Bungie addresses Halo 3 NXE install performance

by Richard Mitchell { Nov 19th 2008 at 3:45PM }

You may recall that a recent Eurogamer article profiled the performance of several popular Xbox 360 when installing them to the hard drive (one of the new features of the NXE). While some games received improved performance and shorter load times and others saw little to no improvement, it turned out that Halo 3 actually fared worse when installed to the hard drive. Apparently Eurogamer wasn't the only outlet to notice the difference, as Bungie has officially commented on the issue and explained why the load times are actually longer when Halo 3 is installed.

The answer lies in how Halo 3 loads map data. Each map is cached onto a certain part of the HDD that is reserved for game use. Once the game is installed on the HDD, it has to read the data on one part of the drive and write it to the reserved section. While data can be read from the DVD at the same time the HDD is writing data, the HDD can't read and write at the same time. As such, loading from the HDD takes significantly longer. Bungie advises gamers not to install the game, especially if you play online, as all other players will have to wait the extra time it takes to load and cache each map.

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Tags: bungie, bungie-studios, halo, halo-3, mgs, microsoft-game-studios, new-xbox-experience, nxe

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

flameofdoom666 @ Nov 19th 2008 3:48PM

They optimized the game too well! Damn! lol

Erik Stroud @ Nov 19th 2008 5:08PM

Haha, that's Bungie for you. They may take forever with games, but, they work well when released.

d889 @ Nov 19th 2008 3:53PM

the game works JUST FINE when playing online from the HD, seems more responsive in menus and the maps load perfectly.

wargamer17 @ Nov 19th 2008 3:57PM

Didn't seem to for me. I was pretty much red bar most of the matches, and i'm usually always green bar. Also, it actually froze at one point in the match. But ya, the maps load just fine before the match. Didn't notice any difference.

Bluestreak2 @ Nov 19th 2008 4:08PM

Can't wait for games to optimize themselves for the HDD like Halo3 optimized itself for the DVD..... wait a minute, don't we all make fun of PS3 fanboys that have to install all their games, OH SH...

Muzik I Addict @ Nov 19th 2008 4:13PM

bluestreak: yes, that's true. But we got one thing over the matter of downloading the game to the hard drive over ps3.. We got a choice ^_^. We controll what we want on our harddrives.

Kev. Not flaming anymore @ Nov 19th 2008 7:20PM

sadly we dont literally install the whole game in our hdd, AND its not on every game either prob. 30 percent of games, oh wait you have no free online play? 100 dollars for a wi fi adapter? horrible hdd ? oh wow sucks for u and dont pull that "ps3 has no games " because all u got thats decent is gears and halo, maybe crackdown but other than that they are all a joke.

Bluestreak2 @ Nov 19th 2008 7:35PM

@kev:
Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to incite any, "your games/console suck anyways" threads. I personally have no idea why people have to feel so strongly about it. You might want to check this out http://www.g4tv.com/thepile/videos/34854/Sesslers_Soapbox_Get_A_Life_Fanboys.html

I just thought it funny that people made fun of games like Bioshock for the PS3 because it needs the install. Then here we are installing our games now going "YAY this is great."

Kev. Not flaming anymore @ Nov 19th 2008 8:15PM

sadly ur a fanboy your self so i wouldnt be talking

Muzik I Addict @ Nov 19th 2008 4:09PM

this seems to be the case with gears 2 as well. The map loads really slow on multiplayer now after Installing to the hard drive. Well...slower then usual on the new gears 2 multiplayer..*cough*slow/laggy as hell now*cough*. Man that was bad!

Joshua @ Nov 19th 2008 4:13PM

Ever since Bungie Split from MS, support is lacking.

They already load DLC maps from the hard drive, so they have the code in place to load either way. They knew NXE was coming out, they would have been privy to beta issues. I heard the Halo 3 stuff a while ago before the first big wave of betas went out (had a friend who works at ms and has beta) ... no excuse to not have a solution already.

Morph @ Nov 19th 2008 4:13PM

Who plays Halo3 anymore? zzzzzzzzz

Andrew @ Nov 19th 2008 4:32PM

Well it's the third most popular game on XBL, so I would say a lot of people still play it.

