Size limits for multiplayer maps

[Seawolf188]

I heard that there was a size import limit for playing online, and going over it makes maps laggy or unplayable. Is this true, and if yes, what is the actual limit and is there any way around it? For example, playing it over a local network instead, would that remove the size restrictions for imported models?

 

[ForeverBeADragon]

Max 2^13 KB (about 8MB)

 

[UnsanctionedMagic]

Yeah and back in day it used to be 4... We should all get together and spam blizzard to increase map size to 12 or 20...

 

[Hell_Raider]

Yeah that would be pretty good, I mean, you see the stuff we are able to create with 8 meg, if we had 20 we could create the most amazing stuff

 

[UnsanctionedMagic]

Imagine playing with HD textures online...
Honestly this could keep the community alive for a good while longer.

 

[Reaper51]

Yes blizzard should extend the map size to 16mb at least.
99% of people today don't have 56k dialup like back in 2002.

 

[PurgeandFire]

I heard that there was a size import limit for playing online, and going over it makes maps laggy or unplayable. Is this true, and if yes, what is the actual limit and is there any way around it? For example, playing it over a local network instead, would that remove the size restrictions for imported models?

The limit is 8 MB as people in this thread have said. It is blizzard's way of accommodating people with lower internet speeds, since they first have to download the map before playing it over BNet or LAN. The limit applies (sadly) to both BNet and LAN.

One workaround is optimizing the map. You can do that in several ways pretty easily. Check this tutorial out, it can make map sizes go down dramatically without too much quality loss:
http://world-editor-tutorials.thehelper.net/cat_usersubmit.php?view=67501

You can always create a custom MPQ as well with all your imports, but that most likely has some legal issues and it has a few flaws. (people playing the map must have the mpq or they won't be able to see the imports) It can work when playing only with friends, but usually optimizing is the easier route.