PS 3 - PS 5

[wentwood]

I did some checking around today and this was a bit rediculous.

In the old days of the PS 1 and 2 you could run the games off the disk no problem.

But here's where the insane part comes in.

When the PS 3 dropped the game files started running in the gig range or larger.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 runs 7 gigs of storage top end.

I own this game myself.

The thing is starting with the PS 3 it seems that those making the games were trying to make the biggest one they can and pack as much into the game as they can.

Never mind the extra DLC.

When the PS 2 was out there wasn't this to deal with and you saved your game on a memory card.

In the days of PS 2 they didn't install extra game material periodically.

What was in the game was it.

 

[Caldwin]

Dude! I lived in the days of NES cartridges. This has been a gripe of my generation for decades now!

 

[wentwood]

I had the PS 1 when games just saved on memory card and you could play off the CD.

Same thing with the PS 2 and game DVDs.

I have a PS 2 mainly.

I started running into the space thing with PS 3 so I only bought the games I knew for sure I was going to play.

I hadn't bought any others.

Mainly Ninja Gaiden , Final Fantasy , Tomb Raider , Tekken and Street Fighter.

I still got my games on the PS 3 at only 43 gigs of space combined.

Now with the PS 4 spend 200 bucks and only have room for 10 games and gone.

No thanks.

 

[The Mighty Mollusk]

The price of fancier graphics is bigger files.

 

[Spin-Out]

ok

 

[Ungnome]

Remember the original Super Mario Bros, graphics AND code, fit into 40kb of ROM space(32k PRG, 8k CHR)
The 16 bit era had games increasing in size an entire order of magnitude. Super Mario World for the SNES was on a 512k ROM and that was a LAUNCH title for the SNES, they got bigger as the console's life went on.
By the time the 32/64bit generation was around, games were AT MINIMUM 4 MB(N64 roms)

Also keep in mind that EVERY TIME you double the resolution of a texture, you QUADRUPLE the assets uncompressed size and that's just upping the resolution without increasing the texture's bit depth. That's JUST TEXTURES. If you get into the increasing polycounts on the meshes, increased fidelity on audio assets and larger worlds you can see how quickly things start to add up.

 

[wentwood]

Out of curiosity how big are PS 2 games?

 

[Princess Viola]

It depends on the game, there isn't a single 'This is how big PS2 games are'.

They are limited by the fact that PS2 games are on DVD, so for games on a single layer DVD they top out at ~4.77 GB and for dual-layer discs, they can hold a maximum of 8.5 GB.

Also it's not 'rediculous' like wow breaking news better graphics take up more space*, like what do you want developers to have to artificially restrict themselves to the storage space of a disc-based medium developed in the 1990s?

*The games that take up like 100+ GB is ridiculous but that's not the majority of games.

 

[HalfWolf]

I did some checking around today and this was a bit rediculous.

In the old days of the PS 1 and 2 you could run the games off the disk no problem.

But here's where the insane part comes in.

When the PS 3 dropped the game files started running in the gig range or larger.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 runs 7 gigs of storage top end.

I own this game myself.

The thing is starting with the PS 3 it seems that those making the games were trying to make the biggest one they can and pack as much into the game as they can.

Never mind the extra DLC.

Fallout 3 Console Commands (https://cheatcommands.cc/fallout-3-console-commands/)

When the PS 2 was out there wasn't this to deal with and you saved your game on a memory card.

In the days of PS 2 they didn't install extra game material periodically.

What was in the game was it.

It's true that the size of game files has significantly increased with the release of the PlayStation 3 compared to the earlier generations like the PS1 and PS2. Games like Tekken Tag Tournament 2 can take up a considerable amount of storage, reaching up to 7 gigabytes or more. This trend of larger game sizes continued with subsequent console generations.

Developers have been pushing the boundaries of what they can achieve in terms of graphics, audio, and overall game content. As technology advanced, game developers took advantage of the increased storage capacity and processing power available in newer consoles to create more immersive and expansive gaming experiences. This often resulted in larger game files.

