Why are some campaigns big, and some campaigns small?

[Mountain_King]

Without the obvious bit of, "some campaigns simply have more scenarios", why are some campaigns massive in the space they take up, and others quite small?
For example, dead water (13 scenarios) is only 1.5 MB, while the sojournings of Grog (20 scenarios) is nearly 9 MB. The number of scenarios only increases by 40 +- percent, yet it is four times bigger. To continue this line of thought, Fossil is only 6 scenarios and is 1.19 MB: Half the size in scenarios as DW. Vix has only two scenarios and is the same size as Dead Water. A campaign comparable to tSoG is Dwarven kingdom. It has 18 scenarios and is one third the size of tSoG. How do they do it? Are they compressing their folders like into zip files, or do their campaigns really take up so little space?

[Iris]

Sound files and images as used in Wesnoth don't compress well because they are already compressed in their internal representation (Vorbis, PNG). Add-ons with many custom unit images, music or sound effects will be larger than add-ons with less of those additions regardless of the amount of scenarios.

Please elaborate whether you are talking of add-ons stored on disk, or add-ons as listed in the add-ons server. Once installed, files aren't compressed anymore, and things such as large amounts of WML — which compress very well — take up more space that they would otherwise, again, regardless of the amount of scenarios. In this case, large amounts of WML can be caused by highly complex scripting.

[boru]

I just looked at TSOG ... they have 346 custom elf sprites! And that awesome dragon ... it's mostly the sprites, and the 2.2 MB story pic. In the case of Fossil, it is probably the art as well.

[Mountain_King]

Sound files and images as used in Wesnoth don't compress well because they are already compressed in their internal representation (Vorbis, PNG). Add-ons with many custom unit images, music or sound effects will be larger than add-ons with less of those additions regardless of the amount of scenarios.

That makes sense.

Please elaborate whether you are talking of add-ons stored on disk, or add-ons as listed in the add-ons server. Once installed, files aren't compressed anymore, and things such as large amounts of WML — which compress very well — take up more space that they would otherwise, again, regardless of the amount of scenarios. In this case, large amounts of WML can be caused by highly complex scripting.

I am speaking of the add-ons as listed on the add-ons server. I see all the sizes there on the right side of the screen. Does this mean that the WML itself is compressed as soon as it is uploaded, or that scenario WML is the only part of most campaigns that compresses well?

@Boru: and I thought I was bad with custom sprites...you really counted all 346? (We really need a smiley with a single eyebrow raised...)

[Iris]

I am speaking of the add-ons as listed on the add-ons server. I see all the sizes there on the right side of the screen. Does this mean that the WML itself is compressed as soon as it is uploaded, or that scenario WML is the only part of most campaigns that compresses well?

Everything under the add-on's directory (including WML, images, etc.) is compressed into a single unit. So yes, WML, being text, compresses much better than the rest of the package.

[Elvish_Hunter]

they have 346 custom elf sprites! And that awesome dragon ...

@Boru: and I thought I was bad with custom sprites...you really counted all 346? (We really need a smiley with a single eyebrow raised...)

These 346 sprites are the Desert Elves, copied from Under the Burning Suns. About the Dragon, yes, it's awesome: this is the reason why I included it! I originally seen it in A Rough Life, and, to use it, I wmllinted the Dragon Lord cfg from that campaign. While doing this, I wmllinted the whole campaign. This gave me an almost working copy of ARL, that I also finished to update for Wesnoth 1.8. I also added to TSoG two music tracks and some units, like the Cactose and the Great Ogre, backported the new Drakes sprites, and will add also other things. It's the artwork that increases the size. For example, Swamplings was about 300 KB at the start, and now is over 6 MB. I remember also when Love To Death was 45 MB due to all the music that was then moved in the LTD Music Pack (now UMC Music Pack)...

One small off-topic question: while updating ARL, I tried to contact Jacques_Fol (the author), but the MPs that I sent (one in May and the other in June) weren't delivered, and he doesn't post from more than six months. I also don't know when he last logged in. Is it OK for me to upload an updated copy of ARL to the 1.8 server? Of course, I'm ready to send him the PBL, if he requests it.

[zookeeper]

One small off-topic question: while updating ARL, I tried to contact Jacques_Fol (the author), but the MPs that I sent (one in May and the other in June) weren't delivered, and he doesn't post from more than six months. I also don't know when he last logged in. Is it OK for me to upload an updated copy of ARL to the 1.8 server? Of course, I'm ready to send him the PBL, if he requests it.

Yes, it's fine.

[Elvish_Hunter]

Thanks zookeeper! I'm uploading it.

[boru]

@Mountain - I count the number of paperclips in the box when I buy them too

@E_H - TSOG would probably be better off with jpg story art instead of png. That is the format used in mainline.