MA: On mitigating file size woes


IanTheM1

 

Posted

This began as an expression of my frustration at having to compromise so much in my missions just to get below the maximum file size, but I decided it might be more constructive to post it here, as there are several ways my troubles could be averted that I think are fully within the devs' power.

I've been lovingly crafting an arc for a while now, and I'm just about finished with it at 98.96% of the maximum file size. For all intents and purposes, the arc is playable from beginning to end with a coherent and (I think) somewhat interesting story. But so much remains missing. I haven't written a souvenir, custom NPC descriptions are sparse if present, and I've already had to sacrifice several non-essential mission details just to keep from going over.

There are two things that I think could be done fairly easily to help solve this.

First, to have the in-game editor compose our files more efficiently. At the very least, the files could be compressed as far as IGOR does, removing unnecessary spaces and other characters. But they could also do away with cumbersome string values like "CompassDescriptionSingular", replacing them with something more along the lines of "CDS." If they did that with all such headers, it would make the text file itself a little more cryptic, but free up a considerable amount of space.

To illustrate my second suggestion: my arc contains two custom characters that shouldn't be custom characters; namely Percy Winkley and Serafina. We know that both characters have models within the game but, as of right now, neither one is accessible in the Mission Architect except as a contact. If we only had access to them, and all other such in-game characters, that would free up a good 13% of my available disk space.

As I said before, my arc is comprehensive enough to be playable in its current state. The problem is that I've had to sacrifice so much detail, in text, mission objectives, and custom NPCs, that the story I'm telling is feels woefully bland in comparison with the story I want to tell; it's almost like the difference between the Imperious Task Force and a radio mission. And that I know it would be possible, with a little help from the devs, to get everything (or at least most of what) I want at or under that 100KB limit.


 

Posted

I had suspected something similar about the file thing. But then why does IGOR work at all?

As for Serafina specifically, I seem to recall someone saying that she technically IS in the Legacy Chain group, but she's not showing up because she falls outside the Legacy Chain's established level range (level ranges, for that matter, are another source of frustration for me, but that's another thread).