Regional flags

[Shikarta]

I know they auto-resize, but they also appear to auto-compress, even if the uploaded flag is many times smaller than the upload limit (and already the correct size). This, unfortunately, distorts perfectly acceptable images. Could anyone elaborate on the purpose of this, whether there's anything I can do that would help relieve distortion, and/or if there's any chance this will be fixed in the near future?

Thanks.

P.s. Unrelated, but is there a reason the World Factbook cannot display any special characters (including accents and unicode dingbats), or is that just a product of my browser?

[Shikarta]

Addendum

I've noticed that other regions have PNG format flags, which would be ideal. However, every time I attempt to upload a PNG it is converted to a JPG.

[Ballotonia]

The Regional Control page says: "Image will be resized to a maximum of 150x100 pixels. After resizing, image must be less than 30KB. Please do not upload inappropriate images.".

So, make sure your flag is exactly 150x100 pixels, and less than 30 kb when uploading. That way no resizing is done and the image stays as is. If you upload something different, the system will resize it for you and make it a jpg in the process.

Ballotonia

[Shikarta]

In my first post you'll note I've said the flag I'm trying to upload is the correct size, and many times under the upload limit (11.5kb, to be precise).

[Ballotonia]

In my first post you'll note I've said the flag I'm trying to upload is the correct size, and many times under the upload limit (11.5kb, to be precise).

Ok, sorry. Can you place your image on an image host and link to it from here? That way we can see what your image is, and perhaps figure out what's happening. I'm personally also willing to try uploading it to one of my regions to see if I run into the same problems you do.

Ballotonia

[Shikarta]

Of course:



[png] [region] [jpg]

Thanks for helping.

[Ballotonia]

After extensive testing I've come to the following conclusion:

This is a SYSTEM BUG.

The bug appears to be that the system now enforces a much smaller kb limit than what the text in the regional controls indicate (30kb).
I can successfully upload PNG's as regional flag without them being compressed as jpg, but not yours or any other flag taking up more kb diskspace.

I'm still trying to figure out what limit the system is using, but it's clearly not doing what it's supposed to do, nor what it has done before. Even some current PNG region flags canno longer be uploaded as region flags without them becoming jpgs.

So, if you can find a way to use less diskspace you can circumvent this. Otherwise, you'll have to wait for an Admin to fix this problem.

Ballotonia

[Shikarta]

Thanks, I'm very grateful. I suppose I'll just wait until an Admin can shed some light on the issue.

[Shikarta]

Annoyingly, it's doing the same with national flags too. Are there any Admins available to address this?

[Ballotonia]

Annoyingly, it's doing the same with national flags too. Are there any Admins available to address this?

Rules for nation flags are different: viewtopic.php?p=4968912#p4968912

Which now makes me wonder... perhaps that got either inadvertently applied to regional flags as well, or it was intended to apply to those as well but that was never updated in the Region Control page...

Ballotonia

[Shikarta]

What a bizarre system, thanks for the link. The PNG I'd tried to upload for the region's flag is under 12kb though, so whatever rules have been applied are not the same as those listed for national flags.

[Shikarta]

Bump...

...hello?

[Sedgistan]

The admins will look at this when they have time, there was no need to bump the thread, as none of them had been online since you last posted.

[Shikarta]

The admins will look at this when they have time, there was no need to bump the thread, as none of them had been online since you last posted.

Unfortunately I did not know that (nor am I sure how I would), and simply presumed over a week was long enough to warrant a bump.

[[violet]]

I know they auto-resize, but they also appear to auto-compress, even if the uploaded flag is many times smaller than the upload limit (and already the correct size).

The upload limit is 250KB. As the page says, the image has to be under 30KB after the server reformats it, and this reformatting happens no matter what. With nation flags, there are loopholes to avoid reformatting in some cases, but there are no loopholes for region flags.

This, unfortunately, distorts perfectly acceptable images.

Well, as far as the server is concerned, "acceptable" is "lowest possible file size while not compressing too much." In this case it's preferred the JPEG as it's 50% smaller. By distortion, do you mean the color? That's the only difference I see: that the white has developed a bluish tinge in the JPEG version.

P.s. Unrelated, but is there a reason the World Factbook cannot display any special characters (including accents and unicode dingbats), or is that just a product of my browser?

Could be either... point me at an example. And maybe start a new thread for that.

This is a SYSTEM BUG.

Well, it's different to how it used to be. Previously, players had to reformat and resize images to be under 30KB themselves: if they managed to do that, the server left the image alone. Now players can upload much larger images and let the server handle the reformatting and compression for them. And they can't avoid this.

[Ballotonia]

Well, it's different to how it used to be. Previously, players had to reformat and resize images to be under 30KB themselves: if they managed to do that, the server left the image alone. Now players can upload much larger images and let the server handle the reformatting and compression for them. And they can't avoid this.

Ah, yes. As software engineer I'm quite aware that one person's feature can be another person's bug

Ballotonia

[Shikarta]

Violet,

The reformatting of both national and regional flags causes image noise, resulting in visible compression artefacts on the images. For example:



Left is the Nationstates JPEG, right is the uploaded PNG, and you can see examples of this distortion on the former (for a saving of 7kb). The blue field in fact hides it quite well, and it is far more noticeable on many other flags, especially those with more lines and colours. I can only presume this has not always been the case, as other regional flags (such as Azhukali's) are PNG formatted and uncompressed.

Would it be possible to introduce a compression-free tolerance to regional flags, as already exists with national (what you have referred to as a 'loophole')?

As for unsupported characters, a prime example would be any accented or non-english text, which instead displays as a series of 'Y' and 'A' characters. I've also noticed this with non-roman scripts and unicode dingbats. I'd type it on Maredoratica's world factbook entry to show you, but I'd rather not have it full of gibberish.

[Synavia]

I'd have to agree. For example:


And then this:


Not only did it resize, it blurred and got transformed into a JPG.

(I always use PNG's. I haven't used anything else in years.)

[Synavia]

Well, it's different to how it used to be. Previously, players had to reformat and resize images to be under 30KB themselves: if they managed to do that, the server left the image alone. Now players can upload much larger images and let the server handle the reformatting and compression for them. And they can't avoid this.

Ah, yes. As software engineer I'm quite aware that one person's feature can be another person's bug

Ballotonia

And vice versa.

[North Mack]

I'd have to agree. For example:
(Image)

And then this:
(Image)

Not only did it resize, it blurred and got transformed into a JPG.

(I always use PNG's. I haven't used anything else in years.)

Which, if you'd read above, was entirely intentional. For regional flags, the server reformats them. No exceptions (unlike nation flags.) It will pick the smaller filesize image, which 9 cases out of 10 is going to be a jpeg, which also in 9 cases out of 10, doesn't look as nice as a png. Intentional, and known.

[[violet]]

Would it be possible to introduce a compression-free tolerance to regional flags, as already exists with national (what you have referred to as a 'loophole')?

Done! Region flags should now not be resized if they're 150x100 or smaller and under 30kB.

[Shikarta]

Would it be possible to introduce a compression-free tolerance to regional flags, as already exists with national (what you have referred to as a 'loophole')?

Done! Region flags should now not be resized if they're 150x100 or smaller and under 30kB.

Thank you very much