Is Smaller Better?

[Departure]

I came to think about this out of pure bordom and reading some old topics, Is smaller releases of patches and cracks ect... better?

it seems to be a scene standard to try and release a smaller exe as possiable, my question is why?

Reasons why I think it should'nt really matter:

1. Size: With hard drives being messured in TerraBytes I dont think this should be a problem, even if the exe weighed in at 1mb

2. Speed: With the standard everyday proccessors excedding Pentium 4's I hardly think speed is an issue, maybe milliseconds speed gain by using API calls

3. Resources: Well from I see everybody has at least 1GB of ram memory so I dont think a memory foot print of a couple of hundred kb's is going to bring the system down

4. Proformance: Using a vcl such as in delphi has proven in some cases to exceed common API calls due to to tweaking ability, So no real profomance gain if coded corrctly from the start

5. Time: As most coders know its alot quicker to use build in functions and Vcl's could reduce your time in making the exe dramatically, writting an API app takes many hours if not days.

They are some of the reason I think it really should'nt matter, Plus the included fact that my wife always says "Bigger is better" :happy:

[HVC]

Can all those ads about enlargement be wrong?

[diablo2oo2]

you should always keep in mind the sense of a patch. patches are made for saving filesize, else just a cracked exe coulde be released. i see last time patches are getting bigger. sometimes over 500kb! your arguments about size, speed and so on are understandable, but it also sound like: if we have so much resources we must use them. Thats not the way to go in my opinion!

[atom0s]

While I do agree, having a few extra KB here and there anymore isn't that big of an issue. But, it shouldn't drive the person coding the program to become lazy and not care just because hardware is upgrading everyday. I know I try to keep file sizes under 500KB for small applications and most of the time they are only that big due to resources. Optimization is always a plus for any application. Theres no reason to code something in a horrible method when it can be done properly with a boost of performance.

You can always resort to packing and compression too. Most of the time, file size is increased by resources like images. Resource compression should help tons with the file size if that is causing issues. nsPack is a great packer for this, it has very nice compression ratios for resources.

[Ufo-Pu55y]

Can all those ads about enlargement be wrong?

Sure they are ?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Releases' leetiness doesn't depend on size, it depends on......... um...

my last patch was ~ 137'' ! Is it too short :?

[Baxter]

Distros... Bandwidth... thousands of files... millions around the world wanting to download them..

You tell me... does size matter??

[Departure]

Well I think this standard with the scene to release small exe's is from dialing up to bbs bord's on my 14k modem hooked up to my amiga 500 ... lol only joking but yes the releases are seeming to get bigger as time goes on, and as Atomos said about the images used to make the apps look nice and pretty It will be interesting in the furture to see how release sizes grow or shrink depending on the technoligy(bad spelling I know)

//Edit

Distros... Bandwidth... thousands of files... millions around the world wanting to download them..

You tell me... does size matter?? wink.gif

This steps heavly into the time factor because what your talking about is releasing the product before the rest of the compition before it gets nuked for being a dupe, would'nt it be an advantage if you used vcl's to build your apps quicker thus resulting in non dupes?

Edited April 15, 2008 by Departure

[MOID]

You admit smaller is better, but don't really care. Some people do (perfectionism?).

[Baxter]

This steps heavly into the time factor because what your talking about is releasing the product before the rest of the compition before it gets nuked for being a dupe, would'nt it be an advantage if you used vcl's to build your apps quicker thus resulting in non dupes?

I have no idea what you are talking about.

We are talking about size of crack releases.

I said imagine a distro owner.... he has 10,000 cracks on his site... millions of people around the world want them.. what would he prefer to be serving up to people.. a 17k patch, or a 2 meg cracked exe.... a 50k patch... or a 300k patch with nice images and sounds???

People want cracked software.. they want a result.. not a graphical-musical masterpiece.

So size does matter - the smaller the better, especially for the distro owner that has to manage them.

If a cracker.. who also wants to practice creativity and artistry at the same time can incorporate everything into a crack.. they then employ compression routines to pull the size down - the smaller the better... the smaller - the more talented.

[Blah]

well said bax...if i could be as articulate and compose my thoughts in words like that it would have sounded like what you said... hehehe

cheers

:biggrin:

p.s..after reading it again i think he was reffering to being the "fastest" release group instead of quality..right nwith this line "releasing the product before the rest of the compition before it gets nuked for being a dupe"...right???

but anyhow smaller is better in da crack world..

Edited April 16, 2008 by Blah

[mia]

Small size is suite not only for keygens and patches but also to crackmes, tools and tutorials(videos). I hate to see crackmes especially Delphi crackmes weighing 400kb or more even without any resources..

mia..

[cond0lence]

Contra +1

There are many aspects. It surely not depends only on the spreading factor,

because there are many fast connections today.

But have you got a clue how much traffic 64kb files already can produce, in the case you multiply it

just a few million hits? Good, now replace the number with a 400kb, is this furthermore a 'little' piece?

You can really fast reach your traffic limit, if the host has one.

Like Baxter already started, the end product is the only thing, thats really of interest.

For this step of an acceptable size there are several technics possible and allowed,

packing is just one thing of them.

Regarding the artistic stuff, its for the eye-catching purpose, taking the view away of the boring process

and make it a little bit nicer or take the chance providing a message, you know.

There is always something how you can impress, but definitely not with 'mass'.

In my opinion, all these 500kb or more patches, that only have the task to replace a few bytes

or doing simply regedit imports are a kind blasphemous from the ethical perspective and for someone like me,

who can remember the floppy age. Yeah, as we were young we had only these few Kbytes..

and we had to handle with, like I prefered and still keep on prefering to say.

Who cares that there are maybe TBs, Petas possible you could move. Is no reason care for anyway?

Is this no fun, when you compare an optimized patch and the before state, its still works?

Keep in mind, the main question should be: How efficient can you do things?!!

[ChupaChu]

Keep in mind, the main question should be: How efficient can you do things?!!

LOL people tend to use, apply, and destroy things pretty efficiently

But when it comes to creating, coding, constructing things:

Its whole different story .

BR; ChupaChu!

Edited April 17, 2008 by ChupaChu