Having trouble re-uploading my stuff

[jmtmom]

I've been able to do a few, but every time I try to re-upload my werewolf default, it times out. It's kind of big, 11.2 MB. Is that the problem perhaps? Here's the thread: http://www.insimenator.org/index.php/topic,60473.0.html

I was able to modify the message, but I can't seem to add any attachments.

[Paden]

Yeah, the size could well be the problem. There is an eight MB limit on the size of the file. Sorry!

[Nouk]

Hey jmtmom, did you Compressorize the file? It could save you a big chunk of data without damage. Here's a link:
http://www.djssims.com/index.php?category=1&subcat=5 Search for compressorizer.

[jmtmom]

Yes, I did compressorize it. The problem is that default replacements tend to be that big. It was 14 MB before I did that. It's not possible to split it.

[J. M. Pescado]

That is HUGE. Try stripping the file internally. You probably have redundant textures or excessive detailing in pieces of the image that are alpha'd out anyway. You can massively reduce many image sizes by simply eliminating the portion of the image that has been alpha'ed out anyway, as there is no reason for that piece of image to be highly detailed because it will never display.

[jmtmom]

Not entirely sure how to do that since it's a skintone overlay. At least that explains what's going on.

[J. M. Pescado]

I am almost certain you have done something very wrong in the creation process. For instance, I have a vampire overlay, 635K in size. An entire default replacement skintone set, for S1-S4 + Alien, only 7.5MB...for a single replacement overlay to be *14 MB*, you HAVE to have done something wrong. Check to make sure there are no duplicate resources or other rubbish that will chew up RAMs and filesize.

[jmtmom]

I will check for borkeness, I made it a while back and never revisited it. I'll check spookymuffin's template too.

[Tenshii~Akari]

It also may have something to do with the size or format of the images you imported into the project itself.  I've taken notice at file sizes when I import certain images into a .package file... those images with smaller file sizes tend to keep the package's size low, while higher-sized images bulk it up a bit. 

And did you also compress the files while in SimPE (if there isn't a Directory of Compressed Files already)?  You can easily do that by going under the "Resource" tab (down where the "Plugin View" tab is), select a resource from the Resource List, and where the "Compressed" drop-down menu is, select "yes", force commit, and save your changes.  That, combined with the Compresserizer, will help the size go down a little bit more. 

[jmtmom]

Something else I just thought of that probably contributes to the hugeness is that there are 45 separate images for the overlay: Teen and adult faces and bodies for the five basic skintones. That is really stupid since with PiouPiou's fix to allow custom skintones to use the overlay, only two different werewolf overlays can be used anyway. I can set different overlays for each skintone if I don't use the fix.

Tenshii, there is a Directory of Compressed Files already, so I don't know if I can compress them further.

I have a feeling the total borkeness may exceed my feeble SimPe fu.

[J. M. Pescado]

If you have 45 unused images, all of which are the same anyway, consider either re-linking them to all point at the same texture file, reducing your filesize by some 40x, or deleting them if they never actually appear. No wonder the file size is huge if you DUPLICATED THE SAME IMAGE 45 TIMES.

[jmtmom]

Shuffling off to find a tutorial. This is going to take a while...

ETA: I just checked Navestea's werewolf default over at MTS2, it's 14.3 MB! I Compresorized it down to 13.8.

[Inge Jones]

Can't you bung the file elsewhere and just link to it from your thread on here?  It will still be just as easy for users.  It's not a good idea to have huge files as forum attachments anyway due to the overhead of database server resources.  Best to hand it off to the browser and http server really.

[J. M. Pescado]

ETA: I just checked Navestea's werewolf default over at MTS2, it's 14.3 MB! I Compresorized it down to 13.8.

Just because someone ELSE makes badly-made bloated crap does not mean you should emulate them. I have seen truly horrific bloatware where someone puts out a 8MB file that after I finish removing the crap from, ends up as 16K file.

Can't you bung the file elsewhere and just link to it from your thread on here?  It will still be just as easy for users.  It's not a good idea to have huge files as forum attachments anyway due to the overhead of database server resources.  Best to hand it off to the browser and http server really.

Serving out huge attachments through php is really kind of a bad idea for RAM and performance, yes.

[Inge Jones]

Jmtmom, on the assumption that the first rush on this file has passed and it's just a few downloads a day, I can find room for it on one of my webspaces and you can link to it there.  Let me know.