Best Compression Methods for 'Specific' Games. Q&A

[Danziel123]

Originally Posted by Yourname

Kraken/Hydra.

Which library to use?

[Fak Eid]

Got this compression ratio for the .pak file on Hellblade 2: Senua's Saga
for .ucas file we need to apply UE5 compression, but require key for it.
@Kaktor, can you help in identifying the key for UE5 engine on Hellblade 2

 18:24:33 - You have chosen the unlimited type for the output size.
 18:24:33 - ISO images will not be created when conversion is complete.
 18:24:33 - The computer will remain on when the conversion is complete.
 18:24:33 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data-01.RGT was: xtool:mzstd:dd3+lzma2:d256m:fb273:lc4:mc1000000
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 18:24:33 - Compression initialized in 22-05-2024 at 18:24:33.
 18:24:34 - Starting Data-01.RGT archive creation.
 18:27:11 - Moving Data-01.RGT file to media folder.
 18:27:11 - Compression finished in 22-05-2024 at 18:27:11.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 18:27:11 - Getting size of the game: Unknown 1
 18:27:11 - » Installation folder size: 13.23 GB
 18:27:11 - » Compressed game size: 8.02 GB (Ratio 60.61%)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 18:27:11 - Overall input size: 13.23 GB
 18:27:11 - Overall output size: 8.02 GB (Ratio 60.61%)
 18:27:11 - Overall conversion time: 00:02:37
 18:27:11 - Overall conversion media: 1 custom media

[KaktoR]

0x09000A000A000A000B000C000D000D000D000E000E000F001000120012001200

You can use aes_finder, which you can get from a shady russian steam underground forum.

And btw, you have to use library v2.9.10 (v2) for this game.

Edit: mermaid+kraken+zlib it is

[Fak Eid]

Originally Posted by KaktoR

0x09000A000A000A000B000C000D000D000D000E000E000F001000120012001200

You can use aes_finder, which you can get from a shady russian steam underground forum.

And btw, you have to use library v2.9.10 (v2) for this game.

Edit: mermaid+kraken+zlib it is

Even with the key, the .ucas file seems to be crypted as I can't get better compression than this:

 23:30:41 - You have chosen the unlimited type for the output size.
 23:30:41 - ISO images will not be created when conversion is complete.
 23:30:41 - The computer will remain on when the conversion is complete.
 23:30:41 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data-01.RGT was: xtool:c32mb:d1:mue5,k0x09000A000A000A000B000C000D000D000D000E000E000F001000120012001200:mmermaid,l7:mkraken,l7:9:mzlib+xtool:dd3:l6,d256mb
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 23:30:42 - Compression initialized in 22-05-2024 at 23:30:42.
 23:30:42 - Starting Data-01.RGT archive creation.
 00:20:26 - Moving Data-01.RGT file to media folder.
 00:20:26 - Compression finished in 23-05-2024 at 00:20:26.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 00:20:26 - Getting size of the game: Unknown 1
 00:20:26 - » Installation folder size: 29.79 GB
 00:20:26 - » Compressed game size: 28.45 GB (Ratio 95.50%)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 00:20:26 - Overall input size: 29.79 GB
 00:20:26 - Overall output size: 28.45 GB (Ratio 95.50%)
 00:20:26 - Overall conversion time: 00:49:43
 00:20:26 - Overall conversion media: 1 custom media

[Masquerade]

^^
With that amount of zeroes, that is almost certainly not the correct AES key for this game (or any game).

Run the oodle scanner over the pak or ucas file and you will see streams appear.

mmermaid,l7:mkraken,l7:9:mzlib

This is where things are going wrong. Just use kraken and mermaid and zlib algos without any extra arguments.

[KaktoR]

Originally Posted by Masquerade

^^
With that amount of zeroes, that is almost certainly not the correct AES key for this game (or any game).

Run the oodle scanner over the pak or ucas file and you will see streams appear.

mmermaid,l7:mkraken,l7:9:mzlib

This is where things are going wrong. Just use kraken and mermaid and zlib algos without any extra arguments.

It is. Take "Lords of the Fallen" as an example, where the key looks funny aswell

0x0200000003000000020000000200000002000000020000000300000003000000

With that key you will get almost all streams and output is better than without. I was surprised aswell.

Furthermore if using DSG, you have to set correct oodle library as parameter (which is just a fake parameter for xtool). In this case the correct parameter should be as follow:

:core_2.9.10

But I said you have to use the other v2.9.10 library, and even in this case there is a fake parameter possible, namely

:core_2.9.10:lib_2

which just tells DSG which library to copy near xtool.exe for compressing/decompressing (in this case "oo2core_9_win64_2.dll", which will be renamed to "oo2core_9_win64.dll" from "core_2.9.10" folder).

Edit: I still prefer to run multiple instances for xtool for different codecs because sometimes things will get broken if you use -d1 option and more than one or two methods, at least with current public xtool version and my testing (archive data corrupted and things like that). But honestly I don't know if this has anything to do with xtool or srep or DSG.

In this case I would use something like this for DSG

xtool:d1:mue5,k0x09000A000A000A000B000C000D000D000D000E000E000F001000120012001200:mmermaid:mkraken:core_2.9.10:lib_2+xtool:mzlib+xtool:dd3+...

Edit 2:
mermaid+kraken / ue5<key>+mermaid+kraken

Streams: 770978 / 770992
Time: 00:42:03 (CPU 03:21:13)

Size: 29.8 GB >> 51.2 GB

Done!!!

