[Touch 3G General] ronp76:
Minimizing the number of files on this SD card so that iGO8 will compile quickly

Before I explain this part of the game plan, I have inserted a picture of a typical iGO8 directory. This came from my backup directory which is a mirror of what is on my SD card. Here are the files typically found in the SD card's iGO8 directory:

.3dl files go in the building directory

.dem files go in the dem directory

lang.*.zip files go in the lang file**

.fbl files go in the map directory

.POI files go in the poi directory

.zip voice files go in the voice directory**

**Do not unzip files in these two directories (very important not to unzip them)!!!

***The skin directory needs to be created and skins added to it.

****If a save directory is present before you run the program for the first time, you need to delete it.

When you get iGO8 on an SD card or by DVD, a minimal regional area like the United States will be about 1.7 Gb in size. The whole world map DVD comes in at just under 3.5 Gb. The reason I mention these facts are depending upon what maps you want to put on your SD card for iGO8 to use, it is much better to minimize the number of files it will compile in its initial installation.

Many users get a failed installation because they have too many or large files in the \building, \dem, \map or \poi. NavNGO automatically includes all the pertinent files in those directories that iGO8 *might* need. I emphasize MIGHT. If you have a speedcam file present in that directory, I can almost guarantee you your installation will fail. Why?

REASON FOR MINIMIZED FILES ON AN SD CARD

Well, when iGO8 is run for the first time - it compiles or associates all those files while it is building its INI file as well searching for a GPS. Unlike the little engine that could, iGO8 will overload your system memory because there are too many large files for it to compile. The best solution for an initial installation is to have just the files you need for the immediate area you live in. What does this mean?

Let's use France as an example. For it, while it would be nice to have the entire European continent loaded, on the SD card you just need France's map, language file (do not unZIP its zipped file - iGO8 works with ZIP files in the appropriate directory), POI file and voice file.

For a successful first-time installation, you want iGO8 to have an easy time finding and compiling everything. If it can't find the GPS, that will be the start of a bad day. Speedcam files typically will cause an Out of Memory error message. Too many map files can cause a database error message especially if you have the wrong license file.

In my case with just my state, which is a large one, loaded - my iGO8 directory fills about 0.7 GB with TTS files present. In essence, when I do a first time installation I literally have removed 1 GB of United States files to the backup directory on my PC.

It will take iGO8 about one minute to compile a minimal directory of files - during that time I recommend you be patient and do not touch your smartphone even though you will be tempted. After about 75 seconds, you can navigate to the Settings menu to go the Regional panel and set your preferences. From that panel, you can navigate to each Settings sub panel and set your preferences to your heart's content.

SOME DIFFERENCES YOU WILL NOTE IN MY PICTURE

1. When I backup my SD card, I do it to a temp iGO8 directory and then to the master iGO8PC directory you see in the picture. I find it easier and faster to manipulate the files on my PC versus comparing them off the SD card.

2. If you see a \Save directory on when you do an initial installation, one of two things is wrong. Either you are working with your backup files and included the old \Save directory OR you are working with a test drive version and it had a \Save directory present which you unRAR'ed to your SD card. On an initial installation, you do not want to have a \Save directory present. If you do, iGO8 will look to that directory and use the INI file present to set up iGO8. In many cases this will cause errors and possibly a failed installation. When you are looking at your SD card on your PC, if you see a \Save directory and you're doing an initial installation, DELETE IT!

3. Skins. On my picture, you will see a \Skin directory. There are a number (about eight that I know of) of skins available to give your iG08's display extra features. I have several loaded in that directory but only use the Gurjon 6p skin. Even that skin is somewhat outdated, but it's the one that works for me and does everything I need and like. I will cover skins in another post at a future date.

4. While we are not quite ready for the installation, I will jump ahead and say that after you have a good generic SYS.txt file to boot your iGO8 installation, and have a good installation - then and only then you can add back files that will give iGO8 added map coverage. Using the France example, you might want to add in contries like Spain, Italy, Germany, Belgium or other countries as appropriate. In that case it is just a matter of transferring files to your SD card from the backup directory.

5. I cannot begin to stress the importance of having a backup directory on your PC. Unless you get the deluxe iGO8 package of a DVD card and SD card, you will eventually see why having iGO8's files backed up is important. Better to do it now versus later.