Published game wont run

[Imchasinyou]

This is an ongoing issue with this map. It seems to happen to almost all of my projects at one point or another and I just abandon them for a new one and end up in the same boat. So, i guess im getting close to the definition of insanity.

 

So, the published game is 2.0 GB, the map to load is set correctly in App.lua. After publishign the game, Ive tried to run the game and all i get is a small black error screen for about a tenth of a second.

Ive packed up the file and sent to a few friends to see if its me or if it happens with them as well and it does. I use the Indie version (Beta) not that it should matter. It run perfectly fine from the project folder in My Docs.

 

Here is the error I get

[dennis]

did you try to run your game within the debug mode ?

are all the files there ?

[Imchasinyou]

All the files are there. It looks the same as another published and functional level ive done. From the editor it runs just fine in debug mode with zero errors. Ive sent it to Josh to see if he wants to look it over and see if there is a reason the published games exe cant seem to find the App.lua file.

[Josh]

Downloading...

[Josh]

According to WinRar the data.zip file gets an "unexpected end of archive" error.

 

Maybe it's a limitation of the zip format?:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301325

[Imchasinyou]

So, Im assuming that we need to explore other compression formats for the engine?

 

I can only assume this as I get the error straight from the published file. Maybe Im wrong. I can try to get the file smaller but Im not too sure what else I can remove that hasnt already been removed. Second level maybe?

 

Ill report back.

[Josh]

I don't know yet, this is the first time I have ever heard of this before. You can't expect a definitive answer right away.

[Imchasinyou]

Not really looking for a definitive answer right away bud. Just trying to help here. I cant see any realistic games coming out under 2.0 GB. Especially the Helo Gunnery with all that stuff going on there. a blank map with a single player prefab with a map size of 1024X1024 is 300MB by itself. This is my way of working through problems by trying stuff and reporting back. Works for me.

Im still removing stuff to get that map under 2,0 GB to see if that makes the difference. so far Ive removed half of the stuff in that map, trees and half of the buildings and its still 2.01 GB so Im almost there. Just trying to help you help me and maybe together we can find a solution. TBH, I had no idea about the zip file being limited to 2 GB until you showed me that.

[Imchasinyou]

I removed 90% of that map and all of the other maps and republished the file. There was absolutely no change in the size of the final published game. Im at a loss here.

[Imchasinyou]

Further thought on this subject.

It appears as if Leadwerks exports each and every single model in the project folder whether or not it is used in the game.

Instance: Model pack of 20 models is imported into the engine, you use 4 of them. On publishing the game, the folder of those models will only contain MDL and TEX files BUT, every single model and texture has also been exported. There for, the files that arent even getting called or used in the scene are eating up space in the game that is so badly needed.

[TattieBoJangle]

I don't mean to jump on your post here but i agree it is just crazy why it would take every model texture in the folder when say you only need some. I like to import and get a feel on how something looks in the engine and may use it or parts of it and going back after its published to del files is a nightmare. As i said i have never came across this before in an engine normaly it only takes what you use ect unless of course this is a bug.

[Ma-Shell]

Well, you could also load stuff by code which would be way harder to detect or sometimes even impossible (e.g. if there is no direct string to the path of the resource since you combine the path from multiple different strings. This could be the case, if you have some sort of a LOD-system, where you first have the name, then add the LOD-level and then the file extension, like barrel_lod2.mdl). I agree though, that there should be some kind of a dialog where you can choose what resources should be included and what shouldn't.

[TattieBoJangle]

Could it not just export what was in the Scene root instead of taking all folders from assets, this one has got me a little put of with leadwerks as i was also wondering why my game was so big i never thought it would be packing everything that i don't use i then tried to go in and del anything i didn't use and it is a nightmare i believe something needs done with this.

[Christian Clavet]

That is a good thing that this happened. Perhaps in future versions, Leadwerk would split in multiple archives when it's more than 2Gb. I've just buyed "Shadow of Mordor" on steam and it's 37Gb!!

