New Xbox Feature Will Reveal Why Your Downloads Are Going Slow

This would be super useful. I’ve always wondered why some downloads limp along

That said. I just quit all the games in the recently played and overcooked 2 is still downloading at 500k on a 1gigabit line Ethernet to Xbox.

Doesn't help that my internet is trash either

This would be useful if it also took any of the many, MANY other reasons for a slow download speed into account... which I doubt it does.

I don't download games while the console is on anyway; I set it to download then leave the console in rest mode and check it later. It always seems to complete quicker that way. Probably a textbook example of "a watched kettle never boils", but whatever works, right?

@Medic_Alert I think QR needs to be amped up in a few areas. Ability to quit to QR, the ability for games to go into QR rather than sleep in "instant on" (I noticed if I leave Ori or Yakuza running background in instant on the fan shuts off. If I leave Watch Dogs: Legion background, instan on still leaves the fan on 24/7. It's weird. Why not just QR it when going into instant on mode? And why does quit not go into QR mode?

I love QR, but it's definitely in need of some polish.

@Medic_Alert I still think PS5 will get it eventually. It's too useful and cool a feature, and once MS gets it ironed out it'll really make the PS5 feel outdated. Sony's not adverse to releasing core features years later. It took them a year and a half or more to release game suspend in rest mode (long after X1 did it) even though they'd advertised at at the Feb PS4 reveal event.

But it's definitely out of the oven too soon. Too many little oversights - it's integrated into eco shutdown but not sleep shutdown. No menu option when exiting...and so many games it doesn't work at all. Watch Dogs surprises me. One of the few online connected/shared world games that actually resumes properly. While Forza H4 doesn't.

Every time I switch to and fro Miles on PS5 I go crazy spamming X past the logo screens. Yakuza and Ori just "open" on the X. I'm spoiled there.

I did have one weird thing with DQXI where the system resumed, the game audio was running, the UI on the guide button worked...and my monitor turned on...but there was no display. The sounds interacted to my inputs, but even with the UI up the screen never showed. Had to force reboot.

Though the sheer number of power-off and c2d on Miles really surpasses it. Had a nasty PS5 crash on Miles the other day. Game froze. I had to hit the console power button, and then a horrendous shrieking buzz emitted from my headphones (connected to amp on HDMI, not controller.) That really hurt while I ripped the headphones off and had to press and hold power. Haven't had that level of incident since my PC days.

First world problems. 🙄

It isn’t that hard to manage your downloads. I just downloaded all of Rare’s games on Xbox at once & it didn’t actually take that long bc I did it in the background & let stuff download overnight. Just plan ahead & get your $&@! together.

Is it that hard to figure out why its going slow?

I mean I think you’d know if you have a game open or not. Plus if nothings open, its likely just your internet speed.

Idk, the feature is there I guess.

@KelticDevil lol my 8tb game hub has like 230 games on it. You should have seen my update queue the week I got the sx!

@Medic_Alert yeah, games that have an online connection definitely have issues. I'm sure that's fh4s problem, too, and the "system wide fix" they mentioned working on for disabled titles. It works for too few games right now, but when it works it's game changing. Literally!

I'm hoping it irons out fast. Feels like the most "next gen" thing about using either console beyond being a "super ps4/super x1x*. It really does change the feel of using the box.

The PS4 had a dedicated chip for downloads in it, Xbox doesn’t and slows down as a result when running games? I’ve no idea what the PS5 has. But, with all this power these systems really should manage downloads and running games at the same time. Still at least the Xbox will warn you.

@themightyant @themightyant surprised they really are pushing it back almost a full year. It needed it, but still, from launch day to a year after launch with Phil seemingly unaware months before is amazing. Sounds like their doing it right. But still, wow!

I always suspected that running a game in the background was slowing down my d/l . thankfully i got my ISP to increase my speed x 3 for only $2 more a month , so no issues any more

@John_Deacon I heard from a friend our ISP is throttling game traffic at peak times. Haven't looked into it too much but could be that I guess. I started cyberpunk preloading after midnight and all 59GB downloaded in about 20mins. Wish it was like that all the time.

@AJDarkstar @S1ayeR74 I've noticed similar, that PS5 has a much lower peak possible download speed than XSX, but it also doesn't slow downloads while games are running. On gigabit fiber, I can get 550-650Mb/s down on XSX. 250-300 on PS5, only. Probably server-side throttling more than console limitation, but it could be either. But XSX will slow down to 25-45Mb/s while a game is running. And a game is pretty much always running if the machine is on, unless I explicitly quit it just to boost download speeds, which isn't so bad. I'm not offending the ISP as much, but if I really n need a patch or new game to download I can quit out and it's done in minutes.

