• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

NBA 2K18 (Switch cartridge) requires 16GB download for all features

D

Dre3001

Member
I know this doesn't address the issue but 32,64, and 128 gb SD cards for the Switch are relatively cheap. I just grabbed a 128gb for $45 from Amazon last week.

I don't see this issue ending with only sports games. Games like battlefield and other third party AAA titles have huge file sizes. I think all Switch owners should consider grabbing an SD card at some point.

This whole gen file sizes have been huge on AAA games for both PS4 and XB1 so this isn't a Switch exclusive problem.

Granted it's not ideal to have to buy more accessories but until developers learn to compress their games better I don't see any other way to solve this issue.
 
R

_Ryo_

Member
Jaded Alyx said:
Is this really true nowadays? With how much online interactions there are in games? And what about the actual online portion of the game?

I get your point, but 99% is way to much of an exaggeration.
Click to expand...

Yes, it is absolutely 100% true. And is demostratable and provable. Buy any new non online non multiplayer (aka singleplayer) game for PS4/Other current console and set it offline. You will be able to play the game, entirely, from start to finish offline without any forced additional download. Though their might be performance issues/bugs it will still be entirely playable.

For a long time I did not have internet at home and have not ever, at all, at any time whatsoever had to download anything at all to play a game from start to finish. It is not exaggeration or hyperbole, it is factual, literal truth. I'd appreciate it if you didnt try to expose a false narrative.


Also I dont know about online portions of games, I do not play online multiplayer games. Also online games are irrelevant to my complaint as the requirement is in the genre title. Of course "online games" will always, always, require you to use online, it is completely silly to use as an argument.
 
J

Jake2by4

Member
Dre3001 said:
I know this doesn't address the issue but 32,64, and 128 gb SD cards for the Switch are relatively cheap. I just grabbed a 128gb for $45 from Amazon last week.

I don't see this issue ending with only sports games. Games like battlefield and other third party AAA titles have huge file sizes. I think all Switch owners should consider grabbing an SD card at some point.

This whole gen file sizes have been huge on AAA games for both PS4 and XB1 so this isn't a Switch exclusive problem.

Granted it's not ideal to have to buy more accessories but until developers learn to compress their games better I don't see any other way to solve this issue.
Click to expand...

The others I can put the games on a external HDD. So there is options, the switch doesn't have that.
 
S

Skittzo0413

Member
Jake2by4 said:
The others I can put the games on a external HDD. So there is options, the switch doesn't have that.
Click to expand...

I think you can actually do that by transferring the microSD card to a PC. I haven't tried it but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I think others may have tried it.
 
G

gtj1092

Member
Jaded Alyx said:
I've only played sports games on PC really. Save file size has never been a concern. Never once thought about it and have no idea how big they are.
Click to expand...

Madden on ps2 needed its own dedicated memery card for saves. I don't know why but it's always been like this. The advent of hard drives in consoles were a godsend for sports games. I don't think about anyomere since there is so much space but the files are bigger than ever.
 
J

Jaded Alyx

Member
_Ryo_ said:
Yes, it is absolutely 100% true. And is demosteatable and provable. Buy any new non online multiplayer game for PS4/Other current console and set it offline. You will be able to play the game, entirely, though their might be performance issues/bugs it will still be entirely playable.

For a long time I did not have internet at home and have not ever, at all, at any time whatsoever had to download anything at all to play a game from start to finish. It is not exaggeration or hyperbole, it is factual, literal truth. I'd appreciate it if you didnt try to expose a false narrative.


Alao I dont know about online portions of games, I do not play online multiplayer games. Also online games are irrelevant to my complaint as the requirement is in the genre title. Of course "online games" will always, always, require you to use online, it is completely silly to use as an argument.
Click to expand...
I'm not talking about "online games" which implies something like Overwatch or Destiny. I'm talking about games with online multiplayer modes, like the game in question NBA. You absolutely cannot play through these games 100% without having an up to date version of the game (i.e. patched). That you don't care about playing online, doesn't make your statement correct. I don't buy physical so this whole situation doesn't affect me at all, but I'm not going to act like that means it's perfectly fine and you shouldn't have a problem with it.
 
D

dragonyeuw

Member
Skittzo0413 said:
I think you can actually do that by transferring the microSD card to a PC. I haven't tried it but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

I think others may have tried it.
Click to expand...

What they need to do, and it's been mentioned here, is allow for the user to attached an external HDD to the dock and allow for transferring games back and forth.
 
L

Leona Lewis

Banned
Jaded Alyx said:
I'm not talking about "online games" which implies something like Overwatch or Destiny. I'm talking about games with online multiplayer modes, like the game in question NBA. You absolutely cannot play through these games 100% without having an up to date version of the game (i.e. patched). That you don't care about playing online, doesn't make your statement correct. I don't buy physical so this whole situation doesn't affect me at all, but I'm not going to act like that means it's perfectly fine and you shouldn't have a problem with it.
Click to expand...
What?

I don't remember being required to download anything so that I could play through Uncharted 4 or Dark Souls 3 or any other SP game with MP modes.
 
S

Skittzo0413

Member
dragonyeuw said:
What they need to do, and it's been mentioned here, is allow for the user to attached an external HDD to the dock and allow for transferring games back and forth.
Click to expand...

I agree that would be a good idea, but it could definitely cause problems if you remove the Switch from the dock during the transfer. I don't know how data transfers/copying works that well, but couldn't that corrupt the data?

I suppose they could put in safeguards and a big yellow warning screen.
 
R

Rafus

Member
Damn, if more games follow the path with the huge save file it's going to kill the internal memory. Definetely a long term problem.
 
Yagami_Sama

Yagami_Sama

Member
That's not good to hear.

Buy a retail game, that is not the complete game, does not sound good.

If things keep like that, one 200 GB will not last much.

Nintendo needs to find a solution for this found cheaper option to manufacture higher capacity cartridges or at least allowing the Switch to be compatible with external hdd.
 
A

Aaron D.

Member
AtomicShroom said:
Because they couldn't be bothered to optimize any of it. Just dump the entire RAM to a save file and call it a day. Takes 3 seconds to implement versus carefully picking and curating which values you want to save or not, then making sure everything that's not saved gets re-initialized properly. Way too much work. Yawn.
Click to expand...

Lazy Devs (tm.), LOL.

What year is it?
 
J

Jake2by4

Member
Skittzo0413 said:
I agree that would be a good idea, but it could definitely cause problems if you remove the Switch from the dock during the transfer. I don't know how data transfers/copying works that well, but couldn't that corrupt the data?

I suppose they could put in safeguards and a big yellow warning screen.
Click to expand...
But what other choice do they have now at the point when devs aren't gonna use 32gb cards very often and file/save/patches data are gonna increase. Its only get worse before it gets better
 
J

Jaded Alyx

Member
Leona Lewis said:
What?

I don't remember being required to download anything so that I could play through Uncharted 4 or Dark Souls 3 or any other SP game with MP modes.
Click to expand...
I'm saying you cannot play the online modes. Which is obvious. My problem is with his wording which implied you can play everything in 99% of games without downloading a patch.
 
L

Leona Lewis

Banned
Jaded Alyx said:
I'm saying you cannot play the online modes. Which is obvious. My problem is with his wording which implied you can play everything in 99% of games without downloading a patch.
Click to expand...
He didn't imply that at all, but words and such.

I guess EA has a month to tell us what's on the cart.
 
S

Skittzo0413

Member
Jake2by4 said:
But what other choice do they have now at the point when devs aren't gonna use 32gb cards very often and file/save/patches data are gonna increase. Its only get worse before gets better
Click to expand...

Like I said I think it's a good idea, but there are certainly kinks that they'd need to work out. 32GB cards will come down in price as time goes on, 64GB will come out and also come down in price, so it's not like this situation cannot improve.

