Episode size?

[Strawzzboy64]

A few questions.

First, what would you guys say is a good size for episodes to be? On the episode manager thread I saw 500 mb at most. Any tips for keeping episode sizes low? What takes up the most space? And lastly, how does large size affect SMBX. Does it just increase loading/downloading times, or can it cause lag in the game itself?

[FanofSMBX]

Most size = mp3s
I have a bad download speed and my headphone jack isn't working anyways, this is why I really appreciate people posting the music separately

[HeroLinik]

I would say that an episode should contain somewhere between 50 and 100 levels ideally, if you ask me. It's mainly with using less levels in order to keep episode sizes low, but if you're using custom music, don't use 10 minute MP3s because they take up too much space, and WAV files are a no-no as well because they take up more hard-disk space as they are lossless. Large episode size doesn't cause lag, but the problem is that if you try to play a level in the editor it will take a longer time between saving the level for a playthrough and actually playing the level.

[Chad]

Putting music as a separate download doesn't really help. The episode still uses them, so you'd just be downloading the same stuff at a different time anyways.

What I'd do is shorten the music in Audacity, which is as easy as highlighting the part you want gone and hitting the Delete key. Most music on YouTube (in my experience) is two loops long, so just shortening everything to one loop would roughly halve the size of the entire download by itself. But if you're going to do this, make sure you get the LAME encoder so you can export it to MP3.

Music is the only concern when it comes to filesize. Level files don't even reach 1 MB unless they're enormous, and it takes a ton of graphics for a level's folder to even get near that amount.

[FanofSMBX]

Putting music as a separate download doesn't really help. The episode still uses them, so you'd just be downloading the same stuff at a different time anyways.

What I'd do is shorten the music in Audacity, which is as easy as highlighting the part you want gone and hitting the Delete key. Most music on YouTube (in my experience) is two loops long, so just shortening everything to one loop would roughly halve the size of the entire download by itself. But if you're going to do this, make sure you get the LAME encoder so you can export it to MP3.

Music is the only concern when it comes to filesize. Level files don't even reach 1 MB unless they're enormous, and it takes a ton of graphics for a level's folder to even get near that amount.

Actually it does: you can play an episode just fine without the custom music, and my speakers are busted anyways so I couldn't tell the difference.

[Tango]

We are forget of the levels and graphics. The big and excess uses of custom graphics can make the game lag. For example, you don't need change the graphics of all npcs and blocks. The SMW Grass blocks and Smb3 NPCS are the basic to change. And, can be the levels too. But this depend of the style of the episode:

A Level per Level episode: Try don't put much worlds and much levels. The common way is make 9 worlds (the last is Special, if you want). And the common levels number is 4 levels and 1 castle. Some have 4 levels, some bonus houses, 1 ghost house, 1 fortress and 1 castle. And other have in medium 2 secret exits.

World Hub and Stars Episode: I think that this type of game is the type that use less space. Mainly if have more than one star to be get in a level, like Super Mario 64. But Stars Episode with Hubs probably have more worlds than Level per Level episode. I suggest make 15 world episode, with 6 stars each (like Super Mario 64).

But the music can too be the problem. If you have more asks, don't forget to check out the enclosed instruction book ask to us.

[Julia Pseudo]

^
In terms of disk space, however, graphics and levels are both infinitesimal compared to music. This is what FOS said at the beginning; graphics may cause the game to lag but they're not very big.

[zlaker]

For me when I've changed the players graphics in the level's folder it will cause SMBX to use long time to open that level, save, testing it and even open a new level. But as castlewars said the game won't lag when you're gonna play it unless the player's are changed in the level. My game is some 1.5 GB large and it doesn't lag much.

[Strawzzboy64]

Alright, I'll definitely watch out for custom mp3 usage, and that's really good to know about slowing down the saving time in the level editor. Thanks everyone, that was very informative!