What does scrubbed mean?
Example 1
Quote:
There are a lot of common misconceptions about scrubbed games. The term 'scrubbed' is not very helpful and implies that something has been done to the game itself. This as I will try to demonstrate is not the case.
In my first example I've used a game called 'Beastly' The actual game data is only 1GB in size. The rest of the iso image is filler. The filler is made up of a pattern of 1's and 0's that winrar cannot compress very successfully. (It's a bit like trying to compress an mp3. Very little space saving.) When the image is 'scrubbed' the filler is converted to 0's, and winrar can then make a significant space saving
Green = Game Data
Red = Unused Space (Filler)
Full Iso Image = 4.37GB
WinRAR'd iso image without scrubbing = 4.37GB
WinRAR'd iso image after scrubbing = 1.00GB
As can be seen, the space saving in this example is good. This is not always the case as can be seen in the second example, but for this game its good. When the iso is extracted from the rar files it's back to 4.37GB and you have a full size iso again. The game is intact and unaltered and as a downloader youve downloaded 1GB of data instead of 4.37GB, saving time, bandwidth and more importantly your sanity. Some games are even smaller. Super Mario Bros for all of its apparent complexity is actually very small in game data. OK, let's look at another example.
Quote:
For my second example I've used a game called 'Call Of Duty Black Ops' The game data is larger and takes up about 4GB of the DVD. The rest once again is filler.
Green = Game Data
Red = Unused Space (Filler)
Full Iso Image = 4.37GB
WinRAR'd iso image without scrubbing = 4.37GB
WinRAR'd iso image after scrubbing = 4.00GB
In this example, although the rar file is smaller than the iso, the space saving is not as good. When a newcomer comes across a game like this, their first reaction is to complain that it is not scrubbed. Of course it is, but the saving is not as great. The game is hopefully greater in complexity, and is worth the extra space.
I hope this has gone some way to explain the difference between scrubbed and non-scrubbed games. I've never understood why people continue to download a whole 4.37GB of data, when a lot of that data is not needed. But I assumed that most people by now would know what a scrubbed image is. This it would seem is not the case, as I see a lot of people asking what the difference is. Nobody tells them, they wont take a chance, and continue to waste a lot of time and bandwidth.
Just remember!! The game is the same, it's only the 'filler' that has been taken out.
Green = Game Data
Red = Unused Space (Filler)
Full Iso Image = 4.37GB
WinRAR'd iso image without scrubbing = 4.37GB
WinRAR'd iso image after scrubbing = 4.00GB
In this example, although the rar file is smaller than the iso, the space saving is not as good. When a newcomer comes across a game like this, their first reaction is to complain that it is not scrubbed. Of course it is, but the saving is not as great. The game is hopefully greater in complexity, and is worth the extra space.
I hope this has gone some way to explain the difference between scrubbed and non-scrubbed games. I've never understood why people continue to download a whole 4.37GB of data, when a lot of that data is not needed. But I assumed that most people by now would know what a scrubbed image is. This it would seem is not the case, as I see a lot of people asking what the difference is. Nobody tells them, they wont take a chance, and continue to waste a lot of time and bandwidth.
Just remember!! The game is the same, it's only the 'filler' that has been taken out.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - PAL - Scrubbed 
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock - PAL - Scrubbed 
