Baldur’s Gate 3 is currently taking up all the storage space I would give to Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG.
deleted by creator
Look at moneybags over here throwing around cash instead of just making space
deleted by creator
It’s a touch trickier to upgrade a laptop, which the writer is talking about.
I’d be inclined to agree but I’m frankly somewhat at a loss from this articles perspective. Why a 256gb boot drive in 2023? I’m only assuming, based on the math. If it were 512GB I’d assume they’d be able to shuffle off more data. If it’s important files you need to access, store them on an external HDD? If they’re a gamer and they know space is an issue, a SSD enclosure is not much more added cost to a 1TB drive and it solves the issue…
Like I said, I understand the intent about game sizes. But people playing BG3 or Starfield on their laptop are going to have other issues on top of storage, since most laptops have a pretty linear upgrade path. If you have the 256gb model the rest of the hardware probably reflects that pricepoint. Like @bandario@lemmy.dbzer0.com said, at a certain point the idea of a game coming preloaded on a USB drive makes sense, but until then the ease for general use of an SSD enclosure makes more sense.
They are a game reviewer, it’s kinda embarrassing that they don’t hve a decent setup to playtest the games they review.
No it’s not, unless they have a MacBook. And even in that case it’s not hard to find an external SSD with a thunderbolt or USB3.2 interface.
There are plenty of PC laptops with drives that aren’t easy to upgrade, it ain’t just MacBooks anymore.
New MacBooks have their memory soldered directly to the main board and don’t have an extra m.2 port. There are very few windows laptops that meet both of those criteria. But like I said, even in those cases you can install games on an external drive.
Is it that hard in the days of solid state NVME drives? You just pop open the hatch and pop them in the slot.
Assuming you have a spare slot (and your laptop is designed in a way to make that swap easy)
deleted by creator
Most laptops come with an empty SATA or NVME drive.
I’m kind of sad about how large games have become and how little goes into optimizing that since “space is cheap”; though it seems people don’t really care about the bandwidth (environmental) cost of downloading that now that everything has gone digital (not that I’m saying physical doesn’t have waste).
I just kind of wish there were alternates, maybe high-res (free) DLC packs or audio localization packs which I feel like were done in the past but never really became a thing. I find myself sticking to indie games that are only hundreds of MBs instead.
I don’t think the article provides any conclusions besides beat games faster to delete them to clear space.
how little goes into optimizing that since “space is cheap”
More and more developers seem to assume everyone else can afford what they consider to be cheap, and feel entitled to gobble up all the resources on other people’s systems as if they aren’t needed for anything else.
And speaking of environmental costs, there’s also the pollution and e-waste generated by constantly pushing people to upgrade their hardware instead of optimizing the software.
As a developer myself, I find it embarrassing and sad.
More and more developers seem to assume everyone else can afford what they consider to be cheap, and feel entitled to gobble up all the resources on other people’s systems as if they aren’t needed for anything else.
It’s adding insult to injury when most of these games are now also launching at $70-80 these days, too.
Space might be cheap, but SSDs are too small for the slot they take up that could’ve had a much bigger HDD, and now graphics cards are so big there’s physically less room for disks and cables too.
I don’t want all SSDs to have room for all the games and nothing else.
My cousin just bought a 2tb nvme for $60, $10 more than a 2tb hdd cost 2 years ago.
But I want 8 TB drives. Or more, when they’re more reliable.
I’d love to play through the Mass Effect remastered collection on my steam deck but it’s ridiculous that it makes you download all 3 games (100+ GB). On the other hand, Halo MCC is actually good about this and lets you download only the games you want to play at the moment
Even through toy have to download them, doesn’t mean you have to keep them. After download ING you can go to the install action path and the delete the other two games you don’t want.
Even old games like CSGO are large in size now… 4K as a free DLC is a good idea!
Whom ever wrote this article is a massive idiot.
Seems like the common vibe in “gaming” articles lately. Low hanging fruit Clickbait slathered in ads and autoplaying videos.
Firefox has a setting to disable autoplaying of videos (default setting is to autoplay muted for some reason). It’s in Settings > Site Permissions > Autoplay.
Yeah, like I picked up an 8TB SSD for like $300 the other day to move shit off of three old platter drives, I still have room to spare. A 1TB is like $60, that’s less than the cost of the game.
I just my kid a 2TB ssd for $60. 1TB can be found under $30 lately.
A 1tb gen 3 nvme is only $35-40 💀
Maybe overseas, but round here 1tb ssds start at around $60-70 and you’ll be lucky to get a 2tb one for less than $150…
My man is trying to install both games on a PlayStation One memory card
Baldur’s Gate 3 is currently taking up all the storage space I would give to Bethesda’s sci-fi RPG.
Damn dude. You only have ~200GB of storage space? Upgrade your HDD/SSD, for real. I don’t even review games for a living and I have 2.5TB. I can definitely fit both games. And then some.
This artificial battle of the VASTLY DIFFERENT STYLE RPGs is fucking bizarre and just a made up issue to get clicks, I swear to Christ.
