Combining Ztd's In Ztcc

[JohnRN1]

I know how to combine files, but can I combine animals, objects, foilage etc, into one ztd file for my dlupdates folder?

Should they be combined separately?

Just to make clearer: If I take animal1.ztd and zip it with animal2.ztd, will they appear correctly in my game as one ztd in my dlupdates folder after changing the zip file to a ztd file?

Thanks in advance,
John

[Jay]

Yes, different ".ztd" files may be combined into a single ".ztd" file. It is even recommended in order to avoid hitting ZT's file limit. Also, it makes it easier to move things in and out of the dlupdate or Updates folders. What you combine is a personal decision. As for me, I separate them by purchase menu, in order to be able to find things faster. So the names I use are: foliage.ztd, rocks.ztd, shelters.ztd, structures.ztd, toys.ztd, user_fences.ztd, user_paths.ztd, and zoo_scenery.ztd. I also have foliage_as_rocks.ztd and scenery_as_rocks.ztd. These are things I consider to be configured incorrectly so I did not want to put them in the other combined ".ztd" files until they are configured correctly. For animals, I have only combined some. I have nonliving_user_animals.ztd and nonspecial_animals.ztd. These are ones that I don't care about as much. Those that I do care about, I leave on their own, since animal ".ztd" files tend to be large on their own. If I ever get to the point where I need to combine some of them, though, I have already decided I would use user_animals.ztd. I do not combine ".ztd" files that already have things from different purchase menus in them. And you should never combine any ".ztd" files that come with ZT or were official downloads, since some things might not work otherwise. Also, I would not recommend combining hacks, since their placement is usually important. And you should not combine things if that would make ZT have more than 3000 user made things, which is another of its limits. So you do not want to combine all of the angled animations together, for example. Combining things can sometimes be tricky. Sometimes APE has used the same ID for 2 different people. That means they are using the same file names and a single ".ztd" can only have 1 of the files in it. This is considered a conflict and we try to fix them as we find them and as time permits. But just because the file names are the same in 2 different ".ztd" files, that does not mean they are conflicting. Sometimes files are reused from one thing to another. For example, there are different user made restaurants that sell some of the same things or show the same names in ZT. These are intentional and can be combined. In fact, it is more efficient if these types of files are combined.

[JohnRN1]

Tha'ts a terrific explanation Jay. I have seen posts by Fern about combining ztd's and I always having been meaning to do that.

Now, let me get this right:

1. If I combine some ztds and some don't show up in the game, that doesn't mean I have a conflict, but does that mean they just shouldn't be combined in the same ztd? Or, does that mean they should stay the way they are? Or, does that mean their ID numbers should be changed?

2. Also, I have been using winzip for years, basically because I paid for it a few years ago. I also have 7-zip on my computer, but haven't used it yet. I like that one because it has that "test archive" option. I need to go back and look at your article on which zip program you recommend.

Thanks again,

John

[Jay]

Now, let me get this right:

1.  If I combine some ztds and some don't show up in the game, that doesn't mean I have a conflict, but does that mean they just shouldn't be combined in the same ztd? Or, does that mean they should stay the way they are? Or, does that mean their ID numbers should be changed?

If you combine 2 ".ztd" files and only 1 shows up ingame, and assuming you did not make a mistake doing the combining, then that means there was a conflict. In that case, 1 of them will need a new ID in order to avoid the conflict. For conflicts, even if they were in separate ".ztd" files, only 1 would show ingame.

2.  Also, I have been using winzip for years, basically because I paid for it a few years ago. I also have 7-zip on my computer, but haven't used it yet. I like that one because it has that "test archive" option. I need to go back and look at your article on which zip program you recommend.

Yes, it is best to look at that article, since it contains a lot of information. It recommends using 7-zip for both ".ztd" files and ".zip" files, but it also includes a "shrink" package I put together that will make ".ztd" files and sometimes ".zip" files even smaller.

[JohnRN1]

I'm zipping and reading as we speak.

