I updated this guide, however, if you're looking for something from the old one, it's in [ spoiler ] tags at the end of the post.
If you have any problems or need clarification, please reply here and I'll try to address the issue.
If you've got dirt in your base, you want the second list right after this one.
- Navigate to your Subnautica folder. For most, that's C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Subnautica
- Open SNAppData, then open SavedGames
- Find your slot00xx folder that has the saved game that needs fixing. (look at the screenshot.jpg in each one if you need help, that's the little thumbnail that shows when you go to load. Or sort by date if that helps).
- Make a new folder called temp-backup
- Move the CellsCache and CompiledOctreesCache folders to the temp-backup folder
- Load your saved game, and go check all of your bases for terrain popping in. If you see terrain, you can either spawn the terraformer (see the following section), and clear the terrain, or, open the F1 window and note down (Alt-tab and Notepad works well for this) the camera batch number that the terrain is located at. There's a video by IGP kind of describing this process below, just follow the part about copying down batch numbers.
- Save and exit the game.
- If you noted any batch numbers down two steps previously, go into the temp-backup\CompiledOctreesCache folder, find the files that match the batch numbers you noted down, and copy them back into the slot00xx\CompiledOctreesCache folder, overwriting the newer files now present there.
Make sure you do not delete the following four files sitting directly in the slot00
xx folder:
- gameinfo.json
- global-objects.bin
- scene-objects.bin
- screenshot.jpg (<- that's the little thumbnail showing you a preview of the save when you go to load)</li>
ZOMGWTFBBQ! In case I wasn't clear, I'll repeat: these four data files have your actual saved game progress,
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE DELETE THESE!! If this freaks you out, hey, take it easy, just back up these files or the entire saved game slot folder first.
![;)]( ";)")
Better safe then sorry, right?
(If you have dirt in your base and you were linked to this thread, read this section).
The terraformer method:
- Clear all of the cache (move both CellsCache andCompiledOctreesCache folders to the temp-backup folder)
- Do 'item 514' and press enter in the console (no quotes)
- Clear out the dirt.
- Put all of your stuff except the terraformer (including anything on your paperdoll UI person like rad suit, rebreather etc) in a locker
- Do 'clearinventory' and press enter in the console (no quotes)
- Put all your stuff (O2 tanks, rebreather / rad suit etc) back on
- Save
- Close game
IGP's video:
![image]()
Some useful stuff:
* If you find yourself doing this cache cleaning often, there's an automated batch file to help you do it
here.
* Link to a tool to make this process a bit easier (you still have to find which batches your base is in)
here (Tool to clean cache by
@foxxyfox - source code available ).
Interesting notes:
* you can totally avoid this issue if you don't mind cheating, according to this quote, thanks
@Nachoman :
Theres another workaround. The lag is caused 100% entirely by the amount of resources you have picked up throughout your playtime in the world, the more resources youve collected, the worse it gets. You can use the console cheat commands (press f3 then f8 to activate mouse cursor, click the box top left of screen to activate it then just press enter in game to enter cheats,) to spawn yourself items or to remove building costs, doing this will allow you to play a full lag free game where you can cheat as much/ as little as you want, just start a new game and either take notes of the resources you would be collecting and then spawn yourself the according amount of items etc. this will allow you to play completely lag free and go anywhere in the game world without problems, I have a low end 5 year old pc and doing this I can play the game just fine, started a new game spent a full 90 minutes making a massive base, have 2 cyclops and prawns and seamoths, been to all the wrecks and precursor bases and not a single crash from a new play file done in this method.
* Found this thread over on Steam, the very interesting part is the developer reply afterwards (by LumpN): {{The consensus of
the whole thread was that some people had relief from crashing by deleting that one file, whereas others did not.}}
https://steamcommunity.com/app/264710/discussions/0/154644787622360894/?ctp=2#c154644928866890353
Originally posted by LumpN:
Originally posted by BoredJedi:
I painstakingly went through each files in the CellCache and CompiledOctreesCache by deleting, running the game and restoring the deleted files. Seems there is just one file that's in the center of this lag and crash issue. If you don't want to reset the terrain and resources, just delete this file....
baked-batch-cells-14-18-15.bin In the CellsCache. In the SavedGames directory.
Thanks for the tip, we'll investigate. By the way, even though we hardly ever reply, we do read the forums all the time and hints like this one are very helpful to us. Please keep in mind that it might take a very long time to find and fix the underlying issue though.
In the meantime I can provide a little background information about these files.
The CellsCache folder contains data about all the entities (plants, creatures, loot, etc.) in batches the player has seen. If a player never visits batch 14-18-15 then there won't be a file about it in that saved game.
The CompiledOctreesCache contains terrain data only. Terrain data almost never causes issues unless one of the files gets corrupted while writing which may result in missing terrain.
If a saved game runs slow at certain coordinates while a new game runs fine at the same coordinates then there is a fair chance that there is an issue with the CellsCache. The other potential culprits being the batch, global, or scene objects. You don't want to mess with the latter two though, because they contain all your built subs, bases, and items.
By the way the warp command to go to that batch is "batch 14 18 15". Batch numbers are always positive. The dashes are added to the filename for readability only.
So as I said, thanks, we'll add this to our long list of issues to investigate, which you can find on our Trello board.
https://trello.com/b/eLEWpq3P/subnautica-playtesting
EDIT again: Asked LumpN what the batch-objects-xx-yy-zz.txt files in the main slot directory did, response:
Well, they contain batch objects. We don't really use them anymore but they are kept for legacy data.
The old version of this post is archived below:
Alright guys / gals, remember before, when we deleted our CellsCache and CompiledOctreesCache folders, we would afterwards have terrain in our base?