Starfield has ssd listed as “required”. Even if it runs from a HDD it might be horrible, like with No Man’s Sky.
Eh, With games like these a 1TB M2 SSD is kinda required to have, I have one and I’m wanting to have two already tbh.
When it comes to cheap ssds M2 barely has an advantage over SATA, not in any practical sense anyway.
A 2TB SSD can be had for like £100. I even put one in my PS5.
Less. I got a Crucial 2tb for £70 a couple of weeks ago. 5000mb/s too
Edit: Samsung Evo 970 is actually £73 on Amazon right now for 2TB
Just got another Crucial one for the wife’s PC. Was like £95, but that is PCI-E 4.0 rather than the Evo 970’s PCI-E 3.0.
Won’t make a jot of difference for what she does, but nice to have it in case gaming actually uses that extra speed in the future. I don’t even think most PS5 games make use of the extra speed right now. Certainly nothing that shows up in loading benchmarks, but I suspect when it does show itself it will be from single frame hitches where it’s loading things on the fly.
deleted by creator
Look at this guy trying to play 2 games.
Shit, I know someone who had to purchase an extra SSD just to dedicate it to Call of Duty.
They’re also playing the games on their laptop for some reason, which is certainly an interesting choice for two of the biggest games of the year.
They might not actually have a choice about playing on a laptop if they normally play on a PS5. Baldur’s Gate isn’t out on PS5 yet and Starfield is Xbox/PC exclusive.
That’s a silly excuse. At roughly $20 / TB, a 150gb game shouldn’t be an issue
Where do you get your hard drives? Cheapest 1tb SSD I can get is $65, and the cheapest 1tb nvme drive is $80.
When was the last time you shopped for an SSD? Cheapest 1TB NVMe are around $35.
deleted by creator
Not in Australia, I can assure. Unless they are buying them second hand on Facebook marketplace
I can get a 2tb m.2 for $70, then put that in one of my ssd converters. Voila $70 2tb ssd.
It does depend on the device though. A desktop PC can easily be upgraded with a new drive, but a laptop it may not be as easy, or in some cases, not possible at all. Could always use an external drive, but those are usually more expensive and quite inconvenient if you move the laptop around.
If somebody can point me in the direction of a $20 1TB NVME for my Steam Deck and a free transfer tool please hmu
For a Steam Deck, you’re looking at $100 for a good SD card, but that’s the price you pay for miniaturization.
For less than 100 USD ($90 - I just checked) there are several well-reviewed 2230 form factor 1 TB NVME drives on Amazon - specifically, the Corsair MP600 Mini, the Teamgroup MP44S, and the Inland TN446. And though I don’t have one of those drives (I have the 2 TB version of the Sabrent Rocket instead) I speak from experience when I say that the install process is straightforward.
Yes, but in this instance laptops that can actually run AAA games are 15" or larger and don’t have everything soldered like ultrabooks etc
Idk about this price I call shenanigans. I just bought an m.2 drive 2tb for $80 and that was a DEAL for me.
So here’s some perspective from a poor grad student’s life:
After getting the m.2 and an m.2 housing to do the transfer that left me broke for some time considering I only make $10/hr + (shitty commission) and bills/food are insane.
What I really need to upgrade now is my processor, but again doing something like this really is a luxury. Are all my bills paid? Have I spent a good amount on food recently? Like right now I need an oil change and some new tires so that’s yet another month AT LEAST of putting off the upgrade.
Before I was putting it off bc I had to move to go back to school and I hadn’t found a job yet in the new location.
Before that I was putting it off to save up for the process of moving and buying out of my old lease after a crazy roommate disagreement (I always have roommates bc I can’t afford to live by myself).
Before that I had to help a friend get out of an abusive relationship and support them for a while, while they got back on their feet.
Before that my other friend blew up my car’s engine and I had to blow every cent of my savings on a new car.
And while it’s true that I could’ve probably tightened my belt a few times or cut out an unnecessary luxury here or there to get the upgrades I wanted the bottom line is: priority.
The REAL bottom line is: buying games is expensive all by itself and frankly I’d rather come home crack open a beer and try to forget that I’m selling every hour of my life to my capitalist overlords than I would have a few extra fps. I’d rather cut myself some slack/some time to study by eating out for a night than be able to hold a bunch of these mega giant ass games on my drive.
I’d MUCH rather gaming companies take care of THEIR workers and give them reasonable time frames to finish games and optimize them than I would have a brand new triple A title come out glitchy as fuck just in time for whatever holiday season they think my poor ass will be able to afford it (spoiler that season is steam summer sale bc I’ll be damned if I buy 99% of games full price.)
tl;dr gaming may be one of my getaways from life but I’d rather game companies prioritize giving their workers time to optimize and complete games. I’d rather me prioritize the small day to day luxuries that get me by in life than prioritize having a baller computer to play those glitchy unfinished unoptimized new titles.
