Is there a compressed version?
Yes, I'm aware that Runey is convinced somehow that 13 gb of images is normal. Yes, I'm aware I can search for compressed and sift through 44 pages of comments from the last 8ish years that talk about compressed versions. That being said, does it actually exist?
Here is how to find out if there is a compressed version. It's not at all obvious, which is why this question keeps getting asked:
- If you haven't done that yet, go to Settings -> Preferences -> Search Options. Change it from the absurd and unhelpful "Default Search Order" to "Most Recent". This makes searching for something in a thread way easier in most cases.
- Check the download section of the original post for the game. Sometimes a compressed version is linked from there and you are done.
- Add a "v" in front of the current version number, such as "v0.19". (The necessity to do this is probably what prevents a lot of people from figuring it out on their own.)
- While in the thread for the game, click the magnifying glass icon top right. Search defaults to the option "This thread", which is exactly what we need.
- Enter the word "compressed" and the version number string you got in step 2, e.g. like this: compressed v0.19
- Go through the hits (if any) to find the post linking the compressed version (if it exists).
- If not successful, an update patch from older versions to the current one may be linked from the original post, and a compressed recent earlier version may exist. The update patch is very likely to work on the compressed version as well and will result in a hybrid version in which only the latest renders are uncompressed.
- If all else fails, searching in the thread just for compressed may provide further information.
Note however that beta versions will typically
not be available compressed (or as differential patches) as these should only be used by the few who want to provide feedback to the developer and can deal with frustrating bugs, ruining their previous saves, and other disasters. (This is particularly true for Harem Hotel, which has a track record of
very unfinished beta versions.) An exception may have been made if a beta version was the last one available when the game was abandoned, and it isn't catastrophically bad.