Question about size of .mod files

[Klandare]

I am working on a map modules for some maps that I have gotten and was curious what size is too big for a .mod file? I first grabbed all of the maps I had and put them into folders into a new campaign and then did an export. There are something like 550 maps and when I exported it; it took over 3 hours to do the export AND was over 4+GB in size (and all of that is before adding any LoS on them).

I am figuring that this is far too large to use (especially if each time I export it would take that long). So am an breaking the maps down based on their terrain type which will at least have them in smaller chunks.

Is there a best practice for sizing of the .mod's?

[Jiminimonka]

I am working on a map modules for some maps that I have gotten and was curious what size is too big for a .mod file? I first grabbed all of the maps I had and put them into folders into a new campaign and then did an export. There are something like 550 maps and when I exported it; it took over 3 hours to do the export AND was over 4+GB in size (and all of that is before adding any LoS on them).

I am figuring that this is far too large to use (especially if each time I export it would take that long). So am an breaking the maps down based on their terrain type which will at least have them in smaller chunks.

Is there a best practice for sizing of the .mod's?

Not really, make it the size that is useful for a single game session. You will never use 550 maps.

[Klandare]

True that I would never use that many maps in a game session but i also don't want to have to constantly go back and search for a map that I might want. Or even have to open 20+ extra map packs.

[Laerun]

Plan your work and work the plan, or if you tend to do things on the fly more, create a separate map module alongside the one you exported to help avoid that amount of data export; if you organize the map file names of your 550+ maps by title and prefix, they are much easier to find in FGU. You can also categorize these maps into groups to further make them organized and easier to sort.

Best of luck,

Laerun

[Zacchaeus]

You don’t need a module in FGU. Put all of your maps in the images folder in FGdata and you can import the ones you need into any campaign.

This is pretty much exactly what you would do if they were in a module anyway since FG will put the images in assets from the module (even if the module isn’t loaded).

[Klandare]

You don’t need a module in FGU. Put all of your maps in the images folder in FGdata and you can import the ones you need into any campaign.

This is pretty much exactly what you would do if they were in a module anyway since FG will put the images in assets from the module (even if the module isn’t loaded).

so are you saying just put it in the image directory where I have FG installed? Or is there an actual FGdata directory?

the item has to be in the Images section of a campaign to do LoS on it correct? That is the reason that I am putting them into a mod so that I can put LoS on each of them.

[Zacchaeus]

Click the folder icon top left of the start screen. This will take you to the FGdata directory. You will see the images file there. You can import those images into any campaign from there.

If you import an image into any campaign you can and add LOS. If you want to use the LOS in another campaign export the LOS metadata and put the resulting xml file in the images folder inside the campaign folder along with the image (don’t change the name).

[Klandare]

Click the folder icon top left of the start screen. This will take you to the FGdata directory. You will see the images file there. You can import those images into any campaign from there.

If you import an image into any campaign you can and add LOS. If you want to use the LOS in another campaign export the LOS metadata and put the resulting xml file in the images folder inside the campaign folder along with the image (don’t change the name).

How do you export just the LOS metadata? Or where is the LOS meteadata xml located in a current campaign?

(Just curious as this really sounds similar to just making a campaign, bringing in the image and doing LOS and then export the campaign into a .mod file which would get the LOS into the same .mod file)

[Zacchaeus]

Once you draw the LOS right click on the map in the layer list and select export metadata. This will save an xml file with the LOS. As long as that file and the map are in the same folder it will import into your campaign.

Your original post showed that putting everything into a module is a non starter. It is far too big. Most modules are well under 100Mb. Additionally adding LOS to 500 maps is going to take a very long time. So the suggestion is not do that but rather do them as you need them.

[LordEntrails]

Here's my approach to my map library and reasoning:
- I keep it in a Windows folder structure on my computer and only import/open into FG as needed.
- importing maps as I need them is quick
- A Window's folder structure with the ability to use windows search by file name is the same or slightly superior to FG's asset management and search capabilities (i.e. windows indexing can be built once, FGU's indexing happens the first time you open the asset window each session). Plus you can favorite sub directories, which FGU does not have.
- As I acquire new maps, I just download them and put them into the Windows folders. No need to create new Map modules or update existing ones.

[Valyar]

With 550 maps not properly arranged in folders, the Assets window will load for a century and still hang. It currently struggles for 5e modules on the fastest enterprise NVMe money can buy for workstation with proper CPU and RAM to support it.

[Zacchaeus]

You can have folders inside the images folder. You don't need to put images in a module to sort them into folders.

[Klandare]

You can have folders inside the images folder. You don't need to put images in a module to sort them into folders.

But wouldn't you have to export those images in the folders from the campaign if you wanted to bring them into another campaign?

I am think that the images and their associated LoS can go into the top level images folder (in a folder structure) and then they will just appear in the Assets -> Data -> Images folder. And that way could be in any campaign and would only need to import it into the Images section of that campaign if wanted to utilize.

Does that sound like it should work?

[Zacchaeus]

I am talking about the top level images folder. You can create folders inside that image folder and put your images in there and they can be imported from there into any campaign.

The quirk here is you want to have LoS on the images you import as well as the image. So the way to do that would be to import the images into a campaign as you need them (not all at once) and draw the LoS on them. Then export the metadata from the campaign you used the image in and put the resultant xml file into the same folder in the top level images folder as the original image. Then when you import it into another campaign that image will have the LoS on it.

It's really up to you how you want to do it. All I'm really saying to you is you do not need (nor is it desirable) to have 4Gb of images inside your campaign images folder; nor is it necessary to have a 4Gb module in your modules folder. I think either of those scenarios will bog every campaign you have down.

[Zacchaeus]

Just as a follow up this is what your images folder would eventually look like. I've created a folder inside the images folder called My Folder; dropped two images into it. Imported those into a campaign; drew the LOS and exported the metadat into the My Folder folder inside the top level images. In another campaign I can then go to Assets > Data> My folder and select an image and then select create image record. The image will then be added to the campaign along with the xml file and so the LoS will be there in any other campaign.

[Klandare]

Thank you for all the information and ideas on how to go about this.

Something I figured out when adding in some LOS and lights (on separate layers in the image), when you export the metadata it combines all of those layers into a single layer.

It also seems if you make an fx layer, that does not get exported.

I have figured that I will work on making LOS and lights on the maps that I have and export them into the XML files.

Then I will just use the folder level directory structure I have all the maps in and can move that whole folder set into the top level FG images folder; then just bring in whichever map I need at the time. If this seems to slow the system down I will just have it in a folder completely out of FG and bring in as needed (just hate having to do that when I am in the middle of a session and just want to grab one of the maps I have.

Thanks again for the help.