Managing storage on The Forge - Your Asset and Data Library

Storage on self-hosting

By default, Foundry VTT is a self-hosted program, and will store files on a computer’s local hard drive. All your world data, asset data, system data, and module data will be kept on your local hard drive. The limit of your Foundry data storage is the limit of your hard drive, and how much of it you are willing to use toward Foundry content.

Storage on The Forge

On The Forge, we store content differently. Thanks to the strong optimization of The Forge, we are able to offer much of the content users access for free, without counting against any data quota. This means that most modules, systems, and worlds that are downloadable from our Bazaar service is hosted for free- without counting against user storage.

For the rest, we do impose quotas- server storage isn’t free! The total storage available to a user is dependent on their subscription level. For more details on this, please see our Plans and Pricing page.

  • The Data Library is for storing data from user worlds and other non-asset content. Custom modules, systems, and worlds are stored here. Most assets are not. Fortunately, most users will never have to worry about exceeding their Data Quota.
  • The Asset Library is for storing all assets- basically any audio, video, or image file uploaded by the user. This content is automatically optimized and distributed throughout the world, meaning that users will almost always have the best possible loading time for their content. A more detailed explanation of the Asset Library can be found here.

If more storage is needed, The Forge offers options to upgrade individual storage quotas, whether by add-on to your subscription, or by increasing the level of your subscription- again, see our Plans and Pricing page.

How to view/manage your data storage on The Forge

To see a brief preview of your available data storage on The Forge, you can hover over your account name on the top right side of The Forge’s website to view the storage that is used, and is available: image

Managing your Asset Library

You can view your Asset Library data in more detail by navigating to your Assets page, linked on the top navigation bar of The Forge website when you are logged in.

Here, you can navigate to and select different media files, move them, and see how much space is being consumed by each folder. You can also delete files by hovering over the file and selecting the red trash can icon, or by selecting the checkbox that appears when hovering over an file, and selecting as many files/folders for deletion as you choose.

Please be careful when moving/deleting Asset Library files- moving them will not change the media links in your Foundry VTT games, and could result in irreparable harm to your ongoing campaigns.

That said, if you need to free up Asset Library storage, you can do so by deleting media files contained here.

Managing your Data Library

You can view your game data storage in more detail by navigating to your My Foundry page, linked on the top navigation bar of The Forge website when you are logged in. Once there, select the dark yellow “View Data Storage” button. This will allow you to view the items consuming your Data Library storage, view how much storage is being consumed by each item, and delete items of your choosing by selecting the trash can icon.

Please be very careful when deleting items in your Data Library. Deleting an item is irreversible, and they can only be restored if:

  1. They are an existing package that can be re-downloaded/installed
  2. You have a backup of the content being deleted.

We recommend backing up all personal content (custom modules, compendiums, and worlds) whenever deleting content on The Forge. We have a guide to doing so here.

How modules/packages use Data Library Storage

Packages (systems, modules, or other content you can download for Foundry VTT) can sometimes use your data library. Free modules and other such packages are hosted for free where possible on The Forge, but we have to use user storage for compendiums for various reasons. This means that sometimes, a free module or system will end up using the user’s data library.

This data usage is usually minimal, though systems with a large amount of free content often consumes more storage.

For transparency, we have a table to illustrate when we have to use your data library for storage:

How modules/packages use your data Game Data Asset Data
Free and public Foundry VTT packages No, except for compendiums. Compendiums use storage. No.
Premium packages through Foundry Gaming Yes. Yes.
Premium Patreon content through Foundry Gaming Yes. Yes.
D&D Beyond Imports Yes. Yes.
Bazaar Purchases No, except for compendiums. Compendiums use storage. No.
Bazaar Patreon Content No, except for compendiums. Compendiums use storage. No.
Custom Foundry VTT packages Yes. Yes.

i have been notified of exceeding my data quota and i was just trying to install the coriolis core book from the bazaar and the coriolis last voyage of the ghazali from the bazaar, I thought installing from the bazaar didnt count against the data quota, help please!
larry haught

The coriolis packages are not public packages and are not Forge premium Bazaar packages. By being Foundry protected content, we are not allowed to interfere with the installation process, which is why they will take data and assets space when you install them.
If you install it from the Bazaar page then it will temporarily increase your quota while it asks Foundry to install the package, so the install succeeds, then it will move the media files to your assets library.

1 Like

thank you for taking the time to explain this, I also received some help through the forge discord

I have a module Ambient Doors. The module calls for a location of a .wav file to play when you open a door. When I migrated the campaign into the Forge it seems that the module location can’t find the audio file. I uploaded the module file, with the wizard, from my HD. The file had all of the correct audio files for use in the module.

Question:

  1. Is the path for the file the same as on my HD to access the audio file? Or, is the path a new one using the forge file system?

If it uses the Forge file system I don’t know the correct path to access data files in the modules.

Thanks

Hello anmay,

The asset files in question should be in the same location they were on your hard drive, just automatically edited to reflect the new Forge file structure. You can find them located in your Assets Library tab.