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Anyone notice their Rock Band game hangs for a while after selecting your band with this installed to the HDD?

Call Of Juarez 2 is 5.4 GIGs, if I remember correctly.
I never played it uninstalled, but loading is incredibly fast when it's installed.
After I die, it takes LESS THAN 3 seconds to start playing again.

The King of Fighters XII - 703 MB - WHITE - Not much change at all.

From DVD
Fight Start - 4 seconds
Character Switch - 3 seconds

From HDD
Fight Start - 1 second
Characer Switch - 3 seconds

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This is probably the first game that has gone below the normal 3.4GB minimal limit for HDD installs. What gets me is that this was done with the new NXE dashboard (I'm currently in the preview for the update coming in August). I'm perplexed by this so I'm going to do a quick test of a few more known titles to see if this new dash changes install sizes. Until I have confirmation on why KOF12 is so small, please don't update the list with this information until I find out more information.

Thanks in advance.

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Just did a quick test of 2 games already on the list. Got some good news, some bad news, and some good news.

Good News: The new NXE produces smaller install sizes for disc based games. While you still need the disc to play the game from the HDD, the amount of space taken up by the installed game is smaller than before. Aside from The King of Fighters XII, the following were tested out for this quick evaluation:

-Street Fighter 4 - 4.6GB
-Raiden Fighters Aces - 484MB

Bad News: This change in installation size means that almost every game will have to be re-checked on the new NXE. Over 400 games being checked again doesn't exactly spell fun.

Good News: From what I could tell, the reduced file sizes don't seem to change the performance ratings from before. While this may mean that Halo 3 still runs poorly off of the HDD, it also means that not all 400+ games have to be checked for performance again. Raiden Fighters Aces and Street Fighter 4, for example, had the same performance ratings as before.

With the August update changing the whole procedure we've been accustomed to for a year now, the question is what do we do now? Do we keep having others try to update this list until the update hits or do we just stop this now and go for a new thread with new list based on the new NXE install sizes? Please advise, SynGamer, since you started this list in the first place. In the meantime, I'l gather up the new install sizes with the games I already have. 3 down, 188 to go :P

I have the update so I decided to test it out on 6 games.

Forza 2 went from 5.3gb to 4.7gb (-11.32%)
NHL09 went from 5.7gb to 5.0gb (-12.28%)
COD4 went from 6.7gb to 6.5gb (-2.99%)
CODWaW went from 6.5 gb to 6.4gb (-1.54%)
Sacred 2 went from 6.5gb to 6.3gb (-3.08%)
Left 4 Dead went from 4gb to 3.7gb (-26.00%)

Total savings = 3.1gb

Overall, it seems like reinstalling your games is only worth it if you're near the brim in terms of free space. The total savings was only 8.68% for the six games I tested. So just extrapolating from this for 100gb I'd save 8.7gb with the new installation sizes netting me an additional game on my 120gb. Other than the huge gains on smaller games, it probably isn't worth it to reinstall everything.

edit: decided to test the only "small" (3.4-3.5gb install) game I have.. Earth Defense Force 2017 went from 3.4gb to 1.6gb

I think for the time being, anyone with the update can continue to post game sizes and performance. The update will go live to everyone on the 11th I believe. I'll make a note of this in the first post, can't believe MS has been ing us over space wise for so long. I smell a lawsuit coming (charing $100+ for the 120GB HDD when some people may not have needed that much space?)...

Originally Posted by Azumangaman Call Of Juarez 2 is 5.4 GIGs, if I remember correctly. I never played it uninstalled, but loading is incredibly fast when it's installed. After I die, it takes LESS THAN 3 seconds to start playing again.

Are you in the new update preview?

Alright, for the time being, I have added a + next to the games that have had their sizes reported by someone in the update preview program. This is also in the legend in the first post.

Originally Posted by SynGamer Are you in the new update preview?

Nope!

Originally Posted by sony I have the update so I decided to test it out on 6 games. Forza 2 went from 5.3gb to 4.7gb (-11.32%) NHL09 went from 5.7gb to 5.0gb (-12.28%) COD4 went from 6.7gb to 6.5gb (-2.99%) CODWaW went from 6.5 gb to 6.4gb (-1.54%) Sacred 2 went from 6.5gb to 6.3gb (-3.08%) Left 4 Dead went from 4gb to 3.7gb (-7.50%) Total savings = 2.1gb Overall, it seems like reinstalling your games is only worth it if you're near the brim in terms of free space. The total savings was only 6.05% for the six games I tested. So just extrapolating from this for 100gb I'd save 6gb with the new installation sizes netting me an additional game on my 120gb. Other than the huge gains on smaller games, it probably isn't worth it to reinstall everything. edit: decided to test the only "small" (3.4-3.5gb install) game I have.. Earth Defense Force 2017 went from 3.4gb to 1.6gb

Thanks, this is a big help, really shows just how much MS screwed us over before. One thing though, Left 4 Dead was reported as 5.0GB, so did you mean 5GB down to 4.7GB?

