Reducing the SE4 footprint.

[dogscoff]

I intend to copy my se4 install to a single CD, as a backup of all the mods and races I've downloaded. It would also be handy for bringing my brother's (legit) installation of the game up to date.

The problem is, I have too much stuff installed. It won't all fit on one CD.

Therefore the purpose of this thread is to share hints and tips for reducing the footprint of an se4 installation:

Here is what I currently have:

Over 150 races
18 mods
7 "peripheral" programs (modders, gridders, drukman etc)
the neo-expansion pack
the full image mod
The extended sound pack

Here are the space-saving tricks I already know of:
-once the neo-expansion pack is installed, the proportions and devnullmod pictures/racegeneric folders become redundant. You can also afford to lose some of the P&N pictures/racegenerics.

-With the sound enhancement pack installed, I found I had all the game sounds twice. I deleted the old set and saved around 15 meg!

-I copied the TDM AIs over the default ones. I also copied the USM files over the defaults. If I ever wanted to go back (why?) I can just use my original game CD.

-Some mods (devnullmod, proportions) include whole race sets in their pictures/races folder. This can lead to duplication if you already have the race installed in your main pictures/races. Copy the graphics files over and just leave the mods with just the AI files.

-Similarly, some mods keep their own designname folders, which can lead to duplication. Consolidate these into the main game folders and let the mods default to them. In some cases it is approriate to do this with planetnames and system names files.

-Zip stuff up. I don't like to do this, because I want to just copy the CD onto my HD and go, but in theory you could probably halve the size of your game install, since most of the bulk is plain txt files and uncompressed bmps.

-reduce the colour depth of race graphics. This will make huge savings, but it would lead to lower quality graphics. I am reluctant to do this.

-I'd like to know if it is possible to delete the components, combat and planets folders from various mods (particularly P&N, Proportions & Devnullmod) if I have the full imagemod installed. If not, doesn't that make the imagemod kind of useless?

-I would be grateful for any more sace-saving tips, and I'm sure others would like to hear them. Please post them.

Finally, something else I'd like to do for this "ultimate CD" I'm preparing: Many (most?) of the races I have installed have old AIs that produce errors when I try to use them. I know there is an article around here somewhen describing how to update them, but I really don't want to check and correct all 150 races. Does anyone know of (or want to write) an auto-batch-AI-checker/updater? I imagine this would be fairly easy for clever ppl like you lot

[dogscoff]

Heh- abilities.txt, didn't think of that. A quick sewarch showed up 15 copies of it=-)

*dogscoff deletes 14 of them and frees up a valuable 224k

I've also gotten rid of the combat folders in my 2 P&N installations.

Now, let's see what else we have:

23 different systemnames files, totalling something like 1.70 meg. I think I'll lose most of those, keeping the half-meg file from FQM deluxe and Adamant (it appears to be the same file.)

We're getting there. Anyone got any more space-saving suggestions?

[dogscoff]

Hmm, AIC mod - anyone know if I can remove the components, facilities and combat folders and still be OK under the imagemod?

Same question with proportions- I have 2 installs of this (well, one is the proportions+primitives mod) so I could double my saving here

I also just freed up several meg with some brutal rationalisation of the Adamant mod- I had the Taera and Puntherrians duplicated, as well as dozens of designname files!

I think I'll also take the manual out- I don't use it and it's 8 meg! I can always recover it from the game CD.

[Suicide Junkie]

As of the latest gold patch, you only need settings.txt in your data folder, IIRC.

You can probably consolidate your strategies, formations, and ship name files.

[Fyron]

23 different systemnames files, totalling something like 1.70 meg. I think I'll lose most of those, keeping the half-meg file from FQM deluxe and Adamant (it appears to be the same file.)

As well it should, for the Adamant mod was built from FQM Deluxe!

You could go buy some 850 MB CDs. Or just use 2 CDs.

[Lisif Deoral]

Can SEIV handle RLE (compressed) windows bitmaps?
Last year I was running short of disk space and tried to compress them, but I can't remember if it worked or not (I decided to buy a new hard disk

Edit: yes, it can handle them. Anyway, they're limited to a palette of 256 colors, so you'll need to reduce color depth (but IMHO the game won't lose anything).

[ May 13, 2003, 23:04: Message edited by: Lisif Deoral ]

[Desdinova]

AIC mod uses its own graphics. so no you cannot delete them.
Edit> i have posted in AIC post asking JLS if he would mind having his pictures added to the others.

[ May 13, 2003, 23:05: Message edited by: DESDINOVA ]

[Slick]

*dances around and jumps on the bandwagon*

You can delete History.txt and save 115Kb.

Slick.

[Rollo]

Originally posted by dogscoff:
...
-I'd like to know if it is possible to delete the components, combat and planets folders from various mods (particularly P&N, Proportions & Devnullmod) if I have the full imagemod installed. If not, doesn't that make the imagemod kind of useless?

I can speak only for DNM here. It is imagemod compliant. If you have the latest imagemod installed, then the graphics (planets, components) that come with DNM are redundant and can be deleted to save disk space.
I only included the graphics that are needed for DNM to make installation easier.

Rollo

[dogscoff]

Cool! That's another 6 meg trimmed off. Thanks Rollo.