Help! Memory problems!

I made a plug that only adds four ships (so far, I'm adding to it all the time) and it's already 3.3 MB and so my comp won't open EVO cos of memory errors. How do I make it take less memory (why is it 3.3 MB already anyway???) I'm very confused.

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I think I'll take up Wudan.

Hmmmm

I have had this problem too. try bumping up EVO's memory.

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Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah!!

Sometimes a memory error is caused by a problem with your plugin's graphics. Depending on what editor you're using, you might need to check the number and size of frames for each ship by either opening the ship graphics window or going to the spin and pict resources. The size of each frame (and image?) should be a multiple of 8, each ship/weapon should have 36 frames (on a 6*6 grid), and a mask that looks the same (except that the mask's in black and white). Take a look at the default spins and their graphics if you need to. There is a program called Plug Checker (I think it's in the archives) that will tell you if your plugin is okay, and might even fix it automatically.

If the size of your plug is worrying you, I would go through it carefully with ResEdit to see what's taking up that space.

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-- Nikolaus Wegner

I do not think your promblem has anything to do with memory. If you have a bad spin somewhere, it will say you've got a mem. problem. Make sure that all of your spins go to the correct places.

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"Whoopie! Man, that may have been a small one for Neil, but it's a long one for me."
-Pete Conrad third man on the moon

Quote

Originally posted by Evil Penguin:
**I made a plug that only adds four ships (so far, I'm adding to it all the time) and it's already 3.3 MB and so my comp won't open EVO cos of memory errors. How do I make it take less memory (why is it 3.3 MB already anyway???) I'm very confused.
**

What everyone else said about the problem being a bad Spin is most likely correct. Nine times out of ten (actually I can't think of a time when this hasn't been the case, but nothing is absolute) the out of memory error is caused by a spin that points to a non-existent graphic.

As for the size, I'd guess that you've got graphics in thousands or millions of colors. EV/O only supports 256 colors, so there's no need to have all that extra data stored in the graphics. Convert the sprites to 256 colors and the masks to black and white bitmaps and the file size will drop dramatically.

And BTW, while Plugchecker is an invaluable tool for spotting plug errors, it won't actually fix the problems; it'll only tell you what the problems are.

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Jon Potter
Thank you for your cooperation. Good night.

thanks!! You were right about the spin problem. Also about the file size.

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I think I'll take up Wudan.
Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away, and you have their shoes.