Trying to get my game smaller to download

[dbuske]

I used winrar and compressed the audio.vox file before using rar.
It is still 130megs!
I tried checking the compress sprites checdkbox in general settings, but that didn't seem to do anything.
What can I do in the editor to get the game smaller?
Delete unused resources?

[Khris]

Delete unused resources?

Do you have, like, much of those in your games? Of course you should delete every sprite/room you don't use.

The compress sprite file option seems to work only for sprites that where imported afterwards. You can try re-importing big sprites, if you have a lot of those.
How big is the game's exe and how big is audio.vox before packing them?

[Calin Leafshade]

No, you only need to import (or delete) *one* sprite after enabling the option. Then AGS will recompile the *whole sprite file* compressed.

[monkey0506]

Also ask what type of encoding are you using for audio (MP3, WAV, MIDI, OGG)?

Oh, and using RAR compression on the audio.vox file before RAR compressing the entire thing won't help. The RAR compression algorithm will not work to effectively compress the file-size of a RAR archive. If it could then people would just RAR everything down to 1 KB files for distribution. Or heck, 1 byte..no..1 bit files. Yes. They would RAR compress it down to a single bit. Have fun decompressing that!

[dbuske]

Thanks for the responses.

[Ryan Timothy B]

No, you only need to import *one* sprite after enabling the option. Then AGS will recompile the *whole sprite file* compressed.

Actually I believe deleting a sprite will work the same as importing, to recompile the sprite file.

[Calin Leafshade]

Stop mis-quoting me to make me look uninformed Ryan!!

Asshole.

[Ryan Timothy B]

I think it might be a glitch in the forum quoting system. Seems to miss out words that look like they weren't there but really were. Odd little thing.

[Khris]

It also seems the forum would sometimes put random lines below the posts suggesting they have been edited when in fact that wasn't the case at all.

[monkey0506]

There's another glitch in the forum software that I've recently discovered where all of Studio3's posts get mistranslated (presumably for "txt-style spelling") where instead of correctly saying that he has not read the manual or made any attempt to understand what we repeatedly tell him in order to try and help him.

..aww, too soon? 8)

[Icey]

..... You just - Don't get it do you? I AM NOT RETARDED(not the mentally change Retarded word) I understand what you,Khris & everyone are saying. I do look in that god forsaking(Felt right to say) manual only to find that I am frustrating my self even more then I am spending time working on my game. But there comes a time when you say enough is enough if I can't figure this out maybe I could try and ask someone.

Now with that said, I don't want to sound like every time I get stuck I have to come here and ask you & Khris.And here is proof I used it.When I tried to use the DoOnceOnly command it would not work so I opened the manual and found out it was because I typed it out like this

Doo - No result

DoO - Result

This show that I  used the manual and even if you think I used it once the once still counts.

[Khris]

See, this I don't get, as soon as you've typed "Game.do", the auto-complete window already suggests DoOnceOnly, all you need to do is hit enter.

Time and again I see people who according to their posts seem to completely ignore this; it's like they have a special AGS version without the auto-complete window.

I'm really stumped by this.

[R4L]

He's using his own engine. AGS.II Super Master Studio Platinum DLC Edition 3.05111553632++, which OBVIOUSLY doesn't have that. That feature comes out next month when you get the beta key.

Also, is it a big deal to compress the game into parts?

[monkey0506]

I realized after Studio3's post (before it was edited and only contained an extended ellipses).

Yes, that my sentence was incomplete. Hah.

So, Studio3, I'm sorry if my post poking fun at you (I will accept responsibility for this one), offended you.

However, I absolutely must ask, if by "retarded" you did not mean "the mentally change retarded" (by which I can only assume you mean "mentally challenged")..which "retarded" did you mean? Do you mean that you are not flame retardant? Most human beings are not flame retardant, so let me assure you that this is normal!

