DiskSpan GUI

[Cesar82]

Originally Posted by kj911

Thanks! All compressors fully working from Windows XP?

This ARC splitting/spanning functions can't it somehow be integrated with TinyCompressor? (I've used the installer generator in MiniCompressor so far, for one or two projects and I use tuned/modified XP-compatible cls/unpackers files to install very old games. I'm just too lazy to make the installers... More games are waiting in packaged form for to his fate.)

For Oodle2mtc, it is possible to make an XP-compatible unpacker. (Because of the theoretically very fast unpacking. Shelwien's oodle wrapper (2.7.3 and 2.9.5) is very fastly decompress, but it doesn't exist as a cls-filter.)

In the DiskSpan GUI, x86 compressors are very limited.
The xtool plugins themselves only exist in x64 versions.
The xtool methods (old or v2020) only have a few codecs that work on x86.

DiskSpan GUI (x86) is partially working on older x86 systems like Windos 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP (SP3).
The reason is that CmdOutEx.dll which is responsible for intercepting text from the console window and playing in Memo does not work on KERNEL of older systems, and Blackfire69 was unable to resolve this.
So I recommend testing using a "'/LIGHTMODE" parameter that will disable several features, such as intercepting console text for the memo.

I only tested on a virtual machine (I don't have access to an old system on a physical machine), so I don't know if my tests were worth anything.
I haven't tested on x86 versions of Windows 8.0, Windows 8.1, Windows 10.
On these systems it should work (I think).

I was waiting and testing to see if I could find an alternative solution for old systems, but as everyone was eager for the update, I decided to share it anyway.
But you can share your tests on old x86 (or x64) systems so that as far as possible, reported bugs or non-operations can be fixed.
It is worth remembering that you can add additional compressors to the DiskSpan GUI just by editing the DSG_Methods.ini file in the "...\Resources\Win##" folder.

Thank you for understanding!

EDIT:
Attached a file to test on old 32-bit systems such as Windows XP, Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Run the "_CONSOLE.bat" file and try to compress it.

[Tigru]

I have tried to use this method " precomp_mtx+srep_new:393b+LOLZ_ULTRA " with DiskSpan v2.0.2.0 to compress a game but it gives the following error:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------- CONVERSION DATE 2024/04/25 -------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 19:07:24 - You have chosen the custom type for the output size.
 19:07:24 - ISO images will not be created when conversion is complete.
 19:07:24 - The computer will remain on when the conversion is complete.
 19:07:24 - Selected ARC/DS method for ar-01.bin was: precomp_mtx+srep_new:393b+lolz:dtb1:d103:mtt1:mt8:mc1023
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 19:07:25 - Compression initialized in 25/04/2024 at 19:07:25.
 19:07:25 - Starting ar-01.bin archive creation.
 19:07:58 - Archive ar-01.bin creation error.

With DiskSpan v2.0.1.9 the method works completely fine with no errors.

[Cesar82]

Originally Posted by Tigru

I have tried to use this method " precomp_mtx+srep_new:393b+LOLZ_ULTRA " with DiskSpan v2.0.2.0 to compress a game but it gives the following error:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------- CONVERSION DATE 2024/04/25 -------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 19:07:24 - You have chosen the custom type for the output size.
 19:07:24 - ISO images will not be created when conversion is complete.
 19:07:24 - The computer will remain on when the conversion is complete.
 19:07:24 - Selected ARC/DS method for ar-01.bin was: precomp_mtx+srep_new:393b+lolz:dtb1:d103:mtt1:mt8:mc1023
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 19:07:25 - Compression initialized in 25/04/2024 at 19:07:25.
 19:07:25 - Starting ar-01.bin archive creation.
 19:07:58 - Archive ar-01.bin creation error.

With DiskSpan v2.0.1.9 the method works completely fine with no errors.

Try using the same method, but remove "+srep_new:393b" from the command line to find out if it's something with srep.
If it works, try removing " -hash-" from the SREP section of DSG_Arc.ini (in the folder of the corresponding Win32 or Win64 version you are using
) and if it works, let me know.
It was the only thing that changed regarding srep between v2.0.1.9 and 2.0.2.0.
Let me know the results.

