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Sim City 4 Devotion Tools => Tools - General Discussion => BSC NHP DatPacker => Topic started by: wouanagaine on January 16, 2007, 05:51:52 AM

Title: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 16, 2007, 05:51:52 AM
This is a place holder for those who have registered to the BSC LEX and had downloaded SC4DatPacker

If you have any problems, questions, comments, just put them here


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: pvarcoe on January 16, 2007, 06:58:49 AM
Thanks Wouanagaine.

I have downloaded the SC4DatPacker and am going to fire it up in the couple of days.
I will start by combining all my tree files into one, and see how that goes.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on January 16, 2007, 10:32:09 AM
Wouanagaine,
    Seems like pretty good stuff.  Only problem is that my readme seems to have dissapeared into never never land, and I think I did something wrong.   I now have doubles of a bunch of stuff.    I seem to recall that I am supposed to move something after running it but I can't remember what it was and can't find the readme to find out.  And yes I did read the readme, just not very well I guess.   LMAO.   Okay ya'll can stop laughing now. 
Can you sent me the readme or link me to it?    Thanks in advance.

---Gaston

Okay I said you can stop laughing now.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 16, 2007, 10:48:55 AM
You need to move all your sub folders except the Plugins_Compressed out of your plugins folder to play. I use start up manager and so I have a Plugins and a Plugins Disabled folder. All the folders I have packed into the Plugins_Compressed folder move to Plugins Disabled to play. Hope this helps.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on January 16, 2007, 11:18:35 AM
Thanks Barbyw.   I think I understand.    So everything in the "plugins compressed" is a copy of the files in plug ins.   So, if I understand you correctly, I need to move everything in plug ins except the "plugins compressed" file out to something else like a "plugins disabled" file out-side SC4, like into my "my documents" or someplace like that.    I think?   I hope that is what you mean.     Or I'm gonna be moving alot of files back and forth today.     LOL.


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: pvarcoe on January 16, 2007, 12:03:52 PM
Yup, as far as I know, you got it correct Gaston.

I tried out DatPacker at lunch and it compressed 159 files (trees) into 1 file (88 megs, mind you).
I moved the original tree files out of plugins folder and fired up the game.
Seemed to work correctly, but I need to do some before and after time checks to compare results.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 16, 2007, 12:21:12 PM
Gaston, You don't sctually need to move them out of the MyDocs\SC4 folder but out of Plugins. Make a folder in the SC4 folder called Plugins Disabled and then you haven't far to move them. The game will not take any notice of the Plugins Disabled folder.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on January 16, 2007, 12:51:47 PM
Thanks a bunch barbyw.   I'll give it a try.    Hopefully it will solve the doubles problem and make things work faster.    Since I recently "de-vanilla'd" the game a bit more, I have increased the plug ins alot.  That has slowed me down as well.    Hmmmm, I wonder if I can move the entire contents out then move the "plugins compressed" back in?    &idea I guess I'll find out.   LOL


Thanks again,
---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 16, 2007, 01:39:37 PM
Hello there,

I just wanted to post my congratulations and thanks to Wouanagaine for releasing this tool. &apls
I want to write a brief tutorial about how to boost your loading times witht this tool, and take advantadge of its modular use. I am so short of time that I dont know when will I be able to write it so in the meantime, a quick hint: Once you have created your compressed folders, run the windows defragmenter. It will greatly increase not only the game, city and menu load times, but also the main system performance.
I have a 1.7GB compressed plugins folder, and it takes 1 to 2 minutes to load the game, the first time, and 2 to 3 minutes to load a big city tile which is half developed at the moment. The menus do also open inmediatley !!! ( before this tool, most of the times I forgot what I was looking for, after waiting minutes for the menus to open !!!)

MERCI MON AMI for this great one  :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 16, 2007, 02:00:10 PM
wOW lot of discussion when I'm not here :)

Ok Gaston, rinstalling won't hurt to get the readme back :), but here is the readme with pics (http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/7/28/145206/datPackerreadme.zip)
Barbyw summed the readme :)
Moving ( not copynig  ) file take 0 times in windows if you move file on same drive ( 0 more or less :) ). Do not move any file that are in the root of the plugins folder as they are not packed (like the bldgprop_vol1.dat for example ). Now you can run the game and you'll notice :
switching between cities is faster
as jeroni said, opening a menu is faster


When you want to install new stuffs, just move the content of the disabled folder back into the plugins folder, install the new stuffs, run sc4datpacker again, it will only recompress what is needed, then repeat the operation


pvarcoe, I used it for 6 months now, not getting any problems so far with 1.8Go plugins, always get around 3 mins to get into a developped medium city from the desktop. Never get a 10 mins loading like I saw some players experienced with a same sized plugins folder

Hopefully barbyw and jeroni will write a good english readme on how to get the best from this tool to enhance your gameplay experience, without messing with my poor english

Thx all for your support&comment
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Alek King of SC4 on January 16, 2007, 02:06:02 PM
this is sounding very interesting I am approaching a 3 gig plugins and my load times are creeping up on unpleasent even with a high powered machine. after reading jeronij's testimonial i am very excited, you are a mad computer genious.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Fred_Ginger on January 16, 2007, 02:59:19 PM
Ummmm,  could someone help me with this?   
"error in file C:\Documents and Settings\Vicki\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Jeronij\JRJ_CPT Trees as props\CP DougFir 1 to 5 Prop Vfamily.dat

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\Vicki\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\parks\Parks-Other\Legoland-0x5ad0e817_0x2d92824a_0x1a0000.SC4Model"
I got the tree error three times.

Please, single syllable words - remember, I'm the computer idiot! %$payas)(

Oh, and maybe you should have said something like "Vicki, you twit, you should run your new installs before running th SC4 DAT Packer"  ::)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 16, 2007, 03:09:08 PM
well let whisper will you ? I think Jeroni knows that his CP DougFir 1 to 5 Prop Vfamily.dat is 0 kb size :) and hence datPacker can't read it.

For the other file I suspect the same kind of error.

So with single syllable words => no prob in fact
If datPacker can't read a file, it is likely SC4 won't be able to read it either, so you won't see a miss in SC4

And now I said it :
Vicki, you twit, you should run your new installs before running th SC4 DAT Packer

but it really does not hurt, I install stuff everyday and it is just a matter of moving files in/out your plugins.
DatPacker will be aware of new file in a subfolder and will only rebuild pack of modified subfolder
So with your example, if you install a new park ( I suppose you will put it into somewhere under C:\Documents and Settings\Vicki\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\parks\ ), you run SC4 DatPacker, hit start, it will only rebuild the 'Parks.dat' in 'Plugins_compressed' , not 'Jeronij.dat'

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Fred_Ginger on January 16, 2007, 03:15:43 PM
Thank you, I even understood all of that! &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on January 16, 2007, 07:30:30 PM
wouanagaine,
    1st:    Thank You , Thank You , Thank You... repeat into infinity.
     
     B):     This is the greatest thing ever created for "normal" computers.   (ie. Not some duo processing multi core ....   I don't even know what computer)     This makes running the game with lots of "icing" available to most of us.

     Thirdly:     I followed the advice from barbyw and it worked like a dream.   It proably cut the time it took to load in half and in the game it was running like I was still playing a vanilla game.   And I have just a bit less than 2G in my plug ins.

     I would recommend this to everyone.      It is a wonderful tool.      Now if I could just figure out how to get the lot information tool to work I'd be all set.     :angrymore:       LOL     

     Thanks for posting the read me.  I dl'd it and will save it this time in my file for read me's.     I don't know how the other one didn't make it there.        Thanks once again.


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Fred_Ginger on January 16, 2007, 08:09:21 PM
I'll have to 2nd Gaston's thank yous!  What a treat, my game loaded in two minutes!  The (large) city in two and 1/2 minutes! &apls
Now, I have another question, how do I get things out of the compressed plugins - if I delete them from my regular plugins then run the tool again will it remove things? :-\
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 16, 2007, 11:47:04 PM
Wow thx for all the nice comments !

Quote from: Gaston
Now if I could just figure out how to get the lot information tool to work I'd be all set.
You should post a description of your problem in the SC4LIG Thread, either at SC4D or ST.


Quote from: Fred_Ginger
Now, I have another question, how do I get things out of the compressed plugins - if I delete them from my regular plugins then run the tool again will it remove things?
It should :). The tool check the latest date/time operation in your folders and compare it to the date/time of the corresponding packed file. If the folder time is newer than the packed file, the packed file is rebuild.
If for some reasons the tool do not rebuild the packed file, you should click on the checkbox associated with that folder to force the repacking no matter what the date/time is. Or you can just delete the packed file from the compressed_plugins folder

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 17, 2007, 01:19:54 AM
Fred_Ginger, a new version of CPT trees as props, fixing this 0Kb file is available in the LEX  ;D .
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Fred_Ginger on January 17, 2007, 10:59:52 AM
Thank you both, I gotta tell you - you've made this little old lady one might happy SC4 player! :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on January 17, 2007, 08:20:30 PM
Quote from: wouanagaine on January 16, 2007, 11:47:04 PM
Wow thx for all the nice comments !
You should post a description of your problem in the SC4LIG Thread, either at SC4D or ST.





Thanks again wouanagaine.   I didn't even realize there was a SG4LIG thread.   LOL   I was actually just venting a bit of frustation.   But I will post something there.

Thanks again for the creation of "The Packer"   LOL


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Fred_Ginger on January 18, 2007, 10:52:08 AM
Okay Wouanagaine, you're in trouble now!  My game plays so much better now that I played from around 4 PM until 1:30 AM last night!  I'm so use to the game crashing to the desktop that I use that as a signal to stop playing so last night the only reason I stopped was because I was so cold (my heater automatically turns off at 11:00 PM).  This has got to stop!  (*looks for the emoticon that indicates joking!*)  Thank you again for this most wonderful tool! &dance &dance &dance

Oh, I didn't mean to ignore you Jeronij, thanks for the info re the updated trees....
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 18, 2007, 02:49:29 PM
lol
So now I can tell my wife I'm not alone in that case :)

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 18, 2007, 07:47:13 PM
SWEEET! I'm glad you guys made this program! I'm going to looooove it!  ;D ;D ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: DuskTrooper on January 18, 2007, 08:21:03 PM
Quote from: barbyw on January 16, 2007, 12:21:12 PM
Gaston, You don't sctually need to move them out of the MyDocs\SC4 folder but out of Plugins. Make a folder in the SC4 folder called Plugins Disabled and then you haven't far to move them. The game will not take any notice of the Plugins Disabled folder.


Furthermore, you could simply rename the plugins folder to "Plugins off" and move the compressed DAT folder to a new folder renamed "Plugins".  This will take less time to do, since moving around several GBs of plugins can sometimes take several minutes.  If you have to edit/add plugins, etc, just get rid of the supercompressed DAT directory thingy, and rename the folders appropriately.

Thanks Wouggie (if I may call you that :D) for another wonderful SC4 tool! :thumbsup: &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 18, 2007, 09:24:41 PM
I'm trying the program an having trouble... It taking a loooong time to compressed the files. Is it normal?  %confuso help me please
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 18, 2007, 11:24:46 PM
DT & gaston, I don't know how windows display file operation on a non french verison, but when I use 'moving' it means move, not copy. Moving files ( even if there is 2Go ) is almost instant if it occurs on the same drive. CTRL-C CTRL-V is a copy  ( duplicate ), CTRL-X CTRL-V is a move ( no duplicate )

DT , yes you can call me Wouggie, that sounds not as funny as my full nickname from me but sounds good :)

Dioangel, Yes it can be long, It tooks around 3/4 mins on my 2Go. It can take way more long if you have check the 'force compression' option as the tool will try to compress the data.

EDIt an updated version will be upload today ( new readme and added more TGI to be removed when using the 'only useful tgi' option )
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Elektra on January 19, 2007, 04:10:54 AM
This is an awesome little tool.   &apls  Thanks bunches for creating it. 

Though I have a question? ???   Does one have to compress everything in the plugins folder for it to work correctly?  In that I mean, I don't always use the Block Maxis Mod on all the maps I am working on, I just move it in and out of the plugins folder.  I don't want to have to compress the plugins everytime to make the changes.  I guess I could make two different compressed one with the Maxis and one without, move those back and forth.  Would that work?  :satisfied:

Heh....I probably answered my own question, just looking for clarification.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 19, 2007, 05:22:30 AM
Well the best way is to make a subfolder with DT Block mod
then after you used datpacker, just delete the corresponding dat file in the plugin compressed sub fodler, and just play with or without the DT subfolder

And you can play with both compressed file and normal ( I have a 'mine' subfolder where I put lots I'm working on, this one is never compressed )

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 19, 2007, 06:00:02 AM
As I have already said I use Start Up Manager. This is an excellent program as it does the moving for you and you can set up as many regions or development options as you want. I keep my Maxis blocker files in the main program plugins directory as SUM deals with both the mydocs and the program plugins separately. I have compressed all the files I want to use for Shosaloza and renamed the folder to that. I then set up SUM to only load that plus the root plugin files (as they aren't compressed) and separately check off the terrain mod, radical mods etc that I want to use from the main program plugins folder. I also have a separate set up for making lots with the separate prop and texture packs in place and another for making descs in PIM. SUM does all the moving for me and loads the game without the intro and in a window if I want.
SC4DatPacker + SUM = easy, faster loading for all purposes :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 19, 2007, 06:39:59 AM
UPDATE ALERT => I have updated the readme ( thx to barbyw ) and added some TGI in the useless list

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Alek King of SC4 on January 19, 2007, 06:55:02 AM
OK so i am stupid, but is this still in testing or can we download it yet, it sounds to good to be true.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 19, 2007, 07:47:26 AM
It is on the LEX here: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=26
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Alek King of SC4 on January 19, 2007, 08:15:28 AM
AWWWWW yeah,  &dance &dance

i cannot wait to try this when i get home from work  ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Elektra on January 19, 2007, 10:32:03 AM
Barby,

Is there a tutorial on all you said in plain english.....? :D
You lost me right after:
QuoteAs I have already said I use Start Up Manager.
???
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 19, 2007, 11:22:19 AM
Elektra, the information on and link to Start Up Manager is here: http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=121&threadid=70989&enterthread=y
There is a lot of information in the thread including bried info on a new version but I wouldn't wait for that if you are interested in using the program. If you have any more questions, send me a PM and I'll try to help.
It and SC4DatPacker make SC4 much easier to play.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: DuskTrooper on January 19, 2007, 11:36:50 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on January 18, 2007, 11:24:46 PM
DT & gaston, I don't know how windows display file operation on a non french verison, but when I use 'moving' it means move, not copy. Moving files ( even if there is 2Go ) is almost instant if it occurs on the same drive. CTRL-C CTRL-V is a copy  ( duplicate ), CTRL-X CTRL-V is a move ( no duplicate )


Ah, I tried that, and yes;it is almost instant.  I used to move my stuff to desktop, and that usually took several minutes.


Anyway, you can experience even faster gameplay if you use the DAT packer, along with a few other space saving options, such as modular "drag and drop" folders, and any others that have been discussed so far.

*goes off to play SC4 for hours on end, once again*
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 19, 2007, 02:54:58 PM
wouanagaine - Oh thanks for the info my friend!  ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on January 19, 2007, 03:21:13 PM
Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions.   This speeded up my gameplay an incredible amount.   I wish I had kept up with the French I took in high school and college.    Then we could converse in something easier for you wouanagaine.    &mmm


Thanks again for creating this great tool.


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Elektra on January 20, 2007, 02:28:11 AM
@Barby,

Thanks bunches, I will take a look.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Grneyes on January 20, 2007, 05:03:08 PM
So, can you use this on the program files plugins? Or just the mydocs plugins?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: comptongb on January 20, 2007, 07:59:59 PM
The tool is excellent  &apls

But will it ever be available at ST?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 21, 2007, 01:12:36 AM
Grneyes => no, only on the myDocs

comptongb => no, this is an SC4D Exclusive, and ST does not allow me to manage the uploading of tools like here ( the modds&downloads section is only available thru Dirk )

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 21, 2007, 03:07:04 AM
mydocs
But you can temporary move your folders....pure windows interaction  ;)

Ooops, I missed wngn's post :-[
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 21, 2007, 04:08:42 AM
I have lock the file as there is a little bug around overlay and base texture TGI overlapping

It won't cause any harms to your game, just that you may end with some lots without a base textures

I'll post when it will be fix

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Colyn on January 21, 2007, 04:26:39 AM
Thanks Wouna ... BTW ... I think the BSC Park texture packs also use this duplication of IID's ... I might be very wrong  %wrd
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: bulldog2010 on January 21, 2007, 12:38:00 PM
Hey wouanagaine,

      I'm having a problem with Dat Packer :'(. I installed it and when I clicked on the icon to open the program, an error window came up and told me to see the .exe logfile in C:/ProgramFiles/SC4 Dat Packer/. I went to look at it and it has a buch of technical stuff that I have no idea about. I am using a trial version of Windows Vista so I ran the program in compatibility mode for Windows XP service pack 2, but that didn't work. I don't know if I missed something and forgive me if I did, I reread the readme a couple of times and this entire topic, but I didn't find anything. This looks like a great tool and I would really like to use it, hopefully you can help me. Thanks in advance!

-Adam
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 21, 2007, 12:46:46 PM
The best thing to do in that case is to write the content of log file here.
I can tackle with technical stuff :)

I do not have Vista, so if this is related I can't help. Just put the log here and I'll see what I can do
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: bulldog2010 on January 21, 2007, 01:06:15 PM
Wow, that was fast, here it is:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 1, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 1, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 91, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 21, 2007, 02:21:31 PM
well
If you have winrar ( google for it if not ), try to extract library.zip ( do not try with anything else, winzip or any other zipping utility, only winrar can process it ). and see if you have wx/__core__.pyo and wx/__core__.pyd

You may also try to redownload the file when I'll unlock it as you may have an incorrect file

In any case have you tried some of my other tools on Vista ? ( go at ST in the NHP Tools suite (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=355&threadid=83832) ) just to be know if it is a Vista related bug or not.

If it is Vista related, ( ie none of the tools works ). I 'll have to find how to turn a python file into a Vista executable ( if possible )

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: bulldog2010 on January 21, 2007, 03:16:51 PM
Okay, I looked into the folder wx and found the that I have the two files, but on mine it is spelled _core.pyo instead of what you typed: _core_.pyo I don't know if you meant to type that or not, but nevertheless, I tried to rename it to what you had typed and it gave me an error message saying that the file was corrupted. But regardless of that problem I am now pretty sure it's Vista that's giving me the problem because I downloaded SC4 Mapper and it gave me the same error and I went on my brother's computer which has XP, it ran fine. The funny thing is that I could have sworn I used SC4 Mapper before on this computer, but that might have been before I got Vista on it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 21, 2007, 03:20:33 PM
Thx, I'll try to get a new python to exe file and see if it works on Vista ( google does not help me much on that :( )

PS : If anyone has a way to test the tool on Vista, please report if it crash or not

You're right, I made a typo, the files are
_core_.pyd
_core.pyo
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: bulldog2010 on January 21, 2007, 03:34:43 PM
Well now I'm even more confused, I just downloaded your program clip2pic and that works fine. Do all the programs run the same way or something and if one didn't run, the others wouldn't either?  #?¿?¿?$
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 21, 2007, 04:14:27 PM
That make me think

The clip2pic is the only one that do not interfer with any SC4 files
But the error is not related to that :(

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: CrazyChickenSC12 on January 21, 2007, 05:13:30 PM
Hey, Awesome tool youve created if only I could get it to work..I start it up then set it up by checkning the files I want compressed etc. Hit start...it runs for a big and then all the sudden crashes no error msgs or anything just the windows message saying this program has encountered an error and need to be shut down etc. Im using windows XP so...any help would be appreciated  ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: CabraBuitre on January 21, 2007, 11:32:21 PM
One question about the datpacker...

So, I gather from the discussion that it creates dat files for each sub folder, and this speeds up the game considerably.  Am I to assume then if there are NO sub folders then it will create just a single large dat, speeding the game up even more?

I have 21 subfolders, of which the majority have several (10+) subfolders, which in turn have several subfolders... etc.  If I decreased some of these child folders, would it improve my speed by creating fewer dats and thus having fewer files to open?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 22, 2007, 01:13:55 AM
Crazy => Can you check if you have a .log file on the installation folder ? and put the content of that file here
I must also confess that I do not test for enough free HD space, and that may cause a crash, you should have at least same size of your plugins folder as free space

CabraBuitre => if you have 21 subfolders, it will create 21 mega packs, no matter how much subfolders you have in each of those root subfolders
For example the BSC folder useally get a long list of subfolders, the tool will only create a BSC.dat file which include everything found in BSC folder and subs


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: CrazyChickenSC12 on January 22, 2007, 01:21:24 AM
There is no .log file in the SC4DatPacker folder which resides in Programfiles/sc4datpacker, there is a library.zip folder which it says is invalid or corrupted...I have 2.17free HD space and plugins is is around 1.7 gb or so..Also would having like a readme or anything out of the ordinary in the plugins effect this?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 22, 2007, 01:29:54 AM
NEW VERSION AVAILABLE

I have fix the bug ( hopefully, seems to works correctly now on testers systems )

This does not resolve vista bug however

If you redownload it, ( I encourage you to do so ). delete your compressed plugins and rerun the tool, or check every folder to force rebuild





Crazy => the tool looks only for .dat .sc4lot .sc4model .sc4Desc, if you have something else it should not interfere
the zip file is ok, no matter what your unzip program tells you :), it can only be open by winrar
Did the tool created some packs and crash on a certain folder ? in that case, try to move that folder outside your plugin, and rerun the tool to see if the error occurs on a specific folder/file
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: bat on January 22, 2007, 02:53:20 AM
Thanks for fixing this problem!

btw, A wonderful tool!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Alek King of SC4 on January 22, 2007, 06:29:55 AM
After downloading friday night I am 100% sure that this is the BEST thing ever.  I am crazy about this game all over, no more zoom crash, no more crash period!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I must have played....10 hours plus this weekend with not a single crash, not to mention i was switching in and out of cities with ease. (very important with my building style to allow demands to balance out and get raised.)

I was very skeptical that i would notice any speed difference needless to say that was proven wrong instantly, not to mention i had no idea it would fix the crash issues completely.  :thumbsup:


AWESOME this is absoulutely stunning and you have given me the drive to add even more content to my game, i cannot say how cool this is.  &apls &apls &dance
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 22, 2007, 07:15:11 AM
Alek, I don't know how the hell it could have fix the crashing issue

Now that I'm thinking of it, I still have some crashing when ploping some lots ( surely related to the hover of TE lots ).
Maybe the random crash is related to have too many opened files, windows does not like that . So by using only a small amount of files, it surely help


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Alek King of SC4 on January 22, 2007, 07:21:55 AM
man i used to have crashes all the time, i get none now.  there is a known bug with the NAM puzzle pieces and TE'd lots, but i know to be careful witht that. 

Anyways back to the crashing, flawless, first no more zoom crash, it used to be on cities and the large and more developed the more likely when i ever i would zoom out there was a high likely hood of a crash.

Also rotating the view and landmarks also were frequen crash triggers.  So far this is a 100% solid fix for the zoom crash bug.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: sanantonio on January 22, 2007, 08:39:32 AM
I'll say it again, the DatPacker is the best thing to happen to SimCity since the NAM.  Thanks, wouanagaine!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 22, 2007, 09:55:48 AM
Quote from: Alek King of SC4 on January 22, 2007, 06:29:55 AM

I was very skeptical that i would notice any speed difference needless to say that was proven wrong instantly, not to mention i had no idea it would fix the crash issues completely.  :thumbsup:

So you did not believe what I said ?¿  $%Grinno$%

I think I will add your comment to the home page news  ;)

I have to admit that I have also forgotten the game chrashes since I use Datpacker, but because I can not technically prove why, I decided to not mention it. But I am glad to see that I am not the only one who said "goodbay chrashes¡¡¡" What Aleking says is exactly the same that happened to my SC4.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Alek King of SC4 on January 22, 2007, 11:04:51 AM
yeah my plugins went from around 1.9 to just over 1.0, absolutely no more crashing INCREDIBLE.

If you use custom content i cannot stress how highly reccomended this is.  Ever been playing the game hardcore, make something u fall in love with and then get a crash, ouch it is the worst, but never fear SC4 Dat Packer will fix what ails ya.  and the speed,  %BUd%
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 22, 2007, 12:31:15 PM
The more I think of it, the more I think that the random crash is related to number of files, with 2go of uncompressed files, you certainly have around 10000 files, if you have lot of different lots in one city, zoom out, then the game will have to open a lot of files to update the screen. And opening such a number of file is certainly not a friendy task for WinXP

Quote from: Alekmy plugins went from around 1.9 to just over 1.0,
Is it a typo or you really get a 900Mb gain using SC4DatPacker ?  :o :o :o
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Alek King of SC4 on January 22, 2007, 01:01:22 PM
yep but my plugins folder was about as organized as a 12 year olds closet.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: thundercrack83 on January 22, 2007, 11:00:22 PM
QUESTION: I can't seem to locate a link to LEX to download the Dat Packer. Do I have to be a special member or something like that to access the LEX? Or to download the DAT Packer? Or both?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 22, 2007, 11:30:23 PM
thundercrack, on the home page of SC4Devotion (http://sc4devotion.com/), on the left menu, you have a link to the BSC LEX (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/Default.htm)
You need to register to the BSC LEX, when done, browse the pages to get it
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: meldolion on January 23, 2007, 03:23:14 AM
Wonderful tool!!!! thanks wouanagaine!!!!

I've a problem tough with Jeronij Street Cul de Sac; the packer gives me the following errors:
error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props HW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_03 HW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0xf0eec547.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props HW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_03-0x5ad0e817_0xd10fb9ff_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props HW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_04HW-0x5ad0e817_0x1138a190_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props HW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_04HW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0xd0f02c35.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props HW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_05HW-0x5ad0e817_0xb138a440_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props HW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_05HW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0xd0f02be6.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props HW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_06HW-0x5ad0e817_0x5138a694_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props HW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_06HW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0x30f02c25.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props LW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_01V3-0x5ad0e817_0x30e97d8f_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props LW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_01V3-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0x10eebbb1.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props LW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_04LW-0x5ad0e817_0xb10fbf2b_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props LW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_04LW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0xb0eeca17.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props LW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_05LW-0x5ad0e817_0xb110f766_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props LW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_05LW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0x50f00550.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props LW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_06LW-0x5ad0e817_0x3110fa3c_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props LW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_06LW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0xf0f0056e.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props MW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_02-0x5ad0e817_0x10ec1617_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props MW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_02-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0xf0eeba14.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props MW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_04MW-0x5ad0e817_0xb138a8a1_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props MW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_04MW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0x50f02ba5.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props MW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_05MW-0x5ad0e817_0x5138ab60_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props MW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_05MW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0xd0f02c11.SC4Desc

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props MW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_06MW-0x5ad0e817_0x5138ad18_0x30000.SC4Model

error in file C:\Documents and Settings\zzlmalo\Documenti\SimCity 4\Plugins\100 - BATs and lots\Jeronij\JRJ Street Cul de Sac\JRJ CDS Streets Plop SSM compatible\JRJ CDS Streets Data and Props Street Side Mod\JRJ CulDeSacs Props MW\JRJ_CDS_PROP_06MW-0x6534284a-0x0f55ca9c-0x10f02bf8.SC4Desc

do you know what does it mean?

thanks
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 23, 2007, 07:29:27 AM
Can you check if you can open thoses files with reader or datgen or sc4tools ?

I don't have them, I'll try to download them and test
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rayden on January 23, 2007, 07:31:59 AM
Well, well, well, one week away and I get stunned by this. Wouanagaine, or shall I call you Panoramix, you're a magician ;). My game went from several minutes to load any city to just a few seconds  :o

The first load of the game still takes a while, also to load the first city, but still a lot faster than before. From that on, if I save the city and load a new one, it takes about 15 seconds. If I just leave the city (without saving) and load a new one, it takes both actions together around 5 seconds. Just to load a new city, it takes 3 seconds, just amazing. Btw, my Plugins folder now, holds only 2,35 Gb. Before was nearly 3 Gb. :satisfied:

Like Alek said, it's even more pleasant now to play this game. I can even play with my mouse rolling button and zoom in and out from level 1 to 5 and vice versa, and it doesn't crash. Before I had to wait until the rendering of the image to finish after zooming and before hitting again the zoom button, and even so, having 80% of chances of a crashing to the desktop.

Thanks a lot mate, you're a life saviour. &apls

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 23, 2007, 07:34:53 AM
Meldolion,Do these lots work the way they are intended to work ?¿ Have you placed them in game ?¿. Just to make sure that this was not a corrupted download.
If you installed the CDS with the installer, try removing it and placing the MAC version available in the STEX ( the only difference is the the files come in a zip instead an installer).
Some problems were pointed by Mac users when trying to extract the files in that exe. Just guessing....
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 23, 2007, 07:42:38 AM
Rayden, thx for your comment ! I have to try to set the redraw to full speed :) to check it. I set it to low when the game crashed ( 6 months ago :p )

Jeroni and Meldolion,
I tried the PC version (ie the one with the installer) I have no problem packing them.
I tried the mac version, and as you wrote, I can't unzip them correctly, but I can pack what has been extracted. Maybe you have somehow get all the files to be extracted, because I'm not able to have the files you mentionned. So my best bet is that those files are corrupted, ( 0 kb )







Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rayden on January 23, 2007, 07:56:07 AM
I found 2 of those kind of errors and the related files could not be open by Datagen. I just deleted them, never used them anyway ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: meldolion on January 23, 2007, 08:10:51 AM
Thanks for the replies!!!

I've tried to open the files with the reader and it says "invalid filename"

The mac version has some files with $$A extension don't konw if this is correct..

I've tried them in the game and it appears they display correctly but don't know if they are all..
here is a picture with the cul the sacs:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg397.imageshack.us%2Fimg397%2F9089%2Fnewcityjun14001169568091ry.jpg&hash=28d65a5340f23204fe6d96609c2bd39bbdab9f40) (http://imageshack.us)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 23, 2007, 08:27:48 AM
I think I will have to check this set, and fix it where needed. A new upload for the LEX.... ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: meldolion on January 23, 2007, 09:11:59 AM
a small update....

first I didn't eliminated the folder of the Maxis Compatible CDS

second, and more strangely I reinstalled the plugin, and the files above were readable with the Reader, then after running the packer they weren't...

