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New Xbox 360 Dashboard

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Dante Newbie

Dante

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Halo 3 Install Size: 6.3GB

 

GTA IV gave strong hints that an NXE install offers little advantage for games already optimised with the hardware in mind, and Bungie has already revealed in a recent podcast that running from hard disk wouldn't improve Halo 3's loading times, but I must admit that I wasn't quite prepared to see an actual, tangible impact in performance from copying files to hard disk.

 

I was curious to try out Halo 3 because its Campaign mode loading runs so slowly that I remember thinking at the time that my DVD drive must be on its way out (or that I had a dodgy copy of the game), but its sloth-like streaming is actually even slower once the data is installed to hard disk, with disc and drive completely removed from the equation.

 

The Campaign mode appears to be caching a lot of stuff from DVD to hard disk - load one campaign, then the next, then return to the original and you'll find that it'll load much faster than it did the first time. I could only imagine in this case that the hard disk is being read twice over, with less than impressive results. The tests were re-run again to ensure that everything was being loaded in the same order, but nothing changed - the bottom line is that Halo 3 already loads quite slowly from DVD, and it's even slower on hard disk.

 

Moving away from the Campaign option on the main menu and simply starting off a brand new solo mission didn't help either - loading time was twice as slow. It's clear that there's a hell of a lot of data caching going on in Halo 3, and you can't help but think that a patch could fix this, so I'll be interested to see if Bungie attacks the issue.

 

Section Tested	DVD Load Time	HDD Load Time
Sierra 117	46 seconds	53 seconds
Crow's Nest	59 seconds	70 seconds
Tsavo Highway	46.5 seconds	57 seconds
The Storm	52 seconds	64 seconds
Floodgate	54 seconds	64.5 seconds
The Ark	61 seconds	69 seconds
The Covenant	66.5 seconds	78 seconds
Cortana	40.5 seconds	48.5 seconds
Halo	80 seconds	65 seconds[/Code]

 

Wow halo 3 has worse loading times on HDD

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Dante Newbie

Dante

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Game - Install Size - Notes

- All Pro Football 2k8 (5.0 GB)

- Amped 3 (6.7 GB)

- Army of Two (5.7 GB)

- Assassin's Creed (6.7 GB) -- Jerusalem load 39.5 seconds (DVD) vs 25 seconds (HDD)

- Battlefield: Bad Company (6.5 GB)

- Battlestations: Midway (5.5 GB)

- Beautiful Katamari (3.4 GB)

- BioShock (6.1 GB) -- Point Prometheus level 35 seconds (DVD) vs 24.5 seconds (HDD)

- Blazing Angels (3.4 GB)

- Blue Dragon (19.9 GB for all disks - 6.6 GB, 6.5 GB, 6.8 GB)

- Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway (5.2 GB)

- Bullet Witch (5.2 GB)

- Bully: Scholarship Edition (3.4 GB)

- Burnout Revenge (4.4 GB)

- Burnout Paradise (3.4 GB)

- C&C: Tiberium Wars (6.6 GB)

- Call of Duty 2 (6.0 GB) -- saves 2-3 seconds each loadtime

- Call of Duty 3 (5.8 GB)

- Call of Duty 4 (6.7 GB)

- Cars (5.2 GB)

- Chromehounds (4.2 GB)

- Civilization Revolution (6.3 GB)

- Clive Barker's Jericho (5.6 GB)

- Colin McRae Dirt (6.4 GB)

- Command & Conquer 3 (3.6GB)

- Condemned (5.4 GB)

- Condemned 2 (6.8 GB)

- Dead or Alive 4 (6.8GB)

- Dead Rising (6.6 GB)

- Devil May Cry 4 (6.7 GB)

- Dynasty Warriors Gundam (5.6 GB)

- Earth Defense Force 2017 (3.4 GB)

- Eternal Sonata (6.8 GB)

- Fable 2 (6.8 GB) -- the brief pause/lag when accessing inventory menus is gone or noticeably reduced

- Fallout 3 (5.9 GB)

- Far Cry 2 (4.5 GB)

