Others Mass-compressing videos and uploading advice

[AdventAnyx]

Hey! It's me, a noob game-dev, again.
So, after the last update of my game I've finally reached the point of "holy fuck my game is HUGE". Never actually paid attention to how big my files were and how many non-essential animations I put into the game. Until someone pointed out MEGA has a limit of 5Gb download for non-paying users...
I also tried to make "seams" in repeatable animations less annoying and thus, instead of doing 3-4 seconds loops, did 7-8 seconds. Even though they were perfectly synced, if the player has a weak PC, looping could cause a slight lag, so I thought I'd do it this way.

So now comes two problems I have to solve. Solving even 1 of them could be enough, but I'd like any advice for both, please.

1. Upload.
MEGA is a good one. So far I used it for free and it fits just right: up to 30 Gb total space, an app that allows you to sync with a folder on your PC. Good stuff.
But as far as I understand even if I pay them and use "pro" features, ordinary users are still fucked: they can't download big files if they don't have a paid account themselves (?).
I tried uploading to other sources myself for the first 3-4 releases and it's a pain in the ass: I have 4 files (2 for Mac - compressed and normal, 2 for PC - same), and uploading them 1 by 1 is a nightmare. Especially if it gives you some error at the end and you have to do it again.
Lately, I gave up. As soon as I update my topic here with links, I ask the moderator to add other sources.
People told me that NOPY is cool. But I've checked and you can only upload to NOPY if you have an account, and currently, they blocked that feature for the public. Checked their Discord and they won't even sell accounts. The staff here is probably on the list that's how they use it?
So, anyway. If you have some advice as to where I can (comfortably, with some program like MEGA has) upload to files of 5-10 Gb each, a total amount of 30-50 Gb, I'd be grateful.
Maybe it's time to set up my own downloading site? I have no idea how to and how much it'll cost me...

2. Compressing.
I'm using the cruncher right now. Basically, when I post my stuff, I provide two versions: a normal one and a crunched one for both Mac and PC.
As of now, the normal version is ~5.2Gb, and the compressed one is ~770Mb. The cruncher is awesome in simplicity and provides a great reduction of size...as well as terrific loss of quality.
I don't know if it's configurable (too dumb), but if it is, I'd try a different setting for that.

Basically what I'm looking for (not all points are necessary):

• something that can do a mass-compression with over-writes (set a directory and it does its thing, with no need of manual work after the process, to place everything where it was)
• something that has configurable output quality (current cruncher is too much, but having 2 times size-reduction could be pretty helpful)
• would be super cool to have an option to set target size - like, I want the end result to be ~4.5Gb, now choose the quality yourself.
• an option to keep FPS would be nice. I've started doing animations at 60fps (faster moving objects look hella nicer)
• maybe something else (if I remember what I want - I'll edit), maybe some feature I've never seen before but is crucial

So... Yeah. I'd take any advice at this point. Thanks!

 

[Deleted member 1121028]

It's very big text tho.

 

[Meushi]

2. Compressing

If you like Cruncher other than the quality drop with the current settings, you could try altering the quality settings within the Cruncher batch file?

Create a copy of RenCruncher-x64-v0.4.1.bat (e.g. RenCruncher-x64-v0.4.1_HQ.bat) and open it in a text editor like Notepad++ or Atom.

Scroll down to :images and increase the number after "-q" (i.e. -q 85 is higher quality than the current default -q 80, max. 100).

set "command-var="%CD%\Cruncher-x64\nconvert.exe" -out webp -o "%%~dpa%%~na".temp.webp -q 80 "%%a"
...
set "command-var="%CD%\Cruncher-x64\cwebp.exe" "%%a" -progress -q 80 -m 5 -mt -o "%%~dpa%%~na".temp."

Run it on a few test images with different -q numbers to work out the smallest number that is good enough quality for you.

Then scroll down to :video and decrease the value after -crf (i.e. -crf 30 is higher quality than the current default -crf 40, range 0-51 ).

set "command-var="%CD%\Cruncher-x64\ffmpeg.exe" -y -i "%%a" -c:v libvpx-vp9 -threads 8 -row-mt 1 -quality good -pass 1 -b:v 0 -crf 40 -speed 4 -tile-columns 4 -frame-parallel 1 -g 240 -vsync 2 -r 30 -an -f webm NUL"
set "command-var2="%CD%\Cruncher-x64\ffmpeg.exe" -i "%%a" -c:v libvpx-vp9 -threads 8 -row-mt 1 -quality good -pass 2 -b:v 0 -crf 40 -speed 1 -tile-columns 4 -frame-parallel 1 -auto-alt-ref 1 -lag-in-frames 25 -g 240 -vsync 2 -r 30 -c:a libopus -vbr on -compression_level 10 -frame_duration 60 -application audio -b:a 32k -f webm "%%~dpa%%~na".temp."

Again run it on a few test videos with different -crf numbers to work out the largest number that is good enough quality for you.

No doubt you could optimize it more, but you'd need to dig into the documentation for each exe.

Or ask for advice on higher quality setting in the Cruncher thread?

Or if you can't be fussed with editing it yourself, maybe try the YAC cruncher. You can choose one of three quality settings with it, HQ is intended for devs wanting to maintain excellent quality.

 

[InCompleteController]

If it's just an issue with the individual file size then using Winrar to split the game into multiple parts seem like a decent option. It's really simple, as you just have to specify the maximum size limit for the archive.

 

[AdventAnyx]

If you like Cruncher other than the quality drop with the current settings, you could try altering the quality settings within the Cruncher batch file?
Or if you can't be fussed with editing it yourself, maybe try the YAC cruncher. You can choose one of three quality settings with it, HQ is intended for devs wanting to maintain excellent quality.

Thank you!
I'll try the YAC and see how that goes.

If it's just an issue with the individual file size then using Winrar to split the game into multiple parts seem like a decent option. It's really simple, as you just have to specify the maximum size limit for the archive.

I think that MEGA just limits per-day downloads to 5Gb (?). If that's the case splitting files won't help.
Thanks for answering either way.