[Imchasinyou]

Id start with not publishing unused assets. I have a pack that is 1.03 GB, if i place that pack into the engine and use 3 things from it, its a night mare to remove all the unused things and that one pack eats half of what I need. Then the possibility of multiple archives or a completely different compression type. Josh has said its something that could be possibly fixed in the future. Im all for the bump as I think every one that is actually using the engine will easily surpass the size restriction.

 

"When you create a compressed folder (ZIP file) that is larger than 2 gigabytes (GB), the file may no longer be readable, and may become corrupted. You do not receive any error message when you create the file, but you cannot read the file after you create it."

Posted on a windows forum but this applies to Win XP.

 

I use windows 7 Home Premium and from the reading ive done shows that the size limit is 6GB. 3 times as large as what is corrupting so, im lost on this again. This is somethign that should be a top priority along with further functionality.

[YouGroove]

I've just buyed "Shadow of Mordor" on steam and it's 37Gb!!

FF13 is 60 Go with non compressed videos

There is 4go limit per file on Fat 32 if i remember well, but on NTFS systems there is no limit of file size or am i wrong ? For LE3 another zipping system will make it ok.

[TattieBoJangle]

60GB wow

 

I was hoping Josh would read this or he has and hasn't had time to reply due to the move and all

 

I am hoping something gets sorted for this as i made a blank map today nothing but terrain and published it to show a friend who is interested in Leadwerks, but it publishes every single model you have even on a blank map.

 

I could copy all the models back and forward but i have over 1Tb in Models and it takes a while.

 

So i am hoping when Josh has time so it can be made to copy only assets that are in use.

[Josh]

The best way to solve this is probably to just start a new zip file when the previous one reaches 1 gb. Then the editor would export data.zip, data1.zip, data2.zip, etc. and the game EXE is already set up to load all zip files in the same directory.

[TattieBoJangle]

Thanks for the reply Josh this would fix the size of the zip files but does nothing for your project size it still publishes every singe item you have even on a blank map there must be a way to only publish what you use. Any other engine i have used does this no questions asked

[Imchasinyou]

The best way to solve this is probably to just start a new zip file when the previous one reaches 1 gb. Then the editor would export data.zip, data1.zip, data2.zip, etc. and the game EXE is already set up to load all zip files in the same directory.

 

How would I do this from a project using the publish function? Is this something that could be implemented in the publishing function.

[Josh]

It's something I have to add.

[Imchasinyou]

So, in adding that functionality, why not add in that part that stops all assets in the project gettign exported as well. That way the projects stay small and IF needed, we can always lean on the multiple zip archives? Best of both worlds here and might be the best solution for now.

[xtom]

I would also like to see it only export the needed assets. Right now I have a tiny simple map with a simple box house and it's exporting at 200+ MB zip file because I brought in a lot of texture packs. I can only imagine the problem would get worse as a project gets bigger.

[DerRidda]

I think this is harder to cleanly do than it might seem at first glance. It's probably easy enough to figure out which assets are currently used in a map and on entities but that doesn't give you the whole picture. At any given time you could be loading a new asset through code and it might not always be evident which assets those are before runtime.

 

For example: You make an RPG with player-selectable avatars but you have a lot of them pre-made and maybe you want to allow the player to use their own images as well so hard coding each and every single one would be silly. Instead you iterate through each file in your player_avatars directory, check to see if it is valid and then use those.

Now, how would an export option ever know that you are actually using these files in your project?

[Imchasinyou]

I can see your point on that. So the issue is a great conundrum but i cant see exporting every single model that is placed with in the project directory and importing every single model individually isnt feasible either. Nor is going back and deleting those that arent used when you import a "pack" of assets. You really dont know what will work in your map until you can actually see it as just looking at a blahblah.fbx file says nothing to me as to its appearance.

 

How ever, Im sure we can continue to discuss this and hopefully come up with a solution that makes sense and works for every one.