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The new Fallout 4: Far Harbor DLC released recently, with some PlayStation 4 owners claiming that this expanded area has substantial performance issues not found in the main game. Based on just a two-hour sample of this new content, criticisms surrounding poor frame-rates on PS4 are definitely warranted. As of patch 1.6, venturing out into the woodlands in the new area can see the game running at a baseline 20fps - or worse. As things stand, PS4's current performance profile sees the Far Harbor region present one of the most sluggish regions in the game, while Xbox One consistently runs at a higher refresh.The cause and effect is obvious. Fallout 4 usually targets 30fps on console, but a more aggressive use of a volumetric fog effect across Far Harbor's island triggers PS4 to cap this refresh at 20fps - with dips to 15fps at its extremes. It's a thick layer of alpha transparency effects causing the issue, making any real-time targeting hugely difficult, something we noticed during an early woodland mission with ally Old Longfellow. Xbox One suffers fluctuations up and down the scale and is far from ideal, but it's certainly Sony's machine that struggles most right now.
This lock to a sub-par refresh is unusual, but we've seen something similar happen before. We saw the same kind of impact to performance in The Witcher 3's demanding Crookback Bog area, perhaps suggesting that a form of double-buffer v-sync is in play on the PS4 release. In that case, it was another effects-heavy spot that capped performance to 20fps on PS4, while in Fallout 4's case it goes one worse - producing a 15fps lock at its worst points.
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