Rockstar: Don't Install Grand Theft Auto V Play Disc

[Andy Chalk]

Rockstar: Don't Install Grand Theft Auto V Play Disc

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/RockstarSupport/status/379493174768439296]​

If you're picking up the Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto V, do yourself a solid and don't install the "play" disc.

Open the package for the Xbox 360 edition of Grand Theft Auto V and you'll notice two discs inside: an "install" disc and a "play" disc. You can install both, if you are so inclined, and inclined you just might be because data access is always faster off a hard drive than an optical disc, right?

Well, not necessarily. "For optimal performance, we recommend not installing the play disc," Rockstar Support [https://twitter.com/RockstarSupport] has tweeted to several users in response to installation questions.

According to the Digital Foundry, it appears that the problem lies with the way the game streams data. "Optimal streaming is achieved by making use of all the available bandwidth in the system. Why stream just from the hard drive when you can run in data simultaneously from both the disc and the HDD?" Digital Foundry boss Richard Leadbetter told Eurogamer.

"Based on what we're seeing on the Xbox 360 version, perhaps running both DVD and HDD assets from just the one source slows down access times, impacting streaming performance," he explained. "It's not game-breaking stuff, but it does take you out of the moment when it does manifest and for that reason we can't recommend installing the play disc."

Digital Foundry, which posted a video on YouTube [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0gPB0gdoOM#t=27] demonstrating the consequences of installing both discs to the hard drive, has found that the performance problem can be avoided by installing the "play" disc to a USB drive. Rockstar also tweeted that more information about the issue will be released tomorrow after Grand Theft Auto V launches.

Source: Eurogamer [http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-09-16-rockstar-warns-dont-install-gta5-xbox-360-play-disc]


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[vxicepickxv]

Halo 3 is written to run faster on disc too, so it's not completely unheard of.

 

[oplinger]

Well I'm glad they're telling us about this now, but you know this came up in testing and they decided it was corner worth cutting.

It's not a cut corner, it says in the article. It gives the game more bandwidth to process data. More bandwith is faster transfer speeds, better loading times.

 

[Angelous Wang]

Thank fuck for this, I was planning on installing as soon as I got the game (heading to the midnight release in half an hour) I'm happy to see this first.

You do need to install ... but just one disc.

So GTAV has a play disc and a install disc. The content of both discs are active at once when playing.

The install disc must be installed on your HDD.
Then you have the play disc that you can install or not, but they don't recommend (ether way this disc must be in the drive to play game).

The reason they don't recommend is that if you have both on the HDD it slows down the data streaming because both are using the same bandwidth.

If you have the play disc un-installed and only the install disc installed, then you have the 360 streaming from the play disc from the disc drive and the install streaming from the HDD, meaning they both have full use of their own bandwidth at the same time.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

On the one hand, it's a shame that they didn't make things more efficient, instead having an install and a play disc that you should not install, which is a bit overly complex for a console game. Not confusing, but every other game gets by fine without it.

However, that is totally overridden, in my mind, by the fact that Rockstar warned us before the game's release, instead of keeping silent and waiting to see if anyone complained. That is good customer service.

 

[Tortilla the Hun]

On the one hand, it's a shame that they didn't make things more efficient, instead having an install and a play disc that you should not install, which is a bit overly complex for a console game.

My thoughts are that it isn't a lack of efficiency thing, just that there's so much content available, the most effective way to actually keep it all together without worrying about the "Insert Disc [#]" occurrence that I find to be an annoyance, if only a minor one, would be to put a bunch of content on one disc.

Anywho, I'm glad I heard word of this beforehand.

 

[RicoADF]

On the one hand, it's a shame that they didn't make things more efficient, instead having an install and a play disc that you should not install, which is a bit overly complex for a console game. Not confusing, but every other game gets by fine without it.

However, that is totally overridden, in my mind, by the fact that Rockstar warned us before the game's release, instead of keeping silent and waiting to see if anyone complained. That is good customer service.

