Just an idea I had...

[KTownEgghead]

I was in the shower (LOL) and I had a pretty interesting idea. Now, I don't know if this is entirely possible, but hear me out.

What if we took the files that were in a song folder (guitar.ogg, song.ogg, song.ini, etc.) and merged them into one file (*name*.fof, for example) so we could just upload the .fof file instead of having to compress them into .zip or .rar? It could also have a compression tool to make the file size smaller. A program could be made to combine all of the proper files.

I'm not sure if this is possible, but it would be the coolest thing ever :P

[Lysdestic]

You were in the shower? I hope to bob you weren't singing Paramore.

It's certainly possible.

I can see the advantages and disadvantages to both, but I do kind of like the idea.

[KTownEgghead]

You were in the shower? I hope to bob you weren't singing Paramore.

Oh, WHYYYY do we LIKEEE to HURRRT, so MUCH!!!

:P

But it could help reduce the large amounts of files in the FoFiX/FoF folders, and save some hard drive space. My only concerns are how it will distinguish the information from each other, and if it will keep the original quality.

[Lysdestic]

Think quake engine based games, they all use the pk3 file, which is just a zip file, if I recall correctly, to store info for mods.

For example, when I was into the Elite Force modding scene, people could release characters and maps with all the individual files in the pk3 file, and the game would read them from inside of that.

Edit: This would be great for themes and mods too, I think. Personally, if we could do 7z that would be the best, I think.

[Azzco]

Another thing with the quake engine games is that they can read normal folders/files (pun intended) as well.

I don't think it should be any problem with mods and themes, the real issue with songs though is that you have to write to them to add high scores, and then you have to recompress...

[Lysdestic]

Use sqlite databases for what used to be writeable in the ini.

For instance, a scores_database file in the songs folder that tracks scores instead of the song.ini.

If no one minds, I'm going to issue this.

Edit: Done. FoFiX issue 746

Star it to show your support and interest to the developers, share your input, and keep track on what others think.

[vedicardi]

Most charters I know would be far too lazy to put songs into this format just to save size or remove clutter. Having easy access to the midi and the .ini files is important, particularly when adding/creating tiers in the ini files or updating charts.

[KTownEgghead]

Another idea I had (Going to add this to the code page):

What if, instead of making a whole new archive, FoFiX reads from the .zip and .rar files? It would make it quicker to play download songs, but it might take longer to load things. It would be convenient, though, because of the time it takes to add/remove from/to the .zip or .rar files.

[Lysdestic]

Another idea I had (Going to add this to the code page):

What if, instead of making a whole new archive, FoFiX reads from the .zip and .rar files? It would make it quicker to play download songs, but it might take longer to load things. It would be convenient, though, because of the time it takes to add/remove from/to the .zip or .rar files.

I would support this as well.

@Vedi, there would have to be a fall-back option anyway for the mass of songs already done without this, for backwards-compatibility. This would be optional at most, and preferable at best.

[sonicandshadow97]

I like this! I think it's a great idea. At one point in time I had had AALLLLLLLLLL of Puppetz's songs. The folder was 1.2 gigabytes. Holy F*CK!!

[angellinus]

Oh great how EOF will open that file?

[jstump91]

This will barely save you any disk space because the audio is already compressed!

[vedicardi]

Another idea I had (Going to add this to the code page):

What if, instead of making a whole new archive, FoFiX reads from the .zip and .rar files? It would make it quicker to play download songs, but it might take longer to load things. It would be convenient, though, because of the time it takes to add/remove from/to the .zip or .rar files.

I would support this as well.

@Vedi, there would have to be a fall-back option anyway for the mass of songs already done without this, for backwards-compatibility. This would be optional at most, and preferable at best.

Yeah. That'd work. Also reading RAR files would work.

But I also totally agree with what jstump said. You're really not gonna save any space at all. Maybe a few MB to a GB but that's all.

[Azzco]

It would only make the structure more simple, well themes could benefit from the compression.

Oh great how EOF will open that file?

It wouldn't, your archive application should. Putting the song in a archive would be the final step.

Oh and Vedi, AFAIK most fretters already put their songs in a archive, the only difference would be changing the extension.

[vedicardi]

Yeah, I put my songs in an archive too. I was referring to the original idea more than anything. Reading RARs would be better, but it really won't be that useful as far as I can tell.