Streams: 865592 / 877159
Time: 00:45:44 (CPU 03:40:22)

Size: 29.8 GB >> 51.9 GB

Done!!!

Did not tested with zlib

[Fak Eid]

@Kaktor
Some of my files for Starfield .ba2 keeps erroring out during decompression. Can you help?

Like: Starfield - Terrain01.ba2, Starfield - Textures01.ba2, etc.
I use DSG 2.0.2.0
Method: mstarfield+mreflate+dd+lolz

Should I be compressing them separately?

[KaktoR]

Originally Posted by Fak Eid

@Kaktor
Some of my files for Starfield .ba2 keeps erroring out during decompression. Can you help?

Like: Starfield - Terrain01.ba2, Starfield - Textures01.ba2, etc.
I use DSG 2.0.2.0
Method: mstarfield+mreflate+dd+lolz

Should I be compressing them separately?

Do not compress them separately, as you will miss many duplicates.

Use starfield+zlib+reflate instead. All streams which cannot be processed by zlib will processed by reflate instead so "wrong" streams will processed with the correct method.

However in those cases always make testing with a single file, just don't waste your time. If you get errors on a specific file than take that "Starfield - Terrain01.ba2" file to some folder and use starfield+reflate and on a second test starfield+zlib+reflate and test decompression.

I could go even further and tell you to see what specific stream is making problems and extract it from the file, then test things with that specific stream but this would go a bit far for this case I guess.

[Fak Eid]

Originally Posted by KaktoR

Do not compress them separately, as you will miss many duplicates.

Use starfield+zlib+reflate instead. All streams which cannot be processed by zlib will processed by reflate instead so "wrong" streams will processed with the correct method.

However in those cases always make testing with a single file, just don't waste your time. If you get errors on a specific file than take that "Starfield - Terrain01.ba2" file to some folder and use starfield+reflate and on a second test starfield+zlib+reflate and test decompression.

I could go even further and tell you to see what specific stream is making problems and extract it from the file, then test things with that specific stream but this would go a bit far for this case I guess.

I'm using the plugin on the DSG, and verified that it already has zlib dll. Should i use that same plugin and external zlib dll too?
Like: mstarfield (this already has zlib) + mzlib + mreflate?

Whatever you said I'll try and DM tomorrow in case of help.

[KaktoR]

Yes, for DSG it is "xtool:mstarfield+xtool:mzlib:mreflate:dd[1..5]" then.

[Fak Eid]

Originally Posted by KaktoR

Yes, for DSG it is "xtool:mstarfield+xtool:mzlib:mreflate:dd[1..5]" then.

@kaktor

For file: Starfield - LODTextures.ba2
The compression method with xtool:mstarfield plugin is failing.
Should I be compressing it with zlib+preflate only? Or seperately?

[KaktoR]

Originally Posted by Fak Eid

@kaktor

For file: Starfield - LODTextures.ba2
The compression method with xtool:mstarfield plugin is failing.
Should I be compressing it with zlib+preflate only? Or seperately?

What exact method you are using? Works fine here

 10:50:30 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1a-01.bin was: xtool:mstarfield+xtool:mzlib:mreflate

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Creating Data1a-01.bin file, Please Wait...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FreeArc 0.67 (March 15 2014) creating archive: Conversion_Output\Data1a-01.bin
Compressed 1 file, 4,220,084,222 => 9,653,812,057 bytes. Ratio 228.76%
Compression time: cpu 3.98 sec/real 293.03 sec = 1%. Speed 14.40 mB/s
All OK

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Extracting Data1a-01.bin file, Please Wait...
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FreeArc 0.67 (March 15 2014) extracting archive: Conversion_Output\CONVERSION\Data1a-01.bin
Extracted 1 file, 9,653,812,057 => 4,220,084,222 bytes. Ratio 228.76%
Extraction time: cpu 6.53 sec/real 143.69 sec = 5%. Speed 29.37 mB/s
All OK

[wareck]

hello
I've got some question, its about "terminator dark fate"
the is a file called "basis.pak".
I'ts a PKZIP file (zip 2.0 with a password)
this file contains several files (animation,textures,sound ect)

In this file I extracted with sfk/partcopy a block from byte 882682388 to 4507627948.

I obtain a new file called sound.pak with is aroung 3.7Go.
it's again a PKZIP file with the same password of the big file...

I would like to know how to compress it , my first idea was to use xtool/flac or msc, but seems to not working (probably because password and packed)

I think the right way is to uncompress/decode compress then during installation use batch with sfk to re inject sound in basis.pak ...

thanks for your help

[KaktoR]

Originally Posted by wareck

hello
I've got some question, its about "terminator dark fate"
the is a file called "basis.pak".
I'ts a PKZIP file (zip 2.0 with a password)
this file contains several files (animation,textures,sound ect)

In this file I extracted with sfk/partcopy a block from byte 882682388 to 4507627948.

I obtain a new file called sound.pak with is aroung 3.7Go.
it's again a PKZIP file with the same password of the big file...

I would like to know how to compress it , my first idea was to use xtool/flac or msc, but seems to not working (probably because password and packed)

I think the right way is to uncompress/decode compress then during installation use batch with sfk to re inject sound in basis.pak ...

thanks for your help

password

oKoo$]bnGTKJLMNBA9A

Thanks to masquerade

PS: The password is stored as plain text in trm.exe

[wareck]

yes I have already found the password.
Now I try to find a way to compress/decompress the separate pak files

I need to unpack zip, compress with arc then make a batch to rebuild files likes on the game inital structure ?