Consider not including XML files in Release

[Stan]

Currently we have the cached XMBs and the non cached XMLs in the public.zip ; Since Modders should probably use the source files instead of the lossy dds and pmd I think it is safe to remove the XMLs.

This would make us gain some space (1,458 440 GB vs 1,398 606 GB) (59,934 MB less) (5398 files less)

Probably some gain on file loading too if the game stops looking for source files.

[historic_bruno]

Is 60MB of disk space a big deal nowadays? When compressed like the release packages are, it should be even less, since the XML text data should compress nicely.

The XML files shouldn't slow down the game at all, because it will always try to load the archived release versions first.

Also, keeping the source XML seems better for modding and future tools like an entity editor (#422) can use them.

Forum topic: ​https://wildfiregames.com/forum/index.php?/topic/20718-xmb-files-what-are-they-for

[Stan]

AFAIK public.zip isn't compressed. So it loads XMB and then search for uncached files ? How does he know if you edit XMls then ? I was told that for now the only advantage of the zipped archove is read speed because everything is in one place. Dont't know if 5000 more files change anything to that. I agree with you for modding thougb I do thinks mods should have their own folder anyways and that XMls could be a separate download.

[Itms]

So it loads XMB and then search for uncached files ? How does he know if you edit XMls then ?

I guess it just checks the last modification date, but one should read the code to be sure of that.

I agree with you for modding thougb I do thinks mods should have their own folder anyways and that XMls could be a separate download.

It's better to allow people to fiddle around with the xml files if they want to, and if they want to distribute a mod they can do that properly in a separate folder. We don't want to make the code base more difficult to browse either.

Apparently I am just rephrasing what has been said before on the forum topic, sorry for that. If you have more questions don't hesitate to continue on the forums. :)

[Stan]

Okay, thanks for your time. I added another question to the forum.

[historic_bruno]

Replying to stanislas69:

AFAIK public.zip isn't compressed.

It's compressed in the downloaded installer, which is more significant, 60MB disk space is nothing these days :)