[SOLVED] Anyone know how big Genesis will be file size?

[Ravenbones]

So I just bought a new 240GB SSD dedicated to ARK, but apparently 240GB translates to 223GB somehow and the game is sitting at 197GB so far. Idk why it is so high, but I hope I have enough room for the next two expansions.

[Ancient]

Originally posted by Ravenbones:

So I just bought a new 240GB SSD dedicated to ARK, but apparently 240GB translates to 223GB somehow and the game is sitting at 197GB so far. Idk why it is so high, but I hope I have enough room for the next two expansions.

Yeah that's normal on the formatted size. OSes use base 2 math and consider a KB to be 1024 bytes (they really use gibibytes or GiB/TiB and not GB/TB even though they don't explain it that way) and HDD/SSD manufacturers use base 10 math and consider a KB to be 1000 bytes (they use gigabytes or GB/TB). The difference is about 7%, which is why 240 GB = 223.5 GiB, 500 GB = 465.6 GiB, 1 TB = 931.3 GiB and on the far end 8 TB = 7450.5 GiB.

No, I doubt it will be big enough, especially considering you need quite a bit of free space on an SSD (at least 10% on drives that are 120, 240, 480 as they already have some unallocated space reserved for this, but 25% on 500GB/1TB, etc. drives to maintain write speed and endurance) and that's worth observing because you need to leave quite a bit of free space beyond the raw size of the game for the unpacking of ARK updates anyway.

These are the sizes of the existing maps:

The Island - 18.45 GB
Scorched Earth - 10.09 GB
Aberration - 16.29 GB
Extinction - 18.73 GB

The Center - 11.57 GB
Ragnarok - 25.88 GB
Valguero - 21.37 GB

I would assume the two new maps will be around or at least as big as Extinction. And that's just the map files themselves, not all the other additional assets for the expansions that will be added to the base game on release (dinos and gear, etc.). I would plan on them being somewhere in the range of 25-40 GB each all said and done and I imagine there will be at least one more free map released by then as well so I would plan for another 20 GB for that or 40 GB + if there are two.

I would have gotten at least a 500GB drive for ARK. Formatted, it will only be 465.6 GiB. Leaving 25% free space will mean leaving 116.4 GiB free, or only 349.2 GiB usable and that should be close to being enough for a dedicated ARK drive, assuming the game will end up being 250-280 GB after Season 2 and leaves you a hefty 70-100 GB free for mods/future free maps.

[Ravenbones]

Originally posted by Ancient:

Originally posted by Ravenbones:

So I just bought a new 240GB SSD dedicated to ARK, but apparently 240GB translates to 223GB somehow and the game is sitting at 197GB so far. Idk why it is so high, but I hope I have enough room for the next two expansions.

Yeah that's normal on the formatted size. OSes use base 2 math and consider a KB to be 1024 bytes (they really use gibibytes or GiB/TiB and not GB/TB even though they don't explain it that way) and HDD/SSD manufacturers use base 10 math and consider a KB to be 1000 bytes (they use gigabytes or GB/TB). The difference is about 7%, which is why 240 GB = 223.5 GiB, 500 GB = 465.6 GiB, 1 TB = 931.3 GiB and on the far end 8 TB = 7450.5 GiB.

No, I doubt it will be big enough, especially considering you need quite a bit of free space on an SSD (at least 10% on drives that are 120, 240, 480 as they already have some unallocated space reserved for this, but 25% on 500GB/1TB, etc. drives to maintain write speed and endurance) and that's worth observing because you need to leave quite a bit of free space beyond the raw size of the game for the unpacking of ARK updates anyway.

These are the sizes of the existing maps:

The Island - 18.45 GB
Scorched Earth - 10.09 GB
Aberration - 16.29 GB
Extinction - 18.73 GB

The Center - 11.57 GB
Ragnarok - 25.88 GB
Valguero - 21.37 GB

I would assume the two new maps will be around or at least as big as Extinction. And that's just the map files themselves, not all the other additional assets for the expansions that will be added to the base game on release (dinos and gear, etc.). I would plan on them being somewhere in the range of 25-40 GB each all said and done and I imagine there will be at least one more free map released by then as well so I would plan for another 20 GB for that or 40 GB + if there are two.

I would have gotten at least a 500GB drive for ARK. Formatted, it will only be 465.6 GiB. Leaving 25% free space will mean leaving 116.4 GiB free, or only 349.2 GiB usable and that should be close to being enough for a dedicated ARK drive, assuming the game will end up being 250-280 GB and leaves you a hefty 70-100 GB free for mods/future free maps.

I have a 500GB SSD as my main OS install. I guess I can just switch them around and reinstall windows on the new one and use the 500GB SSD. Thanks for your detailed answer on this. Much appreciated.

[Ancient]

Originally posted by Ravenbones:

I have a 500GB SSD as my main OS install. I guess I can just switch them around and reinstall windows on the new one and use the 500GB SSD. Thanks for your detailed answer on this. Much appreciated.

Yeah, that's a good idea. Windows 10 and a good amount of applications should still be comfy on a 240 GB.

[Gran]

you could have used the WIN10 internal compression for that, but....

[zerassar]

Originally posted by BlueOzzie:

I don't mean to necro an old thread but i have a tip to reduce the ark folder size download a program called "Compact GUI" It compress folder/games etc for you for instance after using it with ark my folder is now at 70GB with all dlc installed.

With most games you won't see such a drastic decrease in file size most games will only compress there folders by a few GB because most devs compress there files before release but ARK has 0 compression at all that's why it's so huge.

Compressing will not affect gameplay in the slightest all it does is make the folder smaller.
Also make sure everytime you install a DLC pack like when gen releases compress the folder again and the same when part 2 is released.

I hope this helps some people to reduce their folders.

It potentially can impact game play for users on less than capable PC's. Thing's don't magically get smaller without a cost ;-). Magic always has its price hahaha
Compression is what's known as a trade off... You gain extra storage at the cost of CPU cycles and extra RAM utilisation.

So if there were to be issues, the places I would anticipate seeing them would include patching/updates. Initial loading of the game and servers. As well as when travelling to new regions or caves as the level information is read from disk.

Originally posted by Gran:

you could have used the WIN10 internal compression for that, but....

By memory Compact GUI does use the Win10 internal compression items... Just adds a GUI for users who can't be bothered reading how to use the cmd line tools directly.

[Knight Siegfried]

*laughs in 360GB ARK size*