Alternative Timelines

I agree but not in case of completely optional stuff like AltTimelines.

This is a special case because it's not something most people want in the core mod so it should stay in the modules area. All the non-optional modules should have been merged in the core years ago but nobody did instead they added even more and that made the loading proccess very slow. But there is no reason for AltTimelines to be merged into the core.

But Alt-Times are not mergen. You can safely disable them or even remove. If there is problem its for sure its not a problem with art files but with other XML/python code.

AltTimelines look like someone is in the proccess of merging them into the core. A very big part of the module is already in the core what's left to do is the xml. At the moment AltTimelines are half in the core mod and the rest in the module that is just messed up. Maybe i just don't understand why those art files don't count what makes them so special?

Art files can be packaged neatly into the FPK without creating any modularity issues; they won't be used by the game (take up memory) if no xml's asks for them (disabled modular xml in this case). If the game handles FPK better than lots of loose files (I don't know this, only a suspicion) I see no problem in having all the mods art in FPK files. As a graphical modder I find it easier to have all the relevant files together in one place.

alberts2 said:

AltTimelines look like someone is in the proccess of merging them into the core. A very big part of the module is already in the core what's left to do is the xml. At the moment AltTimelines are half in the core mod and the rest in the module that is just messed up. Maybe i just don't understand why those art files don't count what makes them so special?

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Alt-Timelines will remain optional but there is some bits in there that should not be there. It is all because we had a lot of people working on things at the same time so needed to keep the bits separated. It is now time to go back and tidy it up a bit. There were a few things in core that needed to be moved into the modules and we have done most of that movement.

I am trying to clean the whole area up but it takes time. At the moment they are at the point where they are mostly modular and wont cause problems if you exclude some.

The Sabretooth is an example that I just moved out because it balances the Americas start position. I think that there is only the Zebra, animal not military units, that is still in the modules when it should be in core but as I said I am working through making sure.

edit The stuff in Megafauna_Units has been done the stuff in Megafauna is being examined.

The Apocalypse stuff should be in core as it provides you with back-up units when you loose an important resource like oil or gunpowder. Although I am not sure we have implemented a system that can cause you to loose access to those resources except via war.

Laura Croft should probably be moved into core even though she is a fantasy hero.

Toffer90 said:

Art files can be packaged neatly into the FPK without creating any modularity issues; they won't be used by the game (take up memory) if no xml's asks for them (disabled modular xml in this case). If the game handles FPK better than lots of loose files (I don't know this, only a suspicion) I see no problem in having all the mods art in FPK files. As a graphical modder I find it easier to have all the relevant files together in one place.

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Agreed. Furthermore, art files IN FPKs are properly condensed whereas art files in modules are a bit heavier. Since there's a volume limit to the number of FPKs we can have, it would be imprudent to separate all those art files into the modules themselves where they would not be condensed. Just imo.

Toffer90 said:

Art files can be packaged neatly into the FPK without creating any modularity issues; they won't be used by the game (take up memory) if no xml's asks for them (disabled modular xml in this case). If the game handles FPK better than lots of loose files (I don't know this, only a suspicion) I see no problem in having all the mods art in FPK files. As a graphical modder I find it easier to have all the relevant files together in one place.

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If you start the game it creates a index of all relevant files, this includes files from other mods and the contents of fpk files. Putting files into a fpk speeds this up because it just reads the index at the start of the fpk file and that is faster as loading loose files. Thats it and every file in that index uses some memory even if you disable a module or put files into a fpk.

I'am not finished with some tests to see how the game uses those fpk's if those are done i can say more about that. But compressed fpk's increase the memory and cpu usage because the game has to uncompress every file once that file is used.

Another thing is the svn handles those fpk files not so good. If you change a few files and create a fpk and commit it the commit can be a huge. It depends on the size of the fpk but in case of a big fpk it will be a few hundred megabytes and if you would commit loose files it would only be a few kilobytes. That why our svn repo is 42,5GB big and at least 80% of that is caused by fpk's.

alberts2 said:

If you start the game it creates a index of all relevant files, this includes files from other mods and the contents of fpk files. Putting files into a fpk speeds this up because it just reads the index at the start of the fpk file and that is faster as loading loose files. Thats it and every file in that index uses some memory even if you disable a module or put files into a fpk.

I'am not finished with some tests to see how the game uses those fpk's if those are done i can say more about that. But compressed fpk's increase the memory and cpu usage because the game has to uncompress every file once that file is used.

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Thanks for that explanation, cleared some technical fog away on the issue.
So if the art files are loose modular files:
-Art files from a module would have a small time delay when loaded into the game (At game launch and when needed (first used) in an ongoing game)
-Playing without a module frees up some RAM (also a slight reduction in CPU usage for loading in art from the fpk due to the smaller fpk index)

The art files should then also be modular to get the full effect from disabling a module, but it might penalize those who play with the modules a little bit in the form of micro time delays and a longer game launch.

What this made me curious about is how much RAM usage one could free up by, in the extreme case of getting rid of fpk altogether, and if the delays caused by this is worth the transaction. This should be investigated further, as perhaps it would be beneficial to only package certain types of art like effects and events (art that is not persistent or often loaded as a first instance) in fpk.

If you guys want to move Art files to module then go on. I dont stop you.
Heh I give a lot of work to create some order in the mod ...

In alt-time module we have ~1300 art files. Great...

Also make some cleaning in Alt-Timeline XMLs becaus is some freaking mess. Why we have Megafauna and Megafauna_Units?

Sparth said:

If you guys want to move Art files to module then go on. I dont stop you.
Heh I give a lot of work to create some order in the mod ...

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I would advocate further technical investigations on the pros and cons before anything drastic is done in this matter.
I for one appreciated the order you've striven for.

Sparth said:

Also make some cleaning in Alt-Timeline XMLs becaus is some freaking mess. Why we have Megafauna and Megafauna_Units?

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I see this as evidence that I am being ignored. See 5 posts up. Here where I explain why there are two and that I am cleaning up the folders!