fantastic idea for se5

[Aiken]

1 file per planet is not the best solution - 255 systems * ~10 planet would result in 2500 text files. Probably a compressed database with search capability would be better.

Also it would be difficult to manage this system in the late game, when you have hundreds of planets.

[dogscoff]

1 file per planet is not the best solution - 255 systems * ~10 planet would result in 2500 text files. Probably a compressed database with search capability would be better.

Also it would be difficult to manage this system in the late game, when you have hundreds of planets.

Only if you plan to actually make a file for every single planet. Remember these files would only be created for those planets the player is interested in- the other planets would use the default descriptions and text, which don't seem to cause any storage problems in the current Version of se.

A database would defeat the whole purpose of haveing an easily-edittable and handy format like the one suggested.

However, I agree taht space could become a problem. It would be fantastic if se could automatically detect and decompress zip files- Id' save hundreds of megs on my races folder alone, and it would suit this idea perfectly. That would be the solution I suggest.

[Stone Mill]

Seems like XML may be an applicable file format for indexing something of this nature.

I like the idea... but after all my glorious historical recording of Xiban II, one dopey escort with DUCs can still wipe it away with ease.

[Ed Kolis]

A most excellent idea! That way we could avoid mishaps like the Breen coming from a hot planet and such Also would be a great boon to roleplaying, as the Chozo would definitely be interested when they discover their ancestral home planet of Zebes... RP games in my experience tend to be short on combats, which is a shame, but this gives people something to fight over

Originally posted by dogscoff:
However, I agree taht space could become a problem. It would be fantastic if se could automatically detect and decompress zip files- Id' save hundreds of megs on my races folder alone, and it would suit this idea perfectly. That would be the solution I suggest.

MOO3 did this... except it used zip files renamed to *.mob so you had to rename them before you modified them
What I do to get around this problem is I like to compress my drive... Windows XP has a handy Disk Compression tool which basically zips everything on your drive automagically and transparently, so each of those 48KB ships (they do add up!) only takes up around 3KB!
I wouldn't recommend compressing your drive if you're lacking in the RAM department, though, because the way I understand it is, compression will actually speed up your HDD access on "data-sparse" files like bitmaps and text files because less actual HDD access is required; the data can be uncompressed in RAM. But if you're lacking enough RAM to do the uncompression, it has to use HDD space (virtual memory) and that defeats the whole purpose! (Except the part of saving HDD space on files you don't use often.)Of course that's just my guess as to how it all works

edit: I also like XML, but it does have 2 problems: for one thing, you need those cryptic xmlns and such tags at the beginning, and for another thing, it is very data-sparse, meaning there's not much actual data compared to the number of bytes used in opening and closing tags... no problem with a compressed drive, but if your drive is UNcompressed...

[ May 11, 2004, 17:16: Message edited by: Ed Kolis ]

[Fyron]

Maybe use a good compression format, not the poor quality that is Zip...

[dogscoff]

Maybe use a good compression format, not the poor quality that is Zip...

I knew you'd bring that up. Zip is widely recognised and supported, and even on-technical ppl generally know how to handle zip file (I work in IT support, and I know this from experience). Also, zips are handled almost transparently in XP or by earlier Versions oif they install the right software.

For the sake of an extra few % compression is it really worth switching to something more obscure like .rar?

[PvK]

The quadrant-wide web (QWW), eh?

So what the URL of Maxanara VII be?

PvK