The bigger, and more immediate problem I think is the save file, since there is no way to transfer or back up save files on the Switch. That's completely unacceptable to me 6 months in, and I really hope they're working on getting that out ASAP because if games like this have 5GB save files then you're either gonna have to completely delete your saves or not play any new games.
 
R

_Ryo_

Member
Jaded Alyx said:
I'm not talking about "online games" which implies something like Overwatch or Destiny. I'm talking about games with online multiplayer modes, like the game in question NBA. You absolutely cannot play through these games 100% without having an up to date version of the game (i.e. patched). That you don't care about playing online, doesn't make your statement correct. I don't buy physical so this whole situation doesn't affect me at all, but I'm not going to act like that means it's perfectly fine and you shouldn't have a problem with it.
Click to expand...

I am not sure of the details of sports games, tbqh so you may have a point but I always assumed you could play single player offline without any downloads, and if you wanted to play online youd need to download the update, if this is indeed the case youd be presenting a silly argument to make as it is for online. You're going to have to go online to play a muliplayer campaign regardless. The only credible point would be if theres an outrageous file size to download.

But if you are correct, then my apologies. Either way I will always find it unacceptable to ever, at all be forced to download to play a single player game or single player campaigns on physical media.
 
J

Jake2by4

Member
Skittzo0413 said:
Like I said I think it's a good idea, but there are certainly kinks that they'd need to work out. 32GB cards will come down in price as time goes on, 64GB will come out and also come down in price, so it's not like this situation cannot improve.

The bigger, and more immediate problem I think is the save file, since there is no way to transfer or back up save files on the Switch. That's completely unacceptable to me 6 months in, and I really hope they're working on getting that out ASAP because if games like this have 5GB save files then you're either gonna have to completely delete your saves or not play any new games.
Click to expand...
No argument here. I agree.
 
H

HotHamBoy

Member
Dre3001 said:
I know this doesn't address the issue but 32,64, and 128 gb SD cards for the Switch are relatively cheap. I just grabbed a 128gb for $45 from Amazon last week.

I don't see this issue ending with only sports games. Games like battlefield and other third party AAA titles have huge file sizes. I think all Switch owners should consider grabbing an SD card at some point.

This whole gen file sizes have been huge on AAA games for both PS4 and XB1 so this isn't a Switch exclusive problem.

Granted it's not ideal to have to buy more accessories but until developers learn to compress their games better I don't see any other way to solve this issue.
Click to expand...

So basically the base cost of Switch is $350 but you can defer payment on that last $50.

Of course, that's not including the $70 you'll need to shell out for a controller with a D-Pad.
 
C

Chû Totoro

Member
additional content is 2 times bigger than initial dl and save file is 5GB.


2K are crazy
giphy.gif
Click to expand...
 
alf717

alf717

Member
I'm curious. How big are the save files on other consoles. Anyone care to check? Switch needs to have access to an HDD ASAP while docked to manage the game and save data. I'm willing to wait it out on transferring data if I want to go portable.
 
H

HotHamBoy

Member
alf717 said:
I'm curious. How big are the save files on other consoles. Anyone care to check? Switch needs to have access to an HDD ASAP while docked to manage the game and save data. I'm willing to wait it out on transferring data if I want to go portable.
Click to expand...

The NBA 2K17 save file is 5gb, too.
 
D

dragonyeuw

Member
Skittzo0413 said:
I agree that would be a good idea, but it could definitely cause problems if you remove the Switch from the dock during the transfer. I don't know how data transfers/copying works that well, but couldn't that corrupt the data?

I suppose they could put in safeguards and a big yellow warning screen.
Click to expand...

I think most people with basic knowledge of modern devices would know not to do this. Same applies if you're transferring data on a PC....don't remove the drive. They could always have something come up on the screen 'do not remove storage while transfer in progress, data could be become corrupted'. But that's pretty much common knowledge by now not to do stuff like that.

bemusedchunk said:
Not only does this not need to be done, but they also won't do it.
Click to expand...