@Scenes that doesn't surprise me. Between game companies and the rise of digital suddenly spiking consumption accross networks, plus covid altering the amount of data everyone is using, ISPs are probably in meltdown and just about ready to go to war against games/etertainment/media companies promoting their entire business model on the backs of ISPs. These new consoles and their "just delete everything and redownload it all the time" mentality, especially PS5, are really not going to help themselves in the long run with ISPs. I can see a future of metered data, easily. That was to be the "net neutrality" future they wanted the Twitter mob to demand.... Imagine our new new game pricing being $70 for digital games + $tax + $1.95 download fees for 50GB. All while physical discs are clearanced to $19.99 in a Walmart clearance bin for stamped plastic in a box shipped from China.

I get 30-40MB/s when I have a game active on Xbox, always have. It goes up to 900MB/s otherwise. Now, if that game is Destiny 2 or something, hey great, I get it. When it's Unraveled, that makes zero sense to me.

Still, my PlayStation 4 and 5 downloads seem to hover around 80MB/s regardless of what I'm doing. Day one with my PS5 consisted solely of installing games. I didn't get to play anything until the following day. GREAT user experience there.

@NEStalgia That’s your situation, my speed on speed tests are around 69mbps. So games and patches download faster just on PlayStation, but I have had auto downloads work in PS, I’ve never had them work in Xbox. It’s useful to go to a game and see Sony have already updated it. I’m not the only one there never had Xbox auto downloads work and nothing you do changes that. It would resolve this issue if it worked.
The XSX though will be permanently limiting your download speeds if you use Quick Resume, perhaps that’s why Sony didn’t moline be something similar? A PC seems to have no issues though...
I have not had experience with the One S and PS4 though.

@S1ayeR74 Auto downloads on XB have been a mixed back for me. Of my 8TB HDD, 200+ games...I often find ones that have not updated. Yet randomly I find it IS updating games on that drive. There's no rhyme or reason. It seems totally random.

My problem with X1 that's carrying over to XSX is that even with "turn storage off" it never turns external storage off. Or sometimes it will and sometimes it won't. There would be a new firmware and it would just keep the external storage on for weeks or months. Or spin it up and down ever 40 seconds while in instant on. Then it would work properly for months. T hen go back to doing that. XSX is doing the same. Maybe ith as to do with what game is suspended?

With XSX, I've taken to not using instant-on at all, thus no real auto-updates. The fan always being on was a problem. They fixed it but I find if I leave Legion running, the fan (and HDD) stay running. But if I leave Ori or Yakuza running it turns them off. Maybe it has to do with games that want to be connected online being in suspend? Never thought of that. But eco mode boots in like 18 seconds into a quick resume game anyway, so no big loss.

I don't think Quick Resume permanently limits your download speed. True suspend in instant on would. But Quick resume, when you boot up again, the game ins't running until you resume it. Downloads seem ot run full speed. So as long as you can exit the game, but leave it in QR mode, downloads should be fine.

Honestly I can't figure out why it limits speeds to begin with. I suspect it's more about I/O access than about the processors. But also, PS has a dedicated compression/decompression chip, while XB uses the CPU. Can't have your game and download sharing the CPU beyond a reserved amount. PS5 might be using those additional channels in their memory for it so it doesn't bottleneck the IO, too.

Thank you for clearing up how quick resume is playing at part or not. I find it silly as these are desktop class very powerful processors. Yet they aren’t able to run a game and a few other processes plus downloading off the internet? Any PC with the same CPU could manage it all with ease. I guess they are giving as many resources as possible to the games, but when we are talking about huge multi gig patches, it’s a quality of life part of the system they really should have working properly.

Had this issue since the release of XB1. Mostly resolved by connecting directly with an ethernet cord. However, the odd times that a game won`t load faster than 1mb even through ethernet. I don`t get it. Still happens with Series X. But I will say that this isn`t limited to XB. PS4 has downloading issues every time you do something else on the console. Unless its on rest mode, it will never be at its full download speed.

@S1ayeR74 Yeah, the throttling seems very deliberate. Heck, it could be just because the OS is shared with X1 and it still has the old limits in place - if it ain't broke don't fix it. Or it could be about IO bottlenecks more than CPU (the game expects full speed, and full speed it shall get.) It does seem weird. to me. Especially since PS5 doesn't do it (but PS5 never gets the peak speeds XSX does.)