*spin off* Game Installs & PS3

[grandmaster]

What I don't get is, most games install between 2 to 5GB of data, yet some games (DMC4 for example) take EXTREMELY long to do so... WHY IS THAT.

Installing and indeed deleting tons of small files takes much longer than doing it in chunks of much larger files. That's the bottom line, and that's what happening with DMC's mammoth install.

 

[2real4tv]

Anybody know what MW2 install size is on the 360?

nvm, google'd it 6.8GB

 

[Rotmm]

Tell me... how often do you have to install games? Usually once, don't you^^

I have 60 plus games over the 2 platforms (plus a whole bunch of downloadable content), though the vast majority is on the 360 due to buying nearly all multiplat titles on it.

So no, I can't have them all installed at once.

 

[Prophecy2k]

I have 30+ games and am a PS3 owner with a 320GB HDD i bought off amazon cheap for £30...

I have all my games installed (well at least the ones that use the instal feature) and still have oodles of room left that i casually fill up with demos and trailers, because i don't know what else to use it for.

I'm sure if MS didn't charge extortionate prices for their HDD Rotmm, you could easily pick up a 500GB HDD and install all your games to your HDD.

The issue sounds more like available HDD space than an issue with installs themselves... manditory or not.

I'm sure that now every PS3 comes with a 120GB HDD or higher (I bought my bro a 250GB PS3 for £199 recently), far less people will complain about manditory or optional installs.

I certainly don't mind em' as long as they don't keep me waiting unecessarily long on an install screen.

I do like the sound of the "pre-designed" manditory tutorial/stealth install though

Any devs on here know how realistic something like that would be to impliment?

 

[makattack]

I have 30+ games and am a PS3 owner with a 320GB HDD i bought off amazon cheap for £30...

I have all my games installed (well at least the ones that use the instal feature) and still have oodles of room left that i casually fill up with demos and trailers, because i don't know what else to use it for.

I'm sure if MS didn't charge extortionate prices for their HDD Rotmm, you could easily pick up a 500GB HDD and install all your games to your HDD.

The issue sounds more like available HDD space than an issue with installs themselves... manditory or not.

I'm sure that now every PS3 comes with a 120GB HDD or higher (I bought my bro a 250GB PS3 for £199 recently), far less people will complain about manditory or optional installs.

I certainly don't mind em' as long as they don't keep me waiting unecessarily long on an install screen.

I do like the sound of the "pre-designed" manditory tutorial/stealth install though

Any devs on here know how realistic something like that would be to impliment?

No, for me, the problem is this: neither Sony nor Microsoft build their machines with a 1TB HDD. Hence, since I buy a console with the expectation that I plug it in and it... just... works... I don't ever plan to install an HDD, unless it's an external sort that I simply plug in via. USB/ESATA/etc.

Since I'm never patient enough, nor can I rewind time a-la Prince of Persia, I can't go back to when I first bought the 360 or PS3 and upgrade the HDDs before I even played the first game / setup my profile.

Now, if I were to even be given a free large HDD for either system, it will sit static until the day I have the desire to backup & restore all the files from my existing HDD to the new one.

If I had wanted a computer, well... I have computers for my needs that require a computer. My computers run a UNIX variant (Gentoo Linux) and I would never really use them for gaming... much like I would never have dinner in my bathroom. That's just me.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Tell me... how often do you have to install games? Usually once, don't you^^

If I have a terabyte drive maybe only once. But if I was renting a game, only putting a game in for the nephews/nieces/friends kids once a month, or only for a quick play with a friend over every other week or two.

That would be install, uninstall, install, uninstall, install, uninstall, install, uninstall.

The only reason I tolerate it on PC is that I have enough HD space that I can afford to have my "once a month" game fixes installed all the time. Right now I probably have about 20 or 30 games installed taking up over 500 GB of space.

Situation would be even worse if I stored media files on the same HD (as some do with their consoles).

I don't EVER want mandatory installs on consoles (although eventually we'll probably all have to live with that if DD is the way of future consoles).

For right now I absolutely LOVE the fact that I don't have to install anything to play a game on console. And have the OPTION to install something if I want.

I can't even imagine how enraged I would be if I had to install something for ever game I rented.

Regards,
SB

 

[TheWretched]

Installing and indeed deleting tons of small files takes much longer than doing it in chunks of much larger files. That's the bottom line, and that's what happening with DMC's mammoth install.

I know WHY it happens (I am a programmer/unix admin myself), I just don't get why they don't do something against it. As I said to, why don't they just make an image of all the files (or just zip it) and pipe it to the HDD? No more thrashing heads, much higher data transfer rate.

I mean, MGS4 also install about 4.5GB in the initial installation, but it only takes about 8 minutes to do so. DMC has about the same time, but needs twice or three times that. Same goes for Resident Evil 5 (also Capcom), which is way faster. It can't be the "powerpoint" presentation while installing... it simply was no data to be transferred.

I just isn't complex to do it. (it is a one liner in Linux to pipe compressed data from one pint to another) This is what I don't get.

But, luckily, most games don't need that much time for the installation (at 9MB/s, it takes 8.5mins to install 4.5GB, which both RE5 and MGS4 manage to do)

I have 60 plus games over the 2 platforms (plus a whole bunch of downloadable content), though the vast majority is on the 360 due to buying nearly all multiplat titles on it.

So no, I can't have them all installed at once.

Well, ok^^ I am not that "hardcore"^ I have about 10 or 15 games for my PS3. Most of my games don't need an installation, and I have a 120GB one... so yeah^^

EDIT:

I do like the sound of the "pre-designed" manditory tutorial/stealth install though

Well, Fallout 3 does it more or less.

 

[grandmaster]

Resident Evil 5's install is a bunch of DLC-style .pkg files stored on the optical disc and presumably just streamed across. In fact, the disc structure is practically identical to the 360 version with just the install files sitting in the root directory.

In short, Capcom learned from its mistake and did something about it.

 

[NRP]

I'm in agreement with Silent Buddha on this issue. Optional HD installs are great. Anything that's mandatory almost always sucks.