360 games that run better when installed to HD?

[JazzFunk]

Just a quick query, really.

At present, I've only got a 20gb hard drive on my 360. I decided to install GTAIV to it, thinking it might improve loading times/amount of pop-in etc. but apart from taking slightly less to load certain sections (and the lack of noise from the DVD drive) I haven't really noticed that much difference.

A negative difference I HAVE spotted is that the game seems to have more pop-in problems now it's been HD installed - for instance, I might drive to a safehouse only to be greeted by a blurrily textured block which slowly starts to develop texture (this seems to happen to the one in Upper Algonquin fairly often). Don't get me wrong, I can cope with this slight deficiency, but it's a bit odd to say the least.

So, do any 360 greatly benefit from being installed to the HD, or are there any other titles that suffer deficits when HD installed??

[dvdx2]

I think Shutokou Battle X or (whatever the UK version is) runs better as the road sometimes disappears as data is streamed from the disc.

[smouty]

Halo3 is the only title I know of where you shouldn't install it to HDD. Perhaps your 20Gb is a little bit slow compared to a new, formatted 120Gb.

[gunrock]

Rumour has it that you can install Crackdown to the HD (whereas you couldn't before), anyone know what it runs like?

[JazzFunk]

Thanks for the info, everybods. Will probably get a bigger HD once I decide(?) to get Live (though I consider getting involved with things like that a major pressure, which both attracts me and puts me right off, especially with a girlfriend who doesn't 'get' obsessive gaming).

I will try and see if I can install Crackdown tomorrow, because I will hopefully be finishing GTAIV in the next half an hour (just killed Dimitri), and can uninstall it.

Please, post more answers people, I am very curious!

[EvilBoris]

I think the only game that suffered was Halo 3 and that was only during the actual loading of the game, you'll notice the menus and other things working a little smoother after install.

Generally most titles will just load quicker and be slightly more stable in feel, a few 360 exclusive titles that use HDD caching extensively are the ones that will probably not benefit much.

Crackdown does work now, couldn't tell any difference apart from not having my DVD drive go into hyper death spin

[FelixofMars]

I would say any game that uses the UT3 engine benifits from being installed. Load times are quicker on Borderlands.

[Dogg Thang]

I found an install for Fable 2 absolutely essential. The game was ridiculously unstable and had bugs and crashes all over the place. I thought my 360 was dying until I searched around and it seemed many others were having the same problem and they recommended installing it. After doing that, the crashes stopped completely and everything ran much more smoothly.

[Red Hogg]

Rumour has it that you can install Crackdown to the HD (whereas you couldn't before), anyone know what it runs like?

I tried to install it a couple of weeks ago and couldn't. Have they released a patch or something?

[Skull Commander]

I always felt that the menus in Fifa 09 suffered with an install. Seemed to slow it a bit.

[MonkeyJuggleDX]

FIFA09 has issues where if you installed it and at any point deleted it then played the game off the disc, it would just crash on the title screen.

The biggest difference I've seen on any game is Fallout 3. Crazy difference!!

[Family Fry]

remember lost odyssey load times were horrible after install much improvement for the random battles.
think it works very well with orange box too, mid level loads.

[FelixofMars]

The patch for Crackdown was released today apparently, I have no idea if this is true as I don't have a copy any longer.

[Fastware]

Yes, it can now be installed. You'll need to load the game and run the title update first.