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

[KaktoR]

Baldurs Gate 3

Bink2 videos just stored as plain text.


Unfortunatelly the XTool Bink video plugin will not work here for "GUS_CGI01_Part2.bk2". I tested both versions of the plugin and get extraction errors, not matter what settings I use (c/--diff).

  0000000000000028 513393104  Mods\Gustav\Localization\English\Video\GUS_CGI01_Part1.bk2
  000000001e99c228 1169576856 Mods\Gustav\Localization\English\Video\GUS_CGI01_Part2.bk2
  00000000645015e8 35526400   Video\Splash_Logo_Larian.bk2

For "GUS_CGI01_Part2.bk2" you can go the old way of manually patching. The diff file is 15.1mb.

You can unpack the file with the above modified bms script. Just make sure you null the entire stream in "Data\Gustav_Video.pak" before making the repack and don't forget to patch the file back after installing with either xtool or quickbms.

So basically extract "GUS_CGI01_Part2.bk2" out of the file and patch the entire stream out. Manually make a diff file for it and for the modified "Gustav_Video.pak" use XTool bink plugin.

As for the audio files, they contain wem's, but wemtool can't do anything here.

Edit:
bg3.xtl

Streams: 15486 / 15486
Time: 00:00:23 (CPU 00:00:30)

Size: 1.21 GB >> 1.86 GB

Done!!!

zlib

Streams: 189 / 314
Time: 00:00:10 (CPU 00:00:49)

Size: 1.86 GB >> 1.99 GB

Done!!!

[Masquerade]

Originally Posted by KaktoR

For "GUS_CGI01_Part2.bk2" you can go the old way of manually patching. The diff file is 15.1mb.

How big is the original video file?

Please may you set the --diff parameter to 100p to hypothetically see if the XTool plugin version will accept the stream at all? I'm thinking XTool may just be seeing how large the patch is and skipping - from your descriotion, bink pack seems to handle it alright.

[KaktoR]

The file is 1.08gb (1169576856 bytes).

BPK works but it will break the file on unpacking stage (crc error).

I already tried to set --diff=100p but to no avail, the ratio is just 100% for some reason (STDIO).
The old plugin works but it's the same as normal BPK, it will break the file on unpacking.

Tried different chunk sizes aswell, from c256mb up to c4gb.

Edit: I got some things mixed up, but nevertheless it doesn't work. Here is the full test.

STDIO plugin

GUS_CGI01_Part1.bk2
Compressed 1 file, 513,393,104 => 467,499,327 bytes. Ratio 91.06%
Compression time: cpu 0.20 sec/real 67.98 sec = 0%. Speed 7.55 mB/s
All OK

Extracted 1 file, 467,499,327 => 513,393,104 bytes. Ratio 91.06%
Extraction time: cpu 0.45 sec/real 32.36 sec = 1%. Speed 15.86 mB/s
All OK



GUS_CGI01_Part2.bk2
Compressed 1 file, 1,169,576,856 => 982,148,782 bytes. Ratio 83.97%
Compression time: cpu 0.69 sec/real 151.34 sec = 0%. Speed 7.73 mB/s
All OK

Extracting 1 file, 1,169,576,856 bytes. Processed   0.0%
ERROR: general (de)compression error in xtool:bk2


Splash_Logo_Larian.bk2
Compressed 1 file, 35,526,400 => 28,360,433 bytes. Ratio 79.83%
Compression time: cpu 0.05 sec/real 5.35 sec = 1%. Speed 6.64 mB/s
All OK

Extracted 1 file, 28,360,433 => 35,526,400 bytes. Ratio 79.83%
Extraction time: cpu 0.05 sec/real 3.01 sec = 2%. Speed 11.79 mB/s
All OK

Non-STDIO plugin

GUS_CGI01_Part2.bk2
Compressed 1 file, 1,169,576,856 => 1,169,577,126 bytes. Ratio 100.00%
Compression time: cpu 0.73 sec/real 2.50 sec = 29%. Speed 467.63 mB/s
All OK

Extracted 1 file, 1,169,577,126 => 1,169,576,856 bytes. Ratio 100.00%
Extraction time: cpu 0.75 sec/real 2.08 sec = 36%. Speed 562.62 mB/s
All OK

And it does not matter if I use xtool stdio mode or not

Compressing 1 file, 1,169,576,856 bytes. Processed  83.1%
Compressing 1,169,576,856 bytes with xtool.exe precomp -c2048mb -mbk2 -t100p --diff=100p InFile OutFile
100.0%XTool is created by Razor12911

Streams: 0 / 1
Time: 00:03:19 (CPU 00:00:02)

Size: 1.09 GB >> 1.09 GB

100.0%
Errorlevel=0
Compressed 1 file, 1,169,576,856 => 1,169,577,126 bytes. Ratio 100.00%
Compression time: cpu 0.81 sec/real 226.68 sec = 0%. Speed 5.16 mB/s
All OK

XTool.ini

[bink]
Encode=bink.exe <filein> <fileout>
Decode=binku.exe <filein> <fileout>

bk2.ini, bink.exe, binku.exe, xdelta3_dll.dll are present

Btw, with -c2gb I get a access violation error in xtool.exe. I have to write -c2048mb to get the 2gb chunk size.