Actually its already been released here for 9 hrs, rather horrible customer service to wait for us to find it out for them. (Going by the time of this news article) frankly if it is so bad for xbox why didn't they just not give the option to install the play disc?
That said my PS3 editing was running perfectly last night and can't wait to get back in this arvo

 

[OCAdam]

On the one hand, it's a shame that they didn't make things more efficient, instead having an install and a play disc that you should not install, which is a bit overly complex for a console game. Not confusing, but every other game gets by fine without it.

I don't recall Forza 4 running worse if you installed the first disc, but it had a second install disc along with the first disc that may or may not be installed. Either way, there were two discs for that. Maybe I've misunderstood what you're trying to get at though. Words fail me often.

 

[EHKOS]

"Optimal streaming is achieved by making use of all the available bandwidth in the system. Why stream just from the hard drive when you can run in data simultaneously from both the disc and the HDD?"

That's pretty ingenious. This is why I love computers, there's so many interesting ways to do the same thing with varying performance results. I like Naughty Dog's "complicated but quality" mentality.

 

[The Random One]

So how big is the install, asks the guy with the 2006 Xbox with like 14GB memory?

I'll probably get it for PC anyway, since I'm more interested in the Online thingy and there's no way in hell I'm paying for Live Gold again.

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Err, good to have some clarification I guess, but let's be honest - who's this tweet for? When confronted with two discs, one saying 'install me' and the other saying 'play me', it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what to do with each disc.

Oh, I get it. This is for those people who need the 'warning - may contain nuts' cautionary on their packet of peanuts. One question remains therefore - if this tweet was intended for the galactically stupid, how were they expected to be able read said tweet?

 

[Something Amyss]

So how big is the install, asks the guy with the 2006 Xbox with like 14GB memory?

I'll probably get it for PC anyway, since I'm more interested in the Online thingy and there's no way in hell I'm paying for Live Gold again.

8 GB. You can isntall to a flash drive if you have one available.

 

[beez]

Makes sense, this is why you need to install it on the PS3 too.

 

[Sampler]

Does the PS3 have two discs too? (just about to go and buy a machine and game on me lunch break as all my lovely consoles are back in the UK =( )

 

[beez]

Does the PS3 have two discs too? (just about to go and buy a machine and game on me lunch break as all my lovely consoles are back in the UK =( )

No, because one Blu-Ray is enough to store the game, however the hard disk and the disk drive can be loading something separately, thus increasing how the game streams data while you play without loading screens and tries to minimize texture and object pop-ins.

 

[Sampler]

Thanks beez - moot point as they were sold out of xbox's anyway. Would've been a tough call, I prefer the size of the xbox pads (as I have RSI and writing this from me ergo. keyboard) and it'd've been about a hundred bucks cheaper but the blu-ray drive of the PS3 I guess will be useful.

 

[Strazdas]

On the one hand, it's a shame that they didn't make things more efficient, instead having an install and a play disc that you should not install, which is a bit overly complex for a console game. Not confusing, but every other game gets by fine without it.

However, that is totally overridden, in my mind, by the fact that Rockstar warned us before the game's release, instead of keeping silent and waiting to see if anyone complained. That is good customer service.

Its not their fault. Eggsbox is just not powerful enough to read the whole game from HDD so they had to find ways to make it actually run any way possible.
Every other game does not "go fine without it". every other game cuts so many corners that if you turn aroudn to ofast youll see the game world gets removed as soon as you pass it to make it run. the obsolete hardware simply cant run the things we are trying to make it run.

Err, good to have some clarification I guess, but let's be honest - who's this tweet for? When confronted with two discs, one saying 'install me' and the other saying 'play me', it shouldn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what to do with each disc.

Oh, I get it. This is for those people who need the 'warning - may contain nuts' cautionary on their packet of peanuts. One question remains therefore - if this tweet was intended for the galactically stupid, how were they expected to be able read said tweet?

OR perhaps to people like me who would go to such lengts as to crack the game so it would stop bugging me about "insert your disk" after i isntaleld it. i installed it for precisely the reason so i wouldnt have to use my disc to begin with.