I've checked it many times. It is no mistake, after using simplify tool the size of my map is incresing. I believe it happens because I'm not using curves, just polygonal chains. The simplify tool change straight lines ito curves which increase the size.

That simply makes me unable to finish my Huge Earth. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do everything except for Russia and China. And then what, just leave it hollow? That would damage the map greatly! I've talked to Fizzer, but he refuses to rise SVG file cap from 1,9MB to 2,5 MB, and I don't see any other way in which I could finish that map. Any ideas?

you can make some of the territories slightly bigger until it fits in the svg file cap.

How could making territories bigger decrease the size of the file? It would stay exactly the same...

Or do you mean something else, merging some of the existing territories?

If what you say about simplify is true, then your only option is to merge enough territories to get yourself under the file size.

exactly.

I believe it happens because I'm not using curves, just polygonal chains.

That does sound plausible. I looked around in Inkscape preferences but it looks like it doesn't have an option to force Simplify to avoid introducing curves.

You can try messing with the simplify threshold through, found in File -> Preferences -> Misc -> Simplification Threshold. Although I'm not sure this will help you, it's worth trying.

Another thing you can do is look for another program to simplify the SVG. Inkscape probably isn't the best optimizer since that's not its primary focus. Just googling "svg optimizer" finds a whole bunch of promising results. I haven't tried any of them, but there's no harm in trying each one on a copy of your SVG and seeing if they help.

If you open your SVG in a text editor, you can get a feel for which objects are using the most space just by seeing which of them have the most data in them. If you're a programmer it's easy to write a tool that would list out how much space is being used by each object. If you e-mail me or post your SVG file somewhere I could probably write this. It might not help, but there's a chance that the problem objects aren't the ones you think they are, which would help you narrow your efforts.

You could also simplify by hand. It takes longer but has better results!

You could create a script (or maybe find one) which deletes any unnecessary white-space from the file. Fizzer suggests searching for "svg optimizer", but "xml optimizer" may also do the trick since svg files are in xml format. Only downside is you would have to re-run the script every time you edit the file inkscape.

I think if you do this it should work: Simplify the paths a few times, then select the paths, select all the nodes of the path, and use "make selected segments lines" (found on the top toolbar while "edit paths by nodes" [F2] is selected.)
This should make the paths less complicated, but then convert them back to lines to take up less space.

I too use the trick BearsBeetsBattlestarGalactica describes. It works fine, except if you want to model a small island for example.

Thanks for advices. I've run an optimizer first as suggested - it also seemed to be the metod that would need the least effort. The file dropped 25,2% of its size, though it have to be checked still for possible drawbacks, but if it works well, it is fairly enough to let me finish the map.

I have another question, especially to Fizzer. Two parts of making maps work extremely slow on big maps.

- Selecting many territories (50+) on the design map panel. But that can be simply avoided by selecting less territories multiple times, so it's not a big deal.

- Creating/deleting/editing bonuses. It starts to be annoying after the first 100 bonuses, but now that their number is close to 500, creating any new bonus is clearly impossible, as the time required for is too long and I'm getting the message "your computer timed out".

I have old PC rather designed for office work, and I can just find faster machine for that task... But still, couldn't it be made in a way which would make creating big maps possible also on older, slower computers?

Mayday! Mayday!

After uploading optimized SVG... my map turned into a giant porcupine!

http://warlight.net/SinglePlayer.aspx?PreviewMap=15102

Help, Fizzer :)

Why not undo the actin on inkscape

That's not the problem, but still I need something to decrease the size of SVG file.