Main > Main Forum

Mame merged set question

<< < (2/2)

honeyjew:
For opening and editing large text files, can I suggest Notepad++ as a very good substitute for Windows Notepad

NOP:

--- Quote from: gman314 on November 22, 2012, 07:51:26 pm ---Just out of curiosity though, if I did end up splitting the set, would it take up more space? The merged 147 set already takes up over 40 gb.

--- End quote ---
yes, a split set will consume more space because you're moving identical ROM files into separate zip files.

the good:
  a split set is extremely easy to add/subtract things from your list:  1 zip == 1 game
  games load slightly faster since all the roms are contained inside 1 zip file (but you will likely never notice the speed bump)

the bad:
  a split set will consume more HDD space.

the best:
  split your set, then update your list to how you want them, then merge them down again to save the space


IMO, space is cheap.  What else are you going to do with those extra 100+ Gig on your machine anyway?  I say split 'em and make updates easier.

gman314:

--- Quote from: NOP on November 23, 2012, 10:45:15 am ---
--- Quote from: gman314 on November 22, 2012, 07:51:26 pm ---Just out of curiosity though, if I did end up splitting the set, would it take up more space? The merged 147 set already takes up over 40 gb.

--- End quote ---
yes, a split set will consume more space because you're moving identical ROM files into separate zip files.

--- End quote ---

Hmmm? I would have thought that a merged and split set would take up the same amount of space, considering the fact that no files are being duplicated.  Beyond that, an empty zip file takes up 0KB.  As a result, I would guess that spliting a set would simply remove files out of the parent zip and transfer them into an empty zip.  I'm not doubting the above info, but wouldn't the new zip file take up the same space as the files before they were taken out of the merged zip (since the only addition would be the fact that they are being housed in an empty zip file that is initially 0KB in size?).

This is just something that I've always wondered about since I am now starting to understand the differences between merged, split, and non merged sets.
--- Quote from: NOP on November 23, 2012, 10:45:15 am ---
--- Quote from: gman314 on November 22, 2012, 07:51:26 pm ---Just out of curiosity though, if I did end up splitting the set, would it take up more space? The merged 147 set already takes up over 40 gb.

--- End quote ---

IMO, space is cheap.  What else are you going to do with those extra 100+ Gig on your machine anyway?  I say split 'em and make updates easier.


--- End quote ---

Space isn't so cheap if you recently invested in a SSD like I did.  :D  $200 for 256 gb, but it was worth it.   :cheers:

NOP:

--- Quote from: gman314 ---Hmmm? I would have thought that a merged and split set would take up the same amount of space, considering the fact that no files are being duplicated.  Beyond that, an empty zip file takes up 0KB.  As a result, I would guess that spliting a set would simply remove files out of the parent zip and transfer them into an empty zip.

--- End quote ---
you're correct.  This is my inability to remember at work.  this is straight from cmpro tutorials:

Non-Merged Sets =   Any files created will have all of the roms it needs to run
Split sets                = Any files created will have the roms it needs as either a parent or clone rom file.
Merge Sets        = Any file created will have the parent and clone roms in it.

I think the wording for all of these is absolutely terrible, which is likely why I repress it and then spew half-truths. ;)

What I like to do is a full on, NON MERGED set, where in the end you get 1 zip file is 1 game.
Then I do up my lists, move the files over to the machine, then merge them back together to save the space. 
(in all honesty, I don't actually re-merge the sets because in my case, space is cheap and my machine can't play more than a few gig worth of games anyway)


Navigation

[0] Message Index

[*] Previous page

Go to full version