Why the constant huge updates.

[nolan16]

Every week or couple of weeks I have to install an update thats almost always over 10 gigabytes. My already downloads things pretty slow. Is this normal for a game like this?

[Psyringe]

It's pretty clearly labeled as an Early Access game - meaning, it's a game that is being actively developed right now. If you didn't get frequent updates, now that would be a bad sign.

At this early stage of development, it is to be expected that the asset files change a lot, which means that you'll have to re-download them often. This will probably change after release, but that's still a year off according to current plans.

That said, given that some games already require more than 150 GB and that major content updates for these games can easily exceed 30 GB, I wouldn't call 10 GB downloads "huge".

[Kelrycor]

Those aren't "big" updates. The real changes are most of the time only 100-400 MB of data. The issue is the kind of update mechanism. Those altered data must be inserted into the existing files. This means to manipulate 10 GB of data in the whole. It is like a huge puzzle with tiny bits of data fragments. This takes some time for your client to do.

Eve Online is using the same mechanism. The pro: minimum internet and server capacity is needed, the con: your local client needs a lot of time to implement.

The other method is to download ALL altered files completely again. Would be faster for your client, but people with bad interet connections would need ages to download the 10 GB. This mechanism is used for the Unreal Engine 3, like A Hat in Time is using.

So if you ask me, the mechanism Phasmo is using is still the best.

Also, like Psyringe said, this game is Early Access and will get a lot of updates and new features until final release (and there is no appointment yet). Which is a good thing. If you don't play Phasmo regularly, deactivate auto-update for the game and only update it when you actually start the game. This way you can avoid to get a lot of "unnecessary update procedures. You can do this in the game settings in the library. But this means, you cannot just quick start your game if you want to play it, be aware of this.

[Kaisoku]

To clarify, you are downloading only usually 50-100mb for these minor updates.. but it then has to take that data and insert it into the 10gb game.

Your internet connection's data limits and speed will only affect that blip of data that needed to be downloaded. The actual time on the update is spent client-side on your hard drive.
And it's entirely dependent on any bottlenecks in speed on your computer.

My wife's computer has 64bit, decent cpu, etc, but the solid state drive is using a sata connection. It takes her 10-15 minutes for it to finally process the update.
We have a gigabit internet connection, so the actual download is inconsequential in the time it takes to update. The bottleneck is entirely the hard drive.
To contrast, my computer is older, but I set it up with an m.2 nvme connection for my solid state drive. It updates in about 20-30 seconds. Same internet, but a world of difference.

I also load levels in 10 seconds (I sit on the 90% loading screen for maybe a second, if I even see it). My wife's computer takes a few minutes to load.

Seriously. Check if your motherboard has an nvme based connection for a solid state drive. If it does, then make that change your next focus to upgrade. It is the last serious bottleneck you are probably experiencing on your computer, and could make your computer experience a lot less aggravating.

[💚⁧⁧ Scarlet Witch]

I would say that your game seems to randomly uninstall for no reason, but that could be me.