Rockstar’s latest Grand Theft Auto title will drop tomorrow, September 17th on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. But it looks like the Xbox 360 version has some glitching issues if you install both discs to the console’s hard drive.
The Xbox 360 version of Grand Theft Auto V comes on 2 DVDs. The first disc must be installed to the hard drive but installing the second is optional. Unfortunately it’s come to light that installing the second disc to the Xbox’s hard drive causes all kinds of problems with the game’s visuals. Rockstar would like Xbox 360 owners to know that while installing the first disc is mandatory, it isn’t a good idea to install the second “play” disc.
Rockstar Support announced the issue today and discouraged installing the second disc with a tweet:
@mfw For optimal performance, we recommend not installing that disc. We will have more info on our Support Site at launch.
— Rockstar Support (@RockstarSupport) September 16, 2013
Accessing the content from both discs at the same time creates a bottle neck when they’re both on the same hard drive. In game assets can have trouble streaming creating all kinds of pop in issues and missing textures and visuals. The video from Digital Foundry demonstrates the kind of visual issues that can arise. You can check it out below.
There’s still an option for folks that would prefer to install the game to a hard drive, however. If the second disc is installed to an external hard drive or flash drive, it won’t cause any of the visual issues since the content isn’t all streaming from the same source. This solves the bottleneck problem. You’ll need a separate drive with around 8 GB of free space to do this.
[Via: Digital Foundry]