Event Commands->Show Picture->Picture Graphic (Massive Loadtime)

[MakroModus]

Hi there,

I'm pretty new to the rpg maker stuff and reached now a problem, I can't solve by myself.

Since I have a massive load of graphics in .\Graphics\Pictures\ (nearly 5000 files, ca 500 M, I have now the problem, that anytime I wanna add a picture into the game (per event for example) and want to choose the right one, the maker starts to load pretty long the "Picture Graphic" choosing window, before I'm able to finally choose one.

As I interpret this issue (hopefully correctly), the maker preloads every picture for a preview, to be more efficient... Well, for me this isn't pretty much working out, since those pictures are already cut down to the only really necessary.

So I imagined some possible solutions for this issue, but don't know how to make em possible, or even if they are realizable.

1. Adding for the maker readable subfolders under the "Graphics\Pictures" folder, which only load the picture-preview inside when chosen in the "Picture Graphic" window.

2. Deactivating/Deleting the preloading feature, so that pictures are only loading when finally selected in the "Picture Graphic" window.

3. Some Scripting-Solution (I got only basic scripting-skills.)

I hoped to find a possible solution on the internet and on this forum, but I wasn't successful yet, so I hope you can help me directly.

Maybe you already know a solution or already another ideas.

Thanks in advance!

Greetz

 

[Celianna]

I think there's a way to organize your pictures into sub folders, though it might require a script.

 

[Andar]

As far as I know, this preloading only happens in the editor, not when running the game. And you can't change the editor, even the script Celianna mentioned only works after the game has started.


However, it might be helpfull if you tell us what you use the pictures for - there might be other solutions available.


For example, if you use that event command to place bust pictures into messages, then you'll better of with one of the bust scripts that automatically replace faces with busts - and change the script in a way that those busts are loaded from a different directory, so that the resource manager won't need to access them.

 

[Kes]

I know this is going to sound obvious - but do you really need 5000 pictures?  That is a phenomenal number, and as it takes 500MB, there will be plenty of potential players who will be unable to download your game, assuming you've got a reasonable number of audio files which also take up a lot of space.  Not everyone has super fast downloads, and some have daily limits on the amount they can download.

 

[MakroModus]

As far as I know, this preloading only happens in the editor, not when running the game. And you can't change the editor, even the script Celianna mentioned only works after the game has started.

However, it might be helpfull if you tell us what you use the pictures for - there might be other solutions available.

For example, if you use that event command to place bust pictures into messages, then you'll better of with one of the bust scripts that automatically replace faces with busts - and change the script in a way that those busts are loaded from a different directory, so that the resource manager won't need to access them.

Thank you, never thought of that. Yes they are taking a great part of the whole, next to small layers for emotions and stuff like that, maybe they make 1/3. The others are lightmaps for maps and mostly the rest are for animated weather and light effects. Do you know a good script I could use? If not, no problem, thanks for the hint, I will have a look around.

I know this is going to sound obvious - but do you really need 5000 pictures?  That is a phenomenal number, and as it takes 500MB, there will be plenty of potential players who will be unable to download your game, assuming you've got a reasonable number of audio files which also take up a lot of space.  Not everyone has super fast downloads, and some have daily limits on the amount they can download.

I'm afraid, yes. It's a huge project. Well the download is something that surely matters, but not for now. It's one issue for the future me, hehe.

 

[Tsukihime]

5000, full-sized, 800x600 images? Or 5000 24x24 sized images?


This is one of the reasons why spritesheets/texture atlases exist: you don't need to put 2000 small images as their own file. It is going to be terrible to load all of those files separately, as opposed to combining them into a few large sheets and then specifying the specific region you want to pull your textures from.

 

[Andar]

Do you know a good script I could use?

There are several scripts, which have different options and complexity.
Fomar's facetobust script is in one of the restaff archives, you have to download them (I don't know which one, and it's not available anywhere else). This script is fully automatic (no need for commands, just provide a bust picture with the correct name), but it also has no special options.


Galv's Bust script (http://galvs-scripts.com/2012/12/01/message-busts/) has a few more options, and you'll need to set them in the script.


Modern Algebra's ATS Face options (http://rmrk.net/index.php?topic=48031.0) is the most complex one as it has a lot of options, even allowing for animated busts - but that also means that you'll have to be more carefull and it'll be a lot more work to set everything up.