14 réponses à ce sujet

[K Kin]

What is the average size of a module?

 

What is the breaking point (in mb) where it's "too large"?

 

A year or 2 ago, My main project hit 2.2gb. It would get to the point where loading into large areas, mostly 32x32 with packed placeables, it would crash.

 

To stop this, I cut them up into 3 modules, going from 250mb, 550mb, 755mb, with some unused areas out of the way (a total of around 1gb). It's been working smooth ever since.

 

 

So my question is, Can I put them back together? I don't want to try it, incase it's not, so I would like some advice first

 

I've gone around a lot of areas which have a lot of placeables and used the environmental objects, so loading is faster, but would this cause any crashs at all?

 

 

 

[Psionic-Entity]

Some things:

 

- Directory mode fixes a lot of issues with module size.

- Campaigns are best split in to multiple modules if you're making something single player.

- The toolset has issues with large areas. Some times opening a small area and then a large one will work when just opening the large one crashes consistently. Some times this problem will go away/reappear as you make edits even though the area size is just getting bigger. Don't ask me why, I don't know.

- Generally the game is less crashy than the toolset when it comes to opening areas. I have yet to have an IG area get a crashing problem that wasn't replicated in the toolset.

[K Kin]

I've never touched the directory for years. Could you please give a brief description on what it does?

I learn things on my own, and I had bad experiences with the directory, so I never touched it again (this was 2 years ago lol).

[Tchos]

Directory mode just lets you work with your module with the actual files in a folder, rather than packing everything up into a single container file every time you save.  Working this way, you can also, for instance, just save the area you're actually working on, which is faster than saving the whole thing, especially as module sizes get larger.

[K Kin]

I'm still not quite sure how that works >_< I tried googling before making this thread too, and it didn't really come up with something, so it's as if it's common knowledge to know, which now makes me feel bad

 

I slightly understand what you mean by it not being packed up into a single container, but;

 

Working on a module, it opens everything inside it. Does working on directory opening just 1 area in that module? i.e. the areas I choose?

[kevL]

in module mode everything needs to get unpacked to a temp folder. (you've probably seen them under /modules, especially if the toolset crashes & it gets left there)

in directory mode, you get a directory under /modules that is essentially the same as the tempfolder that was created for module mode. But now you don't have to unpack and repack to a .Mod file every time your module is opened or closed. Note that a crash might result in worse problems because there isn't a backup .Mod file, however.

So that whole folder should be backed up regularly frequently.


It gives access to all resources at the file-level, though. This is very convenient for any number of reasons, once you get the hang of working with resources as individual files. Changes to those files may or may not require reloading the toolset/module; adding files seems to *always require* reloading something. /ymmv


When a .Mod file is converted to directory mode, it is deleted once the directory is created. The conversion needs doing only once, then Saving is done the same way in both modes -- just "Save".

make backups.

If and when you desire to convert a directory-module back to a .Mod file (perhaps for distribution), choose "Save as..." (the directory will be converted back to a .Mod and deleted)

tip when saving: I never save on exit. I save before exit so that if something goes wrong, the module is still open and this gives an extra chance that things might be set to rights, before exiting the toolset.



ps. when working in the Toolset both modes are functionally equivalent, afaict.

Some people swear by .Mod mode, but i believe that most use dir-mode.

[K Kin]

This all seems well for the toolset, and I will no doubt look into it, so thanks for the huge help

But to answer my title;

 

Say if I were to run a 1.5gb module on LAN, with 3+ people to play on, will that run fine or not?

[Tchos]

Let me also suggest using something like Dropbox or Google Drive to monitor your directory for this module.  That way, if at any time you need to revert to a previous version of any part of the module (such as a single area or a single blueprint or script, etc.), you can restore just that little bit instead of a whole 1.5GB module.

[K Kin]

Yes, we currently use drop box Our project is on there atm.

 

The directory mostly sounds like it'll benefit the use of the toolset only? Unless I'm still dumb and haven't grasped fully what the directory is lol.

 

Currently, I'm having trouble with a LAN, where no one can jump modules without crashing the server, unless the DM does, which we don't want.

 

Our PW is very large, but it's still in beta, so we aren't looking to fully host it on a dedicated server just yet, but even then, because our projects so large, it's in 3 modules.

