Issue about map size and mpq

[colinjames12]

I'm not really sure where to post this thread but here goes.

Well, my map is almost at 8mb and I've only finished 2/3 of my map and I'm afraid I'm gonna need more space. The limit to map size is 8mb, and my map is at 7.8 to 7.9mb. I've already kept deleting things that are useless or can be substituted by something else. then i heard about the idea of using external MPQ file that will contain my resource and allow me to use more than 8mb of files without getting the map itself larger than 8mb. But I have a feeling that people wouldn't really bother to download that mpq unless it's a really good map. I think my map is great but I wanted to ask if it is advisable to use an external mpq file. If yes, how do I do it?

 

[andreariona]

try to compress the textures of your models up to 60%, 40% texture quality on wc3 would be fine. compressing texture could save alot of your map size.

 

[colinjames12]

I already did compress the textures, squished the models, and compress all the sounds. All i'm doing now to reduce the file size while I'm doing the map is deleting all the things that are unnecessary or can be substituted by another that wouldn't need importing. I'm just wondering if extracting an mpq is advisable or not.

 

[Adiktuz]

It's not really advisable to use custom mpq, mainly because no one will be willing to download that just to play your game unless its a really great game... and a lot of normal players might not even know how to implement it (especially those playing in computer shops, not to say that its tedious that they will need to implement the custom mpq to every PC that they use)...

 

[colinjames12]

Thanks for the quick reply. I'll just hope that at the end of my map, it will still all fit in the 8mb limit or else I have to give up much of its content. And I also think it's a great map, hope it will be successful after it's done.

 

[PurgeandFire]

How much is it when you compress it with vexorian's optimizer? (remember to backup your map first)

No, it is not really advisable to use an external MPQ. Just try to optimize your map as much as possible and make the appropriate sacrifices.

 

[colinjames12]

My map's size increases when I compressed it using vexorian's optimizer. I'm not really sure what causes it to increases(I think it's the sound but I'm not sure).

 

[Adiktuz]

You might using the wrong settings... That used to happen to me too but when I used the same settings as the sample (screenie I guess), it works fine, around 10% reduction though...

 

[colinjames12]

I think it has something to do with my .wav files. I saw somewhere that I have to convert them to mp3. I have a lot of .wav files by the way.

 

[PurgeandFire]

What Vexorian's optimizer does is repacking the MPQ (map file) with a different (zlib) compression algorithm. This affects everything you have in a map including WAV files. Not sure how it can bug them up though, but you can easily turn off this part of the optimization.
However I highly recommend that you simply convert those to MP3 using LAME for instance.

Yes there have been some issues with WAV files for the optimizer. You can either try disabling zLib compression, or better yet, convert to MP3. WAV files are often uncompressed and in the highest quality, but much of it can be cut down. While it is true that you can compress WAV files, you may want to try converting it to MP3 and possibly lowering its bit rate. Most of the converters are not too lossy (meaning, they don't lose too much audio information when converted) and the difference is often not noticeable without high end speakers or playing the two at the same time.

LAME is considered lossy, but I doubt it is noticeable. You can really google any converter and it should work fine. Even if the file size difference isn't that great, having them in mp3 will most likely allow you to use the optimizer without problems. Again, make sure you backup your files before doing this.