Expect 100 GB Install Size, 6 GB Patches For Star Citizen

[Steven Bogos]

Expect 100 GB Install Size, 6 GB Patches For Star Citizen

Star Citizen is a very, very big game, and will require an equally big hard drive.

expect over a 100 GB install size [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/star%20citizen] for the game when it launches.

What's more, in an announcement that is sure to make anyone who has data caps for their internet connection cry, the developer says to expect regular 2-6 GB patches for the game, with "big" patches to be in the ballpark of 14-20 GB.

So why such a massive size? Wouldn't compression be able to cut it down a bit? "The game compression and asset removal is unlikely to yield such high gains that we will be able to reduce our client size to 30-40 GB," explained the developer. "The size and number of assets that are left to deliver means that our client size is much more likely to be 100 GB."

As well as being the biggest crowdfunding project in history [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/137807-Star-Citizen-Most-Crowdfunded-Project-Ever-at-55-Million], it looks like Star Citizen is on track to be literally be the "biggest" video game in history. I can't think of any games that had a file size over 80 GB, let alone 100.

While gamers who have embraced the digital future with massive hard disks and lightning fast internet, those who are stuck on crappy connections, or using smaller SSDs, may be put off by such gigantic files.

Source: Robert Space Industries [https://forums.robertsspaceindustries.com/discussion/comment/4591962/#Comment_4591962]



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[Zontar]

Looks like this won't be the Eve killer after all (not that the mechanics of the game ever made that a possibility anyway).

But seriously, who is going to download that in an age where the majority of us still have caps? I know I'm not even considering it now (I was before) and I have a 250GB cap, about as high as they get.

 

[crimson5pheonix]

That's no moon, that's a space station game install!

That's pretty impressive. I'd ask if they could ship a physical copy somehow, but it'd have to either be a blu-ray disk or a massive thumb drive.

 

[Grumman]

Well there's no way in hell I'm buying that. That is literally ten times bigger than Skyrim is - including mods and DLC. Individual patches are going to be twice as big as that entire game, and I seriously doubt that that's going to be because the patch adds twice as many art assets as are in that entire game.

 

[JaceArveduin]

Maybe I just don't know what the hell I'm talking (it's true*) but shouldn't they be able to find a way to make it not so space inefficient?

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Everytime I hear about Star Citizen I feel like im watching a trainwreck slowly happen. This game just seems crazy, too ambitious to believe.

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

I wonder if they will consider burning the game to multiple blu-rays? Yeah it might be expensive, but how many people would be able to set aside 100gb plus the veritable Day 1 patches? Not a lot would be my guess.

 

[Pinkamena]

And what is the problem? Storage space is cheap, and the people who want to play this game will probably have the internet speeds required for it.

 

[unacomn]

100GB? Man, it sure must suck to be in the USA where you consider 25Mb/s to be broadband. I'm on 200Mb/s and I'm considered to be low tier. Getting Gigabit next year.

 

[ki11joyace]

They'll practically need to ship physical copies on their own portable hard drives.

 

[K.ur]

100GB? Man, it sure must suck to be in the USA where you consider 25Mb/s to be broadband. I'm on 200Mb/s and I'm considered to be low tier. Getting Gigabit next year.

Not only a matter of speed, but some regions have tariffs wherein they pay per data volume or have a limit on it.

 

[josemlopes]

Looks like this won't be the Eve killer after all (not that the mechanics of the game ever made that a possibility anyway).

But seriously, who is going to download that in an age where the majority of us still have caps? I know I'm not even considering it now (I was before) and I have a 250GB cap, about as high as they get.

They could sell digital with multiple DVDs, it wouldnt be the first time and even if its a shitload of DVDs remember that this was once a thing although not that exagerated:

And others will simply download it as there are also a lot of people that do have fast and uncapped download speeds in europe.

 

[RicoADF]

Looks like this won't be the Eve killer after all (not that the mechanics of the game ever made that a possibility anyway).

But seriously, who is going to download that in an age where the majority of us still have caps? I know I'm not even considering it now (I was before) and I have a 250GB cap, about as high as they get.

Aussie here, 100mb connection with unlimited internet

Seriously though that's got to be some sort of stupid joke, 100GB for a game? Yeah sure I can easily handle it but most people cannot, what the hell are they going to do for those that were part of the kickstarter etc that can't get the game? This wont end well.

And what is the problem? Storage space is cheap, and the people who want to play this game will probably have the internet speeds required for it.

There are alot of places where net speed isn't that fast and even when it is they have download limits. We might not be effected but it's still a thing.

 

[Aeshi]

And any interest I might've had just went down the drain. Seriously, what the fuck are they doing that takes that much space?!

Games like EVE, X3 and/or WoW give entire worlds or galaxies to play with and they're only in the 15-30GB range.

 

[Evil Smurf]

So this is why they're not releasing it for consoles.

Aussie here, 100mb connection with unlimited internet

Same, which ISP are you with?

 

[RicoADF]

So this is why they're not releasing it for consoles.

Aussie here, 100mb connection with unlimited internet

Same, which ISP are you with?

Currently switching from Telstra to Optus. Telstra was good but $50/month more and only 500GB limit where as Optus is unlimited and well $50 cheaper lol. They also included Fetch for free, not that it was something I cared about.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Reading the comments in this thread reminds me of why I don't want to go back to the States. My first thought upon reading that was "that might take an hour or two to download. Maybe I'll watch a movie while I wait."

 

[Ferisar]

Reading the comments in this thread reminds me of why I don't want to go back to the States. My first thought upon reading that was "that might take an hour or two to download. Maybe I'll watch a movie while I wait."

I don't get it living IN the States. Like, no, my down speed isn't amazing, but leaving it on overnight...

Either way, I don't get the surprise. WoW uses low-poly everything and is upward of 30 Gigs in size. This is a Space Sim that has actual fidelity in its art assets. Really not something that came from left field. It's impressive more than anything else.

 

[Evil Smurf]

So this is why they're not releasing it for consoles.

Aussie here, 100mb connection with unlimited internet

Same, which ISP are you with?

Currently switching from Telstra to Optus. Telstra was good but $50/month more and only 500GB limit where as Optus is unlimited and well $50 cheaper lol. They also included Fetch for free, not that it was something I cared about.

I'm on that deal you're talking about, Optus are good, but iinet have the best customer service.