How big is your plugin folder?

[DrChevy 1]

I recently had a computer crash and had to re-instal Rush hour and after making the decision to stick with Rush for a while until 2013 gets the kinks worked out I thought I would embark on a monumental task before starting my region..... I'm going through the entire STEX and getting every awesome BAT available. I had to limit downloads to 5* rating or 4* rating that I think is just too good to pass up. This is no easy task. Currently I'm at 908 MB of space in the plugin folder and I'm about 1/3 of the way through the BATs.

So that got me thinking.... how big is the average plugin folder?

[nathanthemayor 1,261]

For me:

Without the plugins I use for my Paridise Island Region(Mainly trees and MMPs): 402 mb.

With the extra plugins: 417 mb.

[blunder 1,079]

usually around 3 gigs, depending on what is swapped in and out (and yes i have a ton of waste in there).

[MilitantRadical 2,844]

I'm pretty sure mine is around 5gb, and I have a back up of the whole thing in case stuff goes bad, knock on wood.

[raynev1 1,886]

So far mine has 660 folders containing .98 GB

[hotChocolate 95]

Mine contains 6.000 files and is 1.9 GB. That's still relatively small...

[Wiecher 192]

7,70 GB,

23,389 files

And I delete all pictures, readmes, zips and .exes after I downloaded new stuff.

[Ion_Cannon 677]

4.91GB, most of it datpacked to save space. Keep backups just in case though, can't edit things as easily in a huge dat file and the biggest datpacked file actually crashes reader for some reason.

[Purfer 8]

1.38 GB, but it is pretty tidy and well structured.

[Harry's Place 918]

Over 3 gb and also deleted the zip, pictures, .exe and read me

[SS3K 160]

6.63gbs

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Currently 660.4 MB 521 directories, 2339 files.

I am pretty selective and don't just load a plugin because it has a high rating. I am averse to having multiple sets of dependencies from various groups, and pretty much stick to SimPeg and BSC.

[lhrob 213]

Mine is 1.50 GB - though I wish it were smaller. I could probably get rid of some things that I thought I'd use, but probably won't. No zips, pics, read-me or .exe files.

[Cefien 361]

Mine, over 4gb (datpacked)...i like to collect and will put anything interesting stuff,..but created by trustworthy creators, of course...

i get rid all of the pics, readme, other useles files and let only the needed files within my plugins...

[zimmie 521]

Mine used to be over 4 GB's but I have been working hard on narrowing it down to just the stuff I absolutely want because of performance issues as I have an old machine. I still have more sorting out to do but I've gotten it down to 2.5 GB's. There seems to be this threshold that gets crossed (still figuring out exactly where that is) for me where at some point loading time and even scroll speed of the menu items just get to the point where it's slow enough that I don't want to deal with it.

[Ion_Cannon 677]

Mine used to be over 4 GB's but I have been working hard on narrowing it down to just the stuff I absolutely want because of performance issues as I have an old machine. I still have more sorting out to do but I've gotten it down to 2.5 GB's. There seems to be this threshold that gets crossed (still figuring out exactly where that is) for me where at some point loading time and even scroll speed of the menu items just get to the point where it's slow enough that I don't want to deal with it.

Have you tried datpacking? BSC did a fair amount of research on the subject and found that it wasn't the size of the plugins folder, but the number of files in the plugins folder that led to slow loading times.

[Cefien 361]

Yeah, datpacking will help you decrease the loading time and keep your files in a good shape...but just a little advise, i recomend that you make a backup of your plugins first, save it in the save place, of course, and be sure to read the readme well, as it may cause a CTD sometimes. it happened to me when the first time i used it...

it is better that you also follow the Datpacker thread in sc4devotion. Don't just download, install, next, next and there you are...spent a few minutes reading, and you'll know how many years people struggled in research just to help you understand a thing.

[Morlow 23]

2.54gb and growing every day.

[lhrob 213]

Not to take this too far off-topic, but what exactly is datpacking? And how do you do it? Do you have to know a lot about computer programming to do it, because if so, then I'll forget it. That stuff goes way over my head.

Never mind....I just saw there's a thread at SC4D about it.

[zimmie 521]

Mine used to be over 4 GB's but I have been working hard on narrowing it down to just the stuff I absolutely want because of performance issues as I have an old machine. I still have more sorting out to do but I've gotten it down to 2.5 GB's. There seems to be this threshold that gets crossed (still figuring out exactly where that is) for me where at some point loading time and even scroll speed of the menu items just get to the point where it's slow enough that I don't want to deal with it.

Have you tried datpacking? BSC did a fair amount of research on the subject and found that it wasn't the size of the plugins folder, but the number of files in the plugins folder that led to slow loading times.

No, I haven't tried yet but had already planned on it sometime. I still would like to streamline my plugins as much as possible first anyway and then I will give it a shot. Thanks for the suggestion nonetheless.

[DrChevy 1]

Wow, so I'm still pretty light compared to you guys. THanks for the inputs. I'm going to look into the datpacking as well.

[Maoredunge 2]

17.84gb, 371146 files - non readmes and pics deleted.

[Haljackey 17,303]

Currently mine is 3.64GB.

I've been hovering around the 3.5GB mark since 2006.

[jacksunny 741]

1.5 GB, with about 300 MB of plugins in my Downloads folder I have yet to install.

[zimmie 521]

17.84gb, 371146 files - non readmes and pics deleted.

Insane! atleast it would be to me. You must have every download that ever existed?

Regarding the DatPacker - I gave it a shot. Since I am still managing my plugins, sorting and removing stuff, I just did seperated datpacking instead of the entire plugins folder for now. For example, I would datpack my "industrial" folder and my "office towers" folder, etc. And just doing that alone has done wonders. I mean in the end I will get it down even smaller but for now I went from over 7,000 files to under 700. And like I say, I'll be able to get it down even better once I finalize my plugins folder the way I want it permantly. Definitely worth the effort!

[Cefien 361]

17.84gb, 371146 files - non readmes and pics deleted.

Holly mother plugins...!!!

You got yourself STEX, PLEX, LEX Collections entirely there, huh..??

Have you seen smoke yet, sir..?? lol

Oh, well, that's not my bussines either...

Regarding the DatPacker - I gave it a shot.

How was it..?? Great huh,..?? It really shorten your loading time right??

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Plugins suites are intrinsically variable. Be careful what you datpack. Especially don't datpack NAM and friends as they are updated rather frequently.

Datpack only stuff you think is going to be permanent and invariant. Having a new version for some lot that is in the middle of a datpack is a nuisance. And remember to keep each set of datpacked lots on a backup in case you get an update and have to rerun it.

[Maoredunge 2]

You can belive or not, that your business. I didn't downloaded everything but i did that what I like. Sorry for my english but I'm from Poland

[GamerManGT5 35]

hmm... mine is 1.38GB and it has 4.817 files.

17.84gb, 371146 files - non readmes and pics deleted.

I think you are insane , because you have lots of plugins! I agree with Cefien... lol

This sentence is just a joke.

[Jim14409 448]

Currently 1.25 GB but garbage is removed and organized. I dat pack everything except NAM and Z folders. I keep a unpacked copy and it is easy to add something or remove something and then make a new copy of the unpacked folder and make a packed copy and move it to the SC4 plugins. Then I add the NAM and the Z folders from my stashed copies.

It works very well for me. When I add a new plugin, they install themself into the plugin folder or I add them manually. Sometimes I pack them right away and sometimes later. However, I know anything not packed (except for NAM and Z) in that main plugin folder is not in my back up copy so before packing a new folder I copy those additions to my other folder before packing.

Lost? tell me about it.