[Tigru]

Originally Posted by Cesar82

Try using the same method, but remove "+srep_new:393b" from the command line to find out if it's something with srep.
If it works, try removing " -hash-" from the SREP section of DSG_Arc.ini (in the folder of the corresponding Win32 or Win64 version you are using
) and if it works, let me know.
It was the only thing that changed regarding srep between v2.0.1.9 and 2.0.2.0.
Let me know the results.

So I did some tests, I used the same method with "+srep_new:393b" removed and the compression worked with no errors.

Then I removed "-hash-" from "Resources\Win64\DSG_Arc.ini" and tried the same method with srep included. I still got the same error as before.

[Cesar82]

Originally Posted by Tigru

So I did some tests, I used the same method with "+srep_new:393b" removed and the compression worked with no errors.

Then I removed "-hash-" from "Resources\Win64\DSG_Arc.ini" and tried the same method with srep included. I still got the same error as before.

Firstly, thanks to @mausschieber for the tests.
@Tigru, ould you test the hotfix and let me know if it resolved your errors?

Apparently the problem was in the function that saves the "fake parameter" settings.
P.S: "Fake parameters" are additional parameters that the "DiskSpan GUI" uses to know which file to use, these "fake parameters" are removed from the command line before compression.

In version 2.0.2.0+ of DiskSpan GUI, when closing DiskSpan GUI on the first run it saves several files in the "Resource\SETTINGS" folder (these lists take time to be created when starting DiskSpan GUI), so when running these lists again they will be re -created and the DiskSpan GUI will run faster.

The list of "fake parameters" uses Inno Setup's native "SaveStringsToFile" function to save an "array of string" that contains fake parameter information to a text file in the settings folder (Specifically the "02020000.dsg" file in x64 mode or "00020000.dsg" in x32 mode).

For some reason, or due to low administrative rights, this list saving is saving an empty file on some systems.
All the other 21 lists are stored in an object of the "TStringList" class and are saved using the "TStringList" class function itself and apparently in these lists there was no error when saving (For me, all lists are saved normally, including the one with fake parameters ).

If it still fails, you can test it by changing the value of the key SaveSettings=1 in the [SETTINGS] section of the "DSG_Methods.ini" file in the "Resource > Win32 or Win64" folder to the value "0", this way it will not be saved settings, and all lists will be created each time you launch the DiskSpan GUI.

Let me know if you solved the problem, and if everything is ok and I will re-upload it in the first post with the correction already included.

EDIT:
Removed attachment hotfix 1...
Re-uploaded DiskSpan GUI 2.0.2.0 with last hotfix in first post.
- Added "_CONSOLE (x86).bat" in separate versions of DSG (32-bits).

[Tigru]

Originally Posted by Cesar82

Firstly, thanks to @mausschieber for the tests.
@Tigru, ould you test the hotfix and let me know if it resolved your errors?

Apparently the problem was in the function that saves the "fake parameter" settings.
P.S: "Fake parameters" are additional parameters that the "DiskSpan GUI" uses to know which file to use, these "fake parameters" are removed from the command line before compression.

In version 2.0.2.0+ of DiskSpan GUI, when closing DiskSpan GUI on the first run it saves several files in the "Resource\SETTINGS" folder (these lists take time to be created when starting DiskSpan GUI), so when running these lists again they will be re -created and the DiskSpan GUI will run faster.

The list of "fake parameters" uses Inno Setup's native "SaveStringsToFile" function to save an "array of string" that contains fake parameter information to a text file in the settings folder (Specifically the "02020000.dsg" file in x64 mode or "00020000.dsg" in x32 mode).

For some reason, or due to low administrative rights, this list saving is saving an empty file on some systems.
All the other 21 lists are stored in an object of the "TStringList" class and are saved using the "TStringList" class function itself and apparently in these lists there was no error when saving (For me, all lists are saved normally, including the one with fake parameters ).

If it still fails, you can test it by changing the value of the key SaveSettings=1 in the [SETTINGS] section of the "DSG_Methods.ini" file in the "Resource > Win32 or Win64" folder to the value "0", this way it will not be saved settings, and all lists will be created each time you launch the DiskSpan GUI.

Let me know if you solved the problem, and if everything is ok and I will re-upload it in the first post with the correction already included.

Just finished testing, it worked with no errors, and I did not have to modify the "SaveSettings" value.