How do I combine UltraArc and CIUv2?

[Chrushev]

Hi guys,

So I can make a setup.exe with CIUv2
and I can compress a game with UltraArc

Now how the heck do I combine the two? So that I have the setup.exe that installs the game (unpacks it from the compressed files) using that setup.exe?

I have tried reading all the wikis and using the FreeArc for Inno that is posted in other threads, but I am still confused how to actually tell Inno "here are the files to compress" etc?

Thanks

[KaktoR]

You only need:
1. Setup.exe (with your choice of compressors from "External Compressor.ini"
2. Compressed game archives
3. Records.ini (it will be created by UltraArc automatically

That's all.

Run Setup.exe and just install.

[Chrushev]

You only need:
1. Setup.exe (with your choice of compressors from "External Compressor.ini"
2. Compressed game archives
3. Records.ini (it will be created by UltraArc automatically

That's all.

Run Setup.exe and just install.

Is there a sample of "External Compressor.ini" somewhere so I know what its supposed to look like? I am using precomp and LZMA2

[KaktoR]

Precomp is no more included in latest CIU version (because simply no one use this).

[Chrushev]

Precomp is no more included in latest CIU version (because simply no one use this).

Whats the most used? And how do I find out?

[KaktoR]

Check for streams in game files (use GFS/ooscan -> https://fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=96782)

Use xtool/ztool with fitting codec

Example:
zlib => xtool:zlib (xZLib)
lz4 => xtool:lz4 (xLZ4)
and so on

Not all games have streams (or they are crypted), then use just srep+lzma(2)

[Chrushev]

Check for streams in game files (use GFS/ooscan -> https://fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=96782)

Use xtool/ztool with fitting codec

Example:
zlib => xtool:zlib (xZLib)
lz4 => xtool:lz4 (xLZ4)
and so on

Not all games have streams (or they are crypted), then use just srep+lzma(2)

Dont see either GFS or ooscan in that list, are they called something else there?

[KaktoR]

Oh sorry, you can find GFS here > https://fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=99270

ooscan is only for oodle compressed games (you can identify them by having a file in game folder called "oo2core_#_win64.dll") which are not that often until now.

[Chrushev]

Oh sorry, you can find GFS here > https://fileforums.com/showthread.php?t=99270

ooscan is only for oodle compressed games (you can identify them by having a file in game folder called "oo2core_#_win64.dll") which are not that often until now.

Thanks, trying to use xtool.... but am struggling. Is there a tutorial on it? I see that included bat file is passing switches to arc.exe, why not xtool.exe?

When I point pack.bat to my game it says:
Compressing 6,042 files, 7,398,507,966 bytes. Processed 0.0%
Then just quits immediately without any errors.

[KaktoR]

Which pack.bat you use? And what game?

[Chrushev]

Which pack.bat you use? And what game?

Dark Souls Remastered

and the pack that was included with xtoolV10
arc.exe a -ep1 -r -ed -s; -w.\temp -mxprecomp data.arc "pack\*"

[KaktoR]

Have you copied/moved the game to pack folder? Is :zlib set in arc.ini?

[Chrushev]

Yes the game was moved (it detects 6042 Files)

and arc.ini is default:

[External compressor:xprecomp]
header = 0
packcmd = xtool.exe e:precomp:t4:lzo - - <stdin> <stdout>
unpackcmd = xtool.exe d:precomp:t4 - - <stdin> <stdout>

[KaktoR]

So what streams the game use actually (use GFS and choose zlib+lz4+lzo+zstd)

If the game use zlib then change in arc.ini
:lzo

to

:zlib

Sometimes it happens that pack.bat do nothing and process seems finished after 1 or 2 seconds. In this case just retry (it has some bugs I guess).

[Chrushev]

So what streams the game use actually (use GFS and choose zlib+lz4+lzo+zstd)

If the game use zlib then change in arc.ini
:lzo

to

:zlib

Sometimes it happens that pack.bat do nothing and process seems finished after 1 or 2 seconds. In this case just retry (it has some bugs I guess).

Tried that, same deal. At this point the issue is not that it wont compress... the issue is that it just does nothing.

Do I need to do something in xtool.ini?

edit: wait a minute... am I using xtool wrong? Can xtool be called to compress a directory with a ton of files? Or does each file to compress have to be specified?

[KaktoR]

The first. Xtool will (pre)compress all files.

Note that xtool is not a final compressor. It just unpack game archives for better compression afterwards (in very most cases), so you will see that xtool in some cases double the output size.

