Length of file names

[evarburg]

Question to the wise(r) : some files have a helluvah long name (like, for instance, from my beloved Tag One : Plugins\RN Productions\Tag_one\JENX Re-lotted Vol1\Kleines Fachwerkhaus-0x6534284a-0x3227ba12-0xd416344f.SC4Desc.

Ourgh.

Sometimes the game chokes on those ("filename too long... change or shorten..." etc.) But I never dare and that causes some problems (sometimes a file is not copied/transferred and... oops.)

How safe is it to shorten those names and how to do it ? -- in the exemple above, could I cut everything but Kleines Fachwerkhaus-0x6534284a-0x3227ba12-0xd416344f.SC4Desc and would the program still recognize and execute the file ?

[mgb204]

Windows has a limit to the number of characters an entire file name and path can occupy.

The names of files for SC4 are completely unimportant to them working in the game, you could rename it anything you liked. However, the purpose of them is so you can identify files, too much change and you might find yourself stuck if problems arise.

In many cases the TGI (that's the numbers) is appended to the file name. Useful if you want to know the ID at a glance for modding, not so much otherwise. I'd start by removing that part. Afterwards, perhaps consider condensing the number of subfolders.

[evarburg]

Windows has a limit to the number of characters an entire file name and path can occupy.

The names of files for SC4 are completely unimportant to them working in the game, you could rename it anything you liked. However, the purpose of them is so you can identify files, too much change and you might find yourself stuck if problems arise.

In many cases the TGI (that's the numbers) is appended to the file name. Useful if you want to know the ID at a glance for modding, not so much otherwise. I'd start by removing that part. Afterwards, perhaps consider condensing the number of subfolders.

Thanks, MGB ! Condensing number of subfolders : done and in the process of being done further.  Renaming : relief ! I can do that ! But I'll keep the TGIs, now that I am using Datanode more often !:-)

[mgb204]

But I'll keep the TGIs, now that I am using Datanode more often !:-)

Datanode doesn't read the TGI from the file name, it reads it from the data in the file itself. The only reason they would be useful, if you are making prop exemplars, MMPs or other things that referenced the TGIs, making the file names a handy reference point when working. Outside of that, I can't think of a single good reason to keep them for most users. This is just how SC4 files tend to be saved by default, hence you see it a lot.