Save File Size

[Warnevada]

Fighting a PBEM campaign and got an Advance battle. After deployment the save file was 4.5MB, which even after zipping exceeded the attachment limit (1MB) for my email. Force size of the advancing force is a reinforced battalion.

What causes such a large save file? Are PBEM save files larger than single player saves?

I noticed in previous battles (Meeting Engagements) the save file would start out large (about 1MB) then rapidly shrink (to about 250K) as the battle progressed.

[Mobhack]

If you have fast artillery set to off then each and every shell in a bombardment is saved, thus the file size will be larger.

I didn't think there would be any email providers with a 1MB attachment limit these days!.

Plenty of free ones these days have 30MB or so - either find one that does and use it as a secondary email channel. Yahoo email has a 25MB limit IIRC, and is easily signed up to. Googles Gmail is 10MB I think.

Or get a file splitter like HjSplit and install that at each end, then split it into 1 meg chunks and email each chunk as an attachment to several emails.
http://www.hjsplit.org/

That'll split it into several bits with .001, .002 etc, and the program knows to look for a .001 and then assemble the subsequent bits.

(Also good for backing up a humongous file directory onto several CDs for burning)

[Warnevada]

What has me wondering is why the save is largest upon initial deployment when there's nothing going on and shrinks once there is action taking place.

We played scenario 445, Offensive in the Saar, by PBEM. That scenario is a brigade sized action. Its save was about 3MB. Our battalion sized campaign battle generated an initial save of 4.5MB. Frankly, it makes no sense.