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"Too many files in zip" error

A topic by MechScapeZH created Sep 13, 2019 Views: 5,268 Replies: 18

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MechScapeZH5 years ago(+1)

Hello,

I'm very interested in putting my game up on itch.io- it's an amazing site. However, when I try uploading my browser game, I get an error reading:

"There was a problem loading your project:

Too many files in zip (771 > 500)
Please try deleting the ZIP file and uploading another one."

I looked up the error, and I found a help page saying that I had to either delete files from my game or contact itch.io support to lift the file limit. I deleted all unnecessary files, but still got the error- 771 is the absolute lowest I can go without breaking the game. I did send an email to support, but I can't seem to reach them, so I hoped I might get an answer here. What can I do to solve this error?

Thank you in advance for your help.

No Time To PlayModerator5 years ago

Have patience until support gets back to you. :) They receive many e-mails. Or else find a way to reduce the number of files anyway, because a lot of people will have trouble loading and playing your game if it's that big.

MechScapeZH5 years ago

Yes, of course- I just thought I might get an answer here quicker. I didn't mean to be impatient- it's just that my game is finally finished and I want to get it out into the world, you know? I'm sorry if I should have waited longer.

My game isn't actually that large- it's just that I made in RPG Maker and the engine processes each animation individually, so the file count is large.

No Time To PlayModerator5 years ago(+1)

It's all right to ask, sometimes we can reply more quickly here. In this case there's no other solution unfortunately. Sorry about that.

MechScapeZH5 years ago

All right- thank you for your help. :)

Yal5 years ago(+1)

Probably is a bit late for this since you already got help, but would it work using a compressed format other than vanilla ZIP? For instance 7z or tar-bz archive? Of course, those give your players a bit of a headache uncompressing the files in the end, since they're non-standard formats.

(Another way to get around this could be zipping your zip archive in another zip archive so the main zip only contains one file, but because of how compression works, this probably will just make the download LARGER)

...oh, wait, you said browser game. Derp, then I guess it wouldn't even load properly. Sorry, should've read the question more thoroughly before trying to help. x3

MechScapeZH5 years ago

Thanks for trying, anyway. :)

That Other Fish5 years ago(+1)

Does it count files in sub-folders as well, or what?

MechScapeZH5 years ago

Unfortunately so.

Jeroen P. Broks5 years ago(+1)

Now I wonder (not that much of an issue to me. Since to my own JCR6 system that I use in nearly all my projects, this error won't hit me (good thing, as my project would exceed 1000 files otherwise already)), but why this limit anyway? Now the question by That Other Fish, makes me think it could indeed be because there could be too many files to find the main executable, and then indeed I wonder if files in sub-folders are indeed fine.... ;)

No Time To PlayModerator5 years ago(+1)

It's not hard to find the main file, since it has to be named index.html and nothing else. The issue is twofold: one, a safety limit that prevents someone from e.g. uploading a zip bomb and causing a DoS on the server side, and two, a common sense limit so players don't find their own browser and OS taken out by a game too big to load and play. It happens often enough to me as it is, with games way under the limit.

MechScapeZH5 years ago

I did test my game, and it loaded and played fine despite the file count.

No Time To PlayModerator5 years ago(+1)

Do you have a high-end computer, by any chance? Because a lot of people are stuck with business machines made ten years ago, or almost.

MechScapeZH5 years ago

Not at all- I have the cheapest model I could find. I don't really need a high-end one.

Jeroen P. Broks5 years ago

Thanks for the explanation, and now that I get an answer I didn't expect to get, I'm glad I asked.
Does this only affect web games? Or downloadable games as well?

No Time To PlayModerator5 years ago

Far as I know, downloadable games only have a size limit imposed on them, since the server doesn't need to unpack the archive or look inside it, and it's assumed players can more easily handle large native games (for one thing, they can read the system requirements first).

Jeroen P. Broks5 years ago

Thank you 😊

devnewton5 years ago

Hello, I have the same problem. My browser game is not that big (38M) but has 1025 files (lot of levels).

Is there a way to extends this limit?

No Time To PlayModerator5 years ago

Yes, you can contact support for it. And next time, please start a new topic. It was a lucky thing that I noticed your post.

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