Reducing the size of OAR uploads

[Dot Matrix]

If, like me, you like to combine regions in various configurations to create different views, you'll know how large megaregion OARs can be -- possibly 100+ MB in size.

However, I've just experimented with using the --noassets switch when saving the oar in SoaS. The single regions involved had all previously been uploaded to Kitely, so the assets are already on the asset server.

Here's the command to use:

Code: Select all

save oar --noassets --all supersmallmega.oar

It makes a huge difference in size -- in this case the resulting OAR was 2.6 MB.

And the regions look just as they should do in Kitely.

I wonder whether this would work for some of the monster LK OARs too.

[Ilan Tochner]

Hi Dot,

This will only work if the assets with those UUIDs already exist in Kitely.

[Dot Matrix]

I know. That's why I said "The single regions involved had all previously been uploaded to Kitely".

A question: Does uploading the same single-region OAR file by different avatars, say the Linda Kellie Freebie Mall 2.0, change the UUIDs of the assets?

If it is possible to reduce the upload size of OARs like this, it will help those of us stuck with slow ASDL broadband connections.

[Ilan Tochner]

The way we implement load OAR now it wouldn't change the UUIDs of the assets but that may change in the future.

Please note that we've added some security features to the standard load OAR mechanism to prevent people from importing an asset which has the same UUID as a different asset that was previously imported. When we detect that a newly imported asset has the same UUID as another asset already in Kitely but that is otherwise different from that first asset, we discard the newly uploaded asset. For example, if you upload an OAR file that contains a texture that has the UUID X and then upload an OAR file that contains a different texture that also has the UUID X then we will not import the second texture into Kitely.

[Dot Matrix]

The reason I'm pressing this point is that a lot of us use the Linda Kellie OARs to get quick access to legally licensed content that can be later exported. Many of these OARs are very large downloads/uploads.

If someone prepares a set of no-asset LK OARs, that could considerably reduce the download/upload times and associated costs.

Point taken that this may change in the future. But for the time being it could be useful. Thanks for clarifying.