- FIFA 09 (6.0 GB)

- Fight Night Round 3 (3.4 GB)

- Flatout Ultimate Carnage (4.9 GB)

- Forza 2 (5.3 GB)

- Full Auto (3.4 GB)

- Gears of War (6.5 GB)

- Gears of War 2 (6.7 GB) initial load 8 seconds shorter

- Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter (5.2 GB)

- Ghost Recon: Advance Warfighter 2 (6.8 GB)

- Grand Theft Auto IV (6.7 GB) -- decreases initial load time from 46.5 to 33 seconds

- GRID (6.6 GB)

- Guitar Hero 2 (3.4 GB)

- GUN (3.6 GB)

- Hitman: Blood Money (5.8 GB)

- Halo 3 (6.3 GB) -- load times are apparently worse (10 seconds longer) when installed

- Infinite Undiscovery (12.5 GB for both discs, disc 1 6GB disc 2 6.5GB)

- Kameo (5.9 GB)

- King Kong (6.5 GB)

- Lord of the Rings: Battle For Middle Earth (4.4 GB)

- Lost Planet (6.8 GB)

- Lost: Via Domus (4.2 GB)

- Lost Odyssey (23.2 GB for all discs: 5.8, 5.2, 6.3, and 6.2) -- 2 times faster playing off HDD (video)

- Mass Effect (6.8 GB) -- No more "Loading" pauses when moving too fast. Elevator load times are identical (hardcoded)

- Mercenaries 2 (6.7 GB)

- Midnight Club: LA (6.0 GB)

- Need for Speed Most Wanted (6.8 GB)

- NHL 09 (5.7 GB)

- Ninja Gaiden II (6.8 GB) -- 125 seconds initial load on DVD, 45 seconds off HDD. No loading when selecting a weapon from quick switch menu

- Overlord (3.4 GB)

- Perfect Dark Zero (4.9 GB)

- Pro Evolution Soccer 6 (3.4 GB)

- Project Gotham Racing 3 (6.2 GB)

- Project Gotham Racing 4 (6.0 GB) -- average load is 6-10 seconds shorter, but audio crackles/pops while racing when playing off HDD

- Rainbow Six Vegas (6.7 GB)

- Ridge Racer 6 (6.5 GB)

- Rock Band (5.2 GB)

- Rock Band 2 (6.3GB)

- Saints Row (6.8 GB)

- Saints Row 2 (6.8 GB)

- Scene It (6.8 GB)

- SEGA Rally (4.2 GB)

- Shadowrun (4.3 GB)

- Soul Calibur IV (5.9 GB)

- Splinter Cell: Double Agent (6.8 GB)

- Star Trek Legacy (5.7 GB)

- Star Wars: Force Unleashed (6.6 GB)

- Stranglehold (6.7 GB)

- Stuntman Ignition (5.8 GB)

- Table Tennis (3.4 GB)

- Tales of Vesperia (5.9 GB)

- The Club (5.2 GB)

- The Darkness (6.8 GB)

- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (6.7 GB) -- Great Forest loadtime 44.5 seconds (DVD) vs 31 seconds (HDD)

- The Orange Box (4.7 GB) -- HL2 load time cut in half (44.5 vs 25.5 seconds), loading saved game 'We don't go there any more' shaved off 32 seconds

- Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 (6.0 GB)

- Tomb Raider Anniversary (6.4 GB)

- Tomb Raider Legend (6.7 GB)

- Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (5.0 GB)

- Too Human (6.2 GB)

- Two Worlds (3.4 GB)

- Unreal Tournament 3 (6.4 GB)

- Viking:Battle for Asgard (5.9 GB)

- Virtua Fighter 5 (4.7 GB)

- Virtua Tennis 3 (4.1 GB)

- Viva Piñata (5.0 GB)

- Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise (5.2 GB)

- Warriors Orochi (6.4 GB)

- Warriors Orochi 2 (6.8 GB)

- Wartech Senko no Ronde (3.4GB)

- WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007 (6.8 GB)

- WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008 (5.8 GB)

- WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2009 (6.6 GB)

- Xbox Live Arcade Compilation Disc (5.9 GB)

 

 

FAQ

To install a game you simply insert the disc and press the Y button to bring up "Game Details" and then click on the "Install to Hard Drive" option. Installs take about 10 minutes. You'll still need to have the disc in the drive as anti-piracy/verification measure and when ejecting the disc of an installed game you'll be booted back to the dashboard just like normal. As the disc drive (noisiest part of the system) doesn't spin up, your console should sound like it does when playing a Marketplace demo.

