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People complain about modern Call of Duty games taking up 200GB of space on their drives, but no one seems to know WHY the install is so big. There are plenty of larger games with more assets with a smaller footprint. Is it just unoptimized? Or something else?

People complain about modern Call of Duty games taking up 200GB of space on their drives, but no one seems to know WHY the install is so big. There are plenty of larger games with more assets with a smaller footprint. Is it just unoptimized? Or something else?

scottjohnson

Posted 3 years, 5 months ago (Source)

People complain about modern Call of Duty games taking up 200GB of space on their drives, but no one seems to know WHY the install is so big. There are plenty of larger games with more assets with a smaller footprint. Is it just unoptimized? Or something else?

Chadd Nervigg

Posted 3 years, 5 months ago (Source)

@scottjohnson "Larger" in what way? Textures, videos, voice lines can all take up a large amount of space, and that space can increase based on the quality.

Chadd Nervigg

Posted 3 years, 5 months ago (Source)

@scottjohnson There's also the point of compression vs loading time: Compression can save space, but it also means that it takes some time to decompress, which means that it probably has to be loaded ahead of time, rather than just read of the disk immediately when needed.

Chadd Nervigg

Posted 3 years, 5 months ago (Source)

@scottjohnson Not a big deal for a single sound file or texture, but consider that using heavy compression may mean that you need to load every asset that could possibly be used in an area. If you can rely on just reading it quickly off disk, you have to load *way* less.

Chadd Nervigg

Posted 3 years, 5 months ago (Source)

@scottjohnson (I don't play CoD or Battlefield, no point of comparison to make. Just sharing some of the hidden realities of file space in games that might be involved here.)

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People complain about modern Call of Duty games taking up 200GB of space on their drives, but no one seems to know WHY the install is so big. There are plenty of larger games with more assets with a smaller footprint. Is it just unoptimized? Or something else? (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556419524693438465">None</a>)
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@scottjohnson "Larger" in what way? Textures, videos, voice lines can all take up a large amount of space, and that space can increase based on the quality. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556421053664047105">Chadd Nervigg</a>)
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<blockquote class="quoted">
 
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@scottjohnson There's also the point of compression vs loading time: Compression can save space, but it also means that it takes some time to decompress, which means that it probably has to be loaded ahead of time, rather than just read of the disk immediately when needed. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556421429242998785">Chadd Nervigg</a>)
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<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@scottjohnson Not a big deal for a single sound file or texture, but consider that using heavy compression may mean that you need to load every asset that could possibly be used in an area. If you can rely on just reading it quickly off disk, you have to load *way* less. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556422029443678208">Chadd Nervigg</a>)
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<blockquote class="quoted">
 
</blockquote>
@scottjohnson (I don't play CoD or Battlefield, no point of comparison to make. Just sharing some of the hidden realities of file space in games that might be involved here.) (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556422229528682498">Chadd Nervigg</a>)
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Tweet

People complain about modern Call of Duty games taking up 200GB of space on their drives, but no one seems to know WHY the install is so big. There are plenty of larger games with more assets with a smaller footprint. Is it just unoptimized? Or something else?

@scottjohnson "Larger" in what way? Textures, videos, voice lines can all take up a large amount of space, and that space can increase based on the quality. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556421053664047105">Source</a>)

@scottjohnson There's also the point of compression vs loading time: Compression can save space, but it also means that it takes some time to decompress, which means that it probably has to be loaded ahead of time, rather than just read of the disk immediately when needed. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556421429242998785">Source</a>)

@scottjohnson Not a big deal for a single sound file or texture, but consider that using heavy compression may mean that you need to load every asset that could possibly be used in an area. If you can rely on just reading it quickly off disk, you have to load *way* less. (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556422029443678208">Source</a>)

@scottjohnson (I don't play CoD or Battlefield, no point of comparison to make. Just sharing some of the hidden realities of file space in games that might be involved here.) (<a href="https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1556422229528682498">Source</a>)
 
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