[Ethereum] “couldn’t decode uint8 from ABI: 0x” when returning a large fixed array with web3

I'm trying to return a fixed size array. It works fine with a uint8 array of up to 360000 or so. I've only tested on the rinkeby testnet so far. I've tried increasing the gas limit for my call but that doesn't seem to make a difference.
using web3 v1.0.30

With a larger array I get the following error:

couldn't decode uint8 from ABI: 0x

If I click on the get function in Remix it does work so I assume it's an issue in my JS code/ web3.

contract code:

uint8[500000] public array;

function test() public view returns (uint8[500000]) {
  return array;
}

web3:

static async getInitialProps(props) {
  const array = await myContract.methods.test().call();
  return { array };
}

An alternative might be to create a function which returns part of the array so I can split it up into more than 1 call. Is that possible with Solidity? Or if I can't fix it at all I'll probably just stick with a smaller array.

Let me know if I left out any information that would help.