Minecraft: Story Mode gets a big Vita update with save and performance fixes

Minecraft: Story Mode is now playable on PlayStation Vita through MCSM Vita, an unofficial project that brings Telltale Games’ episodic adventure to Sony’s handheld. It’s not an official Vita release, and it doesn’t pretend to be. Instead, MCSM Vita gets the Android version of the game running on the system, complete with Vita controls and support for the handheld’s screen. The latest update doesn’t completely transform the experience, but it does fix several annoying problems that could get in the way of actually playing the game. The biggest one? Saves.

MCSM Vita brings Minecraft: Story Mode to Sony’s handheld

Minecraft: Story Mode never received an official PlayStation Vita release, so MCSM Vita fills that gap by adapting the Android version for the system. You still need to supply your own game files. The download itself doesn’t contain Minecraft: Story Mode, so this isn’t a ready-to-play package with the commercial game included.

Once everything is set up, though, the result is fairly straightforward. You get Minecraft: Story Mode running on a Vita with proper controls, episode support and optional trophy functionality for players who have the required Vita software installed. That’s the basic idea. The latest update mostly concentrates on making that experience less temperamental.

Save games are the biggest focus of the update

If you’re playing a choice-driven game, you really don’t want your save slots acting strangely. Earlier versions of MCSM Vita could run into problems when players used more than one save. In some cases, progress from one slot could interfere with another. That’s obviously not great when you’ve spent several episodes making decisions and expect the game to remember them.

The update changes how those save files are handled. Saved data is now checked more carefully, and the loader also keeps a backup copy. So if something goes wrong while the game is writing a save, there’s a better chance of avoiding a completely broken file.

It’s not the kind of feature you’ll notice when everything works correctly. But that’s exactly the point. You want to finish an episode, close the game and know your progress will still be there next time.

Controls should be less annoying

The update also tackles a controller issue that could pop up after using certain menus. For example, opening the Vita’s on-screen keyboard while renaming a save could occasionally leave the game in a state where the controls didn’t come back properly afterwards.

The new update checks for that problem and restores controller input automatically. Small fix. Big difference when it happens. Nobody wants to restart a game because a menu suddenly decided the buttons no longer exist.

Audio gets cleaned up too

Sound has received some work as well. Busier scenes with several characters could sometimes produce distorted audio, especially when the Vita was already working hard to keep everything running. The latest build changes how audio is handled in the background, which should cut down on those moments.

You don’t need to know what the game is doing behind the scenes. The useful part is simple: dialogue-heavy scenes should sound cleaner than before. For a Telltale game, that’s a pretty relevant fix. A huge part of Minecraft: Story Mode is people talking, arguing and reacting to your choices.

Performance still isn’t perfect

MCSM Vita targets around 30 frames per second, but don’t expect the game to hold that number everywhere. Some heavier scenes can still drop closer to 20 FPS. You may also see brief stutters when entering an area for the first time, as the game prepares graphical data it hasn’t loaded before.

The update does improve frame pacing, though. That should make movement look more consistent instead of bouncing between smooth and awkward from one moment to the next. The first launch can also take a while. Players may see a black screen for roughly 30 seconds while the game creates the files and cache data it needs. It can look like something has gone wrong, but in this case it’s part of the initial setup. Later launches should be less dramatic.

It’s still a prerelease

The latest MCSM Vita update is still labelled as a public prerelease, so don’t go in expecting a completely finished port. A full playthrough of all eight episodes hasn’t yet been confirmed to work without issues from start to finish. Some settings and choices can still behave unpredictably, and performance varies depending on the scene.

There’s also a special logging version for troubleshooting, but that build runs slower because it’s constantly recording extra information in the background. For normal play, that’s not the version you’d want to use.

The latest MCSM Vita update is a useful step forward

The update is mostly about fixing the things that can quickly ruin a play session. Saves are safer. Controls recover properly after certain menus. Audio has been improved. Frame pacing has received more attention.

There are still rough edges, and this remains a prerelease rather than a finished Vita conversion. But Minecraft: Story Mode is now in a noticeably better state on the handheld than it was before. For anyone already experimenting with MCSM Vita, the latest update looks like the one worth moving to.