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

[Masquerade]

Peter72
You set your temp folder as setup3.bin instead of the output archive.

[Peter72]

Okay... I will slow it down. But the problem is that there is no beginner guide in the whole process. So when I stumble upon something for a beginner, I try it out. But I have no clue what are the things to learn sequentially. If you can direct me to the things to learn, I will be so grateful. So for example,

"You need to learn
1) X, then (Links to 1)
2) Y, then alternate your methods to (Links to 2)
3) Z (coding for instance) (Links to 3)"

Maybe one day, I will make a beginner book.

[L33THAK0R]

Originally Posted by Peter72

Okay... I will slow it down. But the problem is that there is no beginner guide in the whole process. So when I stumble upon something for a beginner, I try it out. But I have no clue what are the things to learn sequentially. If you can direct me to the things to learn, I will be so grateful. So for example,

"You need to learn
1) X, then (Links to 1)
2) Y, then alternate your methods to (Links to 2)
3) Z (coding for instance) (Links to 3)"

Maybe one day, I will make a beginner book.

I'd recommend reading the pinned posts on this board, plus giving as much information as possible, when posting about any issues or queries. These 2 things have helped me immensely with learning about this hobby/field.

[:( Sad8669]

Method : xtool_zstd+srep:m3f:l512+lolz:dtb1:d128:mtt0:mt4:mc1023
Compression Time : 20 Hours
Decompression Time : 1 Hour 39 Minutes
Initial Size : 31.5 GB
Final Size : 20.5 GB

Possibilities : You can rip Multiplayer files if you don't need them.

[KaktoR]

Originally Posted by :( Sad8669

Method : xtool_zstd+srep:m3f:l512+lolz:dtb1:d128:mtt0:mt4:mc1023
Compression Time : 20 Hours
Decompression Time : 1 Hour 39 Minutes
Initial Size : 31.5 GB
Final Size : 20.5 GB

Possibilities : You can rip Multiplayer files if you don't need them.

Could you tell me which zstd library version you used?

[:( Sad8669]

Method : ZTool+SREP+LOLZ
Compression Time : 49 Minutes
Decompression Time : 34 Seconds
Initial Size : 2.06 GB
Final Size : 284 MB

Side Notes : I don't know if the game contains any lz4 streams and by the time i was compressing this game, i didn't realized that there was a Unity precompressor plugin for XTool.

[:( Sad8669]

I agree, just start reading this thread from the first page, the problems solved in the past might help you start.

[Masquerade]

Peter72
A nice place to start is, if you like the steps order:

1. take a look at freearc's command line and see what all your various switches do. Using a custom temp folder is hugely useful if your OS is on an SSD (-w switch). -m switch is for the compression method.

2. Look into using arc.ini to add external compressors. Start with something like XTool or srep. There's plenty of premade compressors in this forum which already have packcmds in the arc.ini, and you can use these to learn the correct structure.

3. Learn about using multiple compressors chained together using the + sign in -m switch, e.g. -msrep+lolz

4. Learn to use multiple methods on 1 archive by using arc.groups to make a mask ( I won't type all this in 1 message, but I will happily explain masks you are interested - just this way I save you some time by looking at building blocks first)

[:( Sad8669]

When you have arc.exe in your folder, you can run a .bat file to learn about their parameters.

Copy below and save it as .bat and run it in the same folder as arc.exe.

Help.bat

arc.exe
pause

From here you can learn what each command does.

[Masquerade]

Originally Posted by :( Sad8669

When you have arc.exe in your folder, you can run a .bat file to learn about their parameters.

Shift+right click to open command window from context menu?

[:( Sad8669]

Originally Posted by Masquerade

Shift+right click to open command window from context menu?

He is eventually going to use .bat files in future, taking long methods may help build more experience.

[Peter72]

Thank you very much for these info. It very much useful. And to Masquerade, I will be asking you about the masks when I get there

[HunterEmrah]

Can you suggest something good for Days Gone?

[KaktoR]

Originally Posted by HunterEmrah

Can you suggest something good for Days Gone?

https://fileforums.com/showpost.php?...&postcount=101

 21:43:42 - Selected ARC method for Data1.bin was: oo2reck7+srep_new+4x4:b64mb:lzma:ultra:64m:bt4:fb273:lc8:mc1000000

 03:01:52 - Overall input size: 44.40 GB
 03:01:52 - Overall output size: 23.05 GB
 03:01:52 - Overall conversion time: 05:18:04

[KaktoR]

Mass Effect Legendary Edition

 12:08:32 - Selected ARC method for Data1a.bin was: bpk
 12:08:32 - Selected ARC method for Data1b.bin was: xtool_ue3_mele+srep_new+4x4:b64mb:lzma:ultra:64m:bt4:fb273:lc8:mc1000000
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 18:18:58 - Overall input size: 103.74 GB
 18:18:58 - Overall output size: 60.84 GB
 18:18:58 - Overall conversion time: 06:10:21

Edit: Do not use bpk. You will get crc errors on unpacking.