 

The 120GB HDD was slightly faster than 20GB (1 or 2 seconds) in Eurogamers testing, no word on the 60GB yet.

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Shorty Apprentice

Shorty

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I've been selected for the NXE.

 

I DON'T HAVE THE INTERNET AT HOME AT THE MOMENT T____T

sweet awesomeness I have been too. And I do have the interwebs. Kewl. 10pm tonight apparently.

 

Jordan do you have a laptop and a wifi connection nearby you could pilfer/haxor? You could set up 360 to laptop with a wireless bridge then get past some WEP... yknow, its for a good cause.

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Guest Jordan

Guest Jordan

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sweet awesomeness I have been too. And I do have the interwebs. Kewl. 10pm tonight apparently.

 

Jordan do you have a laptop and a wifi connection nearby you could pilfer/haxor? You could set up 360 to laptop with a wireless bridge then get past some WEP... yknow, its for a good cause.

 

I could do that, someone upstairs has a WEP enabled wireless router, but I've tried to get a piece of WEP hacking software for Windows XP and had no luck at all.

 

Hell, if you have any advice, throw it at me.

 

EDIT: Whilst i've found a good few and ran through the tutorials, its not worked. Just a little clarification.

 

Shitty thing is, this is all caused by BT. My phone line is only going to be activated next Tuesday and I sent the request out fucking 3 weeks ago. Then it takes 5 days for my ADSL to be sorted by o2. Urghh.

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Shorty Apprentice

Shorty

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Yeah I hear ya, I went through the same thing with Be.

 

Well no, not really. I ordered a BT line and kept my previous ADSL until the moment the BT line activated, which instantly cancelled my previous provider. Then I ordered Be from a hotel computer while I was on holiday, and it was ready by the time I got home xD But if it's any consellation, Be were very fast and efficient and sent a text as soon as it was up and running, and I'm pretty sure Be and o2 are pretty much the same broadband provider.

 

And I know nothing about hacking WEP :heh: although I hear it's easy with certain dual-bootable open source OS.

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Shorty Apprentice

Shorty

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I was thinking about 10% of people who signed up would actually get it... but if this forum's any indication the number must be a lot higher.

 

And isn't it out for everyone in like 5 days? :heh: what's the point in this? It can't be beta testing. Not complaining mind you.

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Dyson Newbie

Dyson

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I thought it might have been to ease the distribution of it, but the numbers are far too low for that to be the case. Major Nelson said that there were "several thousands" of places available on the program, so I don't think it's that high. I also don't think many will have signed up for it anyway :heh:

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Cube Enthusiast

Cube

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The new dashboard is OK, but doesn't seem to have a good layout. The guide is the best thing about it so far.

 

It needs a decent theme, too. Or the option to let us choose the colour of the "floor" or whatever when we use our own picture as the background. There's nothing wrong with the current backgrounds - the biggest problem is the floor. Most use grey, one theme uses black (it's a bit too dark) and one uses a really bright red/pinkish colour.

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Calza Newbie

Calza

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how can it tachnicaly be faster from an 120gb vs a 20gb?

 

Newer hardware, won't be as fragmented etc.

 

I'm really liking the new dashboard, avatars are kinda cool I guess but the interface is just a lot better, cleaner and easier to use, at least for me.

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Dyson Newbie

Dyson

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Love the new Guide but not sure how I'm liking the new Dashboard. Still working out where everything is. Also, I can't for the life of me get the Party thing to work. I open up the tab and it tells me I need to change my privacy settings - but there's no option for the party mode under my profile settings. Everything is set to "Everyone" too - am I missing something?

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