I don't have the game but if xtool does nothing, means output size (data.arc) is the same as input size (pack folder).

[Chrushev]

The first. Xtool will (pre)compress all files.

Note that xtool is not a final compressor. It just unpack game archives for better compression afterwards (in very most cases), so you will see that xtool in some cases double the output size.

I don't have the game but if xtool does nothing, means output size (data.arc) is the same as input size (pack folder).

I think something else is wrong. It literally finishesin less than 1 second. So it doesnt try to do anything. and there is no output after attempt, meaning it crashed.

I dont really want to spend a lot of time trying to squeeze out as much compression out of a game as I can, I just need something sensible. From what I saw UltraArc did an excellent job. It was very fast (maybe 10 min for the game, and it accomplished compression close to what fitgirl got on that game). That works for me.

Can you help me with making the setup.exe work with unpacking the .arc files created via UltraArc?

Or I am fine with using xtool if there is some automated easy way to use it (aka, not going through game folders trying to figure files out). Just point at the folder and click GO is the type of solution I am looking for.

[pakrat2k2]

I think something else is wrong. It literally finishesin less than 1 second. So it doesnt try to do anything. and there is no output after attempt, meaning it crashed.

I dont really want to spend a lot of time trying to squeeze out as much compression out of a game as I can, I just need something sensible. From what I saw UltraArc did an excellent job. It was very fast (maybe 10 min for the game, and it accomplished compression close to what fitgirl got on that game). That works for me.

Can you help me with making the setup.exe work with unpacking the .arc files created via UltraArc?

Or I am fine with using xtool if there is some automated easy way to use it.
you can use any of the conversions posted in main conversion forum, then just run ultraarc & choose method..

Now if you want to create your own installer, again get the ciuv2 from its topic open & extract archive, then look at the setup.ini all the information is provided there. Look at images & corresponding place in ini for the image itself, ( autorun, installer, smallinstaller, buttons etc ) a installer is already included in the package all you have to do is read.

[KaktoR]

Yes it crash, for me too sometimes.

What I do: just spam pack.bat til it works. If it works you see when 0.0% in cmd window get progress (or in taskmanager xtool.exe is working).

[Chrushev]

you can use any of the conversions posted in main conversion forum, then just run ultraarc & choose method..

Now if you want to create your own installer, again get the ciuv2 from its topic open & extract archive, then look at the setup.ini all the information is provided there. Look at images & corresponding place in ini for the image itself, ( autorun, installer, smallinstaller, buttons etc ) a installer is already included in the package all you have to do is read.

I already have a setup.exe that I made but it errors out when trying to unpack precomp and LZMA2 compressed game. I get this:

ERROR: archive data corrupted (decompression fails)

but if I use unpack.exe that UltraArc made then the game files unpack just fine. So they arent corrupt.

[Chrushev]

To go back to xtool real quick. So it comes with a dummy file, and when I run pack it converts it from a ~200kb to a ~500kb file. It inflated it?

So what is supposed to be the order of doing things? Is it supposed to inflate (make files bigger), then some other tool should be used to compress them back? What tool should that be? or can xtool do it too?

[KaktoR]

You got it. XTool inflates files.

after this, you should always use srep+final compressor (lzma(2), lolz, rz, ...)

Output will be smaller in 99% of cases then if you don't use xtool (which is a precompressor btw).

But it has all to do of which streams a file use. Some games didn't have a compression at all and in this cases without xtool should be the best.

[Chrushev]

You got it. XTool inflates files.

after this, you should always use srep+final compressor (lzma(2), lolz, rz, ...)

Output will be smaller in 99% of cases then if you don't use xtool (which is a precompressor btw).

But it has all to do of which streams a file use. Some games didn't have a compression at all and in this cases without xtool should be the best.

Is there an all in One tool that is up to date (I ve seen a few old ones that dont use new inflators or compressors) that will do all this for me?

UltraArc seems good, but you said precomp is not supported anymore? So does that make UltraArc not very useful? Or is there a newer UltraArc with Xtool somewhere?

[yasitha]

Is there an all in One tool that is up to date (I ve seen a few old ones that dont use new inflators or compressors) that will do all this for me?

UltraArc seems good, but you said precomp is not supported anymore? So does that make UltraArc not very useful? Or is there a newer UltraArc with Xtool somewhere?

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https://www.fileforums.com/showpost.php?p=476660&postcount=1135

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