Here's how to avoid that, and also, apparently we should have also been deleting the batch-objects- txt files in the main slot00xx directory located (by default, anyways) in \Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Subnautica\SNAppData\SavedGames\
{{EDIT: some info on what those files do at the bottom}}
BUT, we should
not delete the files in CellsCache, CompiledOctreesCache, and the main slot00xx directory that match where our base(s) are (and for large bases, sometimes that's 2 or more files, so be sure to check all around your base).
To do this, you're going to want to make note of which camera batch files you've got
modified terrain on.
- ///EDIT: Those having problems getting near their bases to get the batch numbers, please take note of the last part of this post for a workaround.
EDIT2: If you find yourself doing this cache cleaning often, there's an automated batch file to help you do it here.
EDIT3: Added instructions at the end for it you don't want to check your base batches and/or get dirt in your base somehow (maybe the terrain was updated and now the new landscape intersects your base whereas it didn't before the last update).
This is usually just your base(s). Just open notepad, and with the Subnautica F1 window open, swim around, making a note of the camera batch numbers that your base(s) occupy.
Next, delete the numbered cache files in both the cache folders, as well as the numbered cache files in the main save folder,
except for the cache files that contain modified terrain data.
Make sure you do not delete the following four files:
- gameinfo.json
- global-objects.bin
- scene-objects.bin
- screenshot.jpg (<- that's the little thumbnail showing you a preview of the save when you go to load)</li>
ZOMGWTFBBQ! In case I wasn't clear, I'll repeat: these four data files have your actual saved game progress,
DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE DELETE THESE!! If this freaks you out, hey, take it easy, just back up these files or the entire saved game slot folder first.
![;)]( ";)")
Better safe then sorry, right?
To make it easier, you can watch IGP walk you through this process below:
![image]()
*
This helpful guide has been made possible by the kind support of IGP.*
If you can't get near your base(s), do this:
1) Back up your entire saved game folder.
2) Clear you cache (all of it).
3) Go to your base, note what batch(es) it / they are in.
4) Exit, copy the batches noted above from the back up to the new save.
5) Profit!
If you have dirt in your base somehow (didn't want to get base batches, or game was changed between updates), follow these instructions:
* Clear all of the cache
* Do 'item 514' and press enter in the console (no quotes)
* Clear out the dirt.
* Put all of your stuff
except the terraformer (
including anything on your paperdoll UI person like rad suit, rebreather etc) in a locker
* Do 'clearinventory' and press enter in the console (no quotes)
* Put all your stuff (O2 tanks, rebreather / rad suit etc) back on
* Save
* Close game
* Profit!
EDIT#?? Also please note that you can totally avoid this issue if you don't mind cheating, according to this quote, thanks
@Nachoman :
Theres another workaround. The lag is caused 100% entirely by the amount of resources you have picked up throughout your playtime in the world, the more resources youve collected, the worse it gets. You can use the console cheat commands (press f3 then f8 to activate mouse cursor, click the box top left of screen to activate it then just press enter in game to enter cheats,) to spawn yourself items or to remove building costs, doing this will allow you to play a full lag free game where you can cheat as much/ as little as you want, just start a new game and either take notes of the resources you would be collecting and then spawn yourself the according amount of items etc. this will allow you to play completely lag free and go anywhere in the game world without problems, I have a low end 5 year old pc and doing this I can play the game just fine, started a new game spent a full 90 minutes making a massive base, have 2 cyclops and prawns and seamoths, been to all the wrecks and precursor bases and not a single crash from a new play file done in this method.
EDIT#??? Thanks
@Frustrated for helping with clearer phrasing.
EDIT#???+1 Link to a tool to make this process a bit easier (you still have to find which batches your base is in)
here (Tool to clean cache by
@foxxyfox - source code available ).
EDIT#???+][
Found this thread over on Steam, the very interesting part is the developer reply afterwards (by LumpN): {{The consensus of
the whole thread was that some people had relief from crashing by deleting that one file, whereas others did not.}}
https://steamcommunity.com/app/264710/discussions/0/154644787622360894/?ctp=2#c154644928866890353
Originally posted by LumpN:
Originally posted by BoredJedi:
I painstakingly went through each files in the CellCache and CompiledOctreesCache by deleting, running the game and restoring the deleted files. Seems there is just one file that's in the center of this lag and crash issue. If you don't want to reset the terrain and resources, just delete this file....
baked-batch-cells-14-18-15.bin In the CellsCache. In the SavedGames directory.
Thanks for the tip, we'll investigate. By the way, even though we hardly ever reply, we do read the forums all the time and hints like this one are very helpful to us. Please keep in mind that it might take a very long time to find and fix the underlying issue though.
In the meantime I can provide a little background information about these files.
The CellsCache folder contains data about all the entities (plants, creatures, loot, etc.) in batches the player has seen. If a player never visits batch 14-18-15 then there won't be a file about it in that saved game.
The CompiledOctreesCache contains terrain data only. Terrain data almost never causes issues unless one of the files gets corrupted while writing which may result in missing terrain.
If a saved game runs slow at certain coordinates while a new game runs fine at the same coordinates then there is a fair chance that there is an issue with the CellsCache. The other potential culprits being the batch, global, or scene objects. You don't want to mess with the latter two though, because they contain all your built subs, bases, and items.
By the way the warp command to go to that batch is "batch 14 18 15". Batch numbers are always positive. The dashes are added to the filename for readability only.
So as I said, thanks, we'll add this to our long list of issues to investigate, which you can find on our Trello board.
https://trello.com/b/eLEWpq3P/subnautica-playtesting
EDIT again: Asked LumpN what the batch-objects-xx-yy-zz.txt files in the main slot directory did, response:
Well, they contain batch objects. We don't really use them anymore but they are kept for legacy data.
Better safe then sorry, right?