Edit 2: Sample https://pixeldrain.com/u/bnfw8nDp

[Hexagon123]

Originally Posted by Masquerade

Not possible with XTool. You can have the game running with extracted disc file but needs EXE patching. Password to decrypt disc can be found here: https://github.com/Masquerade64/SoS-AWL-Password
Just normal ZipCrypto. Compressed data with lzs algo, very similar to early lz4.

The process is similar to Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (2017)?

[Masquerade]

Originally Posted by Hexagon123

The process is similar to Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (2017)?

Try this for MMLC2:

https://www.vg-resource.com/thread-41735.html

[Fak Eid]

Hey guys, I tried the methods mentioned in the forum to compress Scarlet Nexus, but didn't get the required(smaller) file size. Is there any method to compress?

[ScOOt3r]

Did you use the Plugin for Scarlett Nexus.. that will help, it was posted by Masqerade i believe.

ScOOt3r

[Masquerade]

Originally Posted by Fak Eid

Hey guys, I tried the methods mentioned in the forum to compress Scarlet Nexus, but didn't get the required(smaller) file size. Is there any method to compress?

Use the XTool Unreal Engine 5 plugin by Razor12911, or the Unreal Engine UTOC/UCAS database maker.

I've posted a database in the past but it's probably outdated now.

[KaktoR]

Baldurs Gate 3

 11:48:57 - Selected ARC/SPLIT method for Data1a-01.bin was: xtool:dd3+4x4:b64mb:lzma:ultra:64m:bt4:fb273:lc8:mc1000000/$deflatepack=xtool:c128mb:mpreflate:mpng:d1+xtool:dd3+4x4:b64mb:lzma:ultra:64m:bt4:fb273:lc8:mc1000000/$mp3pack=7zdll-pm:m0=mp3det:m1=packmp3c
 11:48:57 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1b-01.bin was: xtool:mbg3+xtool:mzlib+xtool:dd3+4x4:b64mb:lzma:ultra:64m:bt4:fb273:lc8:mc1000000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 15:22:17 - Overall input size: 124.12 GB
 15:22:17 - Overall output size: 87.97 GB (Ratio 70.88%)
 15:22:17 - Overall conversion time: 03:33:18
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 15:22:27 - Starting Data1a-01.bin archive decompression.
 15:23:01 - Starting Data1b-01.bin archive decompression.
 15:56:45 - Overall decompression time: 00:34:17
 15:56:45 - All files have been successfully extracted!

[dixen]

Does anyone know how to correctly uncompress the PAK files in the State of Decay2 game?
Quickbms + SOD2.bms =7.6 gb > ~11 gb
Xtool + lz4hc:l9 + sod2.xtl = 7.6 gb > 8.1 gb

Tested file pakchunk000004-WindowsNoEditor.pak

NOTE.
Applying Xdelta has no effect

[KaktoR]

Try with this custom sod2 scripts.

Credits to spiritovod

[dixen]

Originally Posted by KaktoR

Try with this custom sod2 scripts.

Credits to spiritovod

Unfortunately, none of the three worked.

[Razor12911]

Originally Posted by dixen

Does anyone know how to correctly uncompress the PAK files in the State of Decay2 game?
Quickbms + SOD2.bms =7.6 gb > ~11 gb
Xtool + lz4hc:l9 + sod2.xtl = 7.6 gb > 8.1 gb

Tested file pakchunk000004-WindowsNoEditor.pak

NOTE.
Applying Xdelta has no effect

If I remember correctly this game uses standard lz4, not lz4hc but I could be mistaken. Also I think -mue4:lz4 (via unreal engine plugin) should work too in case you're having issues with database.

[ravikant]

How to compress *.naz files in total overdose, i need to make a lossy repack

[Masquerade]

Originally Posted by ravikant

How to compress *.naz files in total overdose, i need to make a lossy repack

Use naztozip linked here to convert the archive:
https://github.com/Michael0ne/TOD_to...r/naztozip.exe

From there, you should be able to browse their contents and get a good look at what they contain.