hello, I'm very new to this tool in general, and I use rpgmaker MV. After compression, the final filesize seems to be rather large, some being over 500mb. I've toggled with the settings a bit, and optimized seems to work best in this situation, but I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do with the tool itself to help reduce the bulk after it's finished exporting? 

To be clear, I already make sure to delete unused files for a finished game, so there's no issue on that end. I did notice though, if converting/encrypting just the assets, players are left with the original files still intact. This makes me wonder: does the compiling of the gamefiles actually duplicate files after exporting them (ex when creating the /old/ file in the directory)?

I hope this makes sense! Apologies for the wording, I'm not very articulate, but overall I'd just like to know how to reduce the filesize in general after encrypting my game(s). Thank you! 

Hello, Egg!

The cook tool does its job with the project that you give it. If (for example) you use the Cook Tool to work on the exported version of it, it will create a build based on that. There isn't any file duplication unless there was a mixup in the setup.

In addition, if you use newer versions of NW.js in your project (configurable in the project settings) it can add about 400MB to the final build. It's normal that newer versions of it can make the final build bigger. Finally, the included asset compressor (found under the utilities menu) can help in compressing the game's files by using more modern image and audio formats (which are more efficient in compression.