We don't know about you, but we've got so many games stored on our various Xbox Series X storage devices that the process of scanning for game updates has become really slow. Fortunately the Xbox team knows it's an issue.
In an update sent to Xbox Insiders in the Alpha and Alpha Skip-Ahead rings yesterday, Microsoft implemented "an initial set of fixes targeted at the speed of scanning for updates." Here's what Xbox Engineering Lead Eden Marie had to say about this first wave of improvements:
"Xbox Alpha and Alpha Skip Ahead Insiders, today's builds include an initial set of fixes targeted at the speed of scanning for updates in my games & apps. Tiles should appear sooner and you may see some additional processing afterwards (especially if you sort by size)."
Marie also pointed out that the team knows the process can still be slow if you've got "extremely large amounts of installed content," and advised Xbox Insiders to "file bugs after you get the fixes" to provide them with feedback.
Hopefully this initial set of fixes will go a long way towards making the update process less painful, and even if not, Marie has mentioned that "we'll continue to look at ways to make this better." More great work from the Xbox team!
Noticed any improvements in the Alpha or Alpha Skip-Ahead rings? Let us know down below.
Comments 12
Good. I've got auto updates on, but went to play MCC last night only to be told it needed a 21gb update. Marvelous...
There was a Twitter conversation between John Linneman of Digital Foundry and I think it was Aaron Greenburg that seemed to suggest that Xbox had a 'smart' way of only updating the games they thought you were going to play, likely based on recent usage and some algorithm.
I believe the reason for this was environmental i.e. to try to prevent many terabytes of data being downloaded much of which we will never use. When multiplied by millions of consoles this is not an insignificant waste of energy.
It's a tough one because personally we find it annoying when we go to play a game and it says it requires an XX Gigabyte update. But equally Microsoft has a duty to try to look at the bigger picture and do better.
I think choice is good and a toggle to keep single/all games updated would be welcome. Default it to the current system but have the update scan run more frequently for games you are currently playing/likely to play.
@Medic_Alert Great points.
Being able to choose a default drive for XSX|S games, Gen9 aware games and backwards compatible games would be great.
And choose whether Eco or Rest mode as an option on shutdown would be useful. Sometimes we know we're going to pick up again soon and 'Instant On' is useful, other times I know I may not play for a while and 'Eco' would be better. Having it buried in settings means we will always likely to never change it and keep it as 'Instant On' for many players.
IMO these are a few things the PS5 handles a bit better. You can choose where to store PS4/older games by default. You can shut down or standby on exit and updates always seem to be applied when you launch a game. Though as I said above, while convenient there are potential environmental issues with this.
@Medic_Alert "From an eco point of view I'd worry that people are more inclined to leave it in instant on mode because it is just convenient."
Me too. I don't have recent figures to see if they've improved it but at launch 'Instant On' consumed a whopping 29W according to Digital Foundry. That is a staggering £71 a year on current price cap energy prices just for standby!
UPDATE: Did a little digging and they did update it to draw around 10W. Better news but still pretty high.
Might have to get my power meter out and check if this has changed when I get the chance.
For comparison a 4K TV draws about 0.5W in rest & PS5 just 1.5W in rest mode when not downloading a game, this rises to 36W when downloading/updating etc. Both of which were significantly less than PS4 Pro (5W/50W).
@themightyant completely agree. I wish smart delivery was smarter and just updated any game (including the DLC) I have on my console to the best possible version and stored it in the best possible place. Put the rest of it on the external hard drive.
Also, the power thing is a real bugbear for me. Just wish I could choose eco mode, instant on or full shutdown when I hold down the Xbox button instead of going into settings to select Full Shutdown or swapping between the defaults
Finally
800 installed usually result in 2 failed scans manually when attempting to update
I like that you can check for updates on all your games at once on the Xbox I hope Sony & Nintendo implement that feature aswell
SOOOOO far past due,, especially for us who have data caps, so keep auto updates off.
This is HUGE if they can get it to work!
So that's what that was today, I like it.
It does indeed take minutes for me. I have 7TB of games.
Okay so can anyone help me out here... I have been a part of the Xbox Insiders HUB for over 5 years... and am in the Alpha Skip Ahead Ring.ButI have noticed a bunch of times, when I see articles like this, that Insiders are now testing "the new Edge Browser" or something similar, that I always have trouble seeing where it actually tells me in the app that I am actually testing it. I know where it shows the very rare game betas that it puts in their... But I never seem to notice the new features or whatever that is being tested. Being in the highest ring available I figured I should easily be able to tell.
Where do I go to tell that the Update Scanning is being improved right now??
Also I do try to consistently give feedback and do the weekly questionair thing, I am on a streak of 25+
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