Battlefield 3 Xbox high-res texture pack explained
A few weeks ago, a report began circulating that the Xbox 360 version of Battlefield 3 would ship with a high resolution texture pack to increase its graphical fidelity. Now GamerZines has uncovered additional info on the feature, which turns out not to be as intriguing as it sounds. According to executive producer Patrick Bach, the texture pack isn't "magic" and is "the same thing we do for PC and PS3, so there's nothing extra."
Specifically, the pack installs to the Xbox 360, allowing Battlefield 3 to stream higher resolution textures from the hard drive. The practice is common on PC and PS3, which come standard with hard drives. On the Xbox version, however, DICE had to make the texture streaming optional, as not all Xbox consoles are guaranteed to have a hard drive. "No one has really tried to do it properly," said Bach, "so us doing it will create question marks."
Without the texture-pack installed, noted Bach, users are basically getting the "standard-def" version of the game, whereas the texture pack will enable "a more detailed, varied and vivid experience."