Turbo Choppa @ Nov 19th 2008 4:15PM

I have Gears 2 installed and the load times are a bit faster. Didn't notice any change in map load times and I only have 1.5GB free on the hard drive.

therpham @ Nov 19th 2008 4:36PM

Bungie's been doing this since the first Halo. They always copy the in-use map to the hard drive so it can load faster. I suppose it would make things snappier if the game knew it's on the hard drive so it wouldn't have to worry about that, but I'm not sure if the Xbox SDK allows software to obtain such information.

jrmtz @ Nov 19th 2008 4:37PM

What about people who played Halo 3 on the Core/Arcade? Where'd Bungie load the maps to without a hard drive?

Necrotix @ Nov 19th 2008 4:40PM

I think I will do this for Oblivion as the load times from CD really affected the immersion factor for me. Any word on how much drive space you need free for this?

SytheMaster @ Nov 19th 2008 5:53PM

6.7GB, leaving me with 1.26GB of hard drive space. Huzzah!

sach92 @ Nov 19th 2008 8:55PM

its a good improve ment.

Mark @ Nov 19th 2008 4:44PM

Does anyone know if you can install compatible original Xbox games?

Mazrael @ Nov 19th 2008 5:05PM

Only Xbox 360 games can install, IF you want to..

Vash @ Nov 19th 2008 7:14PM

No.
But you could have easily found out on your own.

Mokano40 @ Nov 19th 2008 4:56PM

I wonder if future games will be optimazed for this feature?

KenC @ Nov 19th 2008 5:18PM

Me and friends have tested this. Seems to be the same if you have plenty of room left on your hard drive when you have installed halo 3 (I have 65.4GB left) my friend with a 20GB drive after installation only has close to a 1GB left and he has the loading map issues where as I do not.

I think it depends on the space left on the Xbox that it can use to cache.

Derick @ Nov 19th 2008 5:30PM

Maybe they should patch the game to work better with the install.

If the maps are already on the Hard drive they don't need to be cached elsewhere...

EdgeOne @ Nov 19th 2008 5:39PM

Speaking of JUST DON'T, I might suggest that about the NXE... its really slowed my box down, giving me error messages when I try to access some features, and BUY and DEMO aren't highlighted till I leave the game then come back to it (if I don't get an error message first).

tenchimaniac @ Nov 19th 2008 6:08PM

It's because everyone is slowing down xbox live. I believe that the console won't load certain menus without getting all the content from live. So that means it waits for the content to finish downloading, even before your dashboard loads (or lets you do something, like play a game.) I've had it happen a few times, things should be better in a few days.

horngreen @ Nov 19th 2008 5:59PM

It's amazes me how much time people will spend trying to save time. In the end the time you spend laod Halo 3 onto your hard drive, going to a forum to bitch that it seems "slower", playing several games to see if it's just you, finally reading an article that it isn't just you but it's real, uninstalling halo 3 from the hard drive, digging out the disc and putting it back into the tray. In the end you would have saved NO time and probably lost time. I only have a 20gig so no installs for me anyway.

tenchimaniac @ Nov 19th 2008 6:12PM

It's fun to some people to try to get something to run faster. To me the big benefit is that the console is silent and I don't cause any wear on my DVD drive (besides the initial spend that checks the disc). Though I am afraid that HD installs may cause developers to be lazier with optimization, which won't be good.

tenchimaniac @ Nov 19th 2008 6:05PM

Great way to solve the problem Bungie. Will everyone be on the internets and read the warning or will Halo 3 be the first game they install because they want a quiet DVD drive? Hopefully they will come out with an update. Microsoft better had made a way so that games are aware they are being played on the hard drive. If so then the caching could be skipped, making load time faster from the HD. Can't Halo 3 be played without a HD? Then all that is needed is the game to play in that mode when it's installed on the HD.

Lisa @ Nov 19th 2008 7:31PM

wow whoever likes arguing over this ha no life, i mean come on your spending all ur day on xbox and now u have nothing better 2 do but argue online

PUSSIES WET

Sylvanus @ Nov 20th 2008 1:05AM

Has anyone else tried playing Gears2 from harddrive. Ever since I installed it on my harddrive, i'm noticing lag and pixelation when shooting guns. Instead of the nice smooth smoke graphics, i see large polygons so i'm tryna figure out if it's just me or others