Normally it"s best to get an Xbox 360 console game and install most of the files on the console"s hard drive (space permitting, of course). With the release of Bethesda Softworks" long awaited RPG The Elder Scrolls V Skyrim today, a lot of Xbox 360 owners have indeed installed the files to the hard drive in order to have a better overall gameplay experience versus playing the game directly from its disk.
However, it looks like there is an issue with installing Skyrim on the Xbox 360 hard drive that will make the game look a lot less spectacular. In a post on the game"s official message board, a Bethesda Softworks rep states, "Skyrim uses a lot of dynamic streaming systems, including textures. We’ve seen a few reports of certain textures temporarily scaling down on the Xbox 360, and not scaling back up."
The message adds that this issue does not occur when Xbox 360 owners play the game on the disk with no install to the console"s hard drive. It added, "Skyrim makes heavy use of the Xbox 360 caching system, and caches over the normal course of play while in menus or interiors. This cache can be wiped when other games are played or when the user manually removes it."
Bethesda has announced it is working on a patch that will solve this texture scaling issue for Xbox 360 owners who want to install the game on the hard drive. There"s no word on when the patch will be released.