Originally Posted by Azumangaman Nope!

Alright, I appreciate the reporting for that game but we'll have to wait for someone in the preview program to update the size. Thanks again, please feel free to piss on MS's lawn.

Halo 3 - 5.7GB
Left 4 Dead - 3.7GB (Confirmed the post earlier)


Will check the rest of my collection and will post in bulk of probably 5 to 10 games per post so I don't end up posting too much. It'll take some time obviously and I'll try not to overlap ones already posted.

Some new game install sizes straight from the closed xbox.com forums:

Battlefield: Bad Company - 6.2GB
The Simpsons Game: 4.1GB
Tom Clancy's EndWar: 4.8GB
The Orange Box: 3.9GB
Burnout Paradise: 2.8 GB
Banjo-Kazooie Nuts & Bolts: 6.2GB
You're In the Movies: 4.7GB
Lips: 3.8 GB
Scene It! Box Office Smash: 5.0 GB
Trivial Pursuit: 1.5 GB
Kameo: 5.4GB
Amped 3: 6.0 GB
FIFA 09: 5.3GB
Fallout 3: 5.5GB
Mass Effect: 6.8GB

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I wouldn't go around thinking lawsuit just yet. My guess is that because of the upcoming Games On Demand service, the research devoted to that made them reprogram the dash in such a way as to ignore security and dummy files used on DVDs for loading purposes. The old dash probably wasn't designed to read those images without the files, thus the large file sizes.

I'm going to continue testing the games I have today and check a few of them for any performance gains. Again, based on the few I did last night I think that performance will be the same as before but I just want to make sure before making that theory a fact.

A few more coming in from that forum:

Tales of Vesperia - 6.6GB
Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad - 2.8GB
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom - 4.1GB

Originally Posted by dumlaox A few more coming in from that forum: Tales of Vesperia - 6.6GB Onechanbara: Bikini Samurai Squad - 2.8GB Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom - 4.1GB

Wait, ToV went up in size??? I'm going to wait for someone to confirm that one.

Originally Posted by dumlaox I wouldn't go around thinking lawsuit just yet. My guess is that because of the upcoming Games On Demand service, the research devoted to that made them reprogram the dash in such a way as to ignore security and dummy files used on DVDs for loading purposes. The old dash probably wasn't designed to read those images without the files, thus the large file sizes.

If every game shrunk by approximately the same amount, it would make sense. However when a game like Raiden shrinks roughly 85%, it's hard to think that would be the case.


EDIT:

Red Faction: Guerrilla - 6.4GB

According to the xbox.com poster, Tales of Vesperia clocked in at 6.7GB. I have the game so I'll confirm it for you later today.

Security files may all be the same size but dummy files can vary. During the testing process for any game, programmers usually have DVD read speeds in mind when putting out the disc layout. If they need certain files to be on the outer layer and the previous files just aren't putting it there, dummy files will be made to help pad things out to force the file(s) there. While it might not be necessary for bigger games to dummy everything out, smaller games seem to use them a lot. Previous research has shown that 3.4 is the magic number for these smaller games so with the new dash those 3.4GB games will show off just how much dummy space they use.

BTW, everyone here is posting sizes from the US consoles, right? Just had a guy from Europe posting in the xbox.com forums and he's got the following sizes:

Gears of War 2 : 6.7 GB -> 6.3 GB
GTA IV : 6.8 GB -> 6.5 GB
Call fo duty WaW : 6.6 GB -> 6.6 GB
Call fo duty 4 : 6.5 GB -> 6.5 GB
FUEL : 4.2 GB -> 3.7 GB
Fable 2 : 6.5 GB -> 6.5 GB

His theory is that we might be seeing the dash start to figure out whether or not some language files are needed before the option to install is given. NOt sure how much I buy that just yet but seeing the COD numbers he's providing makes me wonder a bit.

Originally Posted by SynGamer Thanks, this is a big help, really shows just how much MS screwed us over before. One thing though, Left 4 Dead was reported as 5.0GB, so did you mean 5GB down to 4.7GB?

Whoops. I updated my post.

Originally Posted by dumlaox Previous research has shown that 3.4 is the magic number for these smaller games so with the new dash those 3.4GB games will show off just how much dummy space they use.

Yeah it seems like it is cutting out a lot of padding/dummy files considering some of the games that have seen more significant drops are smaller games. Even L4D which was at 5GB saw a 26% decrease in size though

Will repost a bunch of games later on, this is gonna be a bit of a pain though.

Call of Duty 2 - 5.3GB
Call of Duty 3 - 5.8GB
Call of Duty 4 - 6.5GB

Will post more later!

Quantum Of Solace - 6.7GB
50 Cent: Blood On The Sand - 6.4GB

More to come.