 

I can see how a directory will benefit using the toolset, which I'll probable start doing from now on, but as for running a LAN, or just any server, will a 1.2gb - 1.5gb module be stable? So no crashing on area transitions?

With the current problem, I feel the only way to gain access to the other 2 modules without crashing the server is to combine them all in to one, replacing the load_module transitions (through convos) with area transitions.

[kevL]

the directory vs. module debate shouldn't affect your LAN problem. It *might* though, because i imagine it's slightly easier for computers to run a campaign from directories (no unzipping req'd). I think the problem is elsewhere ... but i know squat about NwN2 servers or LAN setups.


i'm **guessing** there won't be problems with ~1.5gb as long as everyone's RAM is okay. ( but as you're hinting, it's not the proper solution, sry. )

[Tchos]

Yeah, I couldn't say what advantages there may or may not be for running the game with a module in directory mode.  I just know I haven't seen any disadvantages to it.

[MERP_UK]

I have exclusively used directory mode for the last year and a half and had little to no problems. Before then, I could safely say I had several memorable mishaps with crashes and lost data.

 

On the matter of file sizes, I try to keep to 200mb per module. I could probably go higher and be safe, but I find it strikes a nice balance between stability and module loading times. This can be challenging if you are making a campaign and it makes sense to have certain groups of areas together and quickly reachable. So some forward planning is needed. Generally I will look at the geography and try to split the areas into regional module groups. If there are not loads of areas, then simply splitting the content down into modules by "chapter" works nicely. As it stands with my project right now, I have six modules, one of which creeps just over the 200mb mark, but all are of a more or less consistent size.

[K Kin]

I have exclusively used directory mode for the last year and a half and had little to no problems. Before then, I could safely say I had several memorable mishaps with crashes and lost data.

 

On the matter of file sizes, I try to keep to 200mb per module. I could probably go higher and be safe, but I find it strikes a nice balance between stability and module loading times. This can be challenging if you are making a campaign and it makes sense to have certain groups of areas together and quickly reachable. So some forward planning is needed. Generally I will look at the geography and try to split the areas into regional module groups. If there are not loads of areas, then simply splitting the content down into modules by "chapter" works nicely. As it stands with my project right now, I have six modules, one of which creeps just over the 200mb mark, but all are of a more or less consistent size.

 

Yeah, I've been doing this up until now.

 

My 3 modules go from 250mb, 550mb, 750mb. They all work perfectly fine, never had a problem with them at all, but when we go to host on LAN, we can only run 1 module (when if it's a campaign), so it's impossible to travel to the other modules without crashing the server, because the server is only bound to 1 module.

 

Hence why I need to remove the load_mod "transitions" and replace it with area transitions, so that we can explore all 3 modules on the same server.

[FaerzressSparkles]

The module I have begun editing used to be played as a private PW by some friends and I. At that time, it was around 2.5gb. As long as everyone has adequate ram and is not running on some 10+ year old machine, it should run fine.

 

I should also mention that the module used to crash in the toolset once in awhile back then too, but that was when I was running on a 2006 Macbook Pro with 3gb of ram. I now have a 2011 Macbook Pro with 16gb of ram. 16gb of ram makes the NWN2 happy, though there is still some lag in the toolset since I run it in XP and XP cannot use all of my ram. In-game, areas and large modules load almost instantly for me in OS X/Wine.

[K Kin]

The module I have begun editing used to be played as a private PW by some friends and I. At that time, it was around 2.5gb. As long as everyone has adequate ram and is not running on some 10+ year old machine, it should run fine.

 

I should also mention that the module used to crash in the toolset once in awhile back then too, but that was when I was running on a 2006 Macbook Pro with 3gb of ram. I now have a 2011 Macbook Pro with 16gb of ram. 16gb of ram makes the NWN2 happy, though there is still some lag in the toolset since I run it in XP and XP cannot use all of my ram. In-game, areas and large modules load almost instantly for me in OS X/Wine.

 

Thanks, thats great to hear.

 

Unfortunately my bloody pc broke, which is perfect for NwN2, now im on a craptop with 4gb ram windows 8

 

Hopefully I'll be fine with 1.5gb.