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: schooner2 on January 23, 2007, 09:16:52 AM
I installed Datapacker and it works well.  Thanks alot for this program!!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: pvarcoe on January 23, 2007, 01:14:23 PM
Well, I have played with SC4 DatPacker some more and here are my results.
Wonderful results, I might add.

Original size of my plugins directory = 1.5g
After using DatPacker size of my plugins directory = 1.2g

Original SC4 start up time (till the beginning video bit begins) = average time of 12 minutes (no exaggeration)
After using DatPacker start up time = less than 1 minute

Original time to open a large city tile (that has tons of trees) = 8 to 10 minutes
After using DatPacker to open the same large city tile = 4 minutes

My computer would be considered mid level, with reasonable ram.
I would consider these results dramatic.

Results aside, another feature I really like is the ability to modularize the packed plugins.
I really like having the plugins I will always load, in their own dat file(s),
and then being able to add or subtract others as required.
Not only is it very useful, but it's forced me to clean up my plugins folder and be a little more organized.
The end result is a much improved game playing experience.

Thanks again wouanagaine and excellent work!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 23, 2007, 01:45:55 PM
Quote from: meldolionsecond, and more strangely I reinstalled the plugin, and the files above were readable with the Reader, then after running the packer they weren't...
SC4DatPacker does not touch a bit in your files. It only read them, no changes are made. Check the date/time of thoses files
Eventually they can still be "locked", so look in taskmanager ( ctrl-alt-sup ) in the processes tab, if SC4DatPacker is still running ?

pvarcoe, nice results :). May I suggest you edit your SC4 shortcut ( right click, properties ), so that the Target line  looks like that :
"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -intro:off
It will remove that stupid video
The " are compulsary. Obviously change the path if you have not installed it in the default path


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: pvarcoe on January 23, 2007, 02:00:57 PM
Cool suggestion. I will do that.
That intro has always been annoying.
Thanks!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: meldolion on January 24, 2007, 01:24:29 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on January 23, 2007, 01:45:55 PM
SC4DatPacker does not touch a bit in your files. It only read them, no changes are made. Check the date/time of thoses files
Eventually they can still be "locked", so look in taskmanager ( ctrl-alt-sup ) in the processes tab, if SC4DatPacker is still running ?

Solved!!! Strangely when moving Jerony's files from it's default install path to where I usually store it the owner changed from my user to unknown user... %confuso .... Windows Misteries &Thk/(
Now everything works perfectly!!! thanks for the support

Edit: I think it has to do with the fact that the path to the files in 230 characters long, the filename is longer than 25 characters that makes the absolutefilename longer than 255 characters, thus causing windows some problem to handle the file... The game tought doesn't have any problem to use these files......
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: thundercrack83 on January 24, 2007, 01:38:39 AM
Wouanagaine: I found it. Thanks for your help!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 24, 2007, 02:02:57 AM
meldolion, the game may refer the file relative to the plugins folder, hence the path is shorter, but good point
thundercrack83, you're welcome
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 24, 2007, 06:18:00 AM
Reading and taking notes...  ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Tidalpool on January 24, 2007, 08:10:54 AM
 #?¿?¿?$

I understand the directions to move all the subfolders except Plugins_Compressed to Start Up Manger (SUM) plugins disabled folder!

When using SUM to open a region in SC4, if the subfolders are just placed into the plugins disabled folder they will go back into the plugins folder. Right? They did for me.  So I made a folder inside the plugins disabled folder.  That works, however since I have Plugins_Compressed in my Plugins my settings for the different regions are invalid using the SUM.
Here is my question's:
What am I doing wrong?
What is the proper way to use SC4 Dat Packer along with StartupManager?

It is is hard to put into words, hope everyone can understand what I am asking and what my dillemma is!

Thanks in advance for any advice/help that you may give.

Tidalpool
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: M4346 on January 24, 2007, 08:17:54 AM
I have to say that I am eternally in debt to you! The DAT Packer is not only an AMAZING tool, but it has played a major role in getting me back to SC4 after I got irritated with the immense loading times!

Thank you VERY, VERY much for this, it has saved my SC4-life! :D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 24, 2007, 12:22:25 PM
Tidalpool, I will leave this issue to someone more experienced than me with SUM, ( Barbyw are you here ? )

M4346, thx
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Wyldone on January 24, 2007, 12:55:19 PM
Bravo, Wouanagaine! This DATPAcker of yours is AWESOME! This little program that helps clean up anythin' redundant is by far one of the best tools I've ever seen, I think it could even be BETTER, so I would just like to make one little suggestion. I've noticed everytime I use this program, there must be a list of stuff to locate 'n backup. I'd suggest lookin' for anythin' redundant, and not just focusin' on BSC, which can still pack up a lot of the plugins. But, really, there's sooo much more out there that people download, so I think it would be best to make stages of updates, workin' with almost everythin' available. It's a big 'n dirty job, but someone's gotta do it. I think it'd be a GREAT DEED to do this for us. Think 'bout it, 'n thanx again!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 24, 2007, 02:07:12 PM
Quote
I think it could even be BETTER, so I would just like to make one little suggestion. I've noticed everytime I use this program, there must be a list of stuff to locate 'n backup. I'd suggest lookin' for anythin' redundant, and not just focusin' on BSC, which can still pack up a lot of the plugins
I think you're talking about the BSC Cleanitol TM?
The name is BSC because the idea grew in the brain of Colyn, that does not means it only focus on BSC releases only, everyone can write a cleanitol file ( I know I have not provide any info, but opening the file on notepad, you can get some clues :) )

Or I have not understand what you mean, and by that time, it can be the case  ???
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Tidalpool on January 24, 2007, 02:51:09 PM
QuoteBarbyW said: I then set up SUM to only load that plus the root plugin files (as they aren't compressed) and separately check off the terrain mod, radical mods etc that I want to use from the main program plugins folder. I also have a separate set up for making lots with the separate prop and texture packs in place and another for making descs in PIM. SUM does all the moving for me and loads the game without the intro and in a window if I want.

After rereading this comment from BarbywI think my answer to my previous comment is to move the terrain modes and any other folder that i want to toggle off or on to the Maxis main program plugins folder.

Thanks,
Tidalpool

:-\
Figuring it all out!  Really like the idea of this "little program".
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: spacez52 on January 24, 2007, 03:19:28 PM
I am guessing that something this cool for SC4 could not be Mac compatible  &mmm but does anyone know if there is a long shot for it to become Mac compatible? It sounds very helpful !
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Bishop Hawke on January 24, 2007, 05:49:39 PM
This new program sounds like just what I need to make SC4 work decent again. Ah one question..


Where do yo download it from? #?¿?¿?$

I have looked upon the LEX and do not see it listed. Is there a site I need to go to?

Duh  Forget everything in this post. I found it. &Thk/(

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: thundercrack83 on January 24, 2007, 08:35:22 PM
I'm not sure if anyone has come across this problem or not, but if it's already been addressed, I apologize for being redundant. Upon using the Dat Packer, I keep getting the following message:

SC4 Dat Packer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

It's happened at random times, so I don't know if it's something in my Plugins folder or what. Any help would be appreciated.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on January 24, 2007, 09:36:41 PM
Quote from: thundercrack83 on January 24, 2007, 08:35:22 PM
I'm not sure if anyone has come across this problem or not, but if it's already been addressed, I apologize for being redundant. Upon using the Dat Packer, I keep getting the following message:

SC4 Dat Packer has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.

It's happened at random times, so I don't know if it's something in my Plugins folder or what. Any help would be appreciated.

I was having this problem as well. Every time the packer would get to BSC Mega Prop Pack RT vol 1, it would shut down. I re-downloaded and reinstalled the prop pack and it worked. Maybe it was a corrupt file of some sort?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 25, 2007, 12:19:21 AM
Bishop Hawke, you have not browse enough, here it is  (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=26)

thundercrack83 & snorrelli, a corrupted file may cause that problem. also 512 Mb RAM may come a little small if you have almost everything BSC has released, because the full compressed BSC is above 600Mb
what I suggest is that you try to find if the error always occurs at the same folder/file, then if you find the offending file, open it with datgen or reader, and with reader browse thru all entries to see if it can show them
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Serkanner on January 26, 2007, 01:55:08 AM
I have mentioned elsewhere how happy I am with the great program ( and by the looks of it I am not the only one ), but I would like to state again how wonderful SC4 runs now. I can also refer to the zoom crash ... it hasn't happened once, even when I tried to force it.

However I also do have a question related to the program ( not a problem, just a question ).

Some files need to be loaded last into the game to work properly. Some NAM files for instance. Can DatPacker distinguish these "z" files or is it wise to keep those "z" out of the one Dat file created by the program?

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: GMT on January 26, 2007, 03:53:53 AM
got a problem!

I'm getting this error message everytime I'm running the datpacker:


Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 517, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 291, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 98, in __init__
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 130, in ReadEntries
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 29, in __init__
struct.error: unpack str size does not match format

what is it and what can i do to solve it?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 26, 2007, 04:00:21 AM
Serkanner => The tool load and pack the folders and files in the same order as SC4 will read them, so you do not need to have special managment for those kind of mod.

GMT => Seems like yuo have a corrupted dat/sc4Lot/sc4Models/SC4Desc file, try to see waht the progress bar was displaying when the error occured, and locate the file. try to open it in reader or datGen ( if in reader, try to browse all the entries ). if it is corrupted datgen will crash when opening the file, reader will crash when trying to display the corrupted entry

I will try to make an update for better pointing various case of corrupting files
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: GMT on January 26, 2007, 04:57:14 AM
i tried it again, and instead of crashing and giving error messages, it just stopped at a certain file, so it was easy to my to point it out.
it was a file in the bsc/parks subfolder called temp_save.dat
I opened it with ilive's reader and it contained lots of fsh, examplars and so on.
I intended to see what's what but immediatly after opening it with the reader, the reader crashed aswell and told me some wierdo error message bout compression, corrupt anythings or bad weather or whatever, don't know anymore...

anyway, I just dumped the file and then the datpacker worked just perfectly fine  &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Serkanner on January 26, 2007, 05:03:12 AM
Thank you very much for a fast response ...  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: comptongb on January 26, 2007, 06:53:53 PM
I don't know what's wrong, but my Datpacker always crashes when I have Force Recompression and Include only useful TFI selected? Should I only pick one?

:satisfied:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 26, 2007, 07:28:34 PM
GMT - I've been having the same problem compressing the BSC folder the program will crash..  ???
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: ltrskn on January 26, 2007, 10:32:07 PM
I have the same problem as comptongb in post #102. Also, for me it crashes at different subfolders every time.  %confuso
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on January 26, 2007, 10:35:56 PM
Quote from: dioangel on January 26, 2007, 07:28:34 PM
GMT - I've been having the same problem compressing the BSC folder the program will crash..  ???

@dioangel - pay attention to which file the packer is stopping at and either dump it or re-download and replace it. I had the same problem and it seemed to be a corrupt .dat file.

On another note, I notice regional tracking has disappeared since compression. Will have to figure that one out... #?¿?¿?$

The positive side is that, with my 3GB of plugins, game loading has gone from about 8 minutes to about 3 and a fully-developed large city has gone from about 14 minutes also to about 3. Moreover, my parks menu will now open without me having to leave the room or go do something else while waiting for it.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 26, 2007, 11:58:08 PM
There are certain files that must remain in the root of plugins and as such should not be packed. The Regional Tracker file is one; any Essentials files including the BSC Reward Essentials should not be packed into a large dat.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Elektra on January 27, 2007, 01:54:13 AM
Oops!.....guess I better go fix that one and repack... &mmm
Thanks Barby, that is good information to know.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 27, 2007, 06:16:17 AM
I was wondering if it is possible to add some sort of checker to the tool, that first scan the files to detect corrupted ones ?¿ Just a quick test to see if it can open it. Maybe it would mean to double the time it takes to compress... but i dont think you will use this tool every day  $%Grinno$%
Just a suggestion of course. I love the tool the way it is now  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on January 27, 2007, 11:30:23 AM
Quote from: barbyw on January 26, 2007, 11:58:08 PM
There are certain files that must remain in the root of plugins and as such should not be packed. The Regional Tracker file is one; any Essentials files including the BSC Reward Essentials should not be packed into a large dat.

I didn't have it packed before, but just in case I re-installed the mod and even deleted the apps files to reset the tracking. Still no region tracking (or at least no window at city start-up). Does it need to read certain files that shouldn't be packed?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: CabraBuitre on January 27, 2007, 11:50:13 AM
How does a "packed" plugins folder with the lot editor?  I haven't tried it yet... but, if one would want to simply create new lots from already existing props, etc, shouldn't the dat packer speed up the lot editor speed as well?  ... then, after creating your lots, just re-run the dat packer to add the new lots to their respective subfolder dats...?

Or am I completely off base on this, and will it not work altogether?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 27, 2007, 01:18:00 PM
I keep all my unpacked folders in PluginsDisabled so when I am lotting I use the ones I want from there. Using packed dats will not show separate prop packs.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 27, 2007, 04:39:56 PM
Quote from: snorrelli on January 26, 2007, 10:35:56 PM
@dioangel - pay attention to which file the packer is stopping at and either dump it or re-download and replace it. I had the same problem and it seemed to be a corrupt .dat file.


I've been kept an eye on it.. even if I'm not in my bedroom. But everytime It crashes, it's always stops to CSX folder..  ??? I don't know what caused it to happen.. even saying low virtual memory (top me messing with memory is dangerous for me btw).
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BourneID on January 27, 2007, 05:02:15 PM
If any of you are disorginized like me... your plugin subfolders my not be as orginized as it should be,...  meaning a large number of subfolders.... one for each lot and such...  (sept for say BSC... who graciously orginize themselves on my PC thanks :)  )


heres an idea... I had been having trouble with the program... ie Memory issues was key among them....   heres my workaround...  after removing often replaced files... terrain, water texture, and such.... including all the essesials for the diffrent groups... I opened my plugins folder.... and in the folder options menu... clicked order by name.... and checked show as groups...  now they are separated in abc order... on my desktop... I make a new folder... named a for the A lettered lots... move all folders in the a section... into that folder and place back in the plugins folder... from 666 folders... I now have 27...  and the dat packer went to town... turning my 4.5gig plugins folder into a 2.1gig folder....  thats almost half... but with the amount of ram I have, my load time.... region... 8 minutes... city (larger map, 100,000+) 14minutes......  you say thats still along time...  well just loading the region used to leave me time to go make dinner, watch one of my recorded daily show or Cobart Report shows.... and still have time for a smoke....


so.... in case it hasnt been said... woung... oh crap... "really hard to spell guys name"   

IS A Sim City GOD!
[/shadow]


havnt been this excited sense Will Wight pee'd on me......      (dont ask... ;)  )
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 27, 2007, 08:14:30 PM
I've heard if you moved your plugin files... your game will crash and that's what happen to me. So I'm afraid it's going to do that again if I moved it.  :(
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 28, 2007, 03:31:35 AM
I don't know what can cause the regional tracking to not work anymore. I'll have to call for Dealey expertise

I will try to make an update this week regarding the various 'corrupted' files issues, so you'll know which files on your system are actually causing the hanging
In the same time, if I find a good way to do it, I'll try to resolve the RAM issue

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: shanghai kid on January 28, 2007, 03:46:54 AM
This is a great program, but i've got a question #?¿?¿?$

To all user of SC4 Dat Packer:does the traffic in SC4 go fast even at slowest speed mode(turtle mode) in your game to, or is it just on my computer, as the traffic(cars, buses, trucks, trains, airplanes, glr/sub-trains) speed is very fast in my game and i don't have any special mods for faster speed on traffic.

1 example is the airport and airplanes, as i barely see the plane on the runway before it disapper again very fast(it's there, it's gone again).

Further checking reveals that the fountains and peg's schovels(boats on the canal sets) is also going way to fast & appearing/disappering to fast as if i'm running on the fastest speed mode + a little faster.

Ps: i tried to take the compressed folder out of pluggins and the original files back in the pluggins folder, and now the automata/traffic speed is normal again, though starting up slower as before.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: soulstealer on January 28, 2007, 04:04:42 AM
I must make this post and thank you guys for making this amazing tool!!! My load time is now a couple minutes when before it was well above 10 minutes for a large city with 1.5 Gig of plugins. So far I haven't encountered any problems and everything is working smoother than ever before, no crashes and menus show up in 1-2 seconds when before it was more like 8-10 seconds for my over populated LM and Park menu. Now I can really play the game as before I would work on something for half an hour the game would crash and I would lose my patience and not play again for that day.

This tool should be brought to the attention of any SC custom content freak out there. I see how it's exclusive to this site and I'm not suggesting it should be posted at STEX. But, please don't forget there are SC fans back at ST that need this tool and have no idea about this place.

For people having problems and crashes let me suggest reordering and cleaning your folders before you make the pack.

1. Look for and remove duplicates (I use a tool called HCCLITE http://www.heatsoft.com/has/HASindex.html).
2. Use BSC Cleanit to remove garbage files (like .sav, .htm, .txt, .jpg etc') this files shouldn't be in your plugins folder.
2. Install the props and textures mega packs and remove old files carefully (Use BSC Cleanit).
3. Look for files with no extension and add the DAT extension (it seems the packer ignores files without extension like the Mntoes - Bosham Church I had installed and after packing did not show up).
4. Look for files with 0 size they seem to cause errors (0 size shouldn't be, it's probably due to corruption in a zip file or a mistake done by the lot/bat maker - try to dl again or remove it all together).
5. Move all mods away (Terrain and tree mods, nam, support files, essentials, stuff in zzz folders, slope mod, basically anything that is not a lot or a bat) - For me I always have these files in my maxis/simcity/plugins folder and not in mydocuments/simcity/plugins - see further explanation below).
6. Move all the lots/bats you have into a subfolder in your plugin folder like ...\plugins\mainplugins).
7. Fire up the packer (kick back - for me it took about 10-12 minutes to pack 1.5 Gig).
8. Move the stuff you moved away back in and remove the unpacked mainplugins away (Don't delete it just keep it somewhere else as you will update it with new stuff) (Now your plugin folder should have only the plugins_compressed folder and the mod folders like the terrain mod, nam, zzz etc').
9. Start the game and witness with awe and respect what a miracle DATPacker is :)

Step 5.5 (Optional)
I move all texture, prop files I can find into my "program file/maxis/simcity/plugins/props_and textures/" folder as these get updated often and its easier to find duplicates and remove oldies when necessary. I also use different sets of plugin according to the city I'm making (like Urban city and Rural town) so each time I load a different set of BATs and lots but the props and textures are shared by them both so it's better to keep them in a central place e.g the "program files\maxis..." folders).

So suggested folder structure should be like this:

Program files\maxis\simcity\plugins
Props and textures folder - You can pack this folder too to improve performance a bit
Mods, terrain, trees, essentials etc' folders
zzz folder

My documents\simcity\plugins
Main lots and bats folder - This is the folder we are packing
Mods folders
zzz folders

If you want to organize even further, inside the main lots and bats folder you can reorganize everything into their category.
This is basically how my Urban folder structure looks like:

Residential
- High rise
- R$
- Small Homes
- Mansions
Commercial
- Suburbs
- High rise
- Mid rise
Industrial
- ID and IM
- HT
Recreational
Civic
Landmarks
Network
-Rail
-Sea
-Land
-Air
zzz

All of this will take you about an hour to do, but believe me it's well worth the effort. When you have a problem like a missing prop/texture or a lost file or you want to update or remove something then in a matter of seconds you can locate what you need and fix it.

Hope this helps out.

Regards, Soul.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: beskhu3epnm on January 28, 2007, 04:45:57 AM
Thank you for posting that, soulstealer. This will help a great number of people with crash issues!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jeronij on January 28, 2007, 04:58:20 AM
As a main rule, I would keep all the modding files outside the compressed plugins folders.
I always install the mods in the program files folder, and the normal buidings and lots in the MyDocs plugins. this allows me to enjoy SC4Datpacker, without loosing the modding capabilities. Just my suggestion  ;)
Ooops, I just read soulstealer post mentioning this. I agree with what he said. I also think that the primary 9 points should be included in the readme file  ;)

Oh, and I am sure this tool is announced at ST. But maybe the public there did not understand its potential. Of course you can make any aditional advertisement you find adequate ;D .
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 28, 2007, 05:23:56 AM
shanghai kid => I'm sure at 99% of the load order of files in SC4. What you describe seems to be that the 1% is still there and that there is maybe a special case. I don't know what kind of examplar or data change the speed of the traffic game, I just want to be sure it is only cosmetic and that it does not wreck your game
Or it can be what soulstealer pointed, ie you have a mod that change that and this mod does not end in .SC4Desc/.SC4Lot/.SC4Models/.DAT, these are the only files I scan; but SC4 will scan all files.
I personally vote the 2nd explanation

soulstealer, Can I have your permission to take your post in the next readme  as jeroni/besk suggested ?

Just want to point that duplication files is resolved by how the SC4DatPacker works, but removing yourself duplicated files will at least save you some HD space

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: soulstealer on January 28, 2007, 05:45:20 AM
sure wouanagaine use it as you please. It is my intention to help those who encounter problems with this great tool. TY for making it.  &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BourneID on January 28, 2007, 07:42:59 AM
I am in the process of going back and repacking my dats... (I forgot to take some out that need to be separate) and was unsure of the name of the BSC data tracker dat... it needs to be left by itself... But I dont know the name?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on January 28, 2007, 07:47:55 AM
Quote from: BourneID on January 28, 2007, 07:42:59 AM
I am in the process of going back and repacking my dats... (I forgot to take some out that need to be separate) and was unsure of the name of the BSC data tracker dat... it needs to be left by itself... But I dont know the name?

BSC_RegionalCounter.dat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: shanghai kid on January 28, 2007, 08:03:45 AM
i've tested a little and the speed thing also affects the day/night shifting as this also goes faster then normal(day - night - day -- as if it's on full speed).

i'll try and test some more next weekend.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 28, 2007, 09:22:21 AM
shanghai kid => After digging into the reader, I spot an examplar that control the game speed and night/day cycle. My best bet is that you have a mod that change this, but that mod is for some reasons not included in the packaged file ( not the correct extension ? )

soulstealer, thx

BourneID, if the file pointed by snorrelli is kept on the root of the plugins folder, I see no reasons why packed files can change the behavior of the mod, as files in root are not packed and you should not move them out of the plugins folder



Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: NikNik on January 28, 2007, 09:59:06 AM
Wouanagaine, I finally installed the dat packer.......

:'(

Cries of joy that is.
The zoom is now stable, the speed of loading has increased,  INCREADIBLE!!

I noticed while running the programm that it crashed (the datpacker program) while trying to pack a few empty directories (yes, yes I am very shabby in my folders). After removing these it went like an angel.

Great stuff Dr. Wou!

Nik-Nik
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Menotyou on January 28, 2007, 12:58:03 PM
wouanagaine, thank you for this wonderful tool. I just have one thing. So I used it and the game loaded up in about 20 seconds, which is much faster than the three minutes that it usually takes. But for some reason, some of my houses disappered, and even when I went back to the uncompressed plug-ins the house were still gone. I'll edit the post later with the name of the houses.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 28, 2007, 02:09:20 PM
Thx, NiKNiK, i will add that kind of crash to the fix

Menotyou, Weird :(. by disappered do you mean, only the building disappered or the whole lot ?

I still don't understadn why putting your uncompressed files back does not solve the problem
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Menotyou on January 28, 2007, 05:21:25 PM
Only the building disappears. The lot is still there.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 28, 2007, 05:54:25 PM
BourneID - remember you told me me to the sub folder in ABC order.. tried it and still crash!  /sad¬¬
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Owen Luby on January 29, 2007, 12:47:48 AM
Oh man! You're amazing Wouanagaine!
I am just about to test it out now, and I can already tell that it will work like a charm!

Thank you so much!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Giligone on January 29, 2007, 07:51:16 AM
Ok, So I read like 4 pages of people saying how amazing this is and how their games don't crash anymore. My game never crashes **knocks on wood** So I dont know what thats all about. My game has been slowing up with the increase in plugins. But what exactly is this 'dat packer' and what does it do?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 29, 2007, 08:05:15 AM
Giligone, DatPacker is a tool that will take your plugins subfolder and create a huge mega pack for each of those subfolder

Experiments and now users feedback have prove that this will certainly speedup your initial loading time as well as loading between city switch

The speed up is made possible because with the huge mega pack
you will not have redondant/conflicting TGI ( at least in the same subfodlers ),
you won't have any unneeded files ( png, jpeg etc.. ) all over your plugins folders
you have the option to pack only the game data, ie removing anything that is needed for LE or PIM
SC4 will have only a few files to read instead of thousand

The difference is the same as copying 2gb with 30000 files, or 2gb within 1 file, the later is way faster

To all
I'm working on fixes regarding the corrupted files
here is a preview pic of the progress dialog
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg209.imageshack.us%2Fimg209%2F5828%2Fprogressfd5.jpg&hash=fe5dd6691b80e28b2f62c9b32c73197a8aebfe4f)
What you see as invalid on the above pic, is that I left jpeg into my folder
I hope that it will help you find which file is problematic
I have also added the 'scan all files' not only SC4Desc/SC4Models/SC4Lot/DAT extension
I do not have the 'empty folder' bug with this version
I also change how the program react to problematic files, with the public version, if part of a file is corrupted, the whole data of the file are thrown away. With the new version, only the corrupted part with be thrown apart.

The new version will be available soon, I need more testing and find a way to use less RAM.


Take care
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 29, 2007, 10:52:06 AM
Oh this is going to exellent!!  ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: shanghai kid on January 29, 2007, 11:50:43 AM
wouanagaine => i've fixed the problem(i couldn't wait to test again ::)), the problem was that i had to restart the computer for some reason, after i tried this the traffic is at normal speed and the day/night cycle is normal(longer night and longer day, as it should be)

ps: thanks again for a great program &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Menotyou on January 29, 2007, 11:54:37 AM
Okay, forget my other two posts. I tried the compression again and it works perfectly now. Thank you wouanagaine for this amazing tool! &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 29, 2007, 01:50:04 PM
dioangel => check your inbox :)
shangaikid => I'm glad you have solved your problem and that it was not on my fault
Menotyou => ( lol I've just get the meaning of your nick :) ) Thx

To All
I'm looking for 2 beta testers that have some corrupted files on their systems that make the current version crash.
PM me if you are interested



Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 29, 2007, 02:03:11 PM
I just did! :-) Can't wait to try it at home!  ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Menotyou on January 29, 2007, 02:23:23 PM
I would love to be a beta tester, but your tool is so good, it works perfectly.

No corrupted files.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 29, 2007, 05:52:31 PM
wouanagaine I have something to say....

THANK YOU SOOO MUCH YOU ROCK!!!!!!!!!

Just test it right now and I was stunned having so much corrupted files I didn't even know! An of course.... It didn't crash!  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 29, 2007, 11:47:58 PM
Menotyou => thx :)

Dioangel => great news, did you find any glitches/differences when playing the game ? I want to be sure the less RAM feature did not introduce side effect. ( On my pc, using that option or not make the packed files the same size, so it seems ok, I just want to be sure :) )
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on January 30, 2007, 10:33:05 AM
The game play is wonderful pretty fast.. the loading time is somewhat takes somewhat 4 minutes. I think I found something weird... When I start the game showing the picture taking taking a looong time to load.. even before the EA logo. At least I rest I could re-build my huge city (named after Dani's Band) Cradle Of Filth town! 

Even thought... I tried it the second time an it's in normal speed.  :( I defrag the computer but nothing works..  %confuso
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ajax on February 02, 2007, 09:01:47 PM
This tool is great!  I am experiencing all the positive benefits that everyone has been raving about, but I am having a problem with the BSC Parks.  The path texture I have chosen (Grey Rock) works on all the BSC Park lots except the original SG lots they were based on.  I didn't have this issue prior to using this tool.  I have the most up-to-date version of the DatPacker tool.  Any ideas?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 03, 2007, 12:04:41 AM
DioAngel, the EA logo appear 2min after I run SC4, then 10sec and I'm in region view. I think you do not have enough RAM, and nothing can help you :(

Ajax, a new version is near to be finished, check also that you have remove other optional base textures files for the park. SG Base set has been updated if I recall correctly
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pippolo on February 03, 2007, 03:28:56 AM
WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND MANY MANY MANY THANKS
I've download it and it's incredible I can zoom in and out and don't crash!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For me this is the better tool for the game.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pippolo on February 03, 2007, 08:26:35 AM
First of all excuse me for my English.
It's me again, and I have a problem, every 10 minuts the game crash. The problem isn't SC Dat Packer cause it do it also yesterday, every 10 min. the program crash and turn me to the desktop.
My computer have 1 year  Windows XP Media Center Edition Service Pack 2   Pentium 4   CPU 3.00GHz   RAM 1Gb
Is there anyone that can help me? Thanks
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ajax on February 03, 2007, 10:41:18 AM
Thanks for the help, but I have removed all the other texture files, and I have the BSC Parks updated versions of the SG lots.  As a last resort, I guess I could revert back to my original installation of the BSC Parks.  Thanks again for this amazing tool!  &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 03, 2007, 01:37:37 PM
Pippolo, my guess is that you have a mod that cause that bug

Ajax, Worth the try

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: running naked in the snow on February 04, 2007, 11:47:50 AM
Hello all

I have a issue with this program... I don't think it is anything to do with wouanagaine's programming capabilities... In fact, I think it is related to the OS I have.

Every time I run this program, I get this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 1, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 1, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 91, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd

I searched through the readme for any program that I may need that Vista is missing, and I have no clue. Also, I tried the BSC Cleanitol program and the same errors shows up there.

I tried running the program as an Administrator in Vista (they're picky about it now) with no success; I also tried running it in XP SP2 Compatibility Mode-- also with no success.

Any advice would be more than appreciated here! I'm looking forward to using such a great product.

-RNitS
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 04, 2007, 12:06:34 PM
I think it is related to MSVCP71.DLL
google for it to have a link and put it in the installation folder

you may also need gdiplus.dll

Let me know if you can find them for Vista

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: running naked in the snow on February 04, 2007, 01:12:16 PM
Yes, you were correct. Upon researching and making sure it does not interfere with any vista operations, I downloaded those .dll files and after downloading two of them the programs suddenly worked. So, there you have it-- you do need both of it.

I have an zip folder of the two files needed, and tried to post it with this attachment as an token of gratitude, and i couldn't attach it (it was 1.4 MB or something)...PM me if you still want it (It is fairly easy to get through Google, but for ease...)

Many thanks for a swift resoultion to this. It has done wonders for me!

-RNitS
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 04, 2007, 03:02:00 PM
Thx for confirming 'running naked'

Can you post the url here, I think I can't enclose the dlls in the installer due to stupid copyright or EULA.

