At 11/12/02, David Megginson wrote:
Jim Wilson writes:
> If Blender becomes the "tool of choice", as it probably should, for developing
> FlightGear Models then it makes sense to have those files in the CVS directory
> with the ac files that are derived from them. The CVS is a development
> repository after all.
I'm already concerned about the base-package size. We need to start
thinking seriously about making most aircraft optional add-ons. It's
easy for me with a fast cable modem, but I don't want to scare away
regular users. If the DC-3 (for example) was its own, separately
downloadable package, then I'd have no problem including the Blender
and XCF sources with it.
All the best,
David
(flame suit on)
Some thoughts on the size of the base package. I did a 'du -k' on fgfsbase. The results can be viewed here: http://michael.selig.com/fgfs/021112-size.html From this I get: * The base package is about 100MB. Over a cable modem, this is not a problem. Over a phone modem, it is a nighttime chore. I have not heard complaints from those downloading overnight, or from those who get it in a "flash" over a cable modem. * I looked at the size of the dirs. The output is given below (sorry for the length!). When looking at this it's important to realize that the size of each nested dir is given, so don't be misled. For example, this info 10800 fgfsbase/Data/SkyClouds 10820 fgfsbase/Data All the space (10MB) is obviously in SkyClouds, not 20MB total. * I have included (in the link above) two versions of the same output. First in alfa order, and then in order of size. * The entire Aircraft dir, takes up about 25MB of the space --- 25%. Topping the list is the Wright Flyer w/ 4MB and then smaller after that. I doubt if these larger aircraft are ones that one would like to make optional (especially at this stage in the still early development of fgfs). For example, here are the largest dirs in Aircraft: Top 10 4060 fgfsbase/Aircraft/wrightFlyer1903/Models (4MB) 2604 fgfsbase/Aircraft/X15/Models (2.6MB) 1820 fgfsbase/Aircraft/747/Models (...) 1228 fgfsbase/Aircraft/sopwithCamel/Models/uiuc/sopwithCamel 1124 fgfsbase/Aircraft/asw20/Models/uiuc/asw20-stuck 1044 fgfsbase/Aircraft/j3cub/Models 908 fgfsbase/Aircraft/c172p/Models 660 fgfsbase/Aircraft/a4/Models 640 fgfsbase/Aircraft/c310u3a/Models 556 fgfsbase/Aircraft/c172/Panels Next 2 280 fgfsbase/Aircraft/c172/Models 260 fgfsbase/Aircraft/airwaveXtreme150/Models/uiuc * So if the top ten were optional, that would save about 15MB from the base package and 10 interesting aircraft would be downloaded separately. Is that worth it? It's a flight simulator and I think people who download it are expecting to have aircraft to fly immediately---several to choose from. To download things separately is going to be a hassle. Until people really start complaining, I'd say take a "wait and see attitude". Let's not throw the baby out w/ the bath water. If space becomes an issue, I think there are bigger fish to fry, like the SkyClouds dir(?). Finally, it seems retro to take aircraft out of a flight simulator. Regards, Michael
-- David Megginson, [EMAIL PROTECTED], http://www.megginson.com/ _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.flightgear.org/mailman/listinfo/flightgear-devel
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