Severe FPS drops in split-screen co-op mode on PS5 (native version)

[Satan_617]

Hello Klei team,

 

I wanted to report a serious performance issue in the native PS5 version of Don’t Starve Together.

While playing in local split-screen co-op mode, the game experiences major FPS drops and stuttering, especially after several in-game days or when exploring new biomes.

 

System and setup:

 

Platform: PlayStation 5 (native PS5 version, not PS4 backward compatibility)

 

Mode: Local split-screen co-op (2 players)

 

Game type: Online and Offline tested — problem occurs in both

 

Patch version: Latest patch

 

What happens:

 

The game initially runs fine, but after some time (around 5–8 days in-game), performance drops heavily.

 

Movement becomes sluggish, and frame rate drops visibly below smooth playability.

 

In one case, the game froze completely and crashed back to the PS5 home screen.

 

Issue is consistent across different world sizes (tested on Medium and Large).

 

 

Additional info:

 

No mods or custom settings used.

 

Re-installing and deleting saved data did not solve the issue.

 

Performance in single-player mode is fine — only split-screen seems affected.

 

 

Request:

Could you please investigate and optimize split-screen performance on PS5?

This mode is one of the most enjoyable ways to play DST locally with a friend, and it would be amazing if the native PS5 version could run smoothly in 60 FPS even in co-op.

 

Thank you for your time and all your amazing work! 

 

Best regards,

Arkadiusz. 

[LordeMao]

I play alone and the performance isn't very good. I would also really appreciate it if they fixed this version a bit more. There are FPS drops when there are many enemies, especially when I'm killing a lot of bees to collect souls with Wortox. I always feel like the game is going to crash at that moment. The battle against the Celestial Champion always causes an FPS drop when he enters one of the stages. This problem existed in the PS4 version and continues in the PS5 version 😕

Navigating the map with Wortox is much slower compared to the PS4 version, especially at minimum zoom. My map is huge, I don't know if that has anything to do with the slower cursor speed.

 

 

[Mi6kaa]

On day 100 with my partner it takes ages to load up the gave , way longer then a PS4 version. When one of us is heading down to the caves the other one is literally moving in slow motion. We are talking 10-20 FPS

On top of that when both players are near to each other but outside of the visible area , the pointer only has a boundary on the sides to indicate which way is the other player. If he is above or below , then the pointer is outside of the screen making it very disorienting to find each other  

Major optimisation issues. 

[Insade_Dad]

Split-screen is almost unplayable on PS5. Loading screens take 5–10 minutes when entering caves, and by around day 100 — when the base gets big — FPS drops to 10–15 frames.
Please, do something about this, it’s really frustrating to play this way.

[VitorRibeiro]

We are facing the same reported problem. My wife and I played on the PS4 version without problems, migrated our world to the PS5 version and got a lot of lag. We created the new map on PS5 thinking that the problem could be migration. But it goes with lag.

[CharlesB]

I'm looking into this and should hopefully have a fix soon.

[WolfgangWilson]

Hello! Any update here? My wife and I love split screen coop on PS5 but it's become unplayable with the frame rate drops.

[CharlesB]

Have you tried it since the Christmas update (2.005.000)? There was some work done there to improve split screen performance.

[keats95]

5 hours ago, CharlesB said:

Have you tried it since the Christmas update (2.005.000)? There was some work done there to improve split screen performance.

I just loaded up my current Day 1700+ world and there is still severe lag making it unplayable in split screen. It does have a LOT of structures built to be fair, but it runs fine on PS4 (minus the invisible skins).

A different save on Day 200 that’s far less developed didn’t seem to have any issues, I was only there for a few minutes though and I never saw what the performance was like before the patch so can’t say if there’s a significant change there.
 

Hope everyone at Klei had a wonderful Christmas btw 🩵

Edited January 15 by keats95

[Satan_617]

Thanks for the update, Charles!

I haven’t been able to test the game yet after the 2.005.000 Christmas patch, but I’ll try it in the next few days in split-screen co-op and will report back with results.

Really appreciate the work you’ve put into improving console performance.

Split-screen is my favourite way to play DST, so it means a lot. Thanks!

