bukary on 19/6/2005 at 11:32
Few days ago I realized that T3Ed fan mission package (.ZIP) will NOT contain any mission file (.UNR) that can be opened in the editor.
Why am I concerned?
IMHO there were two main sources of (advanced) knowledge for DromEd community: the Editors' Guild and .MIS files. I know many DromEdres who learned mostly from other people's missions. And that was certainly my case. Now it will not be possible.
Of course, we'll have Wiki and T3 Editors' Guild. We can always ask our question. But that is not enough. I often feel the need to check (X) how things work (especially scripted events) and (Y) how things were done (especially architecture) in some FM I am playing right now. (X) will be sometimes (NOT always) avaible in the form of Wiki tutorial or TLLG thread, but (Y) will not be the theme of any tutorials, I guess.
We can not ask mission authors to include .UNR files in the package. That would be the worst solution possible. The smaller file to download, the better. I also don't think that anyone will host some kind of .UNR FMs library. T3 FM's size is too big. The only way to get .UNR file will be probably to ask FM autor to give one. We're doomed! ;)
Does anyone have any ideas how to make .UNR files avaible for everyone? Or how to open .IBT or .GMP in the editor?
OrbWeaver on 19/6/2005 at 12:38
I don't see why thiefmissions.com could not host both source and compiled packages for fan missions, if the author was willing to provide the UNR in a separate package.
Ziemanskye on 19/6/2005 at 12:45
I don't think ibt or gmp can be opened in the editor, but a quick experiment later shows the unr files zip down really well (probably because they don't contain any complex resources). A 9 Mb *.unr zipped to 1.75Mb, and that's the largest unr I have which compiles and runs in game - I have a 43Mb of TG_ThievesGuild, but it has too many brushes to run in game, though it also crushed to about 1/5th the size.
Is this going to be a persistant issue with fan missions? I don't mind adding an extra 1-2Mb to a zip size if it will help people, but then I'm not hosting the files to start with.
SneaksieDave on 19/6/2005 at 15:22
If someone wants to share their UNR, they need only include it. No biggie. They compress very well.
bukary on 19/6/2005 at 15:39
Quote Posted by SneaksieDave
If someone wants to share their UNR, they need only include it. No biggie. They compress very well.
Well, I don't know if Jason will be very happy about increasing mission size by 3-4 megs...
epithumia on 19/6/2005 at 16:08
I surely don't have a problem keeping a separate archive if we end up having to shoip IBTs.
bukary on 19/6/2005 at 17:09
Quote Posted by epithumia
I surely don't have a problem keeping a separate archive if we end up having to shoip IBTs.
Great! Problem solved. :)
Krypt on 19/6/2005 at 18:00
I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but here's a helpful tip for getting your filesize down for easier UNR distribution. Turn on autosave in the editor (if it isn't on already) and wait for it to do an autosave on the version of your map you want to distribute. Now find that autosave and rename it to whatever you want and distribute that instead. The filesize is much smaller for an autosave because it doesn't contain Navmesh or Flesh BSP data. Whoever downloads it can generate those for themselves if they want.
bukary on 19/6/2005 at 18:41
Quote Posted by Krypt
I don't remember if I've mentioned this before, but here's a helpful tip for getting your filesize down for easier UNR distribution. Turn on autosave in the editor (if it isn't on already) and wait for it to do an autosave on the version of your map you want to distribute. Now find that autosave and rename it to whatever you want and distribute that instead. The filesize is much smaller for an autosave because it doesn't contain Navmesh or Flesh BSP data. Whoever downloads it can generate those for themselves if they want.
That's very important and useful information. Thanks, Krypt! :thumb:
