What is considered a "big" mod

Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 4:04 am

I used tesfiles to extract my working set (fabulous tool, BTW), and I'm down to about 900MB. This is pretty much the core, though I may add more textures once the interiors get going, so I'm thinking I could hit 1GB easy.

Too much, just right, or keep plowing?

Thanks!
-Morovir
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Stu Clarke
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:21 pm

If the mod is worth it, size is not an issue. Also remember you may be able to compress that down by 40% - 50%.
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Phillip Hamilton
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:11 am

And I was worried that the 70Mb uncompressed of the new NoM could be too much, go figure... :P
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Johanna Van Drunick
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:27 am

I don't consider the size of a mod before getting it. Hard drive space can be had cheaply, and broadband speeds are sufficiently fast to grab anything in a short time.
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Harinder Ghag
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:24 am

Size doesn't matter, if the mod is worth it I'll grab it. Though some people worry about those will poor download speeds, or finding hosting space, it's always possible to split the archive into several smaller parts that the user would have to recompile before use.
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Aliish Sheldonn
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 6:35 am

i never really care to much about the size of a mod either. ill even download mods that are so large ive had to download multipal files. it really is all about quality. mods get better , textures higher quality, more scripting possibilities you just have to accept larger file sizes. heck. when mournhold expanded first came out i still had dial up. and went and watched television for the 4 hours it took to grab that one
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Johanna Van Drunick
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 2:14 pm

In addition, using appropriate texture resolutions, DDS compression and 7-zip for archiving can really decrease the size of the download.
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tiffany Royal
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:56 am

Morrowind and its mods can never be too fat. Only you HDD can be too slim.

I like my Morrowind excessively obese, to the point where it almost dies crashes!
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tegan fiamengo
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 5:55 am

I define poor size as bad packaging. If the mod is bloated because of poor file format or layout, it's too big. But if it's quality and my game/computer can handle it, I'm just fine with it. I really wouldn't care if a mod was several gigs in size just so long as the content is worth having. Truth be told, I don't even look at size before I dl a Elder Scrolls mod unless my HD is looking kinda slim.
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Silencio
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:20 am

And I was worried that the 70Mb uncompressed of the new NoM could be too much, go figure... :P


Well I bought Oblivion yesterday.. Browsed through some replacers and I was shocked when a simple silver bow replacer took about 12 mb, a freaking bow lol! 70 mb for a great addition as NoM won't be a problem :D
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Angela Woods
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:28 pm

I find it lovely that even though I mod the vanilla game completely out of existence in morrowind. I am still able to run it swimmingly, yet with Oblivion on the PC it lags. and lags, and lags, and lags, so I got a refund and exchanged it for Xbox
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kyle pinchen
 
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Post » Mon Jul 05, 2010 11:14 pm

If the mod is worth it, size is not an issue. Also remember you may be able to compress that down by 40% - 50%.


Seconded. As long as the mod is good/great/fantabulous and maybe provides something new and original, size isn't a problem. And I strongly suggest you to use powerful compressing tools such as 7z which can really trim down the mod's size.

EDIT: you also made me curious about the mod, may you provide some details about it?
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brenden casey
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:10 pm

Never care about the file size :icecream:

if you make a mod that contains many new stuff (New models and Textures) the size increase rapidly...
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Laura-Lee Gerwing
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 2:11 pm

Even Breton Boys got to shout, Morrowind got back!
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danni Marchant
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 3:49 am

EDIT: you also made me curious about the mod, may you provide some details about it?


http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1094376-wip-ravenwood-island/page__view__findpost__p__15978347__fromsearch__1
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james tait
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 8:40 am

And I was worried that the 70Mb uncompressed of the new NoM could be too much, go figure... :P


Pffft, please... for NOM, I'd download it even if it was 7 GB!
And yacoby's right. If the mod is worth it, who cares about the size. We can't keep trying to compensate for everyone who has an old machine with only 250 Kilabytes of hard drive space. We must press forward and think outside the box, and push mods into the petabyte, exabyte, zettabyte and even yottabyte stages. (I doubt all the hard drive space in the world combined even equals one exabyte lol)
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koumba
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 1:36 pm

Even the ancient laptop I run has over 2 GB worth of mods on it, and I still need to re-download Alakazar's Lamp. 900 MB is nothing.
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Sophh
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 11:52 am

Too big is when it is so large that the author never finishes the mod and so it never gets released.
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Dona BlackHeart
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 5:02 am

Too big is when it is so large that the author never finishes the mod and so it never gets released.

This.
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Dagan Wilkin
 
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Post » Tue Jul 06, 2010 2:59 am

That's not a big deal, but the usual rules for large files apply:
- Break it up: redownloading one 100mb chunk is easier than redownloading the entire 700mb mod, and the corrupt bit will be in the middle.
- The larger a file, the more likely it gets corrupt. Break it up.
- Add recovery records to the archive.
- Use a high-compression tool. WinRAR usually does a much better job than 7-zip for Morrowind mods (25% vs 40% compression for 130mb of textures, on my benchmarks).
- If you can, use a high-density multimedia compression tool and bundle it with your mod. Include a batch file to extract it (UHARC is one of the best available).
- If you include screenshots or a readme, do not include them in a solid archive. If I want to see screens, I may do that before extracting a gig to my HDD.
- If you have a lot of stuff, turn up the compression and turn on special modes. Make a solid archive, it's smaller.
- Do not assume anything, especially not path names above Data Files.
- Do not create an SFX or installer, unless you absolutely need it or are using a rare compression tool (see the tip on UHARC).
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Eibe Novy
 
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