Yes, some video games may access the hard drive during gameplay to load content or save progress.
Yes, some video games may access the hard drive during gameplay to load content or save progress.
I know what you're thinking—boredom is real! The theoretical approach I might try:
1. On startup, read from a storage medium.
2. Generate a RAM disk big enough to hold a typical hard drive size.
3. Transfer all data from the physical drive to that RAM disk.
4. (Challenging step) block all Windows file accesses to the original drive.
5. Change drive letters so the physical "C:" becomes something else, while keeping the RAM disk identical.
6. Detach the original boot disk.
It relies completely on the game itself. For CS:GO (and similar Source titles like TF2 and Left 4 Dead), the engine will download the whole map and all required files into memory, then continue using them until you close the session or the match finishes.