While thats all interesting to read, you are adding in so many additional variables, we aren’t talking about whether the game is too big or not anymore, we are talking about how you are slowly being buried in debt and at the same rate running out of things that make you happy.
¯\(ツ)/¯ who said I had debt? I’m just poor. Surprisingly debt free though. That being said I am being burned out by capitalism
annnndddd I am simultaneously being shoved into a position where I’m super isolated in my life bc of the sheer amount I have to work and study.
I think I could’ve reigned it in and talked about just wanting game devs to have time to do their games justice and how capitalism sucks ass but I was in one of my oversharing moods.
This resonates so much with me. I was hoping to upgrade my GPU this summer, and… yeah, that hasn’t happened. But new release games are almost always a mess for the price paid, and there’s an awful lot of indie games that run perfectly on my computer as it is right now. I don’t think people like us are the target demographic of AAA studios.
If you’re paying $20/TB, you’re probably getting ripped off with some counterfeit garbage from a no-name Chinese Amazon seller that’s not even close to the advertised capacity. I wouldn’t put anything on one of those drives that I have any intention of keeping for longer than a week at that price.
They might be talking about Hard Drive, which often goes on sale at 200$ for 10TB or 160$ for 8TB (and so on). SSDs are obviously more expensive.
like i usually hate the whole, “buy a 2tb ssd, its only like $60” line. like to a lot of people that isn’t something you can just drop casually for a video game (especially on top of the price of the game itself!) but I don’t really think thats the perspective this writer is coming from.
Same. Those comments are coming from a place of privilege.
A lot of people in a first world country can’t afford splurges like that anymore. In third world countries it’s even worse. Because of import fees, scarcity, and price gauging, a $60 SSD can easily become $100+. In some countries that’s over half of the average monthly income
Counterpoint: If not having room for a $70 game because there’s a $60 game already on there (which also isn’t normally a problem for him because his main gaming system is his $500 gaming console) is an issue, then the article is already being written from a position of privilege.
Yup. And with regional pricing, the discrepancy between a game’s price and hardware price is even greater.
For example, BG3 is around 15 dollars in Argentina, but a 2TB SSD is around 130 dollars.
Sounds like you need to finish BG3 before starting Starfield.
No space? Lol, clearly you’ve never played ARK Survival Evolved
isnt that only 400 something GB?
Get an external SSD if you can’t open the laptop, Modern laptops will have a fast usb c port available (I use mine for VR).
They also talk about playing ToTK on the laptop too…
“Will Tears of the Kingdom take up the space they otherwise would have occupied?”
I know you can emulate but this writer wtf
Content behind an anti-blocker wall. How much space does this game take?
PC is about 130 GB I believe.
deleted by creator
My preload is currently sitting at 117GB according to Windows’s move programs list
Honestly I’m much more worried about bullshit fucking Xfinity bandwidth caps than drive space.
Baldurs gate 3 is the vetter game anyway soo… ¯_(ツ)_/¯ my personal plan is to jump on starfield much later when the bugs are fixed and the modding community is matured a little
You dropped these:
\\
I mean, I can kind of understand why giant RPGS like BG3 and Starfield need to be so large, but it just feels like every game nowadays is going to eat up a huge chunk of your storage no matter what it is. With both console and PC games moving to SSD as the standard storage medium, I’m hoping that developers will actually figure out how to optimize for storage space, but I’m not holding my breath.
Starfield heavily leans on procedural generation. It would be many times bigger if it didn’t. BG3 has something like 170 hours of recorded dialogue. Cutting down means getting of features.
So no, there is no room for optimization here. These games are just going to be that big, period. People just need to accept that they will have to get giant SSDs in the future.
There is most definitely room for improvement. Small example: a lot of games’ downloads nowadays contain all the voicelines in every language in high quality audio files. Pretty much nobody will ever play a game in multiple different languages.
Another one: games come with 4k-textures now. Only a small fraction of players actually use a 4k display. Those textures eat up a lot of space and most players dont get anything out of them.
Just so we’re clear, BG3 has only one language that is voiced: English. Every other language is in subtitles.
Just to cladify, most Digital Stores will only download the language Pack of your system. That’s why when you change the game’s language on Steam it needs to download a patch. It is download the language you selected and deleting the previous one.
I mean 2TB SSDs are cheap now. Let’s be conservative and say your OS and programs take up 500GB. Are people really playing 10+ games simultaneously? I don’t get why people in here are so worked up. I would love for my entire library to fit on my computer locally; would I actually take advantage? Probably not. Just uninstall whatever you haven’t played in awhile. I highly doubt the ONLY game the OOP has installed is BG3.
I remember when GTA 5 hit PC in 2015 and was around 90 gigs. Seems like we’ve finally hit the point where most AAA games are around its size. How time flies…
Yeah I remember that too. Doom 2016 was like 70 gbs and there were gaming news articles about it. Now 70 is on the low end for AAA.
I recall it boggling my mind that GTAIV was 15GB (two dual layer DVDs basically) now I have copies of movies that large kicking around on my NAS.
