acsprset file format

[Wretched]

Is it possible to get the file format for the acsprset.spr file ?

The reason being that mine is currently 95Meg and everytime I test the game it takes about 20 seconds to just save this file. I was considering writing a tool that could 'degrade' the sprites i.e. lower res. Making a safe copy of the original and replacing it in the acsprset.spr with the smaller version. The tool would then 'manage' the sprites so that the user could select to varying levels of quality to drastically speed up development. Obviously the tool could not run whilst AGS was running, and it's possibly very dangerous to mess with these files but I think it worth a try.
I know the sprite compression in 2.7 beta helps this a lot but still would like to attempt this. So file formats for 2.7 and 2.7 beta please ?


Actually just thinking about this it would be smashing if AGS editor had a test lo-res option that simplified all the graphics to speed testing up.

[SSH]

CJ has kept the game format sekrit, to stop people ripping sprites so easily, but obviously the acsprset.spr file is only available to the author of a game.

Have you looked at the COM plugin details to see if it would be possible to make your program as an Editor plugin?

[Scorpiorus]

I can be wrong, but I guess the slowdown isn't due to writing into the "acsprset.spr" file. If you didn't change your sprite set (adding/removing graphics) just before testing then there is no reason to refresh "acsprset.spr". What could cause a slowdown is building the exe module itself, since all the graphics set embedded into it. Since v2.7 AGS can put sprite graphics into the "xxxx.001" file if split resources files is checked, but as I can see it still rebuilds this file every time the game is saved (probably because it's not only a storage for sprites but also for room data for instance).


edit:

Have you looked at the COM plugin details to see if it would be possible to make your program as an Editor plugin?

AFAIK, there is currently no interface to manage sprites, simply because there hasn't been need for that.


Wretched:
By the way, I'm not sure how official it is but you could try copy the "acwin.exe" file into your GAME directory and run it directly from there to test the game. This way AGS don't have to build compiled version. But be sure to save the game using Quick save, otherwise the compiled version is built.
See if it works but be sure to make a backup just in case

[Pumaman]

I'd prefer not to publish the file format because it would make it easier for people to "hack" other people's games.

However, as Scorpiorus points out, the editor only saves the sprite file if you actually changed some sprites.

Does the message you are seeing say "Saving sprites..." or does it say "acsprset.spr..." when it seems slow?

If it's the latter, that's the stage at which it builds the EXE file. To speed this up a bit, you can check the "Split resources" option.

The quickest solution as Scorpiorus has mentioned is to use the Quick Save option and then run ACWIN.EXE directly from the game folder.

[Wretched]

Thanks. I never even knew about acwin.exe, always used CTRL+T . This is going to help tremendously.