Does having many and/or large hakpak files influence performance?

[Legacy_Grani]

                I'm working on a module that's mostly supposed to be for my friends. I might release it for the community, but that's not my "target audience", so I normally wouldn't mind the size of the module and its contents to be very large, even if it would keep potential players at bay.

But I'm worried about another thing - does having many hakpaks influence performance of the module in one way or another? For example, by causing some random crashes during gameplay?

I'm asking this, because if the only downside of having more haks is the size, then I can add more custom content without worry. If it's not the case, however, then I'll try to keep it to minimum.

At the moment I have about 600MB of custom content, excluding CEP.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Zwerkules]

               Since you're excluding the CEP you'll probably not have any trouble as long as you've merged the 2da files properly if you use two different placeable haks for example.
It's more how many placeables you use that causes lag then where they come from.
More haks means longer loading times, but that's about all.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Grani]

               Don't get me wrong, I AM using CEP, by "excluding" I meant that other custom content is about 600MB.

Well, 90% or so of the custom content I use are tilesets, so there are no placeables that should conflict with each other.

But if that's so, then longer loading times are a price I can pay for having more diverse world in the game, thanks. '>

And, by the way, your Medieval City tileset is on the list of the content I'm using. Thank you for such a great contribution!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_The Amethyst Dragon]

               I'd say go ahead and add custom stuff to your heart's content.  I use CEP, Project Q, and my own personalized haks, and it all weighs in at about 8.75 GB.  

The longest "loading time" for me just seems to be with the toolset (opening the module, then loading in the initial area screen with palettes), nothing too noticeable on the players' side.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Grani]

               I'll do just that, thanks for the reply. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Ssythilac]

               A good topic here. I want to ask a question in this matter; the NWN modules have any limits? I mean, the size of the module, the number of areas, haks, number of tilesets, etc.

One of the modules in what I`m working now have a size of 55 Mb (still under constuction) and a multiple haks and tilesets merged, maybe a 5 Gb in hak size, a lot of 2das... The module seems to play fine, unless the load times, but I am afraid that someday crashes or something...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               Ssythilac: I have worked with much larger modules and not had any troouble - other than general slowness in toolset.

The issue with resources is how many items are in your Temp0 folder, and how many items are on the Palette that a DM sees.

Some Links for more reading:

• Here's a thread on toolset limits.
• Discussion on art asset quality
• Too Many Reouces for DM Client

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Ssythilac]

               Thanks for the reply and the links, henesua!