I want to make sure that you are aware however, that although many users of AGS are atheist or agnostic, nowhere in the AGS Manual will you find a forsaking of the God/god(s) of any religion.

I think you don't understand how to use the resources you have properly. The manual, for example, has three ways of finding information in it. So let me try to explain it to you a bit.

Contents

This tab provides you with a structured listing of the articles in the manual, like the Table of Contents in a book would do. The articles are mostly grouped together into relevant categories, such as the Tutorial category and the Scripting category. This is good if you know what type of command you are looking for. For example, if you know you are looking for a function related to characters, then you would start with the Scripting category, since you are working with the script (you're looking for a function). From there you would go to the "Character functions and properties" category. Here you are given a full list of all the functions and properties that are associated with AGS characters. So if you have an idea of what you're working with, but don't know what functions and properties are available, try the Contents tab to see if you can find what you're looking for.

Index

The Index tab presents you with a list of all the functions and properties available in the AGS script, in alphabetical order. Unlike the Contents tab, this list is not categorized. However, if you know the name of the function, such as "DoOnceOnly" then you can simply find that entry in the list and it will take you to the associated entry in the manual. Selecting "DoOnceOnly" in the Index will take you to the entry for "Game.DoOnceOnly". From your post it seems that you knew about "DoOnceOnly", but did not know that you had to put "Game." first. The entry, and its associated example code, should help you recognize this though.

Also in the Index tab is a search bar where you can type in the name of a function/property to find it faster. The Index will automatically be scrolled to the nearest match. For example, typing "do" (or any variant capitalization thereof) into the search bar will scroll down to "DoOnceOnly". So in this tab it doesn't matter if you type "do", "Do", "dO", or "DO", you would still be taken to the "DoOnceOnly" function, and selecting it would take you to the "Game.DoOnceOnly" entry.

There's one further thing to note about the Index, regarding entries such as Game.DoOnceOnly that belong to a certain built-in type. The Index contains an option for both "DoOnceOnly" and "Game.DoOnceOnly". Other examples might include the "Clickable" or "ID" properties. Both of these examples are shared among several types. Where the Index has multiple entries with the same name it will let you know what each of the associated types are. So for "Clickable" we actually find "Clickable (character)", "Clickable (GUI controls)", "Clickable (GUI)", and "Clickable (object)". These correspond to Character.Clickable, GUIControl.Clickable, GUI.Clickable, and Object.Clickable (respectively). So even if you don't know what type it is, if you have an idea of what the name of the function or property is, the Index can help you find it.

Regarding these functions and properties associated with specific types, I do also want to point out that you should also learn the difference between static functions/properties and non-static functions/properties. Character.Clickable, for example is non-static. That means that you would actually use the name of a Character in place of "Character", like cEgo.Clickable. Character.GetAtScreenXY is static though, so you do not replace "Character" with anything else, you type it exactly like that. The manual entry for a function/property can help you determine whether it is static or non-static (it will TELL you if it is static, otherwise it is not). Also, just pay attention to the example code.

Search

This tab is used if you don't really know what you're looking for, but you have an idea of what you want to do. Because of the way the search is done, you can't search for partial terms, but you don't have to know the name of the function. The search can only find whole words (such as "do", "once", and "only", but not "doonc"), but it searches all of the text in the manual, not just the names of functions or properties. This is likely to turn up a lot of unrelated entries depending on what you're searching for, but it highlights the search terms for you.



So, as entirely off-topic as we've gotten, I hope this helps you understand a bit better how to use the manual properly.

And if you still can't find something in the manual, have you tried the forum search? It is a lot more lenient with your search terms than the manual's search function, and you can search the entirety of the forums.

As for the topic of this thread, as R4L was asking about, it might be possible for you to consider using WinRAR (or similar) to split the compressed archive into multiple files. WinRAR would also allow you to create a split self-extracting archive, so users would not have to have WinRAR installed, they would just have to have each of the pieces in the same folder together.