Gaming is a multibillion dollar industry that's expected to be valued at 625 billion US by 2028, according to Statista. Video games as a medium have grown both in the scope of their projects but also in file size.
Activision’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Three (MW3) is a first person shooter released in 2023. According to the game's steam page the install size of MW3 149 GB. For comparison, the 2011 version of MW3, which is a completely different from the 2023 release, has an install size of 16 GB.
The file size of MW3 (2013) is approximately 10 per cent the size of MW3 (2023). 2013 can fit inside of the recent game with 133 GB left to spare
Activision states that the reason behind the large install size was due to the game carrying over some content from the previous game, the open world zombie game mode and map files for the battle royale mode: Call of Duty Warzone.
One of many culprits for the massive file sizes is uncompressed textures. Textures are one of several aspects of how a game looks; they are directly tied to how the in-game models look. Applying a texture to a model is a complicated process that requires multiple different images to be created. The higher quality the model appears, the larger these images have to be.
The diffuse node of Artist's Anniversary mask. A diffuse node is used to add color to a texture. It's file size is 1.11 MB and was extracted from DBD by myself.
The normal map of Artist's Anniversary mask. These allow artists to add detail without to models without modifying the models themselves. It's file size is 2.25 MB and was extracted from DBD by myself.
Artist's mask with it's texture properly applied in the program "Blender" The export and texture was applied by myself.
Models and their textures aren't restricted to being used to represent characters. Game worlds use models to represent buildings, props, and floors. The amount of models used is dependent up to the game developer's discretion. Not only do higher quality textures take up more storage but they also effect how well the game is able to operate.
A graphics comparison between DBD's "low" setting (first) and the Ultra settings
In order to see the game, the graphics processing unit (GPU) of a platform has to be able to quickly render multiple images very quickly. The more high quality assets, the more memory the GPU needs to render a single frame. Imagine trying to print multiple pictures quickly. The more complex and detailed the images are, the more ink and time it takes to print out an image.
The higher the performance cost, the less frames are produced per second (FPS). Extremely low FPS values make games extremely unresponsive as it takes more time for inputs to be registered. Lowering the quality of images rendered means the GPU is under less stress and can produce much higher FPS values.
Higher FPS values mean that the game feels much smoother and more responsive. Higher FPS values can only be experienced through monitors with high refresh rates and web encoders limit the FPS of videos to 60. If someone decides to use lower graphics settings, either out of choice or necessity, the files for the higher graphics are still installed regardless.
Having the ability to opt-out of downloading larger textures has the ability to substantially decrease the game sizes. PC users have the ability of opting out of downloading HD textures for certain games. Fallout 4’s high resolution texture pack is 58.3 GB in file size.
For reference, the base game with every other piece of DLC installed is 31.1 GB. The total file size with the pack installed would be 89.4 GB. Fallout 4 is due to get new content on April 25th after it’s last patch on November 7th 2017.
Games that receive regular content updates are called "Live service games" These are typically multiplayer games that offer free updates with paid cosmetic options. The more cosmetics that a game releases, the larger the file size increase. I investigated how large a potential skin could be by extracting one from a game's files.
Dead by Daylight (DBD) is an isometric, multiplayer horror game that receives regular content updates consisting of gameplay changes, new maps, skins and characters. Developed by BHVR interactive, the game has a PC install size of 40.16 GB on my hard drive. I was able to gain access to some of DBD’s files through a modified version of the program UE Viewer or more commonly referred to as Umodel.
Umodel allows it’s users to access the models and textures of games run on the Unreal engine. I wanted to see how much file space an individual skin for a character would take. Below is the breakdown of the process of porting the Artist out of DBD.
A common trend for game developers is to reuse assets wherever possible to keep storage size down. BHVR has used similar methods in the past with their approach to map design. Maps in DBD are apart of a group that share the same assets with variations of layout. These maps also have specific structure that's only tied to it.
We can witness BHVR reusing assets with the base artist skin specifically. When extracting her model, five folders for separate characters got extracted along side it. The characters of Trickster, Yun-Jin Lee and Chucky all share the same hair texture. Chucky was released on the 28 Nov, 2023 while artist was released on the 30 Nov 2021.
Artist also shares a weapon texture with The Nemesis.
Screenshot of all the individual killer folders that got extracted alongside the Artist. The nomenclature that BHVR uses with these specific ones is the "K" to designate the role and the number, which dictates it's release.
Artist's model in Umodel
Artist's model in DBD's matchmaking lobby.
The total file size for a singular skin was 199 MB which got me even more curious. How large would the folder be when including all of Artist’s models, textures, materials and animations? The file size for everything included was 2.02 GB. There are 72 different characters in DBD with their own unique cosmetic options. Compared to other DBD characters, Artist has relatively few cosmetics and is on the smaller end of file size.
