Saved Game Files

Author	Topic: Saved Game Files
Icshi Mongolian Barbeque Member # 1528	written Saturday, April 24 2004 08:55 Profile #0 I've noticed that the saved game files for Blades of Avernum are enormous — 1.7 MB. This is quite a change from previous Spiderweb games: Nethergate — 321 k Avernum — 324 k Avernum 2 — 484 k Avernum 3 — 940 k (The Geneforge games, of course, have a totally different engine so I'm not bringing those saved files into this discussion.) Obviously, the size of the saved file has to do with the size of the world in each individual game, and the total possible number of Stuff Done Flags, recording where things were dropped on which space in which town, who's dead and who's not, etc. I'm wondering if the potentially massive size of a BoA scenario (50 by 50 outdoor squares, 200 towns, hundreds of SDFs, etc.) determines the size of the saved game files. So I'm guessing that the saved files generated by most scenarios consist mostly of 0s for the unused towns, SDFs, etc.? Posts: 907 | Registered: Monday, July 15 2002 07:00
Eldiran Shock Trooper Member # 4154	written Saturday, April 24 2004 11:45 Profile #1 I think you're right in guessing that the save file keeps track of data even if it is not used in a scenario (for example, if a scen doesn't do anything to SDF (300,30), the save file still keeps track of it.) That seems to be the most logical reason for such a huge (relative to other Spiderweb saves) file. -------------------- You're a moron if you think I'm not. Posts: 213 | Registered: Friday, March 26 2004 08:00
Khoth Post Navel Trauma ^_^ Member # 67	written Saturday, April 24 2004 12:17 Profile Homepage #2 Yes, most of a savefile is not really used. They compress down to about 30k-100k. -------------------- Barcoorah: I even did it to a big dorset ram. New Mac BoE Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
Kennedy Warrior Member # 1016	written Saturday, April 24 2004 12:27 Profile #3 The ability to design custom items may also play a part in that. Suppose for each of the inventory slots you are carrying a custom item with a unique name. This would probably take a large chunk of file size. Posts: 141 | Registered: Saturday, April 20 2002 07:00
Icshi Mongolian Barbeque Member # 1528	written Sunday, April 25 2004 08:38 Profile #4 Yes, I've started compressing my saved game files to save on hard drive space — I still want to keep these files, but not waste the space. They do indeed compress very nicely. That's an interesting thought about custom items, too. That's especially true when you have custom items from other scenarios, so the game would have to store that info in your saved game file. Posts: 907 | Registered: Monday, July 15 2002 07:00
Octavo Apprentice Member # 4231	written Tuesday, April 27 2004 18:57 Profile #5 This is possibly one reason for unchangeable size outdoors, yes? -------------------- Lifetime Spiderweb Gamer and Fan of Classic Style Graphics Posts: 42 | Registered: Saturday, April 10 2004 07:00