2 disks? NOOOOOO

hated that with mass effect 2

I noticed on an old IGN thread from just before OB release that they were amazed that OB was 5Gb and only one disc. Up to then they reckoned 3.5 was the limit.
I think you can wring more space if they don't use ridiculous amounts of compression on the game, but maximise it for the voice overs.

Duh, lol.

It's going to be one disk. The reason being it's impossible to do 2 disks with an open world game like Skyrim. Also I think BGS has taken into account the limitiations on the 360.

No.

3.5GB is the space limit for a single-layer DVD, 7 is the limit for a dual-layer DVD. If IGN really were surprised that dual layer DVDs were a thing, then they have no business reporting on technology.

[quote name='PhYoshi' timestamp='1298555108' post='17221656']
Microsoft actually did have a HD-DVD addon, but because it didn't ship as standard they can't use it for games. Consoles have set hardware, it isn't *allowed* to change. That's the whole point.
7GB is quickly becoming very limiting, it's just not enough data. On PC we're still in the area between "It's enough" and "Oh god we need more" because with stronger processors and install-time decompression you can fit more in, but on console, where things have to be decompressed on the fly, it's well past time for larger mediums.
Some devs do find it a limit and Microsoft are stubborn and have said they will never use Blu-Ray , they just want to differ from Sony as much as possible.

Can't remember exactly where I heard this, I believe it might have been the GI podcast, but remember hearing that Beth doesn't ever want to release a game on 2 discs. I can't see how it would really work for this type of game anyway.

i still think 7.5 gigs wont be enough for a game this big,

i mean oblivion used 5 gigs while the characters had almost no detail, no shadows on most of objects, stuff like forest were randomly generated, all the dungeons almost looked the same. come to think of it the game looked almost the same. and also the fact that alot of npc's used the same lines spoken by the same person. like all the guards in a city had the same voice actor and used the same lines as the other guards.

skyrim has 120 unique dungeons, landscapes are unique, everything is hand placed ( and i hope there are more items in the game and also hoping for more voice actors and more conversation lines in general. ) and new combat mechanics that werent as repetetive as oblivion. so how can all these stuff possibly fit on a dual layer DVD.

and also fallout 3 used 6.6 gigs.

just hope for 2 dvds or im 95% short they will have to remove some stuff from the final version of the game.

thanks for all the replys. i think there still is some concern on how much content were getting here, but we will see. if microsoft would just release a 360 with a blu ray drive problem solved. i have heard rumors that they are releasing a new system in 2012 but thats just rumors.

Well, a larger medium is needed only on the Xbox. The other major platform has Blu-Ray.

Having multiple disks for an open world game would be easy... Real easy...

Put all of the CORE data on one disk...

Put all the CONTENT on another disk...

Install the CONTENT to the hard drive...

Basically, things like items, creatures, maps, models, textures and other resources will be read off the hard drive. Things like the world, game engine, and other core data the game needs to run would be read off the disk. Think of how like when you download extra content for games like borderlands, its read off your HD. Same concept, just integrated as part of the game.

OB goty had two disks.

Most of you people have no idea what you are on about.

From Wiki:

4.7 GB (single-sided, single-layer – common)
8.5-8.7 GB (single-sided, double-layer)
9.4 GB (double-sided, single-layer)
17.08 GB (double-sided, double-layer – rare)

I know for a fact that Oblivion was around 4.6 GB and uncompressed it
was over 10 GB (I extracted it myself). As you can see single sided
double layer is around 8.5 GB (not 7) so even if Beth used the same
compression the game files could not exceed around16 GB (uncompressed)
That is quite a lot of data for this generation of games. Most games I install
on my Xbox are around 6 GB (Red Dead).

There is no reason to worry. If it's two disks I will be VERY surprised to the
point I will only get it for PC this time around (not both).

Edit: Blu-Ray will be obsolete soon by the looks of this... Keep your old DVD writer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5D_DVD

And why arn't we using these already?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holographic_Versatile_Disc

fallout 3 was like 6 gb or something. this game looks to be bigger.

Thanks for the links. I lernt something new, didn't know about them.

As for why we don't use them? My guess is Sony will not allow it yet. They just won the Blue ray wars and will not give up that monoply just like how the oil companies wouldn't allow battery operated cars develope in the 70's and 80's and later on. In other words, greed, pure and simple greed. Sony will loose way too much, and they don't want it too happen.

This only work if you have a harddrive, benefit is that the harddrive is very much faster than the dvd. Yes you could also order the player to switch disk the entering some dungeons if they don't have a harddrive, far from ideal but workable.

The dual layer disks are 8.5 gigabytes which is plenty of space for this game i am sure, the games that mostly use two disks or more are the ones that tend to have massive amounts of pre-rendered cut scenes like mass effect 2 or final fantasy etc.

Im on the 360 and I always install new games to the HDD. When I got Mass Effect 2 I installed both disks right away but when I got to the switch disk point in the game I still had to swap disks. I thinks its because even if you install the game the 360 needs the disk in the tray to "verify" that you actually have the game. So while I would love 2 disks worth of content I cant think of a way for it to work in a game like Skyrim.

I don't think they would have to and might not need to.

EDIT: I would love to have two disc worth of content but sadly it would not work with Skyrim:'(.


Maybe it could be made so you install have install content from one disc onto the HDD and you play off the other?

I belive one disc will be enough. Thanks to the plug-in system that is used to build the game world, it takes a lot less space than it would if it was built with the Unreal 3 engine for example (which Mass Effect use). What will take space are textures and the voices, but if they get near the disc limit they can always lower the bitrate for the 360 version or something.


Not true. Oblivion was 4ish GB and the 360 DVD discs can store about 7GB.

My copy of Oblivion GOTY Edition takes up 5.9GB.

Why not just have it so the player has to install content from one disc onto the 360 and plays off the other? Like what they did with Oblivion GOTY Edition.

While true, that if you dont have a HD your kinda screwed for this method... but then i'd have to sit back and ask "why'? Its to my understanding that you need a HD to save game (mind you i'm not a serious console gamer), but even if thats not true, the vast majority of people who ARE serious console gamers will have a HD. Saying that, i dont know any one who doesnt...

I sincerely hope Skyrim isnt "cut back" or "trimmed down" like oblivion was because of console restrictions. It was a goal for oblivion to fit on 1 disk, but i hope they dont make that a priority for Skyrim. If they can conjure up the content to span multiple disks, i think they should.

With or without expansions that come with goty? Just wondering not sure how big the 360 version is anymore it has been a long time since i have played it on there, but either way dual layer disks hold around 8.5 gigs of space.

I don’t care if it requires 4 discs as long as people with HD space can install them and just use 1 to play the game without swapping, but let people without HDs swap them out to play. I hated that even with Mass Effect 2 I still had to swap the disc with both of them installed.

Wouldn't you assume that most people have a HDD on their 360.