Installed games on the Xbox 360

[Jamash]

Yay....Um how much on average will a game take up?(space) It weird since it costs $120 for a 60 gig drive.

You don't permanently install them. Some PS3 games do the same thing, like MGS3. You have fairly large load times while you install, but then the subsequent load times are much shorter. All you're installing is some local content, not a full image of the DVD. Plus, when you're done playing it, you deinstall it and install the next game's local content.

Are you sure about this?

On mine I'm pretty sure I've installed all the content, since the DVD drive only spins up a little bit at the beginning during the initial disc check, then it is quiet for the rest of the game. Also there's none of this de-installing nonsense at the end of each game, I've installed my games permanently, and have about five games on my HDD at the moment, with no need to remove them to play another.

Performance wise, apart from shorter loading times & less DVD noise, I've noticed significant improvement in Fable 2, as there's now virtually no menu 'lag' or NPC's suddenly popping up as you sprint around towns.

I think all games will have shorter loading times after the install, but games which are constantly streaming data from the disc will gain most benefits from being installed.

Also apparently having the games reading from the HDD, instead of the DVD drive, not only reduces noise but also reduces heat, which increases the longevity of the 360 & helps prevent the RROD, but don't quote me on anything regarding that enigma.

 

[number2301]

You'll see the real benefits when you get games released designed to be installed on the hard drive, and no being able to install games and run them without the disc would not kill the industry overnight, you've been able to do it for years on PCs by finding a no cd patch.

 

[meatloaf231]

I don't know about you guys, but certain games that load data from the disc a lot (cough cough MASS EFFECT) would totally benefit from this in that it would help load times and lower the amount of noise that the 360 makes when the disc is spinning faster than a hadron collider.

Yep. Hooray for the slight possibility of less texture popping.

 

[Gormers1]

Less noise for many and slightly less load times.
http://www.bingegamer.net/2008/so-how-much-time-are-you-saving-xbox-360-nxe-hard-drive-install-chart/

Some games, like halo will load slower of because it uses the xbox cache to load faster when playing on cd. Read their message to understand why.

 

[Aiden Rebirth]

Yay....Um how much on average will a game take up?(space) It weird since it costs $120 for a 60 gig drive.

Usually about 7-8 GBs for a full game. (ex: Fallout 3)

actually most are under 7 gbs ranging from 4.7(orangebox) gb to 6.8 (GTA 4) gb I guess fall out is a fluke.

 

[wewontdie11]

I loaded Gears Of War 2 onto my hard drive and half of my memory space later I noticed no difference whatsoever with my game. The loading times were exactly the same as far as could be seen, and it still sounded like a rottweiler gargling with rocks.

 

[Nemesais]

Thanks to all who replied. i can see now why it's clever to install games. but should i delete Halo 3 from my HDD?

 

[Anton P. Nym]

Thanks to all who replied. i can see now why it's clever to install games. but should i delete Halo 3 from my HDD?

Yes. Bungie has said that people running Halo 3 from the hard drive will see significant slowdowns, even for online play. You're better off just running it straight from the DVD.

-- Steve

 

[Gormers1]

Thanks to all who replied. i can see now why it's clever to install games. but should i delete Halo 3 from my HDD?

Your choice, you may get slight less noise, but the load times will be longer (read on bungie.net for explanation). But didnt you get the message from bungie when you turned on halo 3 last time anyway?

And I know that some games have no load difference and that some xboxes still is just as noisy. But then again there are some games like orange box which load much faster, and some older xboxer wich is much less noisy now.

 

[Senock]

After playing fallout 3 for like 30 hours after installing it, then just playing The orange box, it was actually pretty significant how much quieter it was. It's like playing a game with the sound muted, then turning it up to eleven.

 

[mokes310]

I don't know about you guys, but certain games that load data from the disc a lot (cough cough MASS EFFECT) would totally benefit from this in that it would help load times and lower the amount of noise that the 360 makes when the disc is spinning faster than a hadron collider.

I didn't notice any decrease in load times for Mass Effect. I don't think that it'll have a huge affect on games that were created before this release. However, I think games in the future will take full advantage of this capability and utilize it to it's full potential.

The noise caused by the disc drive is significantly less, which is a huge plus.

 

[xitel]

Yay....Um how much on average will a game take up?(space) It weird since it costs $120 for a 60 gig drive.

You don't permanently install them. Some PS3 games do the same thing, like MGS3. You have fairly large load times while you install, but then the subsequent load times are much shorter. All you're installing is some local content, not a full image of the DVD. Plus, when you're done playing it, you deinstall it and install the next game's local content.

Are you sure about this?

On mine I'm pretty sure I've installed all the content, since the DVD drive only spins up a little bit at the beginning during the initial disc check, then it is quiet for the rest of the game. Also there's none of this de-installing nonsense at the end of each game, I've installed my games permanently, and have about five games on my HDD at the moment, with no need to remove them to play another.

Performance wise, apart from shorter loading times & less DVD noise, I've noticed significant improvement in Fable 2, as there's now virtually no menu 'lag' or NPC's suddenly popping up as you sprint around towns.

I think all games will have shorter loading times after the install, but games which are constantly streaming data from the disc will gain most benefits from being installed.

Also apparently having the games reading from the HDD, instead of the DVD drive, not only reduces noise but also reduces heat, which increases the longevity of the 360 & helps prevent the RROD, but don't quote me on anything regarding that enigma.

Well, I was told that it only installed local contact by a friend of mine, but I'm not sure. I haven't done it myself yet (I'll be honest, I didn't know how), but I probably will to see if it helps with Fable 2. HOw does one uninstall it afterwards? Just delete it from the hard drive?

 

[Jamash]

Well, I was told that it only installed local contact by a friend of mine, but I'm not sure. I haven't done it myself yet (I'll be honest, I didn't know how), but I probably will to see if it helps with Fable 2. HOw does one uninstall it afterwards? Just delete it from the hard drive?

Yeah, if you decide you want to 'un-install' a game, then you just delete it from the hard drive, just as you would delete any other content.

I suppose if you have one of the smaller hard drives you would probably want to do this, since it installs all of the game, about 6-8gb, which is quite a large percentage of the usable space on a 20gb drive, but if you've got an Elite then you can install quite a lot of games before you would need to un-install any.