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

[L33THAK0R]

Details:

• Source: Clean Steam Files
• Build 10884090
• Original Size: 53 GiB
• Final Size: 16.7 GiB (Incl. installer)
• Ripped Files: Non EN Loc., ~110 MiB "Epic Online Services" installer

Internal Tools used:

• Xtool v0.8.9 (Codecs: reflate, zlib, unreal)
• Srep
• Lolz

External Tools used:

• None

Additional notes:

This title proved to be an inspiration to developing a tool to rip encrypted & compressed assets, specifically within Unreal Engine 4 titles. Currently my python script has only been tested/supports this singular title, but the results are promising. Future improvements obviously lie with processing the Wwise audio. In theory it isn't too difficult and my proof of concept tool supports ripping certain blocks to process and patch in separately, without needing to re-write entire files, but I'd already spent a good amount of time getting this far and had since lost interest in perfecting this title.

As I further develop this tool and provide additional functionality/compatibility, I'll release it publicly, however it's current state is still largely experimental. Erased files were validated by "extracting" them using FModel and examination via hex editor. A full play-through was conducted to confirm no issues persisted with said erased offsets being present.

[Masquerade]

^^
How does this process differ to using a quickbms script with bypassed clog to write encrypted data from the pak straight to the disk so you can rip it with xtool?

[L33THAK0R]

Originally Posted by Masquerade

^^
How does this process differ to using a quickbms script with bypassed clog to write encrypted data from the pak straight to the disk so you can rip it with xtool?

It doesn't, it was just an excuse to create my own tools to solve a given problem, helps hone skills for future projects/problems.