i've always wondered this

Whatever you downloaded?

^lmao

Think of what you download as a .zip file or a setup.exe file.

Basically installing unzips the file and installs the game/quore issue.

If you're talking about the installs that come w/ games it's basically the same idea. By putting some data on the harddrive the ps3 can display that while it searches for the rest of the info on the disc.

Just like PC games

i suppose what i'm asking is...what is the data normally? sound or visuals....

Well static parts of level designs, menus, load screens, and other prerendered stuff. Probably some sound but i doubt it cuz of audio quality issues.

Most improtantly, scripts that tell the ps3 where on the disc to find certain stuff. Basically the B's that get you from A to C

I'd imagine it's things that the PS3 would normally have to access off the disk multiple times; putting it on the HDD speeds up access times since the bluray laser won't have to find it on the disc over and over.

i wonder how killzone 2 is able to get by without an install, yet still manages to produce some of the best visuals the console has yet to see. that game pretty much puts to rest other developers claims that an install is the only way to go with the ps3.

i wonder how killzone 2 is able to get by without an install, yet still manages to produce some of the best visuals the console has yet to see. that game pretty much puts to rest other developers claims that an install is the only way to go with the ps3.

Yes however there are slightly annoying pauses between loading times which is
why other developers are using it so it's seamless.

The pauses bugged me in the first level, but after that I sort of stopped noticing them. I guess when playing the single player campaign, I just found other more important things to be annoyed at :p

I would much rather that seam than actuaj load screens. KZ2 has me so spoiled now that its a chore to play HL2 now. Frakkin load screens every ten minutes.


OP, when you download a game or patch it has to be installed because the data is probably delivered in a compressed format and has to be unpacked and allocated in the correct folder.