Dynamically Downloading Games to Minimise Start-up Time, Disk Space and Bandwidth Requirements

Abstract: Video games are increasing in size. A lot of computer and console games nowadays are well over a hundred gigabytes which can create significant delays between starting the download and being able to play the game. The game might also take up a great percentage of the user’s storage drive. This paper creates a subsystem for content for the Unreal Engine that allows packages of game content to be downloaded and mounted into the game at runtime. It also provides a method of building Unreal Engine games in such a way that they can be split into packages. Finally, the subsystem manages all the packages and their relations to each other, downloading dependent ones and removing ones that will not be used again. The solution is evaluated on how much it decreases the time it takes to download and start a game, how much disk space it saves and how it affects the environment in comparison to a conventionally downloaded game. Result show that such a system reduces a significant amount of start-up time and disk usage, as well as reduce the amount of greenhouse gases depending on how interconnected the game packages are.