[JohnRN1]

Help!! I took all my ztd's (just the fences), zipped them all up in one zip file, changed the file to a ztd, inserted it into my dlupdates folder and they don't show up in the game.

What did I do? Where can I go? What will become of my reputation? Did I say reputation???

Can you tell me what I did wrong? I am still using winzip, but that shouldn't matter.

I don't think my other combined ztd's work either, just glancing at the paths in the game, I know the ones I put in the paths ztd aren't there.

John

[fern]

Maybe you better post it where we can see it.

[JohnRN1]

I goofed:

Here's what I did: I took all my ztd's from (say foilages) zipped them together in a zip file, then changed the zip file to a ztd. NO GOOD

The right way was: Take each ztd, unzip it, put it in a separate folder. Then take each ztd I want to put in that folder and unzip each one, then put the entire contents into that separate folder.

After getting all the ztds unzipped and putting all of it in the separate folder, THEN I am supposed to zip up the folder and then change it to a ztd.

I knew I was missing one step in there.

Thank you,
John

[fern]

Live and learn. You aren't the first to do that and won't be the last.

[JohnRN1]

Combining ZTD'S Question:

1. Why is it not efficient to combine animal uca's into one ztd dlupdate file?

2. If some of my ztd's don't show up in a "combined ztd", how would I know if it conflicts with another ztd? This is assuming that both ztd's work fine separtely. And, would I have to check all my uca id numbers to see which one's are duplicates?

Thanks in advance

[Jay]

1. Why is it not efficient to combine animal uca's into one ztd dlupdate file?

If this is supposed to be referring to anything I said, I never said this. I said that, for the animals I cared about, I did not combine them because they are usually large on their own. If I were to combine them, the combined ".ztd" would be hundreds of MBs or even GBs in size. That is just more than I want to deal with if I do not have to. For me personally, I would never go more than 640 MB because some of the older CD-R drives could only handle that much.

2. If some of my ztd's don't show up in a "combined ztd", how would I know if it conflicts with another ztd? This is assuming that both ztd's work fine separtely. And, would I have to check all my uca id numbers to see which one's are duplicates?

If you have something in a combined ".ztd" and it is not showing up, then either there is a conflict or you did not combine them correctly. You should actually know even before you combined them that there might be a potential conflict. As you extract them from the original ".ztd" files, if a file exists already, whatever you use to do the extracting should give a warning and ask you if you want to overwrite the file. Depending on the file, that may or may not be a conflict. It probably is not a conflict if it is a building ".ztd", a ".wav" file, or a "readme.txt" file. Otherwise it probably is a conflict. If there is a conflict, it would also be a conflict even if the separate ".ztd" files are put in the dlupdate at the same time. When that happens, you would have to check the id numbers to see which are duplicates.

[JohnRN1]

Yes, that word "effficient" was referring to your post. And, the wrong word to use in that case. Perhaps I should have stated. "Why do you leave the animal files you care about by themselves? Or, What do you mean when saying: "the animal files I care about"? Does that last question just mean that those are files that don't need fixing and are just too big to deal with when combining them?

Regards,
John

[fern]

I generally do not combine animals either. I put them in the game as I want to use them. The more in the game the longer the game takes to load as ZT has to "read" every little part of a file.
Part of this is I am forever chopping and changing with what is allowable in various contests if I am doing them. Which also means I have to keep the sites separate on my hard drive so I don't use the wrong sites files in a contest.

[JohnRN1]

Thanks Fern, I'm going to follow yours and Jays lead on this as it sure sounds like the best way to handle the animals.

Regards,
John

BTW: Oh, no!! John has another question!!

I don't know if I've asked this before, but, if I have a conflict with a uci not showing up (that was put in a combined ztd fle), and there are no identical id#'s, what other factors would indicate a conflict? Whew! Did I say that right?

[fern]

what is the file name? Need ztd name, zip name, ucs id if you know it. Or you could post it where we can look at it