To brz or Not to brz?

[Holman]

There's a thread here discussing mods and their effect on load times. If I read it right, the conclusion was that mods do not greatly slow down loading--only by a few seconds, usually.

However, the thread doesn't seem to resolve whether brz'ing loose files is a help for load times. Has this been discussed elsewhere? Are packed mods faster than collections of loose files?

Thanks!

[Vinnart]

I don't think it makes a big difference in load time, but i may be wrong. If it is a mod that has different variations I prefer loose folders/files to cherry pick it without having to explode the brz to get to the files.

[A Canadian Cat]

However, the thread doesn't seem to resolve whether brz'ing loose files is a help for load times. Has this been discussed elsewhere? Are packed mods faster than collections of loose files?

[Badger73]

I don't think it makes a big difference in load time, but i may be wrong. If it is a mod that has different variations I prefer loose folders/files to cherry pick it without having to explode the brz to get to the files.

Bold font in quote above is mine. I too prefer to avoid brz. I vote "don't". Thanks for asking.

[Holman]

[mjkerner]

I've tried both early on and (anecdotally) there is no real difference in load times that I can see. I also explode all downloded mod files so I can see what's in them (sometimes they contain a lot of extraneous stuff...pics, options, etc.) and only put the necessary files/folders in the "z" folder.