— Arkadiusz

[Satan_617]

Hi Charles, 

I tested split-screen co-op on PS5 (native PS5 version) after the latest patch on a brand new world:

Mode: Local split-screen (2 players)

World size: Huge (largest)

Online/offline: Tested (issue occurs regardless)

Base: Still small at this stage

Results:

Performance was acceptable up to around Day 22.

After that, the game started stuttering heavily (major FPS drops) to the point where it became unplayable.

Restarting the game did not help, and loading times became very long.

Best regards,

Arkadiusz

[Satan_617]

Hi Charles, quick update after another set of tests (PS4 vs native PS5) using the same save/world.

Test setup

Save type: Imported PS4 save → PS5

Original PS4 world size: Large

On PS5 this appears as Medium (after import)

In-game day: 125

Base size: Medium (not an enormous megabase)

Results

1) PS5 (native PS5 version) — Local split-screen (2 players)

Performance was extremely poor, roughly 5–10 FPS.

Heavy stuttering/lag: characters felt delayed. 

Overall unplayable at this stage of the world.

2) PS4 version — Local split-screen (2 players)

On the PS4 version (same save/world), split-screen felt stable and smooth.

No comparable performance issues.

3) Singleplayer comparison (same save/world)

PS4 version (1 player): still smooth and stable.

PS5 version (1 player): mostly OK, but inside/near the base I noticed occasional minor stutter, as if the framerate drop from time to time.

Notes

Visually, the native PS5 version looks sharper and more detailed than PS4, but the performance drop—especially in split-screen—makes it very difficult to play.

Since PS4 split-screen is stable on the same world, this seems specific to the native PS5 build rather than the save itself.

[CharlesB]

@Satan_617 Can you export your ps4 savedata to your PC using a flash drive and PM it to me?
I'd like to take a look at it if it has split screen performance issues immediately after being imported to PS5.

[Satan_617]

Hi @CharlesB, I managed to export the PS4 save and have it ready on my PC as a .zip.

However, my Klei forum account currently shows “You are only allowed to send 0 messages per day”, so I can’t PM you the file.

What’s the best way to get it to you? 

Edited January 20 by Satan_617

[CharlesB]

This should be fixed in the next update (2.006.000)

[Satan_617]

Hi @CharlesB - thanks a lot for pushing this forward and for confirming the fix is coming in 2.006.000. Any rough ETA for when that update might go live on PlayStation? I’ll test split-screen again as soon as it drops and report back.

[tigershot1031]

me too..especially when various spider factories and dog factories are built, and when such creatures are densely packed, as well as when Wortox collects a large number of souls, the game will become laggy, and in severe cases it will be impossible to move at all..even in single player online games, there may be lag and crash.

but all the above situations functioned well in the PS4 version of the same world.

[CharlesB]

Another update on this issue. We've unfortunately had to delay the fix for this and it won't be making it into the 02.006.000 update this week. 
We will get it out to you as soon as we can.

[Satan_617]

Hi @CharlesB, thanks for the update. That’s a bit disappointing, but I appreciate you keeping us posted — I’ll retest as soon as the fix lands and report back.

[Satan_617]

Hi @CharlesB, hope you’re doing well. I noticed the new PS5 update is out, so I just wanted to check if there’s any progress on the split-screen FPS issue. I can retest on the same save anytime if that would help.

[Satan_617]

Hi @CharlesB,
Just wanted to share a quick update from my side after the recent larger patch, including the WX-78 changes.
I tested split-screen again on PS5, and it honestly feels much better now. On open terrain, the game runs smoothly and seems stable again, so the issue that made it nearly unplayable before appears to be mostly gone.
I do still notice some slight stuttering around my base, especially in the more densely built-up areas, but it’s much less severe than before and no longer stops us from playing.
That said, I haven’t tested it over a longer session yet — this was only a shorter check to see how it feels overall right now.
So overall, it definitely seems like things have improved a lot.
Thanks again for looking into this.
Best regards,
Arkadiusz / Satan_617

[CharlesB]

I forgot to mention that the fix I mentioned previously was rolling out in this update. I'm glad that it helped you out.