Scenario 400MByte add-on

[paddy2]

I have been playing with my own bases for a while now and am getting ready to release them. I have 10 bases on the moon. There is a set of models/meshs and each base has its own sub set, with one of the bases having at least 1 of everything. They have all been done in Orbiter Base Maker.

However each base has a 8 by 11 set of layer one tiles, layer 4 tiles and layer 7 tiles. So as you get closer / lower then detail gets better. The layer 1 tiles are taken from the Internet and within the limits of time and of OBM's 512 by 512 tile are quite accurate. The layer 4 and 7 tiles are "nice" with the edges blended into the upper layers. i.e. real lunar images used as close ups

All these tiles mean a grand sum of 2640 tiles, I think the file will be close to 400Mbyte. Mind you for this you get a 10 base lunar operation!!! I really do not want to do 10 separate zip files and have to maintain them

The question is ... Will anyone download a 400MByte file? Once the first base is loaded along with its meshs and textures the 2nd base is only the size of the .cfg file. This is only hundreds of bytes more. One Tile is bigger than a base config.

Your thoughts if you would be so kind

 

[Quick_Nick]

Maybe not a couple of years ago. But 400MB is only 4% of 1% of a 1TB hard drive which seems to be standard in any new PC. And as far as Internet speed, you could download this within 30 minutes if you have at least a 2 Mbps connection. That's very likely to be the case for people in the U.S. anyways.
Make it (well) and they shall come.

 

[Arrowstar]

How are internet speeds in the UP faster than where I'm from?

 

[Donamy]

Can you split them up for download ?

 

[paddy2]

Yes it can be split but I want to have a single file to maintain. I am thinking along the lines that a download could be started and left to run on its own. Install it maybe an hour later.
There is a finite number of buildings within the set so the bases will have a "corparate" feel to them. Hence my thinking of download the company.

 

[romanasul]

Go ahead and post it, I consider 400 MB to be a very small file. I live in Canada and most people here have at least 15 mbps internet.

 

[jedidia]

Even for Bosnia, 400 Mb are not a big issue anymore nowadays.

 

[Ripley]

...Once the first base is loaded along with its meshs and textures the 2nd base is only the size of the .cfg file. This is only hundreds of bytes more...

If I understood correctly, the first base is 99% of the weight and the other 9 files are just cfgs?
I'm not a base/texture maker myself, but if this is the case I see a serious optimization/compression problem. Couldn't it take less space?
Me thinks 400Mb for 10 bases is way too much!

As a sidenote, 400 Mb can be a small file in Canada (or somewhere else), but not so easily downloadable for other users.

 

[jedidia]

If I understood correctly, the first base is 99% of the weight and the other 9 files are just cfgs?

I have some unclarities about that too, now that you mention it: Do all the bases use the same tileset?

I'd maybe suggest two downloads: One with the bases and some lower-ress tiles, and the big one with the rest of the tiles as an optional "Hi-Res textures" download.

 

[garyw]

Maybe not a couple of years ago. But 400MB is only 4% of 1% of a 1TB hard drive

Yes and, 4GB would be 1% (Not including overheads for the partition table and the difference between 1024 and 1000...)

As an IT person I work with a range of systems from my own laptop (300GB SSD) to servers that have a petabyte of storage. 400Mb is nothing at all. I regularly download 4GB ISO files from Microsoft.

 

[paddy2]

the other 9 files are just cfgs?

No mate the other way round. I have some 20 meshes with their textures, each base is made up of a selection of buildings. i.e. not all bases have a radome.

Each base has a set of layer 1 tiles, layer 4 tiles and layer 7 tiles and a few layer 9 act as roadways/taxiways. Its these tiles which eat up the file size. a config is 15k, a tile is 100k EACH.

I like the idea of high and low res but the tiles need to be referenced in the config file.
I understand some folk have a fibre based connection and 400M is only a small "cdrom" but I remember the days of 9600 modems and 400Mb is no small download.
Would 2 zip files be workable, one with tiles and one without?

Again thanks for the input gents

 

[RisingFury]

Are there any screenshots?

 

[paddy2]

Are there any screenshots?

Will get some together. If I am to ask someone to download 400MB, might be an idea to show if its worth it!!!:shrug:

 

[RisingFury]

Will get some together. If I am to ask someone to download 400MB, might be an idea to show if its worth it!!!:shrug:

Yea, exactly. A picture says a thousand words - which is made all more important by the internet society that often just "TL; DR" posts

 

[Quick_Nick]

Yea, exactly. A picture says a thousand words

16 bit or 32 bit words?
Assuming 16 bit word size, he could compress his base to 2KB using a picture.

 

[paddy2]

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Some of the bases are designed to be ongoing works

 

[Michael_Chr]

Looked for a good example of a heavy download at Orbit Hangar. The most recent example I think was felix24 seasonal earth textures "Level 11 BMNG Earth Textures". 12 sets - one for each month - was made available in a HQ and Std Q version. The HQ version was consistently the one with the highest download over the Std. version. The DEC HQ version got a 820 downloads where the DEC StdQ version got a 123. The download size was approx 280-288 mb which is in more or less the same leaque as a 400mb. So if that can stand out as a voxpop I think its safe to say that a 400mb download will not scare a lot of users anymore.
Anyway...the most important part here is... The author calls the shots. And I do believe that the argument of easy maintainance is a very valid one - after all... A 400 mb download is better than no download at all.

 

[Lucy]

From technical standpoint, however, you may experience issues uploading a file that large to OHM. There's a secondary script which processes the addons received and shunts the file to our mass storage location (on the Altea Aerospace box dbeachy1 provides) - large files may cause timeouts as this script will take a lot longer to complete, and might thus run into the maximum execution time and be killed.

Addressing this is an ongoing process but it's best to be aware ahead of time.

 

[jedidia]

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10 Bases in that quality? dude, I'm going to get this no matter the size! :lol:

 

[thepenguin]

10 Bases in that quality? dude, I'm going to get this no matter the size! :lol:

ditto. 400MB is small compared to the rewards.