DECEPTIVELY SMALL

How HITMAN 3 ’s developers cut the trilogy’s install size in half

Wes Fenlon

Hitman 3 is an enormous PC game – at least if you own Hitman 1 and 2, which Hitman 3 can import to bring the entire trilogy into a single package. That sounds like a recipe for an install size big enough to make an SSD cry, because Hitman 2, with the first game’s levels imported, is currently 149 gigabytes. Hitman 2 is one of the mightiest storage hogs on PC, second only to Call of Duty. But Hitman 3 will actually shrink instead of grow, retroactively optimising the first two Hitman games into a dramatically smaller package. How did IO Interactive manage to halve the install size? We asked the developer to break down the technology and techniques it used to cut 80 gigabytes out of the trilogy. “With…

You're reading a preview of

PC Gamer United Kingdom (Digital) - 1 Issue, April 2021

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.