Why doesn't it need to be done? If you're going to retort the idea with 'no it doesn't', it would be nice to know your counter views on the idea. If I've finished with certain games on my Switch and want to clear space for new games, there should be a system-centric solution for archiving those games( yes, the system archives saves already, I mean the actual main game files themselves) . That saves you having to re-download a game if you want to play it again. That, and they need to allow you to back up your game saves independent of the system.
 
S

Seik

Banned
I wonder what the fuck is in that save file to weight 5Gb, it's the first time I see such an hefty save file.

I assume there's a lot of customization option for jerseys? I have no idea lol.

Curious to see what will be playable on the retail cartridge alone.
 
L

leburn98

Member
Ridley327 said:
Sports games are saving thousands of changes, since every team in a season is going to change after every game, and they'll need to keep track of that. It may not seem as impressive on the surface as "Skyrim lets me put a pencil in one corner of the map and it will stay there always," but there is still a lot of data that needs to be sifted through. I doubt it's really 5GB worth of changes, but sports games have tended to balloon when you least expect it.
Click to expand...

Sure, but it still doesn't explain why a save file is 5GB.

On PC, a dedicated sports sim like Eastside Hockey Manager doesn't use anywhere near the same amount of storage as NBA 2K18 uses for it's save data. To put this in perspective, EHM has:
  • over 30 playable leagues
  • over 35K individual players, coaches and staff all with their own unique, highly detailed statistical data.
  • my current save file, consisting of 30+ simulated leagues over the course of 15 seasons is only hovering in the 500MB range. This is far below that of NBA 2K18
Point being, NBA 2K18 (or any console sports title for that matter) is no where near as detailed or stat driven as a dedicated sports sim.
 
P

Plinko

Wildcard berths that can't beat teams without a winning record should have homefield advantage
5GB save file is an absolute joke.

This worries me that the amount of CAWs on WWE 2K18 will be severely limited because they don't want to take the time to optimize.
 
B

bemusedchunk

Banned
dragonyeuw said:
Why doesn't it need to be done? If you're going to retort the idea with 'no it doesn't', it would be nice to know your counter views on the idea. If I've finished with certain games on my Switch and want to clear space for new games, there should be a system-centric solution for archiving those games( yes, the system archives saves already, I mean the actual main game files themselves) . That saves you having to re-download a game if you want to play it again. That, and they need to allow you to back up your game saves independent of the system.
Click to expand...

Ok, I'll bite.

I just don't think Nintendo wants to be in the business of having to deal with corrupted saves and transfers potentially happening.

My solution? Just re-download the game. Then again, I don't have data cap limits and can off-load my save to my NAS or something if I really want to get crazy - but I don't.

I think there is a reason why Nintendo hasn't put Netflix or USB storage support on the Switch. I don't think they see it as a tablet or an entertainment device - but just a portable gaming machine that can also be displayed on the TV.
 
L

Leona Lewis

Banned
Jaded Alyx said:
On that note though... How much cloud storage are you allowed on consoles for saves?
Click to expand...
10GB on PS4. No idea for XB1.

But beyond cloud saves, you at least have the option of storing your saves on USB or a hard drive independent of the system.

Switch has neither option.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Alone in The Dark Pc Requirements Revealed
Platform
3
462
Elysium44 replied
Tekken 8 PC requirements: Requires 100 GB available storage space
News Platform
16
2K
Spukc replied
Cyberpunk 2077 2.0: Phantom Liberty | PC/Console Performance|Screenshots
10 11 12 13 14
673
48K
Gaiff replied
Ghostrunner 2 PC SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS Revealed
News Platform
1
930
StereoVsn replied
Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty |OT| RAM Recovery Rate 100%
11 12 13 14 15
716
45K
yamaci17 replied
Top Bottom