Battlefield 3 on Xbox Looks Awful Without HD Texture Pack

[rh1006]

wait, graphics matter?

 

[MajorDolphin]

God, I hate Microsoft. In an attempt to crush Sony they sell ridiculously cheap systems with tiny harddrives and only bothered to have dvd drives in the 360. As such, games ship on multiple discs (RAGE came on 3?), require insanely huge installs for a decent gaming experience, and impact the overall game with their policy to shut out any game that isn't "equal" to other consoles. Uhg, disgusted and off topic.

 

[Something Amyss]

It's completely possible to fit your own hdd to a 360 enclosure with a little hacking up of parts, except you run into firmware problems that require somewhat legally iffy methods of solving.

See, you just pointed out the real problem.

It's still proprietary, and mucking around with that stuff can get you in trouble.

 

[zehydra]

meh, doesn't look that bad. You all are getting spoiled, lol.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Another proof that Xbox 360 and it's lack of disk space is dragging the industry down. Does Microsoft have the permission to use BluRay technology, or can we expect the same from next Xbox console? And why are we still using disks anyway? You can put more data on a USB flash drive these days.

Exactly the point, people need to stop pointing fingers at DICE and realize that Microsoft needs to develop new hardware already.

or stop publishing for it till they do come out with something new, cause o.0 DAMN that's fugly.

but then, there's really zero excuse it looks THAT BAD with out the texture pack, i get there's a space issue for the HD pack, but i see no reason it should be 'PS1'ish with out it.

 

[Norix596]

Well unless they're selling the texture pack separately this doesn't really seem like a problem.

 

[Schmittler]

"Fuzzy tyres".

I believe you meant "tires" good sir.

OT: This looks pretty bad, but CoD's textures don't look fantastic either. At least there is the HD Texture Pack.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

"Fuzzy tyres".

I believe you meant "tires" good sir.

OT: This looks pretty bad, but CoD's textures don't look fantastic either. At least there is the HD Texture Pack.

"Tyre" is the English way of spelling Tire. As in, they spell it that way in England.

 

[natster43]

BTW, do you guys even know how large the texture pack is?

1.5 GB.

Anyway you look at it - that is really not much. Even a 4GB Xbox will be able to run it.

Good job at making it a sensationalist article by holding back details, dude.

would you happen to know if that is the thing it asks you to install right when you start playing?

 

[Vibhor]

or stop publishing for it till they do come out with something new, cause o.0 DAMN that's fugly.

but then, there's really zero excuse it looks THAT BAD with out the texture pack, i get there's a space issue for the HD pack, but i see no reason it should be 'PS1'ish with out it.

Or you know, buy a PC and play the actual game?
Cause this is the best thing they could do for a 6 year old hardware, and this is the best you deserve for playing on a 6 year old system.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Forgive my ignorance on this part though: Isn't there technology for double-layering and such on DVD's? There's got to be a way to fit everything onto 1 disc.

There is and the 360 uses it, problem is a dual layer DVD holds up to 8.5GB of data.

A single layer Blu Ray holds up to 25GB (50-128GB for Dual layers and BDXL), BF3 (PC version) is in the area of 20GB, which is what is causing the problem for 360 discs.

The physical media PC version installs at 20GB (and ships on 2 DVDs)... the digital distro version installs at 25GB... the 5GB install size difference doesn't really make a lot of sense but this is EA we're dealing with.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

It's completely possible to fit your own hdd to a 360 enclosure with a little hacking up of parts, except you run into firmware problems that require somewhat legally iffy methods of solving.

See, you just pointed out the real problem.

It's still proprietary, and mucking around with that stuff can get you in trouble.

The HDD isn't proprietary, the cage is.

Anyway, the problem with using a standard 2.5"HDD is that the firmware hack needed to use them is also step one of firmware modding your 360 to play burnt discs, so there's a significant chance you could get a Live ban anytime they hold one of their system purges of modded consoles. Oh yeah, and apparently putting non-MS certified parts in your 360 is against ToS... but a half competent lawyer could get tossed out.

Honestly, the whole deal stems from MS being jerks and not wanting people to be able to drop any standard 2.5"HDD into their console, whereas Sony couldn't give a rat's arse. The only problem the PS3 has this that once you go over something like 750GB the drives end up physically too big to fit into the case (it's what happens with you have to fit a 4th disc platter and head into the case).

 

[Vrach]

So, basically, if you, for some reason, off your own accord, decide not to install a HD pack which you're provided with, graphics will be worse? This is newsworthy?

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

wait, graphics matter?

Only when your prefered platform gets the shitty end of the stick.

 

[Lunar Templar]

or stop publishing for it till they do come out with something new, cause o.0 DAMN that's fugly.

but then, there's really zero excuse it looks THAT BAD with out the texture pack, i get there's a space issue for the HD pack, but i see no reason it should be 'PS1'ish with out it.

Or you know, buy a PC and play the actual game?
Cause this is the best thing they could do for a 6 year old hardware, and this is the best you deserve for playing on a 6 year old system.

to be honest, you couldn't GIVE me a 360 OR BF3/MW3, cause i see both as part of the problem with the current generation of gaming, but that's a discussion for later.

i take issue with how lazy they're being, all that time, and that's all the better it looks? really? its pathetic, it should look better then that regardless of the platform, period.

also, see the bold bit? -.- save that kinda crap for some one else. i may not like the 360, but I'm not telling people to jump ship over this, and nether should you, or anyone else

 

[Rowski]

Jeebus, much wailing and gnashing of teeth over not much here. Calm down.

Surely those people without hard drive space have a spare 2GB usb stick lying around? I just bought a 16GB stick for $20 for all my xbox map packs and arcade games. Those of you spending $120 for a new hard drive over this are FAILING at life. Seriously. Even if it HAS to be on the harddrive, you could put all the other stuff on USB sticks temporarily to make room.

Now what I want to know, and can't seem to find amongst all this bullshit is whether you get an extra disk included for copying it over, or if it's ONLY available as a download. I only have a 3G usb dongle for internet (works fine for Xbox Live btw) and downloading 1.5GB is painfully slow and fairly costly (over $10 credit).

The game looks great with the texture pack. Better than I expected, and astonishing compared to launch titles from years ago. I'm going to have a blast with it no matter what the haters say. What's with the 2 day release delay for us Aussies? Wish I was playing right NOW.

 

[captaincabbage]

I put this question forward, like many before me: What's the fucking point of the non-HD textures??