Reducing map sizes

theres so many cool things that can be done to .w3m files now such as an image for the minimap, custom fade filters, and AbilityData.slk to name a few but all seem to add an enourmous amount to the file size.

Any techniques for reduciing sizes on .w3ms?

well, you can avoid using huge MP3 since mp3 do not compact very well. I would also say to try to make a small map and use better the space you have, instead of creating a huge map with lots of empty places.

pre-placed doodads and units can take some space. You can use triggers to generate them at map init (triggers are text, so they have good compression)..

and you can also erase the minimap pic to save some more space.

There are the obvious, and not so obvious things.

Perhaps the most often overlooked is camera related triggers. They take up a ton of space, so use them sparingly.

Typically, it's best to compress MP3s to about 40.

I think someone mentioned that imported data can be compressed with map protector; I haven't verified that.

Like the other fellow said, small maps can be good. What I usually do is mentally image what my map should look like, then I start small, and if I need to extend the bounds, that option is available.

wow so using triggers to put doodads in saves space? I think i have like 3000-3500 doodads (mostly forest) in my map. And thats down from 4500. I think the enourmous amount of doodads is laggin myWE too so this would be an awesome solution for map size and editor speed.

Any suggestions on converting my forest into triggers =)

(also how will this lag as the game is loaded or in the first few seconds? im assuming event: map init)

and whats this about cameras taking huge amounts of space?
is that for the actual cameras because they have so many variables or the 'camera triggers' that you use to view them...

also i recently heard that some map protectors compress files (better?) namely AbilityData.slk

Anyone know which map protector is best? (link too plz)

*bump*

Zepir says that the new compression on the MPQ is merely Ziplib (I may have confused the name of it you'll have to ask him) compression level 6. You can increase it up to level 9 though this will take extra time to load your map.

Why Protecting using zepirs actually reduces size better is that the version of WINMPQ or MPQ2k your using doesn't actually do Ziplib compression it does the standard mpq compression. Basically Zepirs BETA 8 (beta 7 is really bad don't use it!) take your map files extracts them then creates a new archive and compiles them all using MPQ then Ziplib compression.
Camera triggers take extra space in the WTG becuase when there there they are added to a file for camera triggers which world edit can use to read and play the camera animations.
Zepir's is currently the strongest protection level level.

It will save space to put units in triggers, but NOT doodads in triggers. Doodads have more overhead code added to them if put in triggers.

To lower your start up lag you'll have to reduce units.

If your using instrumental mp3 and you are nearing 4 megs I suggest pming Blackdick for information about playing Midis (he has a post here on how to do it in war3editing). You may be able to get alot more music for the same size. It involves adding a 3 meg file to your map and a modifed MidiData.slk. Then save using Zepirs editor. You can safely cram 20 minutes of midi music in with this trick and still be under the 4 meg limit.