Virtual Store

[+Zeke+]

Using the editor included with the game patch I note that every change I make in the editor results in a repeat of the same entity file put in the Virtual Store portion of the user's AppData, instead of actually altering the original game file in the Program Files. So it seems the game first checks the AppData dupe and ignores the original program file.

So it brings to mind a few questions. First off, why? Second is do these dupe files speed things up or slow the game down? Third, could you simply pull it out of the AppData section and replace the entity file in the program files with it? I'm on Win7 if that seems relevant to anything. Seems like this extra work would make it harder for modders to export their work. Not that I'm planning to mod for anyone but myself. I'm just being a bit OCD at having my game parts strung out all over my drive and perhaps slowing things down. The game was never known to be a paragon of stability and this other stuff just seems like unnecessary duplication and risk. It's not like I need my original game code protected as I still have my boxed game discs from 2001, and it takes all of 10 minutes to scrub the game out and go for a fresh install.

 

[nadeauhugo]

Oh.... I was not thinking of this anymore, but yeah, if I am not out of the track here, contents are either stored in strange .bos files that are mere compressions, or duplicated in the game core folder and prefered to the original ones if present. They can even be duplicated again and again in sub-folders to serve as mods, using "-path NousAurons" for example in a Bos.exe file's shortcut, and none of all these methods or submethods have affected the performances in playing the game for me yet. Only thing I can see that alter performance in a very bad way :

1. Too much entities on a map.
2. A missing location name on the worldmap, the map then automatically lag.
3. Playing the game on OSX using Winebottler. The games is kinda fine, but mouse is very slow.

Neither very heavy trigger list or number of files (tiles, entities) in folders has affected performance for me yet.

You can also duplicate images files using directly .png instead of .zar in folders, then the game will prefer the .png and forget about the compressed .zar. Here again, I didn't notice any change in performance while trying the two, and sometimes .zar files had heavier file size than .png, don't know why.

What I did, as I wanted to have a handy modding experience, stand-alone version of my mod and fewer file size, I simply ereased all .bos files exept "spr-sprites_0.bos" that is verified and checked by the engine. I also removed all file from within "spr-sprites_0.bos", so it weights nothing. It might be a strange way to deal with the duplicated files, but that's what I did and it worked great for me.

 

[+Zeke+]

Thanks for confirming it doesn't create lag. I'm still not sure why it bothers making these duplicate and altered files instead of just changing the original entity file.