May I ask for a hint on how you kept the file size so small? Before purchasing, full on the project files. Kind regards! Felipe.
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Hi there! I have always taken a very different approach to texturing models in my games. Most modern games (especially asset packs) have unique textures for almost every single model, often at 4k+ resolution. This is where I think the bulk of space is taken up in modern games. I admit that it looks the best that way, but it also takes so much more work to create, especially if you're hand-painting textures. I generally will have several base textures that I use for mostly everything except characters. For example, a concrete texture at 1-2k resolution can be reused for a variety of surfaces. I also use world aligned textures for almost everything that is static, and will use a noise mask to mix between another texture for variety and break up the tiled pattern. If I want something to have edge wear, I will use a technique called hotspot texturing, where I have a black and white texture with different rectangles and circles that I can use on a second UV map and blend between different textures. I don't know if any of this will make sense to you (unless you're an artist!), but that's the "secret" :) In short, efficient texture use can do a lot to lower the size of a game! Also using 1-2k textures and only 4k when absolutely necessary (like for characters). Hopefully that helps!
Thank you very much for your thorough reply! Yes indeed I get what you are going with, except the part of hotspot texturing for edges, that would be cool to learn in Unreal instead of doing it on Substance. But my original question was related mostly with the base size of Unreal Engine 4 games on shipping builds, which even empty, as I understand, starts at 300mb+. Regardless, great job, and thank you for a newfound perspective! Cheers from Chile.
Hotspot texturing is really easy to set up and super fun! I highly recommend trying it out.
As far as the base file size, I guess there's probably not much that can be done about that. Also, I Just looked at one of my bigger project files for reference, which is a little over 2gb. The folders for Blueprints, animations, meshes, levels, etc. are all under 100mb each. The sounds folder is around 250mb, and the textures folder is 500mb+, even using my methods. So, it seems like sounds and textures are where the bulk of the data comes from (at least for the types of games I make), and even my textures folder is twice as much as the sounds folder. If I were using mostly 4k textures, and per-object textures, the folder would be multiple gb. So all that to say, I think the textures are where you really need to pay the most attention if you want to keep the overall project file size low. I've worked on projects with other companies who used asset packs, and they were well over 100gb, mainly because of the textures. But yeah, as far as the base size, that's just the cost of using Unreal haha. I'm also not sure about how the data changes once you package the game, as the build will add new files, but in my case, the built file is either roughly the same size, or smaller with larger projects. Anyway, there's some more anecdotal information for your consideration! Cheers from America!