If you put the url, I can add them to the readme.

Thx

EDit : here the links for those who need those files : http://www.dll-files.com/ (http://www.dll-files.com/)

search for mscvp71.dll and gdiplus.dll
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on February 04, 2007, 04:06:29 PM
Quote from: wouanagaine on February 03, 2007, 12:04:41 AM


Ajax, a new version is near to be finished, check also that you have remove other optional base textures files for the park. SG Base set has been updated if I recall correctly


Yes download cleanitol which helps me alot too. :-) Can't wait to try the new one! :-)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pippolo on February 05, 2007, 01:58:20 AM
I'm going crazy I've increase my RAM now is 1.5 G This is the Exception Report of yesterday evening after a crash. If someone can help me.... Thanks


Exception time: 02/04/2007, at 23:31:01.
Exception code: 0xC0000005 (-1073741819) ACCESS_VIOLATION.
Current thread ID: 3368 (0x00000d28).
Version information:
Application/module path: C:\Programmi\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\simcity 4.exe
Application/module version name: SimCity 4
Application/module version: 1.1.610.0
System version: Windows NT 5.1
System memory: 1504 Megabytes total, 648 Megabytes free.

Exception module:  C:\Programmi\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\simcity 4.exe.
Exception address: 0x0045e65b. Section:Offset: 0x01:0x0005765b.

Registers
   EAX: 00000000
   EBX: 106af6d4
   ECX: 00000001
   EDX: 16eb0014
   ESI: 0000000e
   EDI: 0e679014
   CS:EIP: 001b:0045e65b
   SS:ESP: 0023:0012fc70  EBP:0fbb80d4
   DS:0023  ES:0023  FS:003b  GS:0000
   Flags: 00010203

Loaded Modules
   Address          Size Module             Path
   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   0x00400000    8158830 simcity 4.exe      C:\Programmi\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\simcity 4.exe
   0x7c910000     745472 ntdll.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\ntdll.dll
   0x7c800000    1044480 kernel32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\kernel32.dll
   0x77f40000     700416 ADVAPI32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\ADVAPI32.dll
   0x77da0000     593920 RPCRT4.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\RPCRT4.dll
   0x71a50000      40960 WSOCK32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\WSOCK32.dll
   0x71a30000      94208 WS2_32.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2_32.dll
   0x77be0000     360448 msvcrt.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\msvcrt.dll
   0x71a20000      32768 WS2HELP.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\WS2HELP.dll
   0x77180000     684032 WININET.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\WININET.dll
   0x77a50000     610304 CRYPT32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\CRYPT32.dll
   0x77d10000     589824 USER32.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\USER32.dll
   0x77e40000     290816 GDI32.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\GDI32.dll
   0x77af0000      73728 MSASN1.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSASN1.dll
   0x770f0000     573440 OLEAUT32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\OLEAUT32.dll
   0x774b0000    1298432 ole32.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\ole32.dll
   0x77e90000     483328 SHLWAPI.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHLWAPI.dll
   0x7c9d0000    8503296 SHELL32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\SHELL32.dll
   0x73e80000     376832 DSOUND.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\DSOUND.dll
   0x76b00000     188416 WINMM.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINMM.dll
   0x77bd0000      32768 VERSION.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\VERSION.dll
   0x5f140000     835584 OPENGL32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\OPENGL32.dll
   0x5c8a0000     135168 GLU32.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\GLU32.dll
   0x736d0000     299008 DDRAW.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\DDRAW.dll
   0x73b30000      24576 DCIMAN32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\DCIMAN32.dll
   0x75df0000     135168 MSVFW32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSVFW32.dll
   0x5d4d0000     618496 COMCTL32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\COMCTL32.dll
   0x76340000     118784 IMM32.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMM32.dll
   0x773a0000    1056768 comctl32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\WinSxS\x86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.2600.2180_x-ww_a84f1ff9\comctl32.dll
   0x6bd00000      53248 SYNCOR11.DLL       C:\WINDOWS\system32\SYNCOR11.DLL
   0x76bb0000      45056 psapi.dll          C:\WINDOWS\system32\psapi.dll
   0x76ea0000     245760 rasapi32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasapi32.dll
   0x76e50000      73728 rasman.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\rasman.dll
   0x5bc70000     344064 NETAPI32.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\NETAPI32.dll
   0x76e70000     192512 TAPI32.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\TAPI32.dll
   0x76e40000      57344 rtutils.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\rtutils.dll
   0x5b180000     229376 uxtheme.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\uxtheme.dll
   0x76bf0000     188416 WINTRUST.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINTRUST.dll
   0x76c50000     163840 IMAGEHLP.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\IMAGEHLP.dll
   0x20000000    2969600 xpsp2res.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\xpsp2res.dll
   0x0ffd0000     163840 rsaenh.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\rsaenh.dll
   0x76980000     737280 userenv.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\userenv.dll
   0x77f10000      69632 secur32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\secur32.dll
   0x76590000      77824 cryptnet.dll       C:\WINDOWS\system32\cryptnet.dll
   0x76f20000     184320 WLDAP32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\WLDAP32.dll
   0x4d530000     360448 WINHTTP.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\WINHTTP.dll
   0x72240000      20480 SensApi.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\SensApi.dll
   0x72c90000      36864 wdmaud.drv         C:\WINDOWS\system32\wdmaud.drv
   0x72c80000      32768 msacm32.drv        C:\WINDOWS\system32\msacm32.drv
   0x77bb0000      86016 MSACM32.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\MSACM32.dll
   0x77ba0000      28672 midimap.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\midimap.dll
   0x73e50000      16384 KsUser.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\KsUser.dll
   0x77230000     647168 urlmon.dll         C:\WINDOWS\system32\urlmon.dll
   0x59e60000     659456 DbgHelp.dll        C:\WINDOWS\system32\DbgHelp.dll

Call stack:
(Debug information (.pdb files) appears to be absent).
0x0001:0x0005765b C:\Programmi\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\simcity 4.exe.

Stack data: (ESP is 0x0012fc70)
0x0012faf0   00000000 000000f0 03400000 00000000 00000000 000000f8 03400000 00000000
0x0012fb10   00000000 0000f03f 00000000 00000000 00000000 00804240 00000000 00000000
0x0012fb30   2f000000 00000000 33040000 00000000 00000000 00404240 00000000 00000000
0x0012fb50   00000000 00000000 0000002c 6a2ee33d 00000000 00000000 ffffffff ffffffff
0x0012fb70   cd35bad6 122de33d cd35bad6 122de33d 00000000 00404240 00000000 00000000
0x0012fb90   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012fbb0   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012fbd0   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012fbf0   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012fc10   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012fc30   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012fc50   00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0x0012fc70   1d000000 70476e00 ffffffff 1d000000 1890670e 14e8d10f 4211ef99 4cfd1200
0x0012fc90   00000000 ffffffff 1d000000 0e000000 01000000 1e000000 00000000 c0a9b400
0x0012fcb0   ffffffff ffffffff d4f66a10 0000c0b5 f8ab9043 f803e843 22db7f41 f82b9943
0x0012fcd0   0000f043 4cfd1200 3484fd08 00000000 d480bb0f db449202 00000000 08417200
0x0012fcf0   00000000 b0f09720 36497200 00000000 b4f09720 ed8d6e00 cc80bb0f 01e8d10f
0x0012fd10   00000000 b8f09720 3484fd08 b9768b00 14e8d10f 3c84fd08 1484fd08 4c84fd08
0x0012fd30   14f09720 00f19720 14f19720 e404fd08 14ae0317 00000000 00000000 74fd1200
0x0012fd50   196c8b00 14e8d10f 9cc8b929 1400fe08 d0c8b929 f5440800 00000000 14e8d10f
0x0012fd70   a0fd1201 a0fd1200 d3a48700 9ad40000 6cc9d177 1400fe08 00000000 94c8b929
0x0012fd90   d0c8b929 d4c8b929 18b7fd08 34131f09 c8fd1200 37a58700 9ad40000 6cc9d177
0x0012fdb0   1400fe08 f8fd1200 16938700 dcfd1200 00000000 00000000 f8fd1200 29938700
0x0012fdd0   14000009 1400fe08 0090fd7f 3a010700 00020000 00000000 d401c801 c0784700

Instruction data: (EIP is 0x0045e65b)
0x0045e5db   e9 d2 fe ff ff 8b 44 24 04 83 f8 01 74 3c 3d 9a 93 bd c9 74 35 3d d4 a3 fd e4 74 05 32 c0 c2 08
0x0045e5fb   00 85 c9 74 13 8b 54 24 08 8d 41 04 89 02 8b 01 ff 50 04 b0 01 c2 08 00 8b 54 24 08 33 c0 89 02
0x0045e61b   8b 01 ff 50 04 b0 01 c2 08 00 8b 54 24 08 89 0a 8b 01 ff 50 04 b0 01 c2 08 00 48 38 89 48 3c 89
0x0045e63b   e9 94 ff ff ff 8b 44 24 04 8b d1 8b 4a 1c 8b 52 38 d3 f8 56 8b 74 24 0c d3 fe 8d 04 40 8b 04 82
0x0045e65b   66 8b 04 70 5e c2 08 00 08 89 0a 8b 01 ff 50 04 b0 01 c2 08 00 83 ec 10 53 55 33 c0 56 8b 74 24
0x0045e67b   24 57 8b f9 8b 4c 24 2c 89 44 24 18 89 44 24 1c 8b 44 24 24 8d 14 08 8b 4c 24 30 89 54 24 10 8d
0x0045e69b   1c 0e 8b 4f 1c 4a 8b e8 d3 fa d3 fd 3b ea 75 28 8d 53 ff 8b ee d3 fa d3 fd 3b ea 75 1b 8b 57 38
0x0045e6bb   d3 f8 d3 fe 5f 8d 04 40 8b 04 82 66 8b 04 70 5e 5d 5b 83 c4 10 c2 10 00 3b 44 24 10 8b d0 89 54
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 05, 2007, 02:01:57 AM
No one can't help you with this unfortunatly ( only the maxis developers could )

Try remove all your plugins and see if this help
Then put your plugins back half by half to locate which one cause the bug

if it crash without plugins, then reisntall SC4
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: chaz on February 05, 2007, 09:33:22 AM
where can i find the DAT packer to download it?? I searched it on the BSC L. E. and i didn't find it...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Grneyes on February 05, 2007, 11:15:44 AM
What is BSC Cleanit? And where can I find it?

With the  newest version of the DatPacker, will I ned to get rid of the first version? And exactly which files should NOT be packed? Right now, the only thing not packed is the new cheat downloads.

MaryBeth
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ajax on February 05, 2007, 11:48:19 AM
Well, wou, I went back to my original installation for BSC Parks and that didn't work.  So, I removed all the files and re-installed them.  That didn't work either.  I have no idea what is going wrong, but it doesn't appear to be DATPacker. I guess it's something I did, but what, I have no idea.  #?¿?¿?$ Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know I don't think it is the DATpacker.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 05, 2007, 11:55:23 AM
Grneyes => it can be found on the LEX, click on 'Most popular' you'll get it

Ajax => Can you try with only the BSC park in your plugins ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Smokr on February 05, 2007, 04:51:12 PM
Quote from: wouanagaine on February 04, 2007, 03:02:00 PM
Thx for confirming 'running naked'

Can you post the url here, I think I can't enclose the dlls in the installer due to stupid copyright or EULA.

If you put the url, I can add them to the readme.

Thx

EDit : here the links for those who need those files : http://www.dll-files.com/ (http://www.dll-files.com/)

search for mscvp71.dll and gdiplus.dll

I just an hour ago downloaded and tried the packer and got that error. After reading this thread, and downloading the two files, it started up! WIll now start packing some crap and see how it works for me.
I am on Win2KPro and the program wouldn't start, and was giving me the same error....

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 1, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 1, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 78, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 91, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd

Now with the two files from dll-files.com, it started right up!
WIll come back and comment on speed of loads after packing a few.
Sounds like an awesome program and I hope it works as well as it seems to be commented to.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wild_horse_in_the_sky on February 06, 2007, 06:19:45 AM
wouanagaine.
Next problem I've tried twice running Datpacker and each time when it gets half way threw the CSX files it brings up this error:SC4DatPacker has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience.
Error signature
AppName: sc4datpacker.exe AppVer0.1.0.0 ModName unknown
ModVer0.0.0.0 Offset: 00d814a8
C:\DOCUME~1\Rich\LOCALS~1\Temp\926a_appcompat.txt  I've downloaded all the files also from www.dll-files.com what did I do wrong?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 06, 2007, 07:53:19 AM
wild_horse => wait for a few hours, I will update a version that may ( I say may ) point you to invalid files. as it seems to be the case because it always crash in the same place
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Slann on February 06, 2007, 08:50:35 AM
Hey!

Just dropping by to say that you have saved my CBD!!!
I have been unable to even start my CBD properly for the past year and yet with the Dat Packer... it runs like a... no so purring... but still moving CITY!!!

Thank you wouanagaine - you are my HERO!!!

:thumbsup:
&apls &apls &apls $%Grinno$% ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wild_horse_in_the_sky on February 06, 2007, 09:38:23 AM
No problem will check later this afternoon. Thanks
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Tidalpool on February 06, 2007, 11:59:57 AM
 &apls I have used this now for about 2 weeks and I love it.  It has improved and made the game run so smoothly again, I want to play now.  Thank you so much for the time given to the community.

Tidalpool

:thumbsup: Way to go.  
Thank you, thank you!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 06, 2007, 01:37:48 PM
Thx for all your great support everyone

I've upload a new version to LEX. If you get some problems or issues with the previous version,please give a try
If you don't find any problem with the older version, you may not need to download it, but I still recommend to do so as we found some little bug with cohorts reading/writing, and finding corrupted files is much simpler with the new version

Take care
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wild_horse_in_the_sky on February 06, 2007, 04:10:35 PM
Thank you wouanagaine all is fine now everything is running llike the  Daytona 500  :thumbsup: only wished I was down there its only 4 below zero right now... ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: zgmfx88s on February 06, 2007, 11:26:40 PM
I have just tried out Dat Packer and Wow the improvement in overall game performance is fantastic.
A big thankyou Wouanagaine.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ajax on February 07, 2007, 04:26:02 PM
Hey, wou,
Thanks for your suggestion regarding my BSC Park issue.  I have not had a chance to try it yet, but will give it a go.  But, I hardly think this is the place, nor do I expect you to do it, to troubleshoot my little park problem.  If I continue to have issues I will direct it appropriately.
Thanks!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: greenbelt on February 07, 2007, 10:40:10 PM
Hi.  I use a mac.  Hopefully this will work for me.  Does anyone know?  thanks in advance.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 08, 2007, 01:36:10 AM
greenbelt, if you're able to compile C code and get python to run on your Mac this can be possible.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pippolo on February 08, 2007, 02:27:39 AM
I have resolved my problem and I think it could be interesting for many other. The problem were that without a reason the game crash and go to the desktop, after trying many thinks I've read on a thread to try download datpacker I've do that and I can zoom in and out without crash, but the game crash evry 10 - 20 minuts, well the resolution is press Ctrl-Alt-Del you see the Task Maneger Windows and close all the programs under "your name" without explorer.exe and taskmgr.exe After do this I can play without problems
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 08, 2007, 02:31:14 AM
you choose the hard way :)

-get an anti adware program to scan your system
-run your AV

then when you want to play SC4, unplug your internet, close your antivirus
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: greenbelt on February 08, 2007, 07:41:37 PM
wouanagaine,  well too bad.  thanks for the info anyways.  Im not terribly computer literate.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: CabraBuitre on February 09, 2007, 06:28:53 AM
I tried running it last night for the first time, and it was taking so long that I just went to bed... and when I got up, nothing had been compressed (and my computer had shut off... when I turned it back on, the program wasn't even up).  Would there be any problem if I just compressed each individual subfolder instead of all of it at one time?  I'm thinking it's going to take a LONG time on my computer...  But good news, my wife and I are already planning to use our tax return money to get a new computer, so I hopefully won't have this problem in the future!!

Any suggestions?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Doc on February 11, 2007, 02:50:16 AM
Got a question. I downloaded and ran the DatPacker. A couple of days after I did it, I realized that I had taken some advice several months back at ST about increasing game speed and that I had "write protected" all of my files. I was wondering if that would cause the DatPacker to have no effect on them? I ran it again while downloading the new version, but, of course, it told me I have no folders in my plug-ins folder. Should i remove the compressed folder, reinstall all of the old ones and run the DatPacker again? Sorry, but I'm not quite sure exactly how things like that work. I'm an old guy and getting and learning about a computer was MY mid-life crisis.

Thanks.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 11, 2007, 10:00:08 AM
CabraBuitre. strange ()what()
Do not check the 'force recompression'
Do not check anything in the folder list
Check 'Only usefull TGI'
If you have less than 1Gb and some subfolder which are bigger than 400gb check the 'use less ram'

Doc
Reput your originals plugins in the folder
delete all files in plugins_compressed or check every folder in the list
and rerun the tool
however writeprotecting should not interfere with the tool, I don't try to write into your files

Seems that everyone missed what the meaning of all check boxes
the check boxes associated with each folder name is if you want to force the rebuild of that folder. If you don't check it, the tool will check if it need to be rebuild( ie you have remove or add files in that folder ). you need to check those boxes when you want to rebuild the dat file with different option ( Usefull TGI only for example )
The 'Force recompression' is for developper only. It will not give you any boost and will consumme lot of RAM when running the tool.


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: CabraBuitre on February 11, 2007, 11:06:51 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on February 11, 2007, 10:00:08 AM
Seems that everyone missed what the meaning of all check boxes

I think you're correct.  I'm going to give it a try again today and see what happens!!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 11, 2007, 06:45:24 PM
Hi wougain as i was out and wandering around today i came up on SC4D and saw the DATPACKER ok i read what i can i went threw the forums and im totaly confussed by what it does and im lost.  if im reading and understanding right  "$Deal"$ it takes the plugins that are in the folder and make them one singular plugin???  
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: CabraBuitre on February 11, 2007, 08:43:00 PM
Ok, took QUITE a while... but finally did appear to run all the way through.  As it was, though, there were several files in the "response" box that said "Not a Valid SC4 file: ..."  and listed the location of these "files" ... there were a few .exe files for uninstalls, but then there were several listed as \desktop.ini and \thumbs.bd  ... I looked through my plugins folder and don't see these files at all, am I missing something?  Apparently, these are not essential files... but are they just PART of .dats?  Because, otherwise, I have just .desc, .model, .lot and .dat files in my plugin folders (albeit in subfolders, but that shouldn't be a problem.)

Here's a screenprint of (some) of the outcomes...

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg165.imageshack.us%2Fimg165%2F9396%2Fscreenprintby1.jpg&hash=25d66efa65b4cf2244b9f5f3c95065155e531212)


Sorry it's so blurry... I tried to make it clearer, and you can clearly (or not) see how terrible my image editing skills are....
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 11, 2007, 11:50:13 PM
Those files are not SC4 files but windows files, I suppose that either the creator or yourself have configured windows to have a personnal background in 'Explorer' per folder ( hence the Desktop.ini ), the Thumb.db is related to pictures in folders
If you don't see thoses files in explorer it is because you run it with 'hidden files' not shown.
open a folder, go in Tools->Folder option(last menu item)->Display( 2nd tab )->you have a checkbox or radiobutton to configure if hidden files/folders are shown or not

so everything seems quite right from the ouptut windows. You should only be concerned if a SC4 extension show up. ie SC4Model SC4Desc SC4Lot Dat.
If you have the Cleanitol, try to add
*.db
*.ini
*.exe
to the text list file and run it
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Serkanner on February 12, 2007, 02:49:45 PM
Quote from: patfirefghtr on February 11, 2007, 06:45:24 PM
Hi wougain as i was out and wandering around today i came up on SC4D and saw the DATPACKER ok i read what i can i went threw the forums and im totaly confussed by what it does and im lost.  if im reading and understanding right  "$Deal"$ it takes the plugins that are in the folder and make them one singular plugin???  

That is exactly what it does Patrick. It compresses the files ( folders ) in your plugins folder into one big .dat file. The game will load much faster that way and also will almost not crash to desktop anymore. Personally, I still have a number of files in the plugins but have organised it accoring to creator ... for example I have compressed all Simgoober's growable files into one .dat file, or all BSC Mega Packs into one big .dat file. This way I can still switch files when I don't want to use a particular type of files.

Good luck experimenting with the tool ... its worth the time investment to get used to it because its shortens loading time dramatically ( example: 1.5 GB plugins folder loads now in 2 minutes instead of app. 10-12 minutes ).
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 12, 2007, 09:06:09 PM
Quote from: Serkanner on February 12, 2007, 02:49:45 PM
That is exactly what it does Patrick. It compresses the files ( folders ) in your plugins folder into one big .dat file. The game will load much faster that way and also will almost not crash to desktop anymore. Personally, I still have a number of files in the plugins but have organised it accoring to creator ... for example I have compressed all Simgoober's growable files into one .dat file, or all BSC Mega Packs into one big .dat file. This way I can still switch files when I don't want to use a particular type of files.

Good luck experimenting with the tool ... its worth the time investment to get used to it because its shortens loading time dramatically ( example: 1.5 GB plugins folder loads now in 2 minutes instead of app. 10-12 minutes ).

Serkanner thank you for helping me out on that i was totaly confussed lol.  I'M Excited to try it out and see how well it will work for me and with your review i belive it will the best thing since ummmmmmmmm well hmmm yeaa lol,  but thank you again - pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 12, 2007, 11:56:40 PM
Sorry to not have replied to you Patrick, I have totally missed your post
Thanks for taking on Serkanner
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: M4346 on February 13, 2007, 11:17:53 AM
I don't know if this has been mentioned or addressed before, but it appears as if the DAT Packer isn't very friendly to DT's Trees either. The JRJ DT Trees I mean, as they worked fine until I packed the folder (I am now refraining from packing JRJ folders :P), so I thought I'd just mention this.

Thanks again for a great tool though!  ;D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 13, 2007, 12:48:45 PM
M => Jeroni has already update is prop trees files. I suggest you redownload it to get rid of the problem
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: M4346 on February 13, 2007, 01:05:04 PM
Thanks for the response Wouanagaine!  ;D

I realised that it's actually not JRJ DT trees that caused the problem, but the actual DT tree models. I sorted it out thanks! :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pikatchoum on February 14, 2007, 06:25:25 AM
First, as i can see, you, wouanagaine, seem to had invented an wonderfull tool. :) .
Anyway , i have some problemes with it, and i'm sure i didn't use it well.
As my english isn't perfect, i do not totally understand the read me so i'm wondering if it exists a french one ?

In fac, my game crash each time i tru to load a city. I moved up all the mods from the Plugins compressed (NAM and Colombus mods) and it works well after. Any idea on the nature of the problem ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 14, 2007, 06:47:02 AM
Hi pika, let's go in the french thread so you can describe your problem better and I can try to find a solution in french

frnech section is here  => http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?board=129.0
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 14, 2007, 10:38:30 PM
Quote from: wouanagaine on February 12, 2007, 11:56:40 PM
Sorry to not have replied to you Patrick, I have totally missed your post
Thanks for taking on Serkanner



LOL wouanagaine its all goood,  i get that problem all the time lol  :D  being sarcastic here of course that is.   i am having a bit of trouble though as it be.  I've tried to run datpacker a couple times now and no prevail has it finished something has happend either my system has locked up or datpacker stops running.  I've even had the error message of "datpacker memory error"  something like that and it had happen this morning, tired me didnt do a screen shot to show message but it was to that effect. - Pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 14, 2007, 11:36:17 PM
patfirefghtr, delete your compressed_plugins files and try with 'only usefull TGI' and 'use less RAM' check, leave everything else unchecked
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 15, 2007, 08:42:41 AM
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg512.imageshack.us%2Fimg512%2F6311%2Fdatpackergd5.jpg&hash=f96caa0b5c0944e2375584989a51f0b8986c1cb4)


Wouanagaine,
Ok that is what i get it had happend to me again last nite after i posted.  I decided aww what the hockey pucks and do it again before bed and i woke up to that message again and scolled down, which btw i didnt take a screen shot of what it said at the bottom "unable to process Hy vee something........" I'm still gonna give it a try checking only usefull tgi and less ram. and i will let you know what happens. - Pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 15, 2007, 01:19:37 PM
Try to open that file with reader or datgen and tell me if thoses tool can read each and every entry on it
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 15, 2007, 11:56:09 PM
Patrick => I will also advise that if your 'Master Clean Folder' is bigger than 1gb it won't work very well
It is not DatPacker friendly to have only one massive subfolder in your plugins ( RAM usage problem, and if the resulting file is to be more than 2Gb the program will crash )
Try to restructure your plugin folder so it has more subfolder
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on February 16, 2007, 02:37:24 AM
Wow I can't believe I did it.  I fired up the Dat Packer and in no time at all it was done.  Since I just started using plugins back in early December my plugins totalled 725mb and after compression they are now 668.  It took me a week to get up the courage to do it and it was so simple. Just follow the instructions!  The most important improvement for me was that it (compaction) stableized my zoom out problem to levels 2&1. The load up times between cities was cut in half. Average time now for meduim size city is 8sec. Large city is now 15sec. My simcity start up time increased tho. Before compression start time was 41sec. now it is 80sec.  I can live with that  the other benefits are worth it. Special thanks to the team that made this possible. &apls  Thank you to Wouanagaine this is just amazing. Now its up to me to learn how to upload my city pictures so you can see what I have been doing the all these creations.   
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: freedo50 on February 16, 2007, 07:45:11 AM
hey woug, i tried your program last night and didnt appear to get any speed up, but i did get a pythoin error box that said "no compression" in it. i was wondering if you could tell me if this would result in no speed up and why it happens/how to fix it. I am recompressing the plugins folder now without the folders that i think may have caused the problems and i will get back to you.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 16, 2007, 08:11:46 AM
High5Tower
Thx a lot

freedo50
the 'no compression' is not an error but a message I left while debugging. This indicate that none of the files in that folder are originally compressed. It is quite strange but valid

The no speed up is also quite strange  ()what().
what your plugins size before & after compression ?
how much files you have at the plugins root and what sizes ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: ript7368 on February 16, 2007, 09:05:20 AM
Hello, I've read through this entire thread and downloaded the necessary dll files and I still can't get this to work. It brings up the follow error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 662, in OnClose
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 666, in ShowMain
  File "config.pyo", line 14, in __init__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 25-27: truncated \uXXXX escape


The BSC Cleanitol program works fine, however.

I'm running Windows XP SP2 with 1GB RAM and a 3.00GHz CPU.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me!

-Mark
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: freedo50 on February 16, 2007, 09:44:13 AM
Hi woug, ive just tried to run it again after it worked last time, but withe the same problem-causing files now back in the plugins folder. However, while it was checking for updated files i got this error
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 634, in OnStart
  File "wx\_controls.pyo", line 1462, in IsChecked
wx._core.PyAssertionError: C++ assertion "IsValid(uiIndex)" failed at ..\..\src\msw\checklst.cpp(395) in wxCheckListBox::IsChecked(): bad wxCheckListBox index

I will check my SC4 now with the partially packed files to see if there is any speed up

EDIT: Also, i dont have any files in the root of the plugins folder, other than the SC4ExtraCheats.dll file, i thought it would be better to clean them up into a subfolder and pack them too.

EDIT 2: Woug; i have some bad news, the speedtests are back:
With files unpacked :

With files packed:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 16, 2007, 10:27:01 AM
ahhhhhhhhhh that might be the problem then i will break down the folders from master and i will give that a crack.  I did a recheck im only at 1.5g for plugins but close enough to be the problem. btw you mentioned to other programs where do i find them. will post results later pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: freedo50 on February 16, 2007, 10:29:26 AM
iLive's Reader can be found here: http://www.simtropolis.com/modding/index.cfm?p=details&id=346
and Datgen can be found here: http://www.simtropolis.com/modding/index.cfm?p=details&id=334
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 16, 2007, 01:02:16 PM
Thx freedo

your error log seems weird. it is even not in my own code :(
The only thing I can think of is that you have move/add/suppress folders between the time you run DatPacker and the time you click the 'start' button

As for the time test
The speedup is meant to be found on regional playing, ie when you will open the 2nd city
And you will get no zoom crash ( at least from what others say )

Oh, and it is not recommended to move all those 'essentials' files from the root to another one
at least make sure that you move them in the first folder, ie something starting with a '____'
you can safely leave them on the root folder


Pat=>the more I think of it, the more I think it is clearly the problem. It won't crash cause of 2Gb file limits and internal sc4 data structure ( which can handle a 2gb file ), but the tool will try to load all the data and then write it, whereas if you have more subfolders, it only load the subfolder data and clean the memory between subfolder


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on February 16, 2007, 01:09:24 PM
Wait a minute...  %confuso the speedup will work when starting a new region??  ???
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 16, 2007, 01:25:50 PM
The speed up will be very noticeable when you will swap between 2 cities
ie load a city, play, save, get to region, enter a new city
the entering time of the 2nd city will be very quick

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on February 16, 2007, 01:28:19 PM
So that's why.... No wonder cause after got all compressed and starting the region (the CJ I'm working on) didn't speed up at all. At least I understand now.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 16, 2007, 02:53:06 PM
 &apls :thumbsup: yup wouanagaine that was the problem but thanks to RL i had to step out for awhile and the other day when i was exprimating with datpacker i made sure i turned off power saver mode to the monitor and screen saver cause i noticed it has a tendency to lock up datpacker and make it stop responding wellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll  :bomb: my dearest turned on the monitor saver after i walked away and i told her not to turn nothing on just leave it all as i got it and she said no problem hunnie so when we got back here this afternoon around 4:30 it stopped responding cause she said ooh i wasnt supposed to turn on monitor saver and of course the datpacker was almost done packing everythin and i do mean almost done and it was on the last folder it was compressing man talk about upsetting when i looked into the compressed folder and actuly saw all the files there compressed as it should be and then i turned to my wife and said hunnie guess what i got to redo now lol she is so mad  >:( at herself now and i cant help but  ;D but yuppers those where my problems so now after datpacker finishes i should remove all the other folders out and leave in the compressed folder in the plugins folder right?  thank you for taking your time and helping this NoOb out lol - pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 16, 2007, 03:26:22 PM
Dioangel, yeah possibly, but most of us do see some speedup on the first city ( I don't )

Pat => Yes move ( not remove as I translate this to a deletion in my langage ) all but the compressed  sub folders outside the plugins folder ( tips => CTRL-X, CTRL-V ie cut/paste operation ) if you move the folder on same disk it will be almost instant.

Quote
the datpacker was almost done packing everythin and i do mean almost done and it was on the last folder it was compressing man talk about upsetting when i looked into the compressed folder and actuly saw all the files there compressed as it should be and then i turned to my wife and said hunnie guess what i got to redo now
You don't have to redo all folders, just rerun the tool
and do not check any boxes but the 'usefull tgi only'
if you check a box associated with a folder it will force the tool to repack it, even if the tool knows it does not have to. Thoses checkboxes are only there for special case.
If you move or add files in a folder, the tool will know it, and will repack the folder automatically, this is not link to the fact you check or not the box
You only have to check thoses boxes if the tool do not automatically repack the folder and you are sure it had to



On a side note, I have found why the latest version take so long to compress a big folder, so I will certainly upload a new version on the weekend.
It won't change anything but the speed of the process
I may also remove the checkboxes associated to folders as it seems I can't make it clear why and when they have to be checked
Let me know

Take care
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Fred_Ginger on February 16, 2007, 03:41:28 PM
Quote from: dioangel on February 16, 2007, 01:09:24 PM
Wait a minute...  %confuso the speedup will work when starting a new region??  ???

When I start the game or change cities or change regions they're all faster, like a minute or two! :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 16, 2007, 07:11:44 PM
I DID IT FINALY WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO

Well its done finaly now time to play woohoo im so excited thank you again wouanagaine...  ok see that is where i was running into troubles i noticed that if the folders where larger then 2mgs of file it had a very hard time to work it...  so i could have left checked the "usefull tgi only" and left the compressed folder alone and not rerun from the beginning lol im such a noOb.  Hey i know what about updating the readme to inform all Q/A to date so people that download now have the real concept of oooooooh ok so that happend now to avoid that lets me try it???? but again thank you from the bottoms of my plugins folder that has been srunk down to only 583mb from a whopping 1.5 gb...  thanks again - Pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on February 16, 2007, 10:21:50 PM
tried it one more time an works!!!  &apls &apls &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on February 16, 2007, 10:46:38 PM
Just wanted to note that the problem with regional tracking not working is still a problem.  &hlp

I'm not sure if I'm getting the regional rewards or not because I'm playing in a new region - could be that I just haven't earned them yet. My other regions are well-developed enough to have earned (and placed) them already. In any case, I don't get the region tracking dialogue box when cities load.

It comes back when I load the game without the compressed plugins (boy, it's hard to put up with that now... how easily we get spoiled!), so I know it's related to the DAT Packer. The Region Counter DAT is in the root plugins folder (not compressed). This is not a huge deal, particulalry if I'm still able to earn the rewards, but it a little worrisome...

Am I the only one reporting this issue? ???
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 17, 2007, 02:58:27 AM
snorelli => You're not the only one :(
As far as I understand that mod, you will also need the mod files in the root folder and not packed
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: daeley on February 17, 2007, 03:29:55 AM
strange... to be honest I don't understand why tracking fails if you pack it...

unpacked it should still work though... that one file shouldn't make much of a difference
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: soulstealer on February 17, 2007, 10:13:54 AM
I found this odd issue with some some files I packed. Like I've mentioned before I keep all my textures and props in a separate folder in the program files/maxis path. Today I decided to pack this 400MB folder. after doing so game load time has slowed down dramatically from 1-2 minutes to region view to about 5-6 minutes.
For now I reverted back to packing just the BATS and lots. Any idea as of why it does that?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on February 17, 2007, 10:36:58 AM
Quote from: daeley on February 17, 2007, 03:29:55 AM
strange... to be honest I don't understand why tracking fails if you pack it...

unpacked it should still work though... that one file shouldn't make much of a difference

That's what I'm saying - it is unpacked and it's not tracking... Maybe the counter can't read the packed files?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: ript7368 on February 17, 2007, 10:54:45 AM
Quote from: ript7368 on February 16, 2007, 09:05:20 AM
Hello, I've read through this entire thread and downloaded the necessary dll files and I still can't get this to work. It brings up the follow error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 662, in OnClose
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 666, in ShowMain
  File "config.pyo", line 14, in __init__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 25-27: truncated \uXXXX escape


The BSC Cleanitol program works fine, however.

I'm running Windows XP SP2 with 1GB RAM and a 3.00GHz CPU.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me!

-Mark

As per my previous issue, the only way I can get SC4 Datpacker to run is on the very first opening of the program. If I need to run it again, I've had to completely uninstall it and delete the program folder then reinstall it. Not sure why this is, but thought others might be experiencing this as well. Great program, though! Thanks!

-Mark
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on February 17, 2007, 11:18:34 AM
the game an all works fine.... the strange reason after compressed everything.. I get a system file saying No Compression.  ??? ???
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 17, 2007, 12:56:38 PM
Sorry ript I have not seen your post
Can you confirm that on your pc, your session contains strange character ?
like :
c:\My documents and settings\your name here\My documents\Simcity 4\Plugins
can you tell me what is 'your name here' on your pc ? or PM me it if it is too secret
until I correct the bug, you will just have to remove the config.ini in the DatPacker folder.

DioAngel. Sorry I don't understand which ( SC4 or DatPacker or something else ) that sya that message

Soulstealer I have no idea :(. Does your game and your plugins are on same hard drive ?

snorelli & daeley if the mod is not activated, that means it is superseed by something else. That is the only thing I forsee
I will download the mod and try to see what happen



Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on February 17, 2007, 01:12:38 PM
What's the key command taking desktop pictures, because if I show you the picture will make sense.  &mmm
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Serkanner on February 17, 2007, 01:14:14 PM
Quote from: dioangel on February 17, 2007, 01:12:38 PM
What's the key command taking desktop pictures, because if I show you the picture will make sense.  &mmm

Print Screen?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on February 17, 2007, 01:17:16 PM
Yes..

Edit - ok I have a window pop out saying No compressed after the dat packer was finished.. I should of say that earlier.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on February 17, 2007, 04:49:36 PM
This is just a follow up on how things are running now that I am using the data packer. I have read all the above posts to glean all the lastest information and here is how I now stand.  I don't check the box to recompact. I removed all the special essental files and others you listed and put them in their own folder titled "uncompressed essentials."  Everything works great, especially now more zoom crashes.  Three items did not like being compressed. 1. Shmail Sherriff Stations; Got a (brown Box.)  2. Bosham Church (Brown Box) in cities where I had it placed,plus it  did not show up under the landmark menue.  3. GR-Garage Block, no bown box but was missing the building. I remove these items and reran the datacompacter again and put these three items in there own folder titled "sensitive stuff" and they work great like that. Great tool, this is by far the best simcity game improvement device yet thank you, thank you, thank you &apls 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: ript7368 on February 17, 2007, 08:30:55 PM
Thanks for replying wouanagaine. My path is just C:\Documents and Settings\user\My Documents\Simcity 4\Plugins

I will try the removing config.ini fix in the meantime.

Thank you!

-Mark
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 18, 2007, 12:32:34 PM
dioangel => it is not an error, it is just a debugging message I forgot to remove before uploaded the tool


High5Tower => Strange as I use the gshmail tiny lots ( police, clinic and firestation ) without problem

However it seems that for unknown reasons, the fact that you play a region/city that was saved with uncompressed files only, with compressed files may cause some problems
this is unfortunatly unreproductible, and I never achieve to have that kind of bug. I know other have but until I can reproduce it myself, I can't make a fix as I don't know what happen

ript7368 => I will get rid of that and the config.ini

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dioangel on February 18, 2007, 02:22:36 PM
Oooo I see.. I put the plugins in ABC order except CSX Deadwoods and BSC  ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Emperor Stormont on February 19, 2007, 06:05:39 PM
Hi guys, I ran the DAT Packer and after a few problems with a corrupt BSC  file I loaded SC4 and it was so much quicker, however I was then presented with a pop-up box stating that I was missing plugins. 

How did that happen??? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 19, 2007, 11:25:55 PM
Can you see what plugin you're missing, ie the game should replace it with a brown box. Query it and you may be able to know the name of that lot.
I have no idea why the tool can't read a file but SC4 can. I always assumed that if the tool can't read it, neither can SC4.
What are the corrupted files ? can you give us the list ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Craiggles on February 20, 2007, 12:26:49 PM
I'm really sorry if the question I'm about to ask has been asked before, but I really don't have time to go back through all of these pages to try to find an answer.

I've already ran the Dat Packer and generated my Plugins Compressed Folder. Then, I downloaded a deadwoods product from the LEX, and it appeared in the plugins folder beside the Plugins Compressed Folder:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fileden.com%2Ffiles%2F2006%2F8%2F24%2F184419%2FClipboard01.jpg&hash=bcb6bf17762274e511821380365f92c68706c9a0)

I went into Dat Packer and checked the box next to deadwoods and hit start. The bar almost got to the end, but it stopped just shy and never did move anymore (even after a few minutes). I know I've got to be doing something wrong, but I don't know what it is. How do you get the separate deadwoods folder to be compressed into the deadwoods file in the Plugins Compressed Folder? Yes, I read the readme, but it wasn't that clear to me.

ALSO, when I ran the Dat Packer for the first time, there were a bunch of files generated in the bottom box that said that they weren't valid SC4 game files. My question about that is this: After the process is over, are those nonessential files erased, or are they compressed with the valid files?

I'M USING WINDOWS XP IF THAT HELPS.

Thanks for reading this and taking time to answer, whosoever shall do so.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 20, 2007, 12:57:46 PM
When you add new plugins, get all your originals plugins structure back, install the new plugin, run datPacker, move your originals plugins subfolder out of the folder.
No need to check any boxes but 'usefull TGI only'

About the window still displaying after few minutes, does the 'close' button is enable or not ? The window won't close automatically as you may have to identify some files in the report

Speaking about those files in the report, it is up to you to decide what to do with them. If you think there is a valid file that can't be read ( .SC4Model, .SC4Desc, .SC4Lot, .Dat ) you'll need to check with reader or datgen that file is corrupt. other files like jpg, png etc.. can be safely moved away


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Craiggles on February 20, 2007, 01:28:56 PM
Yes, the close button works. Also, so I have to go through the original plugins and delete all the nonessential files (like .jpg and .txt) in order for them to not get packed with the rest of the valid files? BTW, what does TGI stand for anyway?

Also, I just discovered another problem: I ran my game with the compressed plugins, but when I went into one of my city tiles, all of my trees were gone.

Examples (KEEP IN MIND THAT NOTHING EXTRA HAS BEEN MODIFIED):
With regular plugins folder:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fileden.com%2Ffiles%2F2006%2F8%2F24%2F184419%2FWregplugins.jpg&hash=8f0fa24e41f74aa9765b1e118344c310a32c6f7d)

With compressed plugins folder:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fileden.com%2Ffiles%2F2006%2F8%2F24%2F184419%2FWoutregplugins.jpg&hash=3a178417f84825c2f6cd68a4a128e70d02df5bb5)

It seems that cycledogg's trees have went missing from the game. I went to the menu where they would be at, and they were gone. All of the rest of the custom trees were there, as I try to show in this pic:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fileden.com%2Ffiles%2F2006%2F8%2F24%2F184419%2Fcustomtreeswplugcomp.jpg&hash=951447de6341682c097d6904618ea1561de742b7)

What happened to cycledogg's trees? And if I were to redownload them, would they show up if I run the game with the compressed plugins folder?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 20, 2007, 02:19:21 PM
QuoteYes, the close button works. Also, so I have to go through the original plugins and delete all the nonessential files (like .jpg and .txt) in order for them to not get packed with the rest of the valid files? BTW, what does TGI stand for anyway?
you can delete them. As I said it is up to you, they won't be pack. Packed files contains only pertinent SC4 files
TGI stand for Type Group Instance. You can see all SC4 related files as kind of zip, each files contains lot of tiny files, those tiny files are identified by their TGI. a TGI should be unique on all your differents files

I have never had such problems and I play with compressed files only.
The only suggestions I can give you is to delete your plugins_compressed folder and re run datpacker to recreate them.





Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Craiggles on February 21, 2007, 01:27:25 PM
Well, the Dat Packer was nice while it lasted. I just can't play the game without the trees that I'm missing, so it's back to slow game now. Thanks for trying to help me, guys.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on February 21, 2007, 02:27:06 PM
Graiggles,  delete the compressed plugins folder and restore all your other plugins.  Run the dat packer again and pay close attention to what is reported as unpackable.  If there are any sc4 files (dats SC4model etc) you need to let Wouanagaine know what they are so someone can look into why.

When you move the other files out, do you leave the files that are in the root of the folder there still, so you should have the plugins compressed folder and a list of DAT's, usually the essentials.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 21, 2007, 02:43:38 PM
What Diggis said
And if you have some ilive reader experience, please look into the compressed file that should get the CP trees and report me if they are in or not
It appears that for some players, playing a region that was built prior to using DatPacker, result in strange behaviors like props not showing, but it is not your bug as even the menu item disappeared

On my 2 computers, I play with compressed files only, without any major problems since day 1 (minor problems are corrected and that is why it is v1.7 ). And if you can't get me a repro I can't really fix any bugs

Anyway, from my survey thread and this one, it appears that lot of people do not use the tool the way it is meant to be.
Either they do not read the readme or the readme is not clear at all ( As english is not my natural langage it may be the second one )
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on February 21, 2007, 04:56:16 PM
This is for Craiggles. I have four files that have problems with the data packer. What I did was to put them in a special folder I call sensitive stuff and placed this folder in the plugins folder and they all work fine. At the end of the day when in want to compact all the new stuff into the data packer I pull this file out(Senitve stuff) and reinstall it in plugins after I am done. This system has worked fine for me. The great part about this is that I have not had a zoom crash since I started using the data packer.  In fact I have been playing with my graphics setting on the highest levels and have even been playing (building) while the game is running and still no crashes.   
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Emperor Stormont on February 21, 2007, 06:55:27 PM
I have sorted the missing plugins problem, my own stupid fault, however I have loads and loads of non .dat files, e.g (SC4DESC, SC4LOT & SC4MODEL files) can these be moved or compressed to increased game speed as the game doesn't seem much faster with all these still in the plugins files.

I apologise of this seems like a stupid question or if it has already been asked.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Regards, M
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on February 21, 2007, 07:23:09 PM
The 3 types you listed are packed by the DAT packer.  The DAT file you download from wherever is essentially a compression of those 3 types into one package for convenience.  So, no don't delete them, but once you have run the dat packer you can move them out with the rest of the plugins.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Craiggles on February 21, 2007, 08:27:05 PM
Diggis: I have done that, and the JRJ_CPT_Trees_as_props_V2 was one of them. Those are all .dat files in that folder.
          Also, I don't really understand your last question, but I will try to respond as accurately as possible. When the whole process is done with, there's the Plugins Compressed folder in the SC4 Plugins folder, and the original files I moved into the Plugins Disabled folder in My Docs/SC4. Within the Plugins Compressed folder, the essential files for everything (BSC, NDEX, and so on) are in there. THERE ARE NO FILES IN THE MY DOCS/SC4/PLUGINS FOLDER OTHER THAN THE PLUGINS COMPRESSED FOLDER. I hope I answered your question in the right manner.
Wouanagaine: Sorry, I don't have any Ilive reader experience.
High5Towerr: I also have four files that can't be compressed, the CPT trees being one of them. You know, I think I will keep the CPT Trees file outside of the Plugins Compressed folder and see if that clears up the problem
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on February 21, 2007, 08:39:15 PM
OK, you answered the question, but I think to work properly essentials files should be kept in the root directory, not compressed.  I don't really understand why, but it's a common comment by developers to leave it there.  That may be causing the problem.

The CPT trees file has been updated and the new version doesn't cause any problems.  I had to update mine.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Craiggles on February 21, 2007, 08:42:03 PM
Diggis: Yes, that is with the updated CPT file. What I'm going to do is just leave the CPT tree files outside of the Plugins Compressed folder and see if that works. Be back in a few minutes with results...

Edit: IT DIDN'T WORK. Diggis, I'll try what you said in your last post tomorrow, as it is very late here for a school night.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on February 21, 2007, 11:28:39 PM
if I were you I'd put all the essentials files in the root of the plugins folder, delete the plugins compressed folder and run dat packer again.

Good Luck.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Craiggles on February 22, 2007, 08:25:47 PM
I fixed the problem with the trees! It turns out that the CPT_7, 8, and 9 files were not placed into the Plugins Compressed folder, so I took them out of Plugins Disabled and transferred them to Plugins Compressed, and it worked!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Emperor Stormont on February 22, 2007, 08:33:04 PM
Quote from: Diggis on February 21, 2007, 07:23:09 PM
The 3 types you listed are packed by the DAT packer.  The DAT file you download from wherever is essentially a compression of those 3 types into one package for convenience.  So, no don't delete them, but once you have run the dat packer you can move them out with the rest of the plugins.

Many thanks, I just moved them all into a new folder and packed it, thank you. Really has made the game so much more playable.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 24, 2007, 06:42:19 PM
Hey Wouagaine,

I went to go and run Datpacker again tonight and this what keeps popping up on me.
I've deleted datpacker and reinstalled it 2x's now and still same error message keeps popping up on me.
I don't have a clue what im doing wrong please help!!!! - Pat

QuoteTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 662, in OnClose
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 666, in ShowMain
  File "config.pyo", line 14, in __init__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 25-27: truncated \uXXXX escape
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: CabraBuitre on February 24, 2007, 07:53:21 PM
Has it been determined if the dat packer works for Vista yet?  I just got my new computer yesterday, but I haven't transferred over any of my SC4 stuff yet...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on February 24, 2007, 09:14:59 PM
Give it a go, and let us konw.  $%Grinno$%
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 25, 2007, 02:29:16 AM
Craiggles
Where ( In which subfolder ) those files are located before you use DatPacker ?
And did that subfolder is packed ?


patfirefghtr
I'm making a fix for that one.
It will be uploaded tomorrow ( Monday )
In the meantime just delete the config.ini that is located in the DatPacker installation folder

CabraBuitre
I don't know. So as Diggis said, let us know
You may need to downloads dlls for vista, I don't know if those Dlls ship or not with vista
here is the full list of dependencies ( yeah dependencies )
  OLEAUT32.dll
  USER32.dll
  COMCTL32.dll
  SHELL32.dll
  ole32.dll
  WINMM.dll
  WSOCK32.dll
  MSVCP71.dll
  ADVAPI32.dll
  gdiplus.dll
  WS2_32.dll
  GDI32.dll
  KERNEL32.dll
  comdlg32.dll
  RPCRT4.dll

On WinXP they are useally in c:\windows\system32, and the MSVCP71 and gdiplus are not shipped with WinXP.
you can find dlls here http://www.dll-files.com/

But first give it a go, then if you have an error, try to locate those 2 dlls, then the others

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 25, 2007, 11:12:23 AM
wooohoooo

so far so good wouagaine it loaded up and will look for that fix. thank you again - pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 26, 2007, 04:18:31 AM
A new version ( v5 ) has been uploaded to LEX

it will fix the '\uxxxx' unicode error in folder name
Less check boxes
And for those who have some missing items, I added a 'Write report' feature, you can send me the log so I can find out what is happening
Just delete the file in plugins_compressed that compressed the missing item and restart the tool

The readme has been updated so you will more technical insight of what is going on

I have the feeling that the '\uxxxx' error may be the cause of missing lots/menu items. Can you all of you who have problem tell me in which subfolder ( full path ) the missing item should have been ?

If you have no problems, you are not forced to update

Take care and thanks for your support and help

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: XL2007 on February 26, 2007, 07:38:44 PM
Tried to run Dat Packer and got this message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 679, in OnClose
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 683, in ShowMain
  File "config.pyo", line 14, in __init__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 25-26: malformed \N character escape


What gives?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Heinz on February 26, 2007, 08:18:19 PM
hello again. i tired datpacker and i dont know if it worked?  :'( :'( :'( ()what() ()what() ()what() lol! cause when the bar was full both on top and the second one(the loading bars?), it didnt say if it was done. just that the bars were full and the "close" button. so i left it there while i ate breakfast and then took a bath. after, same thing. two full bars and i don't know if datpacker had completed the process because it still said "compressing" and "writing".. so i dont know if it was done. stupid problem maybe. sorry. newbie here. looks like great work with tools! thanks in advance
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Cali on February 26, 2007, 08:47:56 PM
Quote from: zniehadajet on February 26, 2007, 08:18:19 PM
hello again. i tired datpacker and i dont know if it worked?  :'( :'( :'( ()what() ()what() ()what() lol! cause when the bar was full both on top and the second one(the loading bars?), it didnt say if it was done. just that the bars were full and the "close" button. so i left it there while i ate breakfast and then took a bath. after, same thing. two full bars and i don't know if datpacker had completed the process because it still said "compressing" and "writing".. so i dont know if it was done. stupid problem maybe. sorry. newbie here. looks like great work with tools! thanks in advance


from what i know..it's done.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Heinz on February 26, 2007, 10:13:31 PM
sure, cali?  ()what() 200 posts isnt something i should doubt, huh?    :thumbsup:  then if it is done, i hope that it wont hurt if i suggest with all due respect to wougie to change "close" to "finished" when the packing is done?  :) hope i wasnt too rude. thanks cali and wougs  &apls &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on February 26, 2007, 10:30:37 PM
Yeah, if it's not done then you can't press close.  So yes it's done, and your right, that would be a good change.  But we mere mortals wouldn't dare make suggestions to him.  :P
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Heinz on February 26, 2007, 10:40:05 PM
lol right. thats why im being(or trying my best) to be humble and polite about it. :D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 26, 2007, 11:29:38 PM
QuoteBut we mere mortals wouldn't dare make suggestions to him.
lol
Well I thought it was clear enougth to have the close button disabled when the process isn't finish, and activate it when finished
I will think about it in next version

XL2007, download the latest version ( from yesterday ) it should correct that bug. And unisntall previous version and delete the 'config.ini' located in the installation folder before running the new version


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: emilin on February 27, 2007, 12:16:49 AM
Well, wounagaine helped me sort out another problem which partly included the DATpacker and asked me to post a description over here too:

Since I didn't want to compress the entire plugin folder because I move some plugins in and out of it at a regulare basis (I know, I know, I should use the StartUpManager instead, but right now I don't). One of these plugins was Trolca's dirt roads (extended version by jeronij). I did however want the NAM and most other transit files compressed. So I moved the dirt roads (and some other stuff that I wanted easy to move, like terrains and tree controllers) out of the plugins folder before running the DATpacker.

When I fired up the game everything went smoothly (and much faster despite me not having an extremly large plugins folder to begin with, thank you!) but all the diagonals of the dirt roads were now ordinary concrete streets. Uh?

I think what happend was that the order in which the files where loaded after compression was messed up because of this. In the dirt road ReadMe it states that NAM must load first, euro roads then (in case you use that), dirt roads last. My folder structure remained the same after compression as before, but for some reason it looks like the game started up the uncompressed dirt roads before the NAM. I don't now why, but when I redid the whole process without compressing the NAM and euro roads it worked just fine again.

So, that's what happend.

[Note: I don't need any additional help right now, but since wounagaine (or God as he is also known to us mere motrals) asked me to post this I did.]
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 27, 2007, 12:27:53 AM
Yes I will emphasis everyone to read what I wrote in the readme of the latest version about loading order
I describe a fictionnal scenario like yours and how and why it can mess the game. But yours is better as it is real

So for everyone, if for some reason you want to mix packed and unpacked plugins,
if the unpacked plugins state to be loaded first, put them in a 0000 subfolder of your plugins
if the unpacked plugins state to be loaded after some of the packed plugins, put the unpacked plugins in a zzz subfolder of your plugins.

This will keep the correct loading order

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 28, 2007, 06:44:43 PM


Hey wouagaine,
I've narrowed down my problem and it seems to be revolving around Datpacker?
I had redid all my plugins and in my new region i tried to put them in (compressed ones)
and the game crashed again.  took out the compressed plugins and reloaded the unpacked ones and
the game loaded fine.  ok now im at a loss help and btw i still get the same exception report after the crash.
- pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jabezscratch on February 28, 2007, 08:26:41 PM
First of all, thanks for the amazing program!    &apls

Unfortunately, I have a problem and I'd appreciate any help you could provide.  Initially, I had installed the program, ran it, and it worked perfectly.  But I went to use it again, clicked the exe, and a window popped up that said: "See the log file `[directory location on my harddrive]' for details.  I opened it and it says:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 1, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 1, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 98, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd


So, the program was working fine and now I can't launch it.  I've downloaded the more up to date version than the one I had and it still will not launch.  FYI: I'm using Windows XP.  Any thoughts?

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on February 28, 2007, 09:17:51 PM
Hi Jabezscratch what i have done in that case is go into c drive to programs to sc4datpacker file
and remove the config file and try that.  if that dont work then its upto wouagaine.  - pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 01, 2007, 12:05:46 AM
jabezscratch, download MSVCP71.DLL and gdiplus.dll from www.dlls-files.com
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?msvcp71
http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?gdiplus

If it was working previously, you may have moved those files
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jabezscratch on March 01, 2007, 06:14:01 AM
Thanks!  The two DLL files were missing -- they must have been removed somehow.  I replaced them and the program works great again!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: infinitum19 on March 02, 2007, 09:31:57 PM
Just a question, what will happen if I compressed the folders using the DATpacker then I planned to add new plugins. example, all BSC files goes in BSC folder then i installed new plugins from BSC so naturally it would create a new BSC folder. would this have an impact, let's say I want to re-pack?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on March 03, 2007, 10:19:13 AM

Infinitum19,
ok here is what i do in that case that you mentioned.
after compacting if i DL anything more from bsc i create a new folder in the plugins folder so i now have to folders
there only one is the compressed files folder and then the new bsc folder.
when im done DL anything bsc i then go into the plugins removed folder open it up and
then i open up the new bsc folder transfer everything into the old one then remove the empty
folder (new bsc) and i then remove from plugins folder the compressed files folder and set it on the desktop for
the moment then from the plugins removed folder i take out the bsc folder that now has the new info in it and
place that into the plugins folder then rerun datpacker and compress away just that folder only.
after is done i take out the new compressed bsc file put into the other folder with the other plugins
but first remove the old bsc compressed file and everything runs fine for me.
sorry for being long winded but i hope that helps out for what i do at least. - pat

btw wouagaine,
i figured out my problem why my city would crash as of late is because i some how had a duplicate in the deluxe plugins folder where it should have been empty. - pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: infinitum19 on March 03, 2007, 05:31:47 PM
Thanks for the info, pat. I'll try that out. Cheers
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on March 04, 2007, 07:10:48 PM
Infinitum: All you need to do is restore the uncompressed folders and then install the new files.  Then just run dat packer again.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ct_sanderson on March 10, 2007, 01:02:35 PM
Good program.But it not take too speed.To get the maximum value of speed without great damages I have that to compact more times?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Obsidian on March 10, 2007, 04:24:48 PM
I have struggled over the years - torn between good performnce and the added value of brilliant creative people like barby and vlakhaas. Now with this program the game has taken on new life - better than ever in fact. This mod alone is worth more than the original software in the value it adds to the experience
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 11, 2007, 10:32:36 AM
Ct_sanderson, I don't understand your question. Just run DatPacker everytime you download new stuff

Obsidian, thx
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: fantnet on March 14, 2007, 02:34:29 PM
How can I fix this issue:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 540, in OnClose
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 544, in ShowMain
  File "config.pyo", line 14, in __init__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 2-4: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape

I get it when I start Datpacker. I am using vista and I have all the required dll files. It has work before but I am using the lastest version. (v5). Tried deleting and reinstalling but I get the same error. I also looked for the config.ini and I dont have it in the folder.

Thanks for your help.

FantNEt
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 14, 2007, 02:37:07 PM
What is your user name on your computer  ? Does it start with a 'u' ? I thought I had fixed that bug :(
How My Docs is handle in Vista btw ?

Edit : It is strange that you can find config.ini. Does that error occurs on start or on exit ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: fantnet on March 15, 2007, 11:43:01 AM
Thanks for the reply:

It does it when you launch the program. in vista my profile. E:\Users\Tyre.FANTNET, but it should work either way cause I have not had this problem with Simcity. As this program has worked before. is the Config.ini in the folder contained in the program files?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 15, 2007, 02:57:24 PM
So that is typecally what I've tried to fix :( ( ie a folder starting with a 'u' as 'Users' )
however if you have not remove the config.ini when installing the V5 ( which is located in the folder contained in the program files ) I suppose the bug can still arise. You should delete the config.ini and hopefully the tool will recreate one with special care to the 'u'.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ramona Brie on March 18, 2007, 04:39:27 PM
Please, I beg you, I'm stuck with MyDocs/Plugins instead of Program Files/Plugins. All my stuff's in the latter! Please! ()what()
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 19, 2007, 12:50:16 AM
Then move them all in your MyDocs/Plugins, run the datPacker, and move the plugin_compressed back into your Program Files/Plugins

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: U3D on March 26, 2007, 07:09:19 PM
Thank you thank you thank you! Thank you for the Dat Packer. I used it and now my game runs faster (I think, I can't really tell), I even found lots in my menus that came with packs that I downloaded that for some reason weren't there before. But..... /wrrd%& when I went to click on a Nam lot, (rail under road), my game crashed! And my game hasn't crashed in a long while. Im guessing it had something to do with the way I organized my DAT files before running DP.  :-[ Ive put my NAM files in c:/.../simcity4/plugins/mods folder along with a textures folder, a mod folder, and a props folder in my plugins folder. Should I move it into mydocuments/plugins folder?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: KyNYC on March 26, 2007, 07:56:51 PM
I've downloaded this program and ran it four times and this popped up all four times.  I've read through these messages and have read where others have the same problem.  How do I fix this?  I'm eager to have the program finish its work so I can get started on my game, but this is stopping me.  Help!  It's frustrating because it takes a loooong time for it to go through my files (starting with the As-creators, then stops either in the Ss or Vs).

This is what shows:
"Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 651, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 362, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 108, in __init__
MemoryError"

Thx.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on March 26, 2007, 08:50:45 PM
Quote from: wouanagaine on February 15, 2007, 11:56:09 PM
Patrick => I will also advise that if your 'Master Clean Folder' is bigger than 1gb it won't work very well
It is not DatPacker friendly to have only one massive subfolder in your plugins ( RAM usage problem, and if the resulting file is to be more than 2Gb the program will crash )
Try to restructure your plugin folder so it has more subfolder

KyNYC have you tried to do that and break down your plugin folder to more sub folders such as

1).  BSC
2).  Goober
3).  ECT
4).  Bobbo The great Files


and that should be the way the plugins folder should look like before you run DatPacker.
If that don't work try to go to program files then to SC4DatPacker and then remove the Config INI file.
Those are the steps i took way back in early Febuary and havent had any more troubles since - Pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 26, 2007, 11:45:56 PM
Yes Pat is right.
A memory error occurs when the tool try to merge a too big subfolder. So far my biggest subfolder is without surprise BSC and it is 745 Mb which compress to 678Mb. I have 2Gb of Ram so it may help.
However you can't have a dat file bigger than around 1.5gb because of the internal format

Follow Pat advice and break your subfolders into more subfolders
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: KyNYC on March 27, 2007, 05:51:29 AM
they are.  i have documents/sc4/plugins/creators/(names of creators)/(names of bats,lots).  thanks...i'll go and use the program for a portion of the files at a time.

i did a search for config.ini and couldn't find it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 27, 2007, 06:05:25 AM
the config.ini is located into your SC4DatPacker installation folder ( by default c:\Program Files\SC4DatPacker )

Try also to check the 'Use less ram' option, it may help
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: KyNYC on March 27, 2007, 06:44:42 AM
oh, ok.  unfortunately, i'm at work...i'll have to wait til i get home to do all this!  arghhhh!  i'm so eager to try this out! 

New MessageOK, I was able to break down my folders even further, ran the program...it worked!!!!!  Thank you!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: superchad on April 06, 2007, 01:48:17 PM
i used it the sc4dat packer, and when i started the game it got half way throught the ea games logo flipping and then it crashed to desktop.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 06, 2007, 02:22:45 PM
del everything in your plugins_compressed and rerun the tool to see if it happens again
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: superchad on April 06, 2007, 08:31:49 PM
i fixed the problem with a reboot, but i forgot to edit that i did that.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: superchad on April 07, 2007, 06:29:24 PM
im just gonna add this real quick, but i think the datpacker might cause some compatibiltiy issues with the Network Addon Mod, ill editor or post when i do some more tests but i would recommend checking it out.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 08, 2007, 05:58:32 AM
ok, just post, I'rm interested
I pack everything and I do not see any bug
I will correct everything wrong
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: superchad on April 08, 2007, 02:49:04 PM
there is no problem with the nam, slight misunderstanding with nam  (thought you press home, end to switch stuff, not tav), though you can have a combination of regular folders and plugin_compressed folders, i keep the NAM in a regular folder so i can quickly and easily change traffic settings, also if you remove the plugins_compressed folder, then you can add new folders and plugins, run dat packer, put the files from the old plugins compressed into the new folder, and you have a faster, easier, way of adding plugins.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on April 08, 2007, 03:55:44 PM
I am completely %confuso
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on April 10, 2007, 11:52:18 AM

Dont worry Barby im following suite  %confuso
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 10, 2007, 02:16:12 PM
Not sure, due to my poor translating abilities, but I think there is no problem in fact, isn"t it ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: superchad on April 10, 2007, 02:41:02 PM
heres what i typed without all the other stuff if you remove the plugins_compressed from plugins, then you can add new folders and plugins, run dat packer, put the files from the old plugins_compressed into the new one, and you have a faster, easier, way of adding plugins, without moving all of your old plugin folders back into plugins.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Serkanner on April 10, 2007, 03:19:45 PM
Hmmm ... now I am  %confuso too
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 10, 2007, 11:25:15 PM
Quote from: superchad on April 10, 2007, 02:41:02 PM
heres what i typed without all the other stuff if you remove the plugins_compressed from plugins, then you can add new folders and plugins, run dat packer, put the files from the old plugins_compressed into the new one, and you have a faster, easier, way of adding plugins, without moving all of your old plugin folders back into plugins.
???
Why Select Old plugins, CTRL-X CTRL-V is so hard ?
And if you add plugins subfolder with the same name how do you manage that ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: superchad on April 11, 2007, 12:10:49 PM
i said nothing about old plugins, i said the old plugins_compressed folder, the one you moved out of plugins to make the new one, then you select the files in it and put them in the new one, another use of dat packer, is packing files before they are downloaded, BSC should make a Super Pack with all there dependancy files, removing the need to download several diffrent ones, plus the installer scans for older dependancies that are in your plugins folder. P.S. i most of my plugins in folders labed like MMM/DD/YYYY so if i get a problem i have to do less work to fix it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Jim on April 16, 2007, 11:52:49 AM
I don't know if somebody have asked this quesiton before but when i installed the DatPacker, it (sc4datpacker) can not work on the unknow bats from other sites than Simtropolis or Sc4 devotion.
I loosed also a few of dependencies...

How to use those loosed plugins without removing them one by one from my "emergency plugins floder"?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BigSlark on April 22, 2007, 07:21:08 PM
wouanagaine,

Whenever I compress my plugins, datpacker always stalls on "writing all entries to...", regardless of the folder name or the size of the folder.

Does it actually finish compressing and just not stop? Or is there something else strange afoot?

Thanks,
Kevin
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 22, 2007, 11:45:39 PM
if it is finished, the 'close' button is active, the 'close' button is grayed while compressing, else there is a bug

A new version will be uploaded with 'flashing' when finished soon

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 23, 2007, 07:53:53 AM
The new version has been uploaded to LEX
-multilangual ( English, German ( thx to Andreas Roth ), and French )
-more visual clues that the process is finished
Nothing more has been added to the packing process, so you can safely ignore the update if you want

Take care
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on April 23, 2007, 07:15:17 PM
wouanagaine,

      Okay maybe this is sorta a dumb question.   Well I'll ask anyway.   Is this an update or do I need to oninstall the old before installing this one?    Sorry but I downloaded the very 1st version and have never downloaded any updates.    I still love it and don't wanna mess it up.


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 23, 2007, 11:35:42 PM
Gaston, you should have download at least v5, which is AFAIK bug free. Previous version had a problem with some kind of duplication which make the game use not exactly the same data before and after packing

You should uninstall your current version, the uninstaller is in your start menu->Programs->SC4Utilities->SC4DatPacker->Uninstall, then you can install the current
version
If you have a very old version, you may try to delete the plugins_compressed folder, reput your normal plugins folders and rerun datpacker.

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on April 24, 2007, 06:52:01 AM
Thanks wouanagaine.     I think I have the first version.   lol


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 24, 2007, 06:58:19 AM
then maybe make a backup of your compressed plugins, as duplicate TGI are now handle correctly this may impact your alredy developed cities
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on April 24, 2007, 07:13:53 AM
Good idea.   I never think of that and end up paying for it.   LOL   Okay I do have one more stupid question (for now anyway).   What is TGI actually an acronym for?


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 24, 2007, 07:46:58 AM
Type Group Instance, which are 3 numbers the game used to uniquely identify a data ( being from 3D meshes, textures, sounds, etc... )
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: M4346 on April 25, 2007, 01:33:04 PM
I just downloaded and installed DatPacker v6 (I believe. The one uploaded 04/23/2007). I uninstalled the previous version first, of course.

When I launched the programme after installation this is what I got:

Little window pops up with the heading:

QuotewxPython: stdout/stderr

Info in little window:

QuoteTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 686, in OnClose
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 690, in ShowMain
  File "config.pyo", line 14, in __init__
UnicodeDecodeError: 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode byte 0x5c in position 76: \ at end of string
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 25, 2007, 02:32:49 PM
delete your config.ini which is located on the installation folder. It should correct the error
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: M4346 on April 25, 2007, 02:44:05 PM
Thank you!!

It worked!  &apls &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on April 28, 2007, 09:34:25 AM
I just wanted to report that I finally solved the BSC Regional Tracking problem when using compressed plugins. What finally worked was to put the BSC_RegionalCounter.dat in a folder with "z" at the beginning so that it loads after the plugins_compressed folder. As far as I understand the loading order SC4 uses, having the regional counter in the root plugins directory causes it to load before the plugins_compressed and something must have been overiding it. No idea why it works when the plugins are not compressed but doesn't when they are...  ()what()

I haven't tried compressing it but if it's the loading order that is the key issue then a dat in the plugins_compressed folder that loads after all the other dats in that folder (i.e. that starts with "zzzz") should also work. Interestingly, I had lost the function of Equinox's Expanded UI Mod as well and it also started working again when moved to the same folder to load after the plugins_compressed.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 28, 2007, 09:57:44 AM
Strange or the loading order is not what we think   %confuso
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on April 28, 2007, 05:33:30 PM
Not that I actually know anything about it, but I seem to remember reading an old post by Grampa Al that the order is the following:

1. Program Files.../Plugins - all files in root directory, in alphabetical order
2. Program Files.../Plugins - all files in subdirectories, in alphabetical order
3. Program Files.../Plugins - sub-subdirectories, etc.
4. My Documents.../Plugins - all files in root directory, in alphabetical order
5. My Documents.../Plugins - all files in subdirectories, in alphabetical order
6. My Documents.../Plugins - sub-subdirectories, etc.

So, if the file is in the root directory, it loads before the compressed plugins, which are in a subdirectory called "plugins_compressed". Putting it in a folder with a name that starts with "z" causes it to load after all the root directory files and after all subdirectories with names starting with letters before "z".

If the regional tracker were put in a folder starting with z and compressed along with the other plugins, the compressed version would also load after the root directory files and after all other files in plugins_compressed that come before it in alphabetical order...

Am I belaboring the obvious or is this not the way you understand that the files load?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: tragicomicus2k7 on May 05, 2007, 03:46:45 PM
I am sorry, I have searched and have been unable to locate a posted solution to the Jeronij, Cycledogg tree issue. I have been getting the PEG version of the "brown box" when I seed forests in God mode.

When I load another existing city everything is fine. Wasn't there and updated version recently that fixed this bug?
Title: Problem with lots after using the Dat Packer
Post by: brevat on May 08, 2007, 05:41:10 PM
I'm not sure if anyone else is having any problems but when I use the Dat Packer (Which I love for helping with cutting my load time) I tend to get some brown boxes and I can't figure out what the problem is.  I've tried going in and pulling the original file out from my disabled folder and tossing it back in the plugins folder and getting rid of the file created by the Dat Packer but that hasn't seemed to help.  Short of going in and completely deleting all of the files and downloading them again does anyone have any idea of what to do?  My plugins disabled file is slightly massive, ok over 3 gigs so I really don't want to have to find everything all over again.  Any advice would be greatly welcome.

Edit : Merged ~Wouanagaine~
Title: Re: Problem with lots after using the Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on May 08, 2007, 05:46:51 PM
Remember that anything not in a subfolder in your plugins directory does not get packed and put into the plugins_compressed folder formed by DatPacker. That means that, in addition to copying the plugins_compressed into your new plugins folder (and renaming the old folder plugins_disabled), you need to also copy all the "loose" files in the root plugins directory.

Does that make sense or have I bewildered you with too many plugins and directories?

EDIT: There's a DatPacker thread you should check out - here. (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?board=125.0)

Edit : Merged ~Wouanagaine~
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 09, 2007, 03:13:23 AM
snorelli, Yes that is how the datPacker read the files ( the program files folders are not read nor packed )

tragicomicus2k7, The latest version is the one on the LEX. Make sure you play with only compressed files ( besides the one in your program files plugins and in the root of my Doc\plugins )

brevat, make sure you have the files on the root of your plugins folder still there. ( like bldg_prop ) as snorelli said
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on May 09, 2007, 06:05:50 AM
By the way, I tested it and the regional tracker also works when compressed, as long as it loads last. I have it together with Equinox's Expanded UI mod in a folder called z_tracking that gets packed into 1 dat file that is among the last to load from the plugins_compressed...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 09, 2007, 06:16:59 AM
good news  :thumbsup:

I know it is a pretty lame excuse, but I assure everyone I never get brown boxes or missing functionnality after running DatPacker.
I however have recently moved every files from My Docs\Plugins root to Program Files\Plugins so now under MyDocs\Plugins I have only Plugins_compressed.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rayden on May 09, 2007, 07:29:50 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on May 09, 2007, 06:16:59 AM
good news  :thumbsup:

I know it is a pretty lame excuse, but I assure everyone I never get brown boxes or missing functionnality after running DatPacker.
I however have recently moved every files from My Docs\Plugins root to Program Files\Plugins so now under MyDocs\Plugins I have only Plugins_compressed.


That's quite an interesting idea, usualy after running the packer, I copy/paste those root plugins into the newly created plugins_compressed. Doing like that, it won't be necessary anymore, unless there is new ones at the root. :thumbsup:

By the way, I never had any problems as well for having SC4DatPacker compressing my files, my brown boxes only happen when I don't have all the depedencies ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 09, 2007, 08:01:34 AM
QuoteThat's quite an interesting idea, usualy after running the packer, I copy/paste those root plugins into the newly created plugins_compressed. Doing like that, it won't be necessary anymore, unless there is new ones at the root.
That is not a very good idea, you should leave your root files in a location where there will be loaded in the same order


for example if you have bsc_essentials.dat and a BSC subfolder the files will load in that orders ( bsc_essentials.dat then files in BSC subfolder )
but if you move bsc_essentials.dat to plugin_compressed the load order will be
BSC.dat
bsc_essentials.dat
which is not what is expected and which may wreck some datas. ( I'm not sure if bsc_essentials should be loaded first, but it is state in the readme that it should stay on top )


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rayden on May 09, 2007, 12:03:33 PM
Well, so far I never had a problem with that, and I've been using your prog since the begining. But now that you explained me that and following your example, I will move then to the root of the plugins but at the game folder in program files. ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: brevat on May 11, 2007, 07:58:17 AM
Thanks snorrelli and wouanagaine.  I think I've figured out the problem and that was part of it.  And thank you for merging my question wouanagaine, I must be time to get new glasses.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Brightstar on May 16, 2007, 01:53:13 AM
What a wonderful program!!! &apls

I do however have one little hitch........Now I have read all 17 pages and don't think I have missed anything....lol

My issue is to do with textures - basically I am missing a few (actually lots).  I have every texture file available from here, ST & peg's site so it shouldn't be a dependency issue.
I thought it might be related to datpacker so I am running the textures file uncompressed.  Didn't fix it- in fact I lost a few other textures - Hungarian Parliament now looks quite bald!
Now on reading this thread I think maybe its related to loading order.  Does anyone have any suggestions on where the texture file would be best located? 

I should also note I am one of those with RAM issues so I had to break down my BSC folder to its component sub folders and then breakdown bscprops some more.......
By the way this is an old region but a new city since I statrted using datpacker.

btw I don't use Cleanitol either - I check my remove lists VERY carefully instead as I sometimes ahve things in different places (my game has always been a bit touchy about where I keep things)

In all other respects this program works great and is incredible!  Its even easy for a techno-idiot like me to use. :thumbsup: :satisfied:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 16, 2007, 03:08:43 AM
Brightstar, thx

First make sure that your city shows correctly if you don't use the plugins_compressed folder, but using your break down of BSC folder
if this show correctly, show us your plugins folders and your plugins_compressed so I can see what can cause the problem


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Brightstar on May 17, 2007, 01:20:18 AM
ok so now I'm embarrassed - I should have thought of that :-[
I did what you suggested and the issue didn't go away.  I guess somewhere in my splitting I screwed up what went where and got the loading orders wrong.

So rather than take up anymore of your time I will go away and manually try and work out what needs to go where!  Unless someone can point me in the direction of an easy way to rebuild my texture files....lol

Thanks again for a great product - and great support!

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Brightstar on May 17, 2007, 12:57:49 PM
Just thought I'd let you know I've solved my problem - turns out a couple of recent texture pack downloads had files listed to remove that lots actually needed.  Once I put back in the textures I had removed the lots showed properly - I was misled because it affected such a large number of lots! Not sure why it happened yet - Have never had that happen before %confuso

Thanks again for all your help here.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on May 17, 2007, 01:44:20 PM
@Brightstar - if you got them from the LEX here, please report the error in the LEX forum so that the creator or LEX administrator can fix either the file or the remove list.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Brightstar on May 18, 2007, 12:23:10 AM
Snorrelli,

I intend to do just that and would have done so already - unfortunately I have to sit down and go through all the remove lists.  Unfortunately, quite contrary to my usual practice, I downloaded a number of packs at once and installed them at the same time.  I never expected the issue to arise..............that'll teach me!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ayaren on May 21, 2007, 08:31:54 PM
Whenever I open Dat Packer, I get this error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 98, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd

I'm running it on a Windows 98 emulator on my Mac.
I have all the Sim City folders shared.
Any help would be appreciated!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 21, 2007, 11:47:45 PM
You need msvcp71.dll which I give an url in the readme. Don't know how this will work on emulator however
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ayaren on May 28, 2007, 09:10:49 AM
Sorry, I have Msvcp71.dll but I'm still getting the same error. Is there anything else I could do?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 28, 2007, 01:44:47 PM
try to download gdiplus.dll then which a link is also provided in the readme

You must also make sure you put the dll either in the installation folder or in a folder that is available in your 'PATH'
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ayaren on May 28, 2007, 09:49:11 PM
Well, now the errors are gone...but now it just plain refuses to open. I get an hour glass,
it dissapears, and thats it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 28, 2007, 11:38:45 PM
Quote from: Ayaren on May 28, 2007, 09:49:11 PM
Well, now the errors are gone...but now it just plain refuses to open. I get an hour glass,
it dissapears, and thats it.
Sorry I don't understand quite well, is it working or not?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ayaren on May 29, 2007, 07:46:06 AM
I doesn't work. No window appears. Exactly nothing happens.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 29, 2007, 07:49:39 AM
delete the config.ini which is located in your installation folder
Other than that I really don't see what can be wrong :(.
BTW What OS are you running ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ayaren on May 29, 2007, 03:39:50 PM
There is no config.ini. Maybe I should reinstall?
My Mac is OS X version 10.4.9. The emulator is Windows 98 SE.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 29, 2007, 11:37:49 PM
QuoteMy Mac is OS X version 10.4.9. The emulator is Windows 98 SE.
Well I think that is the problem, I don't think it works on W98, at least I know that those who tried on W98 failed :(
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ayaren on May 30, 2007, 03:49:12 PM
Well thanks for the help anyways.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rayden on June 02, 2007, 06:14:56 AM
Hey Stef, check this one (http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=24&threadid=89336&STARTPAGE=1#1136781) :D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 02, 2007, 06:41:58 AM
Thx silvio, I planned to reply but your reply is perfect

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: sheeff on June 15, 2007, 03:25:23 AM
1st,Thanks to BSC!

NOW,I have one question:Did the SC4DP only can read the folder "plugins" under "system-disk(C):\...\My documents\simcity 4\plugins"? My plugins are placed in the game folder like "F:\maixs\simcity 4\plugins".Can I change the default path the soft read from starting OR whatever can I manage it to load my own plugins? Thanks again!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 15, 2007, 03:28:51 AM
No you can't change the default folder
However you can move the content of your maxis\plugins into MyDoc\plugins, run datPacker then move the result into your maxis\plugins
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ralph on June 19, 2007, 11:49:11 AM
Hi , i ahve installed the dat packer but i have a problem ,my problem is the desertic mod do not  function any more , why ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 19, 2007, 12:38:17 PM
Hi ralph

It certainly have to do with the loading order of the files
show us your plugins folder before/after you run datpacker, and the plugins_compressed folder so I can tell you how to solve this
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ralph on June 24, 2007, 07:45:01 AM
How i do that ? I have to do a print screen ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 24, 2007, 08:00:36 AM
yes :)
print screen of your explorer windows
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Ralph on June 25, 2007, 09:41:14 AM
but my print screen bouton do not fonction , will sand you a picture of my plugin folder tomorrow .
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: flame1396 on July 07, 2007, 06:26:44 PM
Well... I moved my sc4 to another computer (MY computer, not the shared one... no stupid background programs). less ram. slower processor.... and I cant load my large city tiles.... I hope this will help. As dealing with the files is exactly its problem
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: john94538 on July 13, 2007, 02:53:42 PM
I don't know if anyone else is experiencing this, but after using the dat packer, the game interface changes, the game looks "zoomed in", ALL Maxis buildings don't have base textures, most lots I downloaded from this site and ST are brown boxes, a LOT of dependency packs are missing, and the dat packer is unable to run.

What I did was to move everything from the Plugins folder to another one, and I deleted every folder and file in the Plugins folder except "Plugins_Compressed." Did something go wrong?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on July 14, 2007, 12:02:56 PM

Hi John do you still have your old plugins at all?  or did you empty the recycle bin? If you didnt then restore your folder back to the way it was.  What happend is that when loading the game loaded some stuff out of order and it can be corrected with arranging the files diffrently.  I had to do it myself.  example here of how i set up my folder prior to compressing.


Thats an idea of how i have my folder set up and then i compressed it and made sure the end dats stayed in that order and i havent had to much troubles with brown boxes since.  but far as the zoom setting i dont know at all im sorry i cant help you there - pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: john94538 on July 14, 2007, 04:25:22 PM
Hi Pat.

I rearranged the folder like you said, and the brown boxes have disappeared. The zoom issue and different interface, which looks like SC4 vanilla, hasn't changed, but it's a minor issue. All of the Maxis buildings still have no base textures, however the "missing dependencies" button isn't showing anymore.

Thanks,
John
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: waway625 on July 19, 2007, 08:49:00 AM
hi, so it was some time since i last packed my plugins, (then went to a hiatus playing SC4)

just now, i decided to pack my plugins folder into a single DAT..

heres what i did

placed all my plugins into one folder, then ran DATpacker..BIG MISTAKE

now my plugins are deleted and were packed into one DAT dile :(

now is there a way to unpack them if i wanted to? (say i wanted to delete a plugin)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on July 19, 2007, 09:07:58 AM
you deleted your plugins?  Woops  ()sad()  Are they still in your recycle bin?  You could use the reader to remove an exemplar for a lot you want to remove, but it's not the easiest thing to do.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: waway625 on July 19, 2007, 10:11:27 AM
no i didnt, i put them one one folder so DATpacker would pack them as one DAT file..

i forgot that the files would be compressed and there wouldnt be any file left but the compressed file :( is there a program i can use to "unpack" the packed dat file?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on July 19, 2007, 10:13:20 AM
No, you can't unpack the file again, that's why it is advised to make a backup of your plugins folder first.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: waway625 on July 19, 2007, 10:25:48 AM
ouch :( sucks for me then :(

i should have known there was a reason why i had another plugins folder on my other drive (from when i last packed my plugins) but silly me i deleted them too :(

how about a program that allows me to delete a plugin in the dat?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on July 19, 2007, 01:11:06 PM
You can use the Reader for that, but it requires some knowledge about the internal structure of the DAT files.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on July 19, 2007, 02:47:41 PM

Hey John im glad it worked out at least a little bit for you... far as the missing maxis textures and zoom issue im cluess on that sorry - pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: screamingman12 on August 03, 2007, 07:42:49 AM
Here's something:

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg530.imageshack.us%2Fimg530%2F6861%2Fdatpackererrorfu4.jpg&hash=ff897e7ac8b0e91be725c14fb14330292e1aa3ce)

It should know that the file isn't in Plugins_Compressed, because it hasn't created the folder yet.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on August 03, 2007, 06:32:50 PM
I got a question.  LOL     I haven't tried to pack my plugins, since downloading all the CAM stuff.   Are there gonna be any problems I should be aware of in advance???


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BigSlark on August 04, 2007, 07:59:55 PM
Gaston,

I've repacked twice since CAM and no problems at all. I use "Useful TGI Only" option and never actually delete my Plugins_Compressed.

Cheers,
Kevin
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on August 04, 2007, 08:11:39 PM
Thanks BigSlark.   I figured it would be okay or it would have been noted in the manual.  I'm still glad you said something.   It puts my mind at ease a bit more.     ()stsfd()


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: patch_110 on August 14, 2007, 07:13:53 AM
Hi i was having a problem with the game crashing when i changed zoom level and was advised to run this tool on my plugins. so i moved all my textures and props to C/program files plugins and just left my buildings in my doc's plugins and after running this tool most of my cam buildings are brown boxes but when i delete the plugins compressed folder and put all my building plugins back in all building show ok but i get the crash problem back which makes the game basically unplayable.please help
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rayden on August 14, 2007, 10:43:40 AM
Quote from: patch_110 on August 14, 2007, 07:13:53 AM
Hi i was having a problem with the game crashing when i changed zoom level and was advised to run this tool on my plugins. so i moved all my textures and props to C/program files plugins and just left my buildings in my doc's plugins and after running this tool most of my cam buildings are brown boxes but when i delete the plugins compressed folder and put all my building plugins back in all building show ok but i get the crash problem back which makes the game basically unplayable.please help

Please read the instructions of that little tool. I'm sure it doesn't mention there that you have to delete the plugins compressed folder. Try instead to move that folder out of the plugins folder, then rename your plugins folder to something else, and after that, rename your plugins compressed folder to plugins.
But, once again, read the instructions, it's all there. ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: cowcorn on August 16, 2007, 06:59:51 PM
Hi! I've been running the game with my pluggins compressed since 2 weeks. I have experienced a recuring problem ever since. It would seem that when I enter my main city after loading the game all the props dissapear in random spots. The lots are still there and I can query them but all the props are invisible.This problem didn't happen before I used the DatPacker. Here's a picture.

Sorry this was not the good picture... You shoudn't see this.

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi214.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fcc224%2Fcowcorn%2Fbug1.jpg&hash=24dd7553d81d616514b1ce5a3a395c7e0185e677)

BTW. First post on Devotion.

Edited to resize pic ~Wouanagaine~

edit: I changed the picture now.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on August 16, 2007, 07:50:20 PM
could you make it smaller (change it to this: [url=http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc224/cowcorn/megamosaic4.jpg][img width=800]http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc224/cowcorn/megamosaic4.jpg[/img][/url])

it would help cut scrolling
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on August 17, 2007, 08:50:58 AM
I'll try to find some time next week to reply to your questions
Sorry to not be as responsive as I used to be
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on August 17, 2007, 08:16:13 PM

Wou its alll gooooooood RL Work is more important then SimCity...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on August 18, 2007, 12:58:09 AM
Quote from: screamingman12 on August 03, 2007, 07:42:49 AM
Here's something:

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg530.imageshack.us%2Fimg530%2F6861%2Fdatpackererrorfu4.jpg&hash=ff897e7ac8b0e91be725c14fb14330292e1aa3ce)

It should know that the file isn't in Plugins_Compressed, because it hasn't created the folder yet.
Strange, as for everyone, the first time the tool is run, the folder does not exist. So I wonder why it failed to create the folder in your case. Does the path look good to you ? I mean your account is 'Test' ? Do you have any permissions/restrictions in that account that would block the creation of folder inside My Documents ?

Quote from: cowcorn on August 16, 2007, 06:59:51 PM
Hi! I've been running the game with my pluggins compressed since 2 weeks. I have experienced a recuring problem ever since. It would seem that when I enter my main city after loading the game all the props dissapear in random spots. The lots are still there and I can query them but all the props are invisible.This problem didn't happen before I used the DatPacker. Here's a picture.

Sorry this was not the good picture... You shoudn't see this.
I don't think it is related to DatPacker, it is called the Prop Pox Problem
http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=1201.0
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: cowcorn on August 19, 2007, 08:14:07 PM
Thanks! Although I find strange that I had never seen the problem before.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: screamingman12 on August 31, 2007, 05:19:30 AM
No, the adminsitrator account (Test) was set up by HP because my computer crashed and they had to replace the HDD, so there's nothing I can think of that would block the creation of a folder.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: TWAK on September 02, 2007, 02:04:09 PM
I think i messed something up. The datpacker has worked before fine for me, but this time all of my cities had brown boxes everywhere.
I ran the dat packer, i switched all the packed files into my plugins and took out the files in my plugins.
Am I missing something? Does having some sc4m files laying about in the plugins directory while others are in file folders have anything to do with it?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mattb325 on September 06, 2007, 07:45:25 PM
@ Screamingman12 - are you using Vista?

If so, you should over-write the default Destination Directory on the Dat packer prior to clicking start (there is a small search button at the top of the Datpacker program "..." to enable this).

Your directory will look something like: "C:\Users\user\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Plugins_Compressed"
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: screamingman12 on September 08, 2007, 05:04:35 AM
No, XP home. But I'll still try this.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: canadacactus on September 27, 2007, 10:02:43 AM
I need further clarification on the removal of my Plug-in Sub-folders. After running SC4 Dat Packer my BSC folder has nothing but sub-folders. If I remove them then I'm left with an empty BSC folder. Windows XP dosen't like empty folders. The sub-folders contain folders such as; BLSLots, BRT, BSCTextures, and so on. Now some of the sub-folders within these folders are now empty. Is it the empty sub-folders that I should be removing? This is very confusing to me!

I'd appreciate any clarification.

Gerry  :-[
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on September 27, 2007, 11:19:04 AM
I am not sure what you have done as when I use SC4 DatPacker I am left with all the original folder structures with all files intact and a new folder call Plugins_Compressed that contains the packed dats. I have never some across this problem before.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Heblem on September 27, 2007, 12:12:52 PM
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg220.imageshack.us%2Fimg220%2F6262%2Fnh2hz2.jpg&hash=ccba0a94737da55943715ea8446d0ffc20584f07)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: NikNik on October 02, 2007, 02:06:06 AM
Quote from: BarbyW on September 27, 2007, 11:19:04 AM
I am not sure what you have done as when I use SC4 DatPacker I am left with all the original folder structures with all files intact and a new folder call Plugins_Compressed that contains the packed dats. I have never some across this problem before.
Hi Barby,
I always have this. I manually move all the directories in the plugins folder apart from the root and the directory Plugins_compressed to a separate directory outside Plugins. No problemo. Didn't you ever have this before I believe it is the way that Datpacker should work.

Nik-Nik
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on October 02, 2007, 04:11:19 AM
 ;DNikNik, I wasn't having problems but reply to canadacactus who seems to have lost all his files - the post above mine. It is the way the program works and is useful for a number of tasks including just packing one folder for a prop pack. The Merge facility in SC4Tool does the same thing but it does remove the originals and sometimes not where you think. SC4DatPacker only packs folders in plugins into a new folder - default name Plugins_Compressed - and should leave the folders still in place to be manually - or  using SUM - to somewhere outside plugins.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: canadacactus on October 03, 2007, 10:24:29 AM
I found that after using SC4 Dat Packer I have undermined the usefulness of SC4 Startup Manager because all I'm left with is the plug-ins compressed folder. I no longer have the options to select what plug-ins I wish to use within my cities and regions.

Have I done something wrong or is it a case of one or the other?

I want to be able to select different plug-ins for each city within a Region.

Also many of the plug-in developers note in their read-me file that their folders should be left intact for future updates.

Gerry ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: RippleJet on October 05, 2007, 02:00:09 PM
Each folder that you want to be able to select separately by the Startup Manager should in that case be datpacked in its own file. :thumbsup:

And whenever you're installing new custom content or updating existing custom content you need to reinstate the original folder structure.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rayden on October 05, 2007, 04:46:59 PM
I really don't understand how some people deal with this such easy and usefull program. Let me put down how I deal with it.

1 - It doesn't matter how you have your plugins organized. Install any plugins you have, clean up all the useless files by running Cleanitol or any other program that does the same, or you can browse around manually, and get rid of jpg, txt, url, and so ones like. Delete any empty folders too.
2 - Run SC4DatPacker. When it finishes, you should find an extra folder inside your Plugins, called Plugins_Compressed. That folder contains now your entire plugins all packed. Each dat file in there is the correspondent folder of your Plugins.
3 - Move that Plugins_Compressed to the same place of your Plugins folder ...\Documents\SimCity 4\
4 - Rename your Plugins folder for someting like Plugins_original, Plugins_uncompressed, whatever you feel like.
5 - Rename your Plugins_Compressed to Plugins. This is now your Plugins folder.
6 - When you need to update or install some more plugins, do the reverse, rename back your Plugins to Plugins_Compressed (make sure it is spelled correct, as SC4DatPacker will need it), and your Plugins_Original, uncompressed or whatever, renamed back to Plugins. Don't move the Plugins_Compressed yet into the plugins folder.
7 - Install all the plugins you have, do the cleaning again, and then, move the Plugins_Compressed from outside into the Plugins folder. This is necessary as, when you run again the SC4DatPacker, the program is going to check what changes/additions were made to the Plugins folder. Done that, the program will only compact any new or changed folders (if you copy a single file to a folder, the program will update the compacted dat file). After finishing compacting, repeat all the steps from the 3rd to the 5th.

Note: Try not having files on the root of your Plugins. If by any reason a plugins install put some file/s on the root, try to move them to the root of the Plugins that is on the game's folder, instead of the one on the Documents folder. Other option is to copy those files directly to the Plugins_Compressed folder.

Well, this is my method, it doesn't have to be the perfect or the only one, but it works for me, and I never had any problems. I hope now, people start to understand how this works, even without reading the readme file that was within the Program zip file. &Thk/( ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on October 06, 2007, 02:08:16 AM
Just another note, DatPacker removes any junk files also, so you dont need to go through deleting .txt's and things

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: canadacactus on October 06, 2007, 06:11:48 AM
Thank you for the speedy response.

It all makes sense to me now.

Gerry  ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: RippleJet on October 06, 2007, 07:24:03 AM
Quote from: Rayden on October 05, 2007, 04:46:59 PM
rename back your Plugins to Plugins_Compresed (make sure it is spelled correct, as SC4DatPacker will need it)

Indeed... ::)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: canadacactus on October 06, 2007, 07:25:43 AM
Will do. Thanks again ()stsfd()
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rayden on October 06, 2007, 08:13:28 AM
Quote from: star.torturer on October 06, 2007, 02:08:16 AM
Just another note, DatPacker removes any junk files also, so you dont need to go through deleting .txt's and things

Joe

Wrong, it just ignores them when building the dat file. If you check the original folder, they're still there. ;)

That's the reason Cleanitol was created, to get rid of those junk files.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on October 06, 2007, 08:21:37 AM
thats what i mean, so in reality it doesnt matter does it? they wont get included anyway
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on October 07, 2007, 08:44:00 PM
Quote from: Rayden on October 06, 2007, 08:13:28 AM
Wrong, it just ignores them when building the dat file. If you check the original folder, they're still there. ;)

That's the reason Cleanitol was created, to get rid of those junk files.
I think ya'll are talking about the readmes and jpg stuff in the readmes that it will remove.


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on October 07, 2007, 10:37:08 PM
I didn't know readme's were junk   :P
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gaston on October 08, 2007, 02:33:07 PM
Quote from: star.torturer on October 07, 2007, 10:37:08 PM
I didn't know readme's were junk   :P
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o

I never said that.     


---Gaston
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on November 20, 2007, 06:44:40 AM
I just noticed that in the latest version, in the error messages below, in addition to the not a dbff file messages, I'm now getting a warning?
Warning: Every entry in SimGoober/Chocolate Boutique/SG_ChocolateBotique.dat were superseed

I'm wondering what this means?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: meldolion on November 20, 2007, 07:56:59 AM
me too I'm having the same warning....

QuoteWarning : Every entries in 001 - Essentials/BLSEssentials.dat were superseed

%confuso
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 20, 2007, 11:31:01 AM
It means that the specified dat file is not necessary because every data in it have been override by one or many other dat files

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on November 20, 2007, 11:44:03 AM
Meaning the file is already packed in? Sounds like I'm going to have to start being more careful to use the Cleanitol before DatPacking, otherwise I could be in trouble. Thanks for the quick response Wou.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on November 23, 2007, 01:07:06 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on November 20, 2007, 11:31:01 AM
It means that the specified dat file is not necessary because every data in it have been override by one or many other dat files



So I can delete the files it identifies as having every entry "superseed"? :D
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: meldolion on November 23, 2007, 01:35:36 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on November 20, 2007, 11:31:01 AM
It means that the specified dat file is not necessary because every data in it have been override by one or many other dat files



Thanks wou,
but, that warning is given to me just compressing the Mods folder, which is the first folder in my plugins collection....
How can it be?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 23, 2007, 06:46:28 AM
Snorelli, yuo can certainly move that file  out of your plugins, not really delete it

Meldolion You have a mod that superseed another mod
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on November 23, 2007, 02:34:29 PM
geez, i lost 4+ hours today getting this thing to work. I found that it is not a good idea to put ALL lots/BATS into one folder as stated by the readme. not only does doing that take up a lot of RAM, but it create errors as weel and sometimes the app crashes. It is best to put your lot/Bats/props/textures/models into "chunk" folders and pack that way. there are far fewer errors and less RAM is used.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 23, 2007, 02:39:21 PM
Yes that is what is written in the readme, split your folder
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on November 23, 2007, 02:48:41 PM
yeah, but the tips @ the bottom say to remove modds like nam, cam, etc and split folder into two folder: lots/bats & props/textures/models. i had to split my folder into 15 different folders (not counting mods) to work, because about 1/2 way through the packer would start getting errors like crazy and then crash.

it dorsn't matter reall, just noticed that it is better to have many smaller dats (<20) than to have 1 or 2 big dats becasue trying to make 1 or 2 big dats on a system with 2 gigs of ram and a 2 GHz processor WILL make DP crash.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 23, 2007, 03:15:17 PM
From the tips section : ;)
QuoteA subfolder bigger than 1Gb should be dispatch to help SC4Datpacker
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on November 23, 2007, 03:16:53 PM
so each folder to be turned into a dat shouldn't be larger than 1 Gb? i think i missed that part....i'm going to go and reread the readme
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 23, 2007, 03:24:06 PM
Yes, my bigger folder is the BSC with 900 mb ( packed ), and I'm pretty sure I'll need to split it in near future

In fact, the theorical limit is bigger than 1Gb, but I forgot the formula to compute it, and as Maxis made the SimCity_x.dat files around 300Mb, I think it is better to have packed file around that size when possible


And I will edit the readme for futur release to be less confusing
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on November 23, 2007, 08:10:40 PM
yeah, the qoute you made is kinda confusing.

and the "a word from soulstealer" section should be a given, y'know?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mittfh on November 25, 2007, 02:25:36 PM
The BSC folder is a fun one to split up...

DatPacker just about coped with mine split into two (it produced an exception en-route, but was happy to continue after being told to ignore it):

BSC-Basics: BSC Parks, BSC Props, BSC Textures, Day of Peace plus a handful of tiny files (e.g. save alarm, opera house fix, reward essential, region counter etc.) - 696MB uncompressed.
BSC: everything else - 867MB uncompressed.

I also have folders called automata, road, rail, water, fx, utilities and buildings (251MB), plus the various CAM (22MB) and PEG (134MB) folders, as well as SimGoober (316MB - moved out of BSC due to sheer quantity of his lots downloaded/installed). Anything by prominent BSC members heads to BSC, PEG stuff goes in PEGPROD (since he's so prolific!), and pretty much everything else goes into the relevant general folder. I prefer to organise stuff by what it is, rather than who developed it (although BSC stuff goes into the developer's subfolder).

As others have said, it helps to run Cleanitol's cleanuplist beforehand - don't forget to add .ico and .url to the file if you want to avoid "cannot read" errors - and possibly also plugins.ini, which it doesn't like either.

By the looks of things, superseed warnings aren't necessarily anything to worry about - so far, BSC Park Textures, SOMY Industrial Ports, Euro road textures, JRJ Sidewalks and BSC Simcity Rail Utils GA have all triggered it.

EDIT: OK, so it's choked on Buildings - a petrochemical refinery tower 4 description (Chapapotex?) - with an exception. Tried loading the description in DatGen - that claimed an error in the file - deleted the description and DatPacker's happy again.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 25, 2007, 02:51:05 PM
Quote from: mittfh on November 25, 2007, 02:25:36 PM
EDIT: OK, so it's choked on Buildings - a petrochemical refinery tower 4 description (Chapapotex?) - with an exception. Tried loading the description in DatGen - that claimed an error in the file - deleted the description and DatPacker's happy again.
Yes Datgen is the best tool to find out if a file is screwed or not
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mrbombit on November 25, 2007, 08:05:24 PM
Hi all. So i am having the same problem as some. I have about 2 gigs divided into about 6 folders. When I start the dat packer it gets about half way through then freezes and stops responding. SOooo... if i go this correctly I should divide my folders even more, then run dat packer on the smaller folders, then place all of those (once they have been packed) back into the plugin folder. I hope this makes sense. Thanks again guys for your help!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on November 25, 2007, 08:25:12 PM
i had to split my plugins folder into 15 folders for datpacker to run effectively.

what you need to do is split your plugins into an amount of folder that will allow datpacker to work. make sure to remove NAM, CAM, and any mods. They tend to not like datpacking. then run datpacker, and when it's done, move the split plugins to a new folder in your SimCity folder. i recommend calling it "Protected_Plugins". after you have moved the unpacked plugins out, replace your mods.

I also recommend that before packing you run SC4 to make sure there are no mods or lots that conflict with each other.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on November 25, 2007, 09:52:49 PM
I got around to cleaning up the file with the "Warning." Its amazing what you can over look. Got all my ducks in a row again and have a plugin folder that sets at 2.74 GB. The game runs nice and smooth! The data packer has revitalized this great game for everybody. Thank you.  &apls 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 25, 2007, 11:53:59 PM
I'm playing with CAM NAM etc datpacked ( each on their own folder, so on their own dat file ) without any problem
It was advised to make them external because not everybody understand correctly the correct loading order and its consequences on the game. As CAM, NAM and al are very sensitive to correct load order, it is easier to move them outside

The freeze when datpacking may occur because of a screwed file, as I rewrote the latest version from scratch, without any 'bad' files in my plugins it may not be totally bugproof.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on November 26, 2007, 01:26:35 AM
Here are some stats on my data packing.
The new version picked up 153 items that totaled 31 mb of extra stuff.
This extra load took the data packer an extra 5 minutes to complete its task. Total time 13 minutes it now takes 8.
The othere big difference is that the new version does not cause such a big defrag occurrence.
After a major data pack like I just did (2.74gb of packing) the computer is very slow, I call it bogey. I do a system restart to bring performance back on line. Very fast and easy fix.
This is a major tool for SC4, couldn't live without it.   &apls
Now about those menues..... &mmm
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: ander121212 on December 08, 2007, 12:46:58 PM
Quick quetion on removal of duplicates.  I downloaded the HCC lite tool as suggested in the read me.  I see I have 270 Same content and 264 Full clones are these duplicates and am I safe to go to all groups and remove all but one instance?  Thanks for the help.  I did a search of the forums first and could not find so my apologies if this has been answered before.


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on December 08, 2007, 04:43:25 PM
Good question Ander.. was wondering the same thing.]

I also have another question. What exactly does "superseed" mean? Does it mean that a previous copy was found and loaded first? does it mean that the other file is a later version? if a version is loaded, but another copy is found with a later date, does the later date take precedence? could the previous version be from a megapak while this is a single copy? just curious about the in's and out's of what your program is actually reporting so I can make the most intelligent action based on the report.

For the items that scroll past the 2 windows during the packing process, does the program write a copy of those files somewhere?

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 09, 2007, 12:58:44 AM
Superseed means that the file can be removed from your plugins ( pay attention, I said removed not deleted )
it means that every entry in the mentionned file has been found in one or multiple other files and that SC4 will never use the data of that file.

Precedence is only based on the lexicographical sort of subfolder. there is a section in the readme explaining the load order of SC4, there is nothing base on file date.

As for true duplicates, it is waste of space, waste of loading time

Quote
For the items that scroll past the 2 windows during the packing process, does the program write a copy of those files somewhere?
Sorry I don't understand what you're asking
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: snorrelli on December 09, 2007, 07:50:49 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on December 09, 2007, 12:58:44 AM
Superseed means that the file can be removed from your plugins ( pay attention, I said removed not deleted )
it means that every entry in the mentionned file has been found in one or multiple other files and that SC4 will never use the data of that file.

Hmmm... That seems pretty strange considering many of the files it identifies I'm pretty sure are new and unique creations. I have attached a shot of just some of the BSC files it thinks are "superseed"

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg45.imageshack.us%2Fimg45%2F2319%2F32774558bf7.jpg&hash=d13d7910a89e9c3f949fc210761f4f32d5e4e819)

Surely it's not telling me I should remove the JENX Burg Eltz building? ??? What about all those jestarr lot files? If I remove them from my plugins, how will the lots grow? %confuso

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on December 09, 2007, 08:33:19 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on December 09, 2007, 12:58:44 AM
Superseed means that the file can be removed from your plugins ( pay attention, I said removed not deleted )
it means that every entry in the mentionned file has been found in one or multiple other files and that SC4 will never use the data of that file.

Precedence is only based on the lexicographical sort of subfolder. there is a section in the readme explaining the load order of SC4, there is nothing base on file date.

As for true duplicates, it is waste of space, waste of loading time

Do you know if there is an ordered way to export the dups to a directory with a .bat file similar to what you do with Cleanitol?

What I mean here is I'd love to find a less labor-intensive way to take out the dups to a structure that recreates the directory structure. This would mean I could then "message" the data to be sure I have the most current or "best" copy to be used for the datapack process? I want to remove the dup's but I want to not really lose either the actual files nor their "directory structure" so I can reconstruct it if needed. Similar to what is done with cleanitol and it's move/batch-restore process. LOL.. well this is a LONG WAY OF SAYING do you have an automated way to do what you mean in your first paragraph above.. :)

QuoteSorry I don't understand what you're asking


What I mean is .. "is the information shown below saved or savable to a txt file?"

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg413.imageshack.us%2Fimg413%2F3552%2Fdatpakwinhy1.jpg&hash=5c33d4e963bf0b22a52d8379fc9dddc70aa22734)

Quote from: snorrelli on December 09, 2007, 07:50:49 AM
Surely it's not telling me I should remove the JENX Burg Eltz building? ??? What about all those jestarr lot files? If I remove them from my plugins, how will the lots grow? %confuso

I believe that the program is telling you exactly that.. the information contained in those files are already in the "DataPack load" before the file you named there is loaded. It may have been found in any number of places.. for example in a GROWABLE folder rather than a PLOP folder .. or visa versa.. or maybe in a MEGA file.. etc.. .

HOWEVER I don't believe DatPacker has the intelligence to TELL YOU that that is the CORRECT file to load. Only you really can tell that.. Further I believe that this is the reverse of what SC4 actually does.. If Datpacker finds a file, it loads it and discards later copies of the information.. On the other hand SC4 itself insteads OVERWRITES the previously loaded information. So I believe you need to eliminate these files at least with a thought to this end.. I'm sure if I'm wrong someone will correct this.. If in fact the files are TRUE DUPLICATIONS then it doesn't matter.. :)

Also remember Wou said "remove" not "delete" .. :) If you have to recover from an error, but don't have the data, you will be in a bit of a mess. This all is really what all these messages I am writing are about.. how to "best" and "recoverably" edit my SC4 Plugins (and if desired even the install plugin file "Program Files\....\Plugins")

If I am not mistaken, all of this is somewhat of an academic exercize..MOST people can just find a configuration of SC4 that works successfully, then break it up so no folder tree in plugins is greater than a gigabyte or so, THEN just run DATPACKER and run the compressed file.. ALL DONE.. even tho the actual plugins folder is still rather a mess.. :)
Only anal retentives such as myself probably need to be much concerned.. hehe.. ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on December 09, 2007, 09:04:42 AM
Remove them and get on with enjoying the game. When I first used the new data packer I had a monster list of things to remove. After about three hours I was finished and  put all the items in a quaranteen folder and dated and packed them away. I haven't had to re-install anything. Believe the data packer its telling you good information. Get on with it and start playing again. Just my view on things. Thanks for this great tool.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on December 09, 2007, 09:20:43 AM
this is why i usually delete the "Plugins_Compressed" folder before I do any major packing (ie when i reorganize my plugins folder.)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on December 09, 2007, 10:09:37 AM
Quote from: High5Tower on December 09, 2007, 09:04:42 AM
Remove them and get on with enjoying the game. When I first used the new data packer I had a monster list of things to remove. After about three hours I was finished and  put all the items in a quaranteen folder and dated and packed them away. I haven't had to re-install anything. Believe the data packer its telling you good information. Get on with it and start playing again. Just my view on things. Thanks for this great tool.

My point is that Datpacker removes them for you (in that the info is never duplicated in the packed file). For that reason the typical user need not be concerned about dup's in any sense.. They can, as you put it, "get on with it and start playing again" without even spending the 3 hours you spent. Only if there is some problem might one need to go back to look, and this is unlikely to occur as long as SC4 runs properly on the plugins config that you run datpacker on, then load only the compressed file..

In fact there are valid reasons for NOT removing anything.. as maintaining the "install" form of the plugins folder allows simple adding and maintaining of new things.. you need never worry for example if you decide to remove the "PLOP" form of a lot that you in fact took out the only instance of a model file..  I am constantly fiddling with my plugins folder for looking at/testing etc.. this probably isn't typical.. most people probably keep the plugin folder fairly stable.

Quote from: dragonshardz on December 09, 2007, 09:20:43 AM
this is why i usually delete the "Plugins_Compressed" folder before I do any major packing (ie when i reorganize my plugins folder.)

Huh? what does "this is why" mean? I'm not sure what you're referring to.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on December 10, 2007, 05:22:17 PM
you know, neither am I. Just ignore that.  ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 10, 2007, 11:59:56 PM
As SC4BOY said, it is not the worth to clean your plugins before running DATPacker, duplicates files are handled by SC4DAtPacker if they are in the same subfolder trees ( ie if they will end in the same packed file ), there will be only one instance of the duplicate in the packed file, and it will be the last loaded ( in SC4 loading order ). so as far as this is the correct duplicate, it won't be a problem.
You should worry about duplicates if they rely on differents subfolders of your 'Plugins' folder as one instance can be in one packed file and another instance in another packed file. The game will use the last one in loading order of your plugin_compressed folder ( ie last in lexicographical order )

About deleting Plugins_compressed before running DatPacker, there are times where SC4DatPacker doesn't seems to recognize a folder has changed and need to be repacked ( mostly if you reput an old file in it ), and the easiest way is to delete the corresponding packed file.

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on December 12, 2007, 10:13:53 PM
I just had a brain wave  :D...

What would your view on making it so that you could select every directory (folder) you wanted to dat pack individually? So you could (for example) select to pack BSC/BSCTextures/ without having to move that file out of the BSC folder and into the root and it would also save on removing every folder you don't want packaged. It would be a bit like the NAM and CAM installers, with the tick boxes and the tree options.

(sorry i cant post a (crudely photoshopped) picture of what I mean, I cant get it to work on my laptop (which doesn't have sc4 installed) to take a screenshot, and i cant find a large screenshot anywhere else)

Another idea would be to allow for packing of a directory that is outside the mydocs plugin folder, this would mean that you don't have to move the vast amount of plugins many people have, in and out of the plugins folder.

Hope you understand and like my ideas. Sorry if they are just rehashed.

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on December 12, 2007, 11:15:59 PM
If you look inside your datpack folder, you will find a dat file for each folder in your plugins directory.. so in effect you have this already. The dat file will have the name of the folder.. Of course you can force your own "configuration" just by controlling what files and folders you keep when you run datpack.. What I'm saying is you can already do what you're suggesting.. and manipulate it however you want.. Just remember to be sure all your dependencies are there before you try to run SC4  :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on December 12, 2007, 11:29:26 PM
uhhh you obviously didnt read my post properly.. i know this.. i was trying to make it better...(tho improving on wou's tools is like trying to improve perfection  ;D)

I know it packs the folders in the root directory (plugins folder) but i was suggesting you can select not to do that and instead pack a folder in lets say the BSC directory (folder) on its own without DAT packing all the BSC folder as 1 DAT, and without having to take all your files out of the plugin folder and just putting the folder you want DATing in.

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 12, 2007, 11:37:33 PM
The fact is that on first versions of DatPacker, there was such an option as selecting the folder you want to datpack. You just had to check a box next to the folder. But I got so many misunderstoods ( PMs, posts in ST ) about thoses boxes that I removed that option, as moving files in and out your plugins folders in XP is straight and efficient. However moving folders in Vista is like trying to move a mountain and this option may reappear ( damn it takes 1 sec in XP to move my 800 mb BSC folder, and almost 30sec in Vista without any forseeing reasons ), but I won't do anything outside the Plugins folder.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on December 13, 2007, 01:21:29 AM
are you up for reincorporating that into the program (or maybe into an "advanced" version)

Quotebut I won't do anything outside the Plugins folder.
about that, could you maybe tell me how to do it? or if its even possible for me to. so I can change it for myself?

thanks for the fast response, answered my questions well

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 13, 2007, 04:30:54 AM
The problem with 'advanced' version, is that everyone thinks his smart enougth to use the 'advanced', and when it will fail, they'll blame me  ???

And I can't see a workaround about the 'outside' plugin fodler datacking but allowing it in the code as I hard coded the path to 'Documents/Simcity 4/Plugins/' :(
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on December 13, 2007, 04:47:16 AM
ahh but if they arnt smart then they wont  "$Deal"$ the (illusive) readme LOL, and anyway it serves them right if that happens...

could it be possible to reference the unpacked file locations from one of those property file things

/me has no idea really

I'm sorry I'm being such a pain, but how hard would it be to recompile with these few additions for a lets say Christmas special? lol, im just really desperate for this extra functionality..

Thanks for listening

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on December 13, 2007, 02:53:00 PM
30 seconds in vista? you sure, Wou? I've gotten 2,000 files to move in less than 15 and one file is like "blink" "whoa it's done!"
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 13, 2007, 11:54:51 PM
Quote from: dragonshardz on December 13, 2007, 02:53:00 PM
30 seconds in vista? you sure, Wou? I've gotten 2,000 files to move in less than 15 and one file is like "blink" "whoa it's done!"
maybe 15, the thing is that XP move them in no time, whereas my Vista take at least 14s to "compute the time" it will take to move thoses files
I hope there is something somewhere in the arcane of the OS that may tweak this. A folder or file move on the same HD is just a matter of writing some data in the FAT, not moving the whole file byte by byte and to me it looks like Vista move the file byte by byte :'(
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on December 14, 2007, 02:59:24 PM
on my pc it's moving the files while it's "computing the time", i think that is why it is so slow, it is using processor time for two diff. activities and once the time is "computed", it moves really fast.

Either that, or the time computing is just there so that the pc seems like it's doing something useful besides moving the files and it just picks random numbers. there have been many time where i have told it to move a file and the time "computed" is like 5 days but the popup closes in 15 secs. :thumbsup:

heck there have been times where the file is moved before the time to move has even been "computed"!!  :P

So it must be that the time "computing" is nothing more than a piece of glitter and has really nothing to do with how fast the file is being moved. That's Microsoft.  ::)

Of course, my pc is running an x64 processor...so on a "normal" (x32 i beleive?) what i have just written may not be true at all!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on December 16, 2007, 09:37:46 AM
WOU- In checking back over your answers, I have a couple of questions still:

1. Ref msg 418 .. can the information in the lower window be piped or copied to a txt file?

2. I think I read you saying two different things, so I will ask again. When datpacker is processing files and comes across information that it has previously read.. does it OVERWRITE the previous information or does it KEEP the FIRST VERSION of the data?  (this assumes the file information is not IDENTICAL). Sorry if I am confused.

Oh I just noticed a
3. The datpacker seems to process .bak files? Is this really a good idea? Most people use .bak to be information that is not to be used for some reason, but to preserve some previous version.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on December 16, 2007, 10:06:09 AM
As a matter of course, normally .bak files should not be in plugins. They should be placed somewhere outside plugins for safety as SC4 will not read them anyway.

I shall leave wouanagaine to answer points 1 and 2.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: RippleJet on December 16, 2007, 11:20:40 AM
Actually SC4 opens all files that are in your plugins folder, regardless of their type ending.
If the files contain a valid DBPF database, the game will load its content.

Because of this it is especially important not to leave any *.BAK or *.SAV files in your plugins folder.
Otherwise you might actually have older (backed up) versions of SC4 files that are loaded after the ordinary ones.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on December 16, 2007, 12:36:06 PM
This was my point of asking. I don't make .bak files in plugins. However in my NAM folder I happened to be watching as the files went by for datpacker .. this is why I KNOW it processes the .bak file.. in this case just like it was a current file. I don't know where the .bak file came from.. I use normal kinds of NAM files including for example the roadsides mod, the multi-texture mod (forget exact name) and the bridges etc.. Whatever happened it was an INSTALLER that made the .bak file. I did not do it.  In fact I didn't know it was there. It also is not on the cleanitol extension list so it will not be removed by that .. this could be a reason for an occasional mysterious crash or odd behaviour. SC 4  DOES NOT process the .bak file. For this reason datpacker COULD, depending on the order of files in the folder, create a packed file that did not equal the unpacked files.

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jplumbley on December 16, 2007, 12:40:35 PM
I would like to point out one thing.

Do to the nature of Transit and other Complex Mods it is generally not a good idea to DAT Pack them.  NAM is a component that has been broken up into smaller files and there are too many older mods out there that can interfere with new versions of NAM which NAM has superseeded.  It is advisable that any Transit Mods should be installed as they are intended to be installed and not by any means DAT Packed.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on December 16, 2007, 12:58:08 PM
jplumbley is right, you shouldn't use SC4DATPacker for packaging NAM contents. I think the BAK file you're referring to is the one that the SAM Beta installer has created. This was done on purpose, in order to safely uninstall the SAM and restore the original NAM functionality. I can't stress it enough, but if a file says "beta", it's a beta and not meant to be used in a "productive environment" - and obviously on your own risk. It's highly dangerous to DAT pack a beta mod that is not finished, since it can cause all kinds of complications when a new version is released.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on December 16, 2007, 01:06:20 PM
There is no reason not to use the .bak file if it is desired, but the file should have a cleanitol file which "archives" the .bak file. I have added ".bak" to my extensions for cleanitol, so one will not be inadvertently left in my plugins folder again  .. There is no reason, given reasonable care and organization of folders, to fear use of the packer on a NAM file.. or any other for that matter

.. and of course EVERY FILE that I use, I use at my own risk.. ;)  Your arguement about a "beta" that is done by an installer is not a bad one, and certainly if anyone fears using the datpacker, they should not use it. That should not prevent us from continuing to strive to understand the operation and process of the tools we use.. at least that's my two cents worth.. I always recreate my plugin, fully unpacked (or really pre-packing) so my uninstalls always work on an unpacked file..  seems rather foolhardy to try to install to a packed plugins directory unless you take great care.. whether its a beta or not.

And recall that this "understanding and clarification" is what... quite a few messages back now..  started all of this.. hehe.. never hurts to learn other things in the process tho..

(and of course no damage done by an install is going to cause any permanent damage to my SC4 .. I can "undo" any "damage" .. or at least recover to a pre-damage state. For this reason also, I happily use the packer.. or other tools too..  on most anyplace I feel it will give me an advantage.)


Your milage may vary :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 17, 2007, 12:50:15 AM
Quote from: SC4BOY on December 16, 2007, 09:37:46 AM
1. Ref msg 418 .. can the information in the lower window be piped or copied to a txt file?
No, but the feature is added to the wish list :)

Quote from: SC4BOY on December 16, 2007, 09:37:46 AM
2. I think I read you saying two different things, so I will ask again. When datpacker is processing files and comes across information that it has previously read.. does it OVERWRITE the previous information or does it KEEP the FIRST VERSION of the data?  (this assumes the file information is not IDENTICAL). Sorry if I am confused.
DatPacker is using the same loading order as SC4 ( as far as we are right on our assumption of SC4 loading order ) ie lexicographical sort on files first then recurse on lexicographical sort of subfolders . So the LAST version of a TGI is kept.
There is a subtle exception here, if a file hold 2 copies of the same TGI, then it is the FIRST associated data that is kept.


Quote from: SC4BOY on December 16, 2007, 09:37:46 AM
3. The datpacker seems to process .bak files? Is this really a good idea? Most people use .bak to be information that is not to be used for some reason, but to preserve some previous version.
Quote from: RippleJet on December 16, 2007, 11:20:40 AM
Actually SC4 opens all files that are in your plugins folder, regardless of their type ending.
If the files contain a valid DBPF database, the game will load its content.

Because of this it is especially important not to leave any *.BAK or *.SAV files in your plugins folder.
Otherwise you might actually have older (backed up) versions of SC4 files that are loaded after the ordinary ones.
RippletJet is correct, every file is open in SC4 ( so as well in SC4DatPacker ) and if they are a DBPF file ( a valid SC4 file ) they are parsed and used
so if you have file1.bak file1.dat file1.sav and assuming they are all different version of the file1.dat, they will all be parsed and the last one parsed will be file1.sav ( due to lexicographical sort ) which will result in having an old version loaded instead of the correct one 'file1.dat'

Quote from: jplumbley on December 16, 2007, 12:40:35 PM
I would like to point out one thing.

Do to the nature of Transit and other Complex Mods it is generally not a good idea to DAT Pack them.  NAM is a component that has been broken up into smaller files and there are too many older mods out there that can interfere with new versions of NAM which NAM has superseeded.  It is advisable that any Transit Mods should be installed as they are intended to be installed and not by any means DAT Packed.
Quote from: Andreas on December 16, 2007, 12:58:08 PM
jplumbley is right, you shouldn't use SC4DATPacker for packaging NAM contents. I think the BAK file you're referring to is the one that the SAM Beta installer has created. This was done on purpose, in order to safely uninstall the SAM and restore the original NAM functionality. I can't stress it enough, but if a file says "beta", it's a beta and not meant to be used in a "productive environment" - and obviously on your own risk. It's highly dangerous to DAT pack a beta mod that is not finished, since it can cause all kinds of complications when a new version is released.
Quote from: SC4BOY on December 16, 2007, 01:06:20 PM
There is no reason, given reasonable care and organization of folders, to fear use of the packer on a NAM file.. or any other for that matter
I totally agree with SC4Boy here, I'm myself use and only use DatPacked file ( so I only play with my 'plugins_compressed' folder ), even the various essentials, the buildings as props etc are packed. and I have no problem at all.
Using some packed and nonpacked files is a bit tricky as you'll have to ensure that SC4 will load the files in the same order as with full unpacked structure
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on December 17, 2007, 01:54:45 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on December 17, 2007, 12:50:15 AM
I totally agree with SC4Boy here, I'm myself use and only use DatPacked file ( so I only play with my 'plugins_compressed' folder ), even the various essentials, the buildings as props etc are packed. and I have no problem at all.
Using some packed and nonpacked files is a bit tricky as you'll have to ensure that SC4 will load the files in the same order as with full unpacked structure

Well, of course you can do that, but it does require a certain knowledge about the functionality of those files, and extra care for putting them into the correct order. I wouldn't recommend it for the average player, who barely has an idea of the NAM's internals, that's why we put so much effort in the NAM installer. Of course, if you have the knowledge and always have your original files handy, so you can put them back in case a problem arises, everything is fine. SC4BOY said that he had no idea where the BAK file came from, maybe he should have asked about that in the NAM forum first (the file was placed in the NAM installation folder after all).
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on December 17, 2007, 09:57:23 AM
of course my fault as usual.. :)

my problem was that datpacker packs it (a fact the NAM people should keep in their minds if they are going to create the .bak file and leave it laying around... perhaps even using a different naming system to insure it falls in the correct place for packing)

I'm certainly not the only person who is going to apply pack to NAM.. if NAM feels they are the exception, they must bear the burden of making the exceptions clear, I'd say.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on December 17, 2007, 07:16:32 PM
I've DatPacked NAM with no problems. DatPacker compiles everything in the order that it is installed. Perhaps if certain files are absolutely supposed to be loaded in a strict order, they should be installed into different folders? CAM was done in this way, with the A_CAM and Z_CAM folders, I suspect to make it almost fool proof?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jplumbley on December 18, 2007, 11:20:49 AM
Quote from: SC4BOY on December 17, 2007, 09:57:23 AM
of course my fault as usual.. :)

my problem was that datpacker packs it (a fact the NAM people should keep in their minds if they are going to create the .bak file and leave it laying around... perhaps even using a different naming system to insure it falls in the correct place for packing)

I'm certainly not the only person who is going to apply pack to NAM.. if NAM feels they are the exception, they must bear the burden of making the exceptions clear, I'd say.


NAM is definately possible to DAT Pack.  You just HAVE to know what is in your plugins before you do it.  What happens if unknowingly you have forgotten you have a RHW v12b installed in your plugins, which was based of January 2007 NAM and you are DAT Packing a June 2007 NAM, the RHW file may be read last and when you DAT Pack it you will be reverted to January 2007 NAM but never know why.  You'll get mad at us the NAM Team because it must have been our problem and we screwed up your game when in fact it was that you had an old file in your plugin.  We cannot prevent everything, nor do we pretend to.  But as a general rule for the Community at large (Wouanagaine you are an exception) it is not advisable to DAT Pack your Major MODs such as NAM.

Before you DAT Pack you MUST review your entire Plguins folder and make sure you KNOW what and why everything is there.  If you dont know what the file is... Dont DAT Pack it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on December 18, 2007, 11:32:09 AM
When DatPacking its a matter of trial and error on what you can and cant pack.... sc4boy going and accusing someone else for a mistake you made its not cool at all!!!  Like i said its a matter of trial and error what you can pack and not pack and of course as Jp said you must remove all old compants of any other nam you have... I did the same mistake and i didnt blame NAM for my screwup just myself as realized i didnt follow the intrustions before installing NAM 6/07.....
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 18, 2007, 12:38:08 PM
I don't think SC4Boy is accusing anyone Pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on December 18, 2007, 01:00:09 PM
well, whatever SC4BOY is doing, I think that it is agreed that you should carefully reveiw your plugins before you DATpack, make sure you have a copy of the original plugins put in a safe place, and be prepared for something going wrong or even a CTD or BSoD
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on December 18, 2007, 01:06:28 PM
Wou it seemed like that to me and if thats not case im sowwies.... But i still do stand firm on you must watch what you pack and how its packed...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on December 18, 2007, 09:58:28 PM
And never try to play with all of your freshly DatPacked files until you move the originals out of your plugins folder. Serves me right though, I knew better.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Swesim on December 26, 2007, 01:40:18 PM
I´m not sure this goes here, but I´ll try here first...

I have downloaded the installer for the DATpacker, but the Microsoft Visual C++ link provided doesn´t get me all the way.
I can download the installer for Visual C++, but when I run it it stops after a few seconds and disappear completely after another minute or so without a trace.
I´ve tried four times now without success, any idea what might be wrong?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on December 26, 2007, 04:31:10 PM
Swesim, if you are running a Windows Vista x64 system the newer DatPacker won't work, however the older version will.

If you have a Mac, you'll have to ask Wouanagaine about that.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Swesim on December 26, 2007, 11:26:04 PM
I´m running a P4 2,4Ghz with 2GB and XP SP2 installed, I rather have the feeling that something is wrong with the MS C++ installer, but any hints would be most welcome...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 26, 2007, 11:37:18 PM
Quote from: Swesim on December 26, 2007, 11:26:04 PM
I´m running a P4 2,4Ghz with 2GB and XP SP2 installed, I rather have the feeling that something is wrong with the MS C++ installer, but any hints would be most welcome...
Please, if you find out what is wrong, tell me, I have the same problem on one of my PC and can't figure out why the installer silently fail
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: sim-city_freak on December 27, 2007, 06:02:16 AM
ya i have a problem when i try to run the dat packer a error shows up and says i should see log but i can even open the log does it have anything to do witht the library zip file?
if it does i can't extract things out of it
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 27, 2007, 06:04:24 AM
you shall not unzip library.zip

you SHALL get the latest version on the LEX
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: frdrcklim on December 28, 2007, 05:23:25 AM
I need some help &hlp. I just downloaded the DAT Packer and it won't run. It's sad because I've heard all the wonders it made to other people. Loading a city in my computer takes more than ten minutes whether there is a city or uninhabited. This feels bad. This is the miracle breakthrough I desperately need.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: frdrcklim on December 28, 2007, 05:40:07 AM
This is weird. Now it says the application failed to start because the application configuration is incorrect. One more thing. Which one is it? SC4DatPacker.exe or SC4DP.exe? :-\
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 28, 2007, 06:31:26 AM
the first one is a windows application, the second one is a commandline application

And you certainly not installed the Visual 2005 SP1 Redist package, that is why you're getting the error
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: frdrcklim on December 28, 2007, 05:27:15 PM
I had a feeling I forgot something  ;D. I think I downloaded this before but I forgot to get it to transfer to my computer. It works now  :).
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Hahayoudied on January 01, 2008, 07:18:15 PM
I am new here. Where do I download the DAT packer?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 01, 2008, 11:44:12 PM
On the LEX ( click (https://www.sc4devotion.com/BSCLEX.jpg) on the top right of this page ), you should register also
Then do a power search for 'tools-player' in the 'Type' field
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Bluebeard on January 06, 2008, 02:51:26 PM
I have heard so much about this tool but will this run on Vista 32 and is it difficult to install seeing how I have Vista?.Thanx :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on January 06, 2008, 11:50:21 PM
I've had absolutely no problems running it on Vista32. If you have User Account Controls activated, installing ANYTHING can be tedious, but once those are turned off, it's much easier.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Bluebeard on January 07, 2008, 06:42:08 AM
Thanx xxdita.
   But what is this "User Account Controls" you speak of?.Care to point me in the proper direction to turn it off and is there any side effects once you turn it off?.Thanx :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on January 07, 2008, 03:24:28 PM
Go to Control Panel\User Accounts and Family Safety\User Accounts, selsct your account and find the line of BLUE text tahts reads "turn User Account Control on or off.

There are no real side effects other than the computer whining at you about UAC being off, but turning it off is not a good idea if your virus/spyware/malware protection isn't very good.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Bluebeard on January 09, 2008, 05:36:40 AM
Thanx Dragon.
   I guess seeing that I'm not sure what is installed I'll leave it on.Thanx again. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Collgab on January 12, 2008, 12:56:34 PM
Oh very nice! I have tried to use this alot..and it gets frozen about 1/3 the way done and i have never been able to finish the entire 'dat packing' maybe you could help me?  ()what()
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 12, 2008, 01:28:55 PM
Maybe

What is the folder is freezing on ? Try to move this folder out of your plugins before datpacking to see if it help
And ultimatly try to find which file is causing the freeze.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on January 12, 2008, 05:15:42 PM
And if it is a large folder try breaking it up into chunks.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: tomdapom on January 19, 2008, 12:08:47 PM
I have tried to run SC4DatPacker, but everytime I try, this comes up:

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi275.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fjj311%2Ftomdapom2007%2FGRRRAAARRR.jpg&hash=ee2deef48db9f7ff4e24ba560515eb758154a569)

Any reasons?
BTW, this happens with every file I try to pack.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 20, 2008, 05:48:53 AM
Tomdapom => You may try the latest version on the LEX
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on February 07, 2008, 07:09:01 PM
I have a problem with only this file (attached and renamed.. not actually zipped) It is a .sc4desc file and is under 1k. SC4RH uses the file with no problem but it gives an "abort, retry, ignore" message everytime in datpacker. Currently my "bypass method" is simply to put it in the root plugins directory, but I'd like to actually solve the problem.. Thanks for your help. (if you care it is part of a petrochemical factory by BLAM (fukuda)

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on February 07, 2008, 09:03:30 PM
Just from looking at that file I can see that if anyone downloads it it is useless. the ".SC4Desc.zip" part makes it so. Please remove that and put the file into and actual zip file instead of attaching ".zip" to the end of it.

My $0.02 USD.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 08, 2008, 12:18:16 AM
Quote from: dragonshardz on February 07, 2008, 09:03:30 PM
Just from looking at that file I can see that if anyone downloads it it is useless. the ".SC4Desc.zip" part makes it so. Please remove that and put the file into and actual zip file instead of attaching ".zip" to the end of it.

My $0.02 USD.
Hum, yes that is exactly what SC4BOY said :=> (attached and renamed.. not actually zipped)

Anyway that file is totally screwed, you can't open it in reader, and using an Hex viewer it shows that even if it got a correct DBPF signature, it missing vital others informations.
Of course it seems that SC4 handles such wrong files much better than SC4DatPacker. I will put that file in my own plugins and will make DatPacker handle it  ( ie skipping it + warning you )

As I said, the latest version ( the smaller&quicker one ) was developped with only valid files ( the bad ones were removed long time ago ), so the odds are greats that some others errors like this one may happen again

Thanks for pointing out and give me that file
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on February 08, 2008, 01:58:18 AM
Quote from: dragonshardz on February 07, 2008, 09:03:30 PM
Just from looking at that file I can see that if anyone downloads it it is useless. the ".SC4Desc.zip" part makes it so. Please remove that and put the file into and actual zip file instead of attaching ".zip" to the end of it.

My $0.02 USD.

1. It wasn't necessary for this tiny file
2. .. it would have been probably 4x the size with the zip wrapper
3. I don't have a zipper that is registered and I don't use "stealware" .. :)
4. Since XP "auto-unzips" files I have no need for an unzipper.. In fact I think I dl'd Winzip to attack a .rar file that I got from a Japanese site once upon a time.
5. Should I actually need a zipper some day, I'll take care  of it.. thanks for your 2 cents though.. I'll spend it wisely. ;)
6. It is renamed just to bypass the upload filter.. for no other reason.

Quote from: wouanagaine on February 08, 2008, 12:18:16 AM
Hum, yes that is exactly what SC4BOY said :=> (attached and renamed.. not actually zipped)

The obvious is sometimes the hardest to see.. ;)

QuoteAnyway that file is totally screwed, you can't open it in reader, and using an Hex viewer it shows that even if it got a correct DBPF signature, it missing vital others informations.
Of course it seems that SC4 handles such wrong files much better than SC4DatPacker. I will put that file in my own plugins and will make DatPacker handle it  ( ie skipping it + warning you )

As I said, the latest version ( the smaller&quicker one ) was developped with only valid files ( the bad ones were removed long time ago ), so the odds are greats that some others errors like this one may happen again

Does that mean that SC4 is not actually using it? Should I just remove it? (you can just PM me.. I don't mean to get off-topic)  Should I try to contact the "owner"?

QuoteThanks for pointing out and give me that file

Never a problem.. always glad to help in whatever small way I can. There was no way I could have explained it, so giving it to you seemed best.  I was just surprised .. I have about 3Gb of plugins and that tiny file was the only one that made DatPacker burb.. :)  And I am using your latest revision.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 08, 2008, 02:10:08 AM
Quote from: SC4BOY on February 08, 2008, 01:58:18 AM
Does that mean that SC4 is not actually using it? Should I just remove it? (you can just PM me.. I don't mean to get off-topic)  Should I try to contact the "owner"?
You can safely removed that file, SC4 certainly can't use it. and I'm sure Fukuda has provided the good file in his upload or else the tower would not show. So if you contact him, it'll be just for telling him to remove that file from his zip

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on February 10, 2008, 08:14:21 AM
I cant use the scroll bars.

And I do have the newest version V8.c, reinstalled just now, after a registry clean   :thumbsup:

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 10, 2008, 08:27:27 AM
hum, which scroll bars ?  A pic please :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on February 10, 2008, 08:32:00 AM
These ones:

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg526.imageshack.us%2Fimg526%2F5438%2Fsc4datpackergd7.jpg&hash=aceedd56be541c567f21af3f1f97da586563b9a6)

don't know what the bottom one is for, maybe because the side one is making the allocated area size too small.

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 10, 2008, 10:06:20 AM
ah ok, I see, well those scroll bars are inactive because the listbox is disabled ( you can't select an item in the listbox )
the bottom one is here, because you certainly have a long folder name.

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on February 10, 2008, 10:29:42 AM
uh, i just explained all my files are no longer that NDEX_Tragicomicus1

so that definitely inst the reason for the horizontal scroll bar

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Eladamril on February 19, 2008, 04:52:34 PM
Guys, I need some help, I just downloaded the DAT packer and when starting up the program the main window just shows BSC (is this default?). It doesnt matter when I browse other selfmade subfolders like NDEX....they just simply wont show up in the main window. Also...When I hit the button process the bar just completes without hitting any files at all (analyzer)  ()what()

Solution?

ps I use windows Vista 32, but i suppose this wont pose a problem?  ()what()

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 20, 2008, 12:45:20 AM
Have you read the readme ?

You don't have to browse anything, leave the destination folder as 'My documents/Simcity 4/plugins/plugins_compressed', it will just show you the list of subfolders you have in your plugins folder
Just hit start

And there is no problem with vista32 per se, I've made it on vista32
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on February 21, 2008, 07:42:14 PM
I didn't read this entire threa so please excuse me if this has been suggested before (or if Im running an old version that doesn't have this capability).

I would love to see the ability to choose which folder the datpacker is going to compress.

Here is what I do, because my plugins folder is constantly being added to, I store my plugins uncompressed in the Simcity4/UncompressedPlugins/

Then when I feel that there has been enough new plugins added to that folder, I delete my existing Plugins folder  and copy the UncompressedPlugins folder to Plugins, then I run the Datpacker and compress them all up.  Then I delete all but the Compressed_Plugins folder that the datpacker creates.

But it would be really great if I didn't have to copy over my uncompressed plugins to the plugins folder before running datpacker by being allowed to choose what main folder the datpacker is going to work in.  Then it's pretty much automated for me and I've only to delete one folder from the plugins folder when it's all done.

So for those wondering, I do all this because I can't remember what files were in the plugins folder when i did the last compression and I don't want duplicates in there so having a folder structure where they are uncompressed allows me to find out if Im trying to add something I've already got.

Not a major big thing or anything, just one of those things that would be a nice feature.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on February 21, 2008, 11:22:16 PM
There are many mechanisms for avoiding this issue, none involving modifying DatPacker.. take a look at the thread on "windows shortcuts" which is current (search) and you'll see various suggestions
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 21, 2008, 11:40:44 PM
Ditto as SC4BOY, also, 'moving' files is way faster than 'copying' them especially if you have a big plugins folder

and I'm not on a 'programming' mood period theses days
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: quackmofro on March 02, 2008, 02:47:37 PM
Whenever I try to use the DatPacker, I always get this error at the end:

"Plugins_Compressed\****.dat creation failed 131: An attempt was made to move the file pointer to the beginning of the file."

What does this mean?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 02, 2008, 02:51:49 PM
Does the ****.dat is a real file or you just type * for 'generic'

If first case I don't think DatPacker will be able to create a '****.dat' file
If last case, can you please write the real filename please ?



Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: quackmofro on March 02, 2008, 03:00:34 PM
Oh, that was just a placeholder for a generic filename. The real name of the folder is "Dependencies" basically where all my dependencies end up. However, the size of the folder itself is 1.10 GB, and there are tons of subfolders in it just for organization purposes.

Also, another of my folders, "Lots", has the exact same problem, and it's 767 MB. Maybe I should try to split these folders up into smaller ones?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 02, 2008, 03:04:29 PM
Yes, maybe a split could help, but I'm not 100% sure

Did you try to datpack a small subfolder ? something around 100Mb to see if it is bound to the size or not


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: quackmofro on March 02, 2008, 03:13:23 PM
I just compressed my BSC dependencies subfolder, 460 MB, and it worked just fine. So it seems that splitting the folders up could help. I'll try that and report the results.

Also, I forgot to mention what a great program this is, and so are the others you've created. Thanks for all the hard work!   ;D

EDIT: Aside from the BSC dependencies, I broke up my dependencies folder into four parts, including a SimGoober folder because it was 220 MB by itself. Everything compressed except for the SimGoober folder with the same error, so I decided to take all the subfolders and compress them individually. Only the SimGoober Farm Fields turned up an error. So I'll try to redownload it and try again. Otherwise everything else ran perfectly.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: quackmofro on March 02, 2008, 03:56:07 PM
Okay, so I was finally able to compress everything with a few exceptions. It turns out that only a couple of files caused the problem, and after I deleted the old files and redownloaded them, they compressed smoothly. Two subfolders would not compress, telling me that "There is not enough storage to complete the operation", so I ended up just leaving those two uncompressed.

All is well now. Thanks for the assistance!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 03, 2008, 12:28:17 AM
You're welcome
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: soulstealer on March 03, 2008, 05:49:30 AM
Had the same problem. seems that 1gb+ folders are difficult to pack up.

I posted it before, like quack I keep my props/textures/megapack in their own folder and I ended up not compressing this folder since doing that slowed down my loading times back. I packed up all the rest and it's working great.

I don't know why it happens maybe when the game is loading the lot it also needs to load the lot's dependencies? I assume what happens is that a pack of plugin files containing many lots some with the models and props packed together but many of the lots reference to a prop pack somewhere in my props/dependencies folder, so the game needs to go back and forth between the two packed DAT files. And every time it tries to access the props DAT it needs to open a 1gb+ DAT file and search through it, so it slows down the loading time considerably.

Just a guess. Check it for yourself if you have your plugins organised the same way I have.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 03, 2008, 06:29:52 AM
A good hint is to have packed files roughly the same size a the simcity_x.dat from maxis
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: soulstealer on March 05, 2008, 05:48:46 AM
Hi wouanagaine . I noticed when DAT packer is at work you often get the message files in XXX were superceded... and was thinking this is a great tool to find duplicates. especially for obsolete prop packs, old models packed in mega packs, etc'. Is it possible to activate DAT packer only in scan mod to go over the whole plugins folder without compressing it, and finding duplicates IID's?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 05, 2008, 06:30:06 AM
unfortunatly you can't :(

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on March 05, 2008, 06:40:10 AM
I use Clone Cleaner (http://www.clonecleaner.com/HCCdownload.html). The Lite version is free.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: soulstealer on March 05, 2008, 06:45:15 AM
I use HCClite. but it can't help when it comes to duplicate IID's inside different files. These duplicated often means either an old prop pack or some conflict. I'm experiencing a number of these conflicts with some textures. go figure where the conflict is in a 3.2 gigs of folders.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on March 05, 2008, 06:50:55 AM
Then take the file that says superceeded and add a_ to the beginning of the name. Then DatPack again. This should now give you the other file in question. Keep the newest of the two.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 05, 2008, 07:06:28 AM
That will get rid of pure clone ( ie byte by byte clone ), not superseeded file which where included in MegaPack, you can use cleanitol if applicable, but I have file from various places where cleanitol does not help
For example, someone produce a new texture without using his own texture range and get in conflict with others
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: soulstealer on March 05, 2008, 07:32:34 AM
xxdita nice idea but you can't run datpacker on the entire plugins folder when it is 1gb+

scanner maybe on the next version ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on March 05, 2008, 09:44:56 AM
A .dat inside of a .dat inside of a .dat inside of a .dat inside of a .dat. (You get the idea)

Will this eventually cause me problems?

For example Im still trying to fnd the optimal organizational method of doing my plugins that works for me, and currently what Im doing is to have folders named like 1-07-2008 and inside of them are all files that I might have downloaded and installed on that date (then I have another file on my computer that tells me what files are in there), so when I run datpaker it will put evrything into the compressed pluggins folder but then I move them back into the original folders again and move the original files elsewhere.  So the next time that I run datpaker is it trying to recompress the already compressed .dat file or does it skip them and only do files that don't have the extension of .dat ?

Does it matter any how many times they get compressed?  I assume they will ony compress so far and then it doesn't matter anymore as they won't be able to be compressed any further but thought I'd ask.

Thanks
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 05, 2008, 01:27:46 PM
Check this => http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=4051.0
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on March 05, 2008, 04:33:15 PM
Wouanagaine wonderful tut there you have set up!!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 21, 2008, 01:17:20 AM
The Anniversary version has been locked due to a nasty side effect bug
I encourage you to repack your plugins with the v6 version  (http://www.sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=26) until I make a patch
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on March 27, 2008, 04:33:42 AM
Does the version 6 version find and leave out duplicates?  I only ask because I purposely left in one duplicate file to see what would happen but it didn't show up in the list at the bottom of datpaker like some files use to with another version where in the other version of DP it would say something like superseded, now the logs don't show any superseded stuff with version 6 and only show excluding the normal stuff like jpg, and txt files etc.  Not that Im worried about it or anything, just more curious.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 27, 2008, 05:09:48 AM
yes version 6 removes duplicates, it just doesn't display any message when something is superseed
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: frdrcklim on March 27, 2008, 07:50:45 PM
Silly question but can there be a dat unpacker just in case we make mistakes in packing?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on March 27, 2008, 10:31:25 PM
I believe the idea is that you don't delete the individual folders with the uncompressed plugins, you just move them out of the plugins folder so that you have them.  If there were some odd mistake, then you simply delete the plugins_compressed folder inside of the plugins folder, and move all the uncompressed plugin folders back into the plugins folder and run datpaker again, then when done move all of the folders inside of your plugins folder except the plugins_compressed folder outside of the plugins folder again.  That's what I do.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 28, 2008, 01:43:27 AM
Quote from: City Builder on March 27, 2008, 10:31:25 PM
I believe the idea is that you don't delete the individual folders with the uncompressed plugins, you just move them out of the plugins folder so that you have them.  If there were some odd mistake, then you simply delete the plugins_compressed folder inside of the plugins folder, and move all the uncompressed plugin folders back into the plugins folder and run datpaker again, then when done move the all except the plugins_compressed folder outside of the plugins folder again.  That's what I do.
And that's the correct way  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Godzillaman on March 29, 2008, 12:19:34 PM
Is there any way to uncompress the files?

I made back-ups but I seemed to have forgotten to update them and then now I want to remove a file from it that isn't in my back up files...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 29, 2008, 03:14:07 PM
use the reader to remove the examplars
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on March 29, 2008, 03:51:14 PM
It may be far easier to just download the item again, and put it into your backup files.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Godzillaman on March 29, 2008, 07:46:13 PM
Quote from: xxdita on March 29, 2008, 03:51:14 PM
It may be far easier to just download the item again, and put it into your backup files.

You'd think so...until you see the size of my plugins...

Quote from: wouanagaine on March 29, 2008, 03:14:07 PM
use the reader to remove the examplars


I'm sorta a noob...:P by the reader you mean the ilive reader on simtropolis? And how would I do that?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on March 30, 2008, 03:57:52 AM
That all depends on what it is you're trying to take out.
But you would need to copy the exemplars (as well as any associated files) from the packed dat, and paste them into a blank file, then save that, go back to your packed dat and delete each of them out.
Not so difficult if it's a single lot, or a desc file (though first you have to know what you're looking for), but models all have multiple pngs along with the exemplar, which I'm fairly sure would be necessary to put into the new file, if you plan on using it without your packed file.
As I said, easier to download again, especially if you aren't familiar with Reader.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Godzillaman on March 31, 2008, 12:32:15 PM
Yeah I guess I can leave it...seems to spam my cities a lot though...nothing a bulldozer can't handle...:P
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on March 31, 2008, 08:51:07 PM
You can still edit the one file from the dat within Reader, to mod it correctly. Which lot is it? I could have a look.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: camaro_69_327 on April 01, 2008, 05:47:39 PM
Hi......Thank You!


That does not come close to sayin it......lol


Seams i gave up playing this game a little to early last year! I got lost in The dependency jungle and could not find my way out....so i stopped playing.  way to many crashes........


This is the  greatest!!!!!!!!! Thank you wouanagaine this is a great program Works fantastic on Vista x64  Does what its suppose to do!!!!!!




I will leave this original boo boo.......As this is the DAT Packer thread I will just add that I also find this a fantastic tool .
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: knuckleball on April 11, 2008, 08:31:05 PM
This program is a life saver.  I have 2.5gb ram with a 512mb video card and I would still get the random crash, and of course the zoom crash.  Very frustrating!  I had to limit how much stuff I put in the plugin folder.

With DatPacker I loaded up my plugins.  Close to a gigabyte in there now, and I haven't had any problems yet!  Well done Wouanagaine with this little beauty! :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: bobgleason on April 26, 2008, 06:34:46 PM
Ok, so i ran the dat packer without doing anything else to my plugins, and when it was finished all i got were 700 little DAT files, instead of folders. i think i missed something, or did something wrong. could someone please exslain what i need to do to get it right and how to reverse the mistake i may have made?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: rusummer1 on April 26, 2008, 06:39:15 PM
Could you undat a dat file? I plan to redownload a few of my files that are compressed like the NAM and I foolishly deleted the originals to save space on my computer? Can I be helped?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on April 26, 2008, 06:49:27 PM
Quote from: bobgleason on April 26, 2008, 06:34:46 PM
Ok, so i ran the dat packer without doing anything else to my plugins, and when it was finished all i got were 700 little DAT files, instead of folders. i think i missed something, or did something wrong. could someone please exslain what i need to do to get it right and how to reverse the mistake i may have made?

Were there folders in your plugins to start? You can't "reverse" datpacker, but I expect you may not have changed anything.. and datpacker doesn't get rid of your files, it only compresses them into a folder called "Plugins_Compressed".. it doesn't remove anything.. you have to handle all the moving/deleting/backups etc on your own..

Quote from: rusummer1 on April 26, 2008, 06:39:15 PM
Could you undat a dat file? I plan to redownload a few of my files that are compressed like the NAM and I foolishly deleted the originals to save space on my computer? Can I be helped?

Unfortunately no.. so you will have to go hunting.. :(
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on April 27, 2008, 10:30:06 AM
You shouldn't really pack NAM.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: rusummer1 on April 27, 2008, 01:35:18 PM
Ok, so can't I just install the new NAM although I already have the Jan. Version?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on April 27, 2008, 02:03:22 PM
You will need to remove all previous versions of NAM before installing the new. Please read the Readme and information before installing. Any further questions about NAM should be asked in the correct thread.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 27, 2008, 02:20:30 PM
Quote from: rusummer1 on April 26, 2008, 06:39:15 PM
Could you undat a dat file? I plan to redownload a few of my files that are compressed like the NAM and I foolishly deleted the originals to save space on my computer? Can I be helped?
Quote from: rusummer1 on April 27, 2008, 01:35:18 PM
Ok, so can't I just install the new NAM although I already have the Jan. Version?
Just delete the NAM.dat in your plugins_compressed folder
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: rusummer1 on April 28, 2008, 01:26:12 PM
I don't have the NAM.dat outside of a the main compressed dat. I think I may have found a way to deleted the old NAM though. I am going to use the Add/Delete programs in the Control Panel and see if that works. Thanks to everyone who tried to help, I'm hoping this works.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on April 28, 2008, 01:53:01 PM
If the NAM is in another compressed dat then using the uninstall will not work. You will need to find all the folders you packed in with the NAM, remove and repack the dat and then reinstall NAM but do not datpack it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: rusummer1 on April 28, 2008, 02:07:28 PM
I might just have to unistall and delete everything which will take forevery b/c I have 1.3GB of plugins, because even though I don't want to I like the NAM and want the new stuff in it and btw the windows link for the new NAM the download link is missing, Is that just my computer?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Stewey on May 20, 2008, 02:59:17 PM
Hi, I have a bit of a strange problem with the dat packer.

Okay, I reinstalled my vista cos it went tits up and have just put SC4 + patches back on nice and clean.

I have moved all my plugins (from a backup) back into the plugins folder.

Then I re-installed the dat packer.

Okay, so dat packer has run fine with vista before the reinstall of windows, but when I run it it shows an "errors occurred" popup box and it fails to run.

Here is the contents of the logfile:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 98, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd

Any suggestions?  ()what()
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on May 20, 2008, 04:22:02 PM
Hi Stewey do you have the latest version of DAT Packer installed? If not I would suggest downloading it from the LEX or even in that fact redownload it as it sounds you saved a version correct?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Stewey on May 21, 2008, 01:24:29 AM
Hi pat, thanks for the reply. :)

I had a saved copy of version 6 which is the latest version that is available right now from the LEX. That is the version I installed yesterday that didn't load, so I downloaded it again from the LEX today, installed it and still the problem is there.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 21, 2008, 01:29:07 AM
You need to download the 2 dlls that are listed in the readme
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Stewey on May 21, 2008, 02:35:52 AM
Hi wouanagaine, I didn't originally see that in the readme so that will teach me for not looking properley.  :-[

The .dll's worked and the program is working fine again, so thanks for your help and for creating such a useful tool.  :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on May 21, 2008, 11:10:31 AM
Hey Stewey Im glad you gotten it worked out!!!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: klaascornelis on June 05, 2008, 05:41:36 AM
Ok, i was sick of the very long starting time of the game and loading times of cities. I'm playing on a portable so the processor speed isn't that huge. So I decided to give datpacker a try.

Unknowing as i em i just ran the program. Tough I was just smart enough to backup my pluginsfolder first.
of course it didn't work.
Following after this mistake i took a closer look ad the readme, followed every step Soulstealer recommended. I sweeped a duplicate cleaner over it, deleted every unnecessary files, separated the mods and essentials.

It still isn't working  :'(
when i start SC i get a black screen and it freezes up.
I could use some help over here  %wrd

Greetings
KC
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 05, 2008, 05:44:53 AM
Please list what you have in your plugins_compressed
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: klaascornelis on June 05, 2008, 06:01:46 AM
Wel do you want to give me a complete list?
The folder is over 1 gb  :P
Ok i ran a search over it, this is the result

In my Pluginsfolder i have 6 Folders.
Essentials
Mods
Lots
Props
Textures
RRP
As told before i exclude the essentials and mods folders for datpacking.

In these folders i have loads of subsubfolders which contain these file types
Sc4model
Sc4lot
Sc4DESC
The files can open with wmp i presume these are dat. files

And i see 2 files which purpose is not clear to me but they are supposedly needed
Sav
IIT
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 05, 2008, 06:59:12 AM
Please reread my post, I want your plugins_compressed folder listing
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: klaascornelis on June 05, 2008, 08:52:17 AM
Oh sorry man i mis interpret your last post

I have 4 .dat files
Lots 440.261kb
Props 798.945kb
RRP 4.118kb
Textures 51.380kb

Greetings
Kc
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on June 05, 2008, 09:00:44 AM
KC: I have also datpacked my plugins folder, which is around 2 GB. What ahppens to me is the same. The picture of the bridge comes up, and then the game goes to a black screen. It usually takes about 3 minutes for it to head into the opening intro. As far as i can tell, going into the black screen is NORMAL. The black screen shows up because the game is loading ALL necessary files, including the intro. When you start the game, give it about 5 minutes to load the game files.

I reiterate: The black screen and inability to do anything for a few minutes is NORMAL, this is simply a side effect of having more plugins than the game expects and having to load the .dat files. Be patient and give the game time to load.

Beleive me, the first time I started the game I panicked but I know that since computers are just computers that giving it a little time to fix itself may work better than hard-resetting it. Sure enough my game came up just fine!

~~Dragonshardz~~
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: klaascornelis on June 05, 2008, 09:10:52 AM
Its true that the loading of simcity was already very long.
But with the data packed i suspected that it would go faster.
But instead it take a lot more time then normal
Thats why i presumed after 5 minutes that the game had crashed.
I'm going to try to stay away from my laptop until its (hopefully) loaded

Greetings
KC
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 05, 2008, 11:03:03 AM
If it is longer, then I highly recommend you run any good ( ie not the one provided with window ) defragmenter

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: klaascornelis on June 05, 2008, 12:57:25 PM
Ok it works but i didn't notice any different in loading speed it still is slow
and wouanagaine i recently formated my hard disk and reinstalled windows so i highly doubt it that defragmanting is really needed.

Greetings
Klaas
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on June 10, 2008, 03:51:55 PM
Just curious if you have updated a confident build from v6. I used to use the Anniversary Ed, but was told to stop so I reverted to v6. However I miss having the "superceed" notes that show dup files in the window going by as packing goes on. I used that list to help me "proof" my installation and monitor for any problems that might creep in as I add custom material. (PS: Only curious.. not complaining.. I LOVE datpacker ;) )

Also I'm missing info on the following: "Missing directory entry for entries in "..RitzCarlton.dat" What does this mean? There doesn't seem to be a problem, but I'm curious as to what it means.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: k808j on June 11, 2008, 01:34:00 PM
I believe SimGoober pulled RitzCarlton.dat cuz it was causing a conflict and also to wouanagaine, I've been using V8.0 with no problems for months now.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on June 11, 2008, 01:38:08 PM
Quote from: k808j on June 11, 2008, 01:34:00 PM
I believe SimGoober pulled RitzCarlton.dat cuz it was causing a conflict and also to wouanagaine, I've been using V8.0 with no problems for months now.

I've already updated the Ritz with the newest release as soon as it came out.. in fact that message didn't appear before I updated, so it may even relate in some way to the update.

... and no other than Wou himself was the one advising me to go back to v6   :)  I also had been using v8 for many months until I had an issue (documented previously HERE (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=4564.0)) The current word is that the v8 (also known as the "anniversary edition" I think) is judged "unsupported" .. you can read the thread for all the nitty gritty.. ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Cockatoo-210893 on July 16, 2008, 01:00:22 AM
Just thought I'd stop by and give this thing some well deserved appreciation.
I've been using the DAT packer for about 9 months now, and if it wasn't for it, I'd be screwed.
When it comes to organising your plugins, it just makes things so much easier for me and the improvement in game speed is incredible. It makes SC4 with gigabytes of plugins bearable.
Well done wouanagaine, you rock. I'm sure all that stuff about you in 'The legend of wouanagaine' is probably true if this is anything to go by! &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: pagenotfound on August 05, 2008, 12:24:27 PM
Is this normal? I have the compressed files in My Documents/SC4/plugins folder. But I still have the same 3.6 GB i started out with?
Have they been copied manipulated in some way? Or is it me just being a newb?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on August 05, 2008, 12:26:10 PM
pagenotfound: all that happens is that all the single records in each file get moved into one big one, so it is perfectly possible that no compression takes place.

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: pagenotfound on August 05, 2008, 12:30:51 PM
So... is that good or bad?? ()what()

I packed NAM to I think. Was I supposed to do that? (I still have the original unpacked NAM, so can I fix it?)
Oh and A lot of the auxillery NAM files were packed. Sorry for being a newb.  :-[
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on August 05, 2008, 01:00:23 PM
pagenotfound, don't apologise, tho shouldnt all the NAM plugins be in the NAM folder?... and no dont pack the NAM folder just delete the packed file and keep the old folder

and the packing is a good thing as it means the game doesnt have to open each and every file, it just needs to open one

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on August 05, 2008, 01:09:06 PM
Rob its so OK to ask questions so no needs to worry at all OK!!! The one thing I suggest to you is break down the folders and seperate groups.... Also is to never pack NAM as that can possibly lead to some problems.... What I mean about breaking things down is simple IE.......


that is a rough idea how I got my folder structer...  I didnt compress BSC or NAM... But I do have all the respective downloads in each and every folder and then compressed them... My list does go on a bit more but that like I said is a general Idea....

I have found out that Packing all the folder down to one singular dat doesnt work well... I do keep my un compressed folders seperate and that way if I go on a downloading spree I just remove selected folder and update and then re compress that folder and then throw out the old dat....  I hope this helps you out and any other questions dont hesitate to ask!!!

Pat
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: pagenotfound on August 05, 2008, 01:40:01 PM
 


I didnt pack the NAM but now theres is no Plugins_compressed foler.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on August 06, 2008, 02:20:44 AM
From what you are describing, you are not taking the plugins_compressed folder and using only it (plus uncompressed content) for running.. Don't leave the old uncompressed files in the folder after getting the new folder  If this is not what you're doing, I appologize, but from your descriptions it sounds like you are.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Nardo69 on August 16, 2008, 08:53:34 AM
Maybe a stupid question: Does Dat packer runs under win2k, too or do I need XP?

after some troubles with my old xp installations and a damaged xp installation I went back to old Win2000.

Whenever I start Dat Packer I got an error message that an error occured pointing to the log-file.

The log file always shows the following:

Quote
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 98, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd

Is it a Win2000 problenm or do I need to download a library? I installed Win2000 just 2 weeks ago on a fresh new harddisk ...

Thanks in advcance

Bernhard  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on August 16, 2008, 09:32:59 AM
Did you install the gdiplus.dll and mscvp71.dll, as advised in the readme file?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JaimeCG on September 01, 2008, 07:56:24 AM
HI!!
FIRST, LET ME JOIN THE LIST OF THANKFULL PEOPLE! &apls &apls
MY PROBLEM IS THAT IM A MAC USER SO I CAN'T RUN THE DATPACKER, ONCE AGAIN WE ARE LEFT BEHIND  &mmm, IS THERE A DATPACKER.DMG I'M MISSING OR CAN SOMEONE UPLOAD THE COMPRESSED FILES??
DOESN'T MATTER IF I CAN'T EDIT THEM LATER, JUST WANT TO TRY THIS OUT

THANKS!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on September 01, 2008, 08:12:11 AM
Unfortunately, the code use some python and c++ files that I can't compile under mac

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on September 01, 2008, 01:16:06 PM
Hey, Jamie CG: could you please not use all caps? It's kinda rude...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JaimeCG on September 01, 2008, 02:46:41 PM
No CAPS, No prob!

What a shame this incompatibility problem, but thanks for the response!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: cogeo on October 29, 2008, 03:52:54 PM
Just a question, is it possible to instruct DatPacker not to pack specific folders, eg by putting in the folders that shouldn't be packed a file named, say, DO_NOT_DatPack_Me.txt (empty contents)? Some plugins may depend on the loading order (eg optional plugins and overrides) and it might be useful to exclude them from datpacking (even though DatPacker may be handling this issue correctly).

Is there required really much work to implement this?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on October 29, 2008, 04:28:37 PM
you can still let it pack the folder then leave the original folder in your plugins and delete the packed file

However in that case you'll face the loading order problem

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: 0rion79 on November 01, 2008, 07:11:02 AM
Hello everybody. Here I am with my almost-2GB-plugin folder in need of datpacker, so thanks for doing it! :)

I have these questions.

First of all, I would like to know if there is any guide about it, because I have just dowload the program but can't find any readme with it.

And, if I've understand correctly how it does work, I was thinking to "condensate" in one single file all those plugins that I know that I will use, that won't get updated and that I don't want to remove.
So I won't "pack" NAM, CAM and RTMT.
Instead, I'm in doubt for other files.
Eg. There is the a_CAM folder that must be at the top, then the z_CAM folder. BUt what about the CAM folder, that contians the data for growable CAMeLOTs? Also, there is the X-port folder that should not be renamed.
Do you think that I should leave untouched all those files?
Thank you.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Diggis on November 01, 2008, 04:00:44 PM
When you run DATpacker, if will create a single DAT file for each of the folders in your plugins root directory.  It will place these in a plugins_compressed folder
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 01, 2008, 05:47:51 PM
And if you update one of your folder, and rerun datpacker, it will repack that folder

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: MinGraphics on November 07, 2008, 11:18:04 AM
What does it mean when it tells me (warning:every entries in walts tomato farm/jbmfarmfieldui.dat were superseed.)  I have many lines in the information area that say files were superseed and I have no idea what that means or what to do about it. Thanks for your help!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 07, 2008, 12:06:49 PM
it means that the mentionned files are useless because another or some others files defines exactly the same informations

For example the file you mention has likely been included in one of the Farm mega pack

It is not important in fact, it just tells you that if you run SC4 with your uncompress folders, it may take longer to load, that's all
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jerante on November 12, 2008, 03:28:38 PM
Hi guys,

Hope someone could help me with the Dat Packer.
I recently installed winxp sp2 in my laptop. and I dont't have any apps installed except for sc4, net framework 2,winRAR and adobe.
I installed the dat packer but it doesn't work even if the library zip is extracted.
Am I missing some application requirements?
here is the result of the log file.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 98, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\__init__.pyo", line 45, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 82, in load_module
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 4, in ?
  File "zipextimporter.pyo", line 98, in load_module
ImportError: MemoryLoadLibrary failed loading wx\_core_.pyd

This app is really awesome, I've been enjoying this tool since 2007. It's just that my system crashed and I need to make a fresh install of sc4.

Thanks and best regards,
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on November 12, 2008, 03:33:33 PM
QuoteI installed the dat packer but it doesn't work even if the library zip is extracted.

The library.zip should never be extracted as it is an internal file used by Python.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on November 12, 2008, 03:34:04 PM
Do not extract the library.zip, it should stay like that. Also, you need to install some external DLLs that are mentioned in the readme/file description; since you have a fresh Windows installation, they might be missing at the moment.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 13, 2008, 04:47:26 AM
that error is clearly the results of missing DLLs, the link are in the readme.html
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jerante on November 14, 2008, 08:15:38 PM
THANK YOU! THANK YOU!

PROBLEM IS SOLVED. IT'S JUST DLL, 2 MISSING DLL's

-JERANTE
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on November 27, 2008, 06:19:09 PM
with the new 2008 version I am getting this.....

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2196, in WriteADat
WindowsError: [Errno 8] Not enough storage is available to process this command

Wouanagaine,
   does that mean I ran out of memory to finish writting the dat file? I installed the all 3 dependencies as per the Readme so to advoid any problems any help is apperciated thanks...

Patrick
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 27, 2008, 11:44:02 PM
Hi Pat

What are you PC specs and OS ?
That is weird because beta testing showed that bug, but it was fixed with beta testers plugins  ??? The fix was to make the resulting dat no more than 400Mb but maybe you do have a very low RAM ?

What is the size of the folder SC4DP is trying to pack when you're giving this error ?

Wouanagaine
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on November 28, 2008, 08:03:34 AM
I bet you that could be my problem is where I am pushing it to hard as what I was trying to do is repack what was Datpacked before...

OK my specs on the computer are as is:

Emachines T3302
AMD Sempron Processor 3300+
2.0  ghz

HD 160 gb ata

mem 512 ddr sdram

OK the specs on the folders I was trying to DatPack with the 2008 version are:

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: TheTeaCat on November 28, 2008, 10:39:17 AM
When I installed DP2008 (+ required deps) on the first run I got

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2175, in WriteADat
WindowsError: [Errno 8] Not enough storage is available to process this command

My machine specs are
Intel4 1.8GHz
2 gig ddr memory
2x120 Hdd over 40 gig free on each drive
Running windows XP sp3

At the time the only thing in my plugin folder was all my dependcies recently installed from the LEX DVD.
The program hung once the report appeared and had to use task manager to close.

I then realised I still had the old DP installed so I removed all copies, rebooted and reinstalled DP2008.
It ran fine and packed everything. From 1.8 gig to 1.6 gig. Fired up the game (using only the new packed files) which took 7 mins to get to region view using the new packed files &mmm

Thats not right I thought  ()sad()

Out with the packed and in with the unpacked, time to region view 1.35 mins.
Hmmm. Ok another test packed the rest of the contents of the DVD. (1.24 gig to 1.06gig)

Fire up game with packed dependencies and packed plugins time to region view 11m48s
time to load an empty tile 5m45s

With unpacked dependencies and unpacked plugins  time to region view 5m21s
time to load an empty tile 2m37s

With unpacked dependencies and packed plugins  time to region view 3m11s
time to load an empty tile 1m27s

At the moment I am using the last choice as its the fastest ;)

Just thought you'd like to know ;)

Regards
Derry



Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 28, 2008, 01:57:52 PM
Quote from: Pat on November 28, 2008, 08:03:34 AM
I bet you that could be my problem is where I am pushing it to hard as what I was trying to do is repack what was Datpacked before...

OK my specs on the computer are as is:

Emachines T3302
AMD Sempron Processor 3300+
2.0  ghz

HD 160 gb ata

mem 512 ddr sdram

OK the specs on the folders I was trying to DatPack with the 2008 version are:


  • Folder One: 276 mb
  • Folder Two: 553 mb
  • Folder Three: 178 mb
  • Folder Four: 621 mb

Yes, DP is not meant to pack already packed stuff as it will have a hard time to read a big file ( ie bigger than your RAM ), and with 512 Mb I can't for sure guarantee it will succeed with your normal plugins

Quote from: TheTeaCat on November 28, 2008, 10:39:17 AM
When I installed DP2008 (+ required deps) on the first run I got

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2175, in WriteADat
WindowsError: [Errno 8] Not enough storage is available to process this command

My machine specs are
Intel4 1.8GHz
2 gig ddr memory
2x120 Hdd over 40 gig free on each drive
Running windows XP sp3

At the time the only thing in my plugin folder was all my dependcies recently installed from the LEX DVD.
The program hung once the report appeared and had to use task manager to close.

I then realised I still had the old DP installed so I removed all copies, rebooted and reinstalled DP2008.
It ran fine and packed everything. From 1.8 gig to 1.6 gig. Fired up the game (using only the new packed files) which took 7 mins to get to region view using the new packed files &mmm

Thats not right I thought  ()sad()

Out with the packed and in with the unpacked, time to region view 1.35 mins.
Hmmm. Ok another test packed the rest of the contents of the DVD. (1.24 gig to 1.06gig)

Fire up game with packed dependencies and packed plugins time to region view 11m48s
time to load an empty tile 5m45s

With unpacked dependencies and unpacked plugins  time to region view 5m21s
time to load an empty tile 2m37s

With unpacked dependencies and packed plugins  time to region view 3m11s
time to load an empty tile 1m27s

At the moment I am using the last choice as its the fastest ;)

Just thought you'd like to know ;)

Regards
Derry
Very strange result  ()what()  ???, however the difference between the first test can be explained by cached files
I think you should run a defrag


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on November 28, 2008, 02:22:25 PM
ty stef!!! I did manage a work around and did a fresh dat pack with the file that wasnt compressed, it worked like a charm from there!!!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: 0rion79 on November 29, 2008, 07:37:59 AM
Hello all,

I write here looking for help.

At last, I've achieved my goal in customizing SC4, so I've used Datpacker ver 6 ('cause ver.7 was unavaileable due to a bug with Vista).

Sadly, I have seen that it does compress EVERY folder, including a_Cam or z_Euro Road Textures folders that - by intuition - should not be compressed, but this is a minor backdraw.

Instead, when I've placed ALL of the files that i wished to be compressed in one folder, the program has always quit to desktop, showing a message error that I have not been able to copy and report here. But it was something about memory, virtual "something" and stuff...

Only once the program has saved this log:
QuoteTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 656, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 360, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 109, in __init__
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 495, in LogError
  File "wx\_core.pyo", line 11399, in Append
MemoryError

Runtime Error Virtual library


Anyway, spliting the load of work among several subfolders, I have managed to complete the packing process, but the game looks SLOWER than before, not faster, and there are some files that I have not been able to compress, that caused errors.
They are:
QuoteTB2_CameraLightRigHuge_fixed_v1.gmax
.DS_Store
._.DS_Store
NDEX DA MEGA Pack Vol01
NDEX DA MEGA Pack Vol02
NDEX DA MEGA Pack Vol03
Note that there are multiple copies of DS_Store files, obtained together with Landmarks from Maxis side, in MacOS version (the only ones that I could legally get).

Any hint? thank you!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on November 29, 2008, 08:10:29 AM
TB2_CameraLightRigHuge_fixed_v1.gmax is a file used only in gMax and should not be in your plugins. The .ds files are a Mac file and also should be deleted.
Try the new DatPacker 2008 as that has the options to choose which folders to pack and also will not allow dat files that are too big. They will split folders on the fly to give optimum sized dats which should be kept like that rather than trying to pack into huge dats.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: 0rion79 on November 29, 2008, 08:46:27 AM
Thank you: I will! And, in case of troubles, I will post here :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on November 29, 2008, 09:01:43 AM
BTW you will find the new version of DatPacker under wouanagine's name on the LEX as he updated the old version instead of uploading a different one.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: 0rion79 on November 30, 2008, 02:22:14 AM
Everything went fine... maybe SC4 is a bit slower to load, but DURING the game it is much faster.
I have just some more questions and I apologize if I'm asking something already discussed, but in over 30 pages it is difficult to find what I need.

1st - There is a set of folders that have special names and that I know that must not be moved inside the process tree.
They are:
Quotea_CAM
X-Ports
z_CAM
z_Euro Road Textures Mod
ZZ_PEG SEAPORTS
z-Z's mod - no datpack
Except the last one, how can I deal with these files?

2nd - Is it possible to add some files to previously packed files? EG, I have just noticed another brown box from CAM, so a new plug-in that I would compress. Should I start over?

3rd - What is the "include only useful TGI" option? The game looks running fine, but some files have been excluded and marked as not necessary.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 30, 2008, 02:56:50 AM
1st: despites all claims, there is nothing that force you to not pack everything
      if you want to not pack them, just unselect thoses folders, or pack them and remove the created files for them

2nd: just put your normal folders back, add the new files, then rerun SC4DP, it will repack only the minimum amount of folder ( ie only those in which you have added files )

3nd: this option is for removing all non usefull entries in a DAT file. Thoses entries are used for PIM or LE mainly, but not at all needed by SC4. So by removing them, you'll get a bit less to load

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on December 04, 2008, 03:57:42 AM
hey wou, I was just wondering how you use (and if there is) command like options? also it has been reported to me by someone that the TGI option crashes the game. I couldnt test this myself.

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 04, 2008, 03:59:11 AM
There is no command line option
And I'm not aware the 'remove useless TGI' has been problematic
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: nerdly_dood on December 06, 2008, 01:54:12 PM
I have a problem with MSVCP71.dll... I downloaded it and installed it in my system32 folder, and then installed Datpacker 08, but when I try to run Datpacker it says it can't find MSVCP71.dll. I restarted but I get the same problem. Is the DLL supposed to be installed in a different folder?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 22, 2008, 03:35:13 AM
Sorry for late reply

The dll should be installed on the DatPacker folder

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: nerdly_dood on December 22, 2008, 06:09:24 AM
Thanks a million - even if it is a little late.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SimGoober on January 15, 2009, 05:08:29 PM
Alright, I just have to make an embarassing admition; I didn't use DATPacker until a couple days ago.   :(

To be fair, many months ago when it was new I used it, and was impressed. Then I left the game for a while, and forgot about it.  When I came back, I had a new computer, and downloaded all the updated versions of things and said to myself "hey, most of these are already in big, mega packs, so why should I bother?"

Well....

After numerous CTD problems, I almost gave up.  Then I tried this wonderful tool again, and presto!  ALL the CTD problems have vanished.  Not one in 3 days, and I used to average one about every 20 minutes.  AND the game plays faster as well.  I found myself playing for 6 hours today... by accident.  I was having too much fun again.

Anyhow, to anyone out there who doesn't think this tool will make much difference, try it!  You will be amazed...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on January 15, 2009, 06:37:19 PM
And a addict is reborn again!!! hehehe SG its a great tool for sure indeed!!!  I know I love the Datpacker and that is what brought me here to Devo almost 2 yrs ago now!!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 15, 2009, 11:53:07 PM
Hey Goober, nice to know I contributed to make you play by accident :)
thanks for the testimonial
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jman47 on January 16, 2009, 02:59:26 PM
hey wats up im having a bit of a problem with the datpacker, all of my plugin subfolders work fine exept one, where i get this error-

QuoteTraceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2200, in WriteADat
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 1879, in Copy
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 1779, in IsBinary
AttributeError: Examplar instance has no attribute 'sig'


can you help me out pls :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: recyclerman on January 16, 2009, 07:01:57 PM
Firstly, my apologies if this has been previously asked and answered.  I have become quite cross-eyed looking for any mention of my issue.

I have all of my plugins in a game folder on another drive as well as the game itself.  I ran the Dat Packer program and it worked fine, found the plugins folder in the C drive "Documents and settings" (of which I have two files I hadn't moved yet) and packed them as it should.  My long winded question is this, is there any way to have the Dat Packer program frind the plugins folder on my other drive?  I ask because I have the LEX DVD and with the overwelming amount of superb content on it, my game play has slowed to an unmanageable pace.

Thank you in advance,

Les
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: procarpenter on January 21, 2009, 11:38:27 PM
new to sc4 and the dat packer not sure what this means
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2175, in WriteADat
WindowsError: [Errno 8] Not enough storage is available to process this command

i have 368 gigs of free space on my hd is this program memory hungry i have 1.5 gigs of memory
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on January 21, 2009, 11:40:28 PM
do you have the DLL's listed in the readme?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 22, 2009, 01:22:54 AM
Quote from: jman47 on January 16, 2009, 02:59:26 PM
hey wats up im having a bit of a problem with the datpacker, all of my plugin subfolders work fine exept one, where i get this error-


can you help me out pls :)
One of your plugin is corrupted, if you find which one, send it to me so I can make DP aware of it and skip it instead of crashing
Quote from: recyclerman on January 16, 2009, 07:01:57 PM
Firstly, my apologies if this has been previously asked and answered.  I have become quite cross-eyed looking for any mention of my issue.

I have all of my plugins in a game folder on another drive as well as the game itself.  I ran the Dat Packer program and it worked fine, found the plugins folder in the C drive "Documents and settings" (of which I have two files I hadn't moved yet) and packed them as it should.  My long winded question is this, is there any way to have the Dat Packer program frind the plugins folder on my other drive?  I ask because I have the LEX DVD and with the overwelming amount of superb content on it, my game play has slowed to an unmanageable pace.

Thank you in advance,

Les
No, DP only look for files under MyDoc plugins folder. you can move the DVD plugins into it, pack the dvd folder, then move it back
Or do you use the userdir options ? in that case just put the DVD plugins into MyDoc, run DP and choose the destination folder to be inside your userdir folder

Quote from: procarpenter on January 21, 2009, 11:38:27 PM
new to sc4 and the dat packer not sure what this means
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2175, in WriteADat
WindowsError: [Errno 8] Not enough storage is available to process this command

i have 368 gigs of free space on my hd is this program memory hungry i have 1.5 gigs of memory
This is an error that useally occurs with low RAM and big folder ( at least this is what I gather when doing the beta testing ). Try to split your biggest folder into smallers one
I have 1 gb of RAM and can run DP on the my LEXDVD plugins which is 3.6GB without problem, so I may not have correcty indentified the problem as you have more RAM than I have


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: recyclerman on January 23, 2009, 05:49:03 AM
QuoteNo, DP only look for files under MyDoc plugins folder. you can move the DVD plugins into it, pack the dvd folder, then move it back
Or do you use the userdir options ? in that case just put the DVD plugins into MyDoc, run DP and choose the destination folder to be inside your userdir folder

Thank you, that is what I have been doing, ever so slowly.  I am seeing  a lot of improvement in speed of the game!  Thank you again.

Les
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jman47 on January 24, 2009, 08:14:48 PM
I found the file that was causing the problem. it was the Rax Inc building by sc5rax, i think his name was.

id would love to upload it for you but im not sure how... not so tech fancy in that area, so if you could give me instructions i think i could figure it out :)

oh and thanks for the help  :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 25, 2009, 02:56:32 AM
If you cannot post a file you can give the link to where to find it like this:
kd5rax Rax Building (http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=11396&v=1#)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 25, 2009, 03:42:51 AM
Thx I'll try to fix DP for this file this week
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on January 25, 2009, 07:49:49 AM
Couldn't help myself just had to look under the hood and see whats going on since I am trying to learn all this stuff.
What I found.
lot raxincplop 8eee90a8 has issues. DP give this info: Attribute Error - Examplar has no attribute "sig
There are some empty lot issues also. On Kd5raxincplop - Ox....... 0x0eee9687.SCDesc I removed the amounts in the "Parent Cohort" file. This cleared up the empty lot problem.
The grow lot seems to work and also the plop lot but I don't know if everything is correct for this product.
When I plopped the "empty lots"  this is the first time I have ever also seen the Building also show up on the lots.
Data packer packs all files except the above "bad" lot.
Hope this is useful info.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on January 25, 2009, 07:52:17 AM
so does datpacker prune "empty lots"? wow awesome
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on January 25, 2009, 08:06:37 AM
One of the two plop lots in this file is a mess and the best for it is the WPB. raxincplop_8eee90a8.SC4Lot has two Building exemplars but one only has one line with a Parent Cohort of 0,0,0 except it is not a correct exemplar. I haven't checked if it is a possible "grow on empty lots" but as it was made in 2005 I suspect it may be.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: turtle on February 02, 2009, 04:24:53 AM
Hi,

I have been installing a lot of custom content over the last year or so, and have also been using the datpacker to pack my files. I have also installed some custom stuff after datpacking all my stuff back in november. Now I noticed when trying to install the bsc working ports, that the cleanitol didn't recognised some of the dependencies that are datpacked. This I didn't think was a problem (I would just check "manually" by going through the folder with the original files) until I realised that some of the dependency packs also fixes props in earlier prop packs. So my question is how to go about installing new custom content when a lot of the older stuff is already datpacked? How can I make sure that everything works properly? I have been suffering from some random ctd's lately and I think it's related to my plugins.

Anyways, thank you for a very good tool.

Thomas
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on February 02, 2009, 04:54:04 AM
When I datpack my plugins I keep all the original folders in another part of my HD. That way if I add content or if there are changes to packs I can get the original folder, make the changes and the re pack. Cleanitol will only recognise the original files not packed ones.
As far as CTDs are concerned, that may be related to ports already existing in cities. If you have any of the other custom ports then you should bulldoze them and save the city before removing the files. If they are all in datpacked files then you will have problems unless you also have the original files. The X-Ports folder with the upgradeable seaports and airports should not be datpacked as it is subject to updates.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: turtle on February 02, 2009, 10:11:11 AM
Hi BarbyW
Thank you for the answer. I have yet to install the x-ports as there is a lot of dependencies I need to get for them (It seemed to be a good idea to follow the instructions carefully on this download). It was when running the cleanitol from the x-ports that I realised it didn't recognised the datpacked files. This could mean that I have installed a lot of stuff and updates that didn't excactly update because it wouldnt have known that they were in dat format. So I might have stuff in my datpacked files that I think have updated but infact are not, (hence causing some of these ctds). I know I will have to remove pegs harbors, but I don't think I actually build any, so it should be easy. anyways I tend to ramble on, especially because now I realise that I will have to reinstall most of this stuff to go through a proper updating process, and then repack in a way that will make it easy for me to update stuff in the future.

So what is a good way to organise your folders for datpacking so that you can update specific files without repacking the whole thing?

Again thank you for your answer and also all the good custum stuff you've made over the years :)

Thomas
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on February 02, 2009, 10:31:21 AM
If you use the installers for BSC stuff they will give you a good organisation for your plugins. For zip files without installers I make a folder for each creator and unzip into there. By keeping the folders separate for Props and Textures