none of our QA devs have any platter drives around, and we kind of dont care enough to dig some up to validate it"

it's rarely a hard limit of the game absolutely needing 2000mb/s read minimum, and more that apparently ID software dosnt have sata drives around in their QA machines, so didnt test it, and listed "NVME required" to be safe

[Rocket]

Can you guys keep updating your experiences up to the ending (as spoiler free as possible of course) with an SSD?

I have 2 pc's. One with a 3080ti and one with a 2080. The 3080ti machine has 3 SSD's and the 2080 has 1 NVME. The 3080ti machine is my workhorse for kbm gaming, and then I built an otherwise similarly spec'd machine around the 2080 I had left over and built it for my living room gaming/internet.

I have no desire at this time to reinstall Windows/apps/games on a new drive especially considering I've seen very little difference in loading times between my SSD system and my NVME system despite the very different max read and write speeds between them.

I also would rather play on a 3080ti at 3440x1440 with a keyboard and mouse than a 2080 on a 4k TV with controller for obvious reasons.

[Tony]

I have the game installed on a 2.5 inch sata ssd & the game runs great. I am not seeing any slow downs from it not being installed on an nvme drive.

[hypehype]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt_iJTrzOus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeS88O4rWB8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DKLA7w9eeA

Some good videos to watch.
as I said before, currently the difference in load time between nvme and sata SSD is negligible.

Who knows, maybe in the future we might see nvme make a huge difference in loading times for games.

BUT FOR NOW it is only good for transferring large GB/TB files from one place to an other.