 

[MEDdMI]

I used to play PC games that would take multiple floppy disks to install. You had to keep an eye on it to switch out the disks. Waiting for something to upload/install is nothing new.

My Switch has a micro SD with lots of room, and I archive games I'm done with, so I've never had an issue there. I do admit that the PS5 can be annoying if you're trying to play a game that's compatible on both PS4 and PS5, and you need to bring over save files. It'll try to download/update both versions and naturally that takes a lot of space. Need to look into an external drive for it eventually.

 

[Caldwin]

I have an external for my PS5, but it insists on only putting PS4 games on the external while PS5 games must go on the internal. I'm guessing that's because they want to keep load times fast on PS5 and don't want to be dependent on the external drive's speed.

 

[Ungnome]

That's probably a good chunk of the reason. Some PS5 games make heavy use of asset streaming(heck pretty much all modern open world games absolutely RELY on it) and the low throughput of external media can sometimes cause issues with that. I was once playing GTA5 on a mechanical hdd while windows decided to run an 'update' and ended up driving into an area were the high quality assets hadn't loaded in yet, was still using the distant LOD version of the objects and terrain. Ended up looking like I was in a PS1 game and my car was 'under' the road mesh(collisions were accurate to where the high quality mesh would have been)

 

[Princess Viola]

Yeah and like considering the PS5 comes with an internal SSD, it makes sense why they don't want you to run PS5 games off a much slower mechanical drive.

(Why people still use mechanical drives in 2023 is beyond me imo, I mean SSDs are cheap these days)

 

[Sjogre]

Don't SSDs have shorter lifespans? That makes them a bit situational, even if generally superior for gaming.

 

[Ungnome]

Fewer write cycles, yes, but no mechanical parts to wear out. Modern SSDs have firmware to help spread writes out over multiple cells to increase lifespan, though. In MOST use cases, you're better off with an SSD than a mechanical drive these days.

 

[wentwood]

There are two reasons I would rather use a memory card or flash drive.

1 saves on wear and tear of the system when you save games.

2. In the days of PS 2 you didn't DL any extra content at some points in the game.

The full game is on the PS 2 disk and there wasn't the need for DL.

At later parts of the game the same area is used plenty.

Eventually you open up the game and no more would have to be loaded onto the PS internal storage.

 

[wentwood]

Final Fantasy I - XII

this is a good example of using a memory card to save games as there's a tipping point when you visit all areas of the game.

 

[Princess Viola]

Don't SSDs have shorter lifespans? That makes them a bit situational, even if generally superior for gaming.

A hard drive can last longer in-storage than an SSD does but in terms of being actively used, SSDs will last a lot longer than a mechanical drive.

But either way like you're fine if you periodically connect your drives to your device every few months or so.

There are two reasons I would rather use a memory card or flash drive.

1 saves on wear and tear of the system when you save games.

2. In the days of PS 2 you didn't DL any extra content at some points in the game.

The full game is on the PS 2 disk and there wasn't the need for DL.

At later parts of the game the same area is used plenty.

Eventually you open up the game and no more would have to be loaded onto the PS internal storage.

What wear and tear? Every modern console uses either SSDs (or flash memory in the case of the Switch).

 

[CoffeeHorse]

I want to see what developers could do with PS2 graphics but modern hardware. Imagine how big those levels could be.

 

[wentwood]

Tomb Raider is a nasty case of this.

In the PS1 days Tomb Raider - V Chronicles and VI Angel Of Darkness on PS 2 were 4 or 5 levels each.

Starting with VII Legend 4 levels are now one massive level.

Since Tomb Raider VII Legend this has been a regular thing with all games.

Starting with Final Fantasy XII it's become one massive thing and you revisit sections later in the game.

Also Dragon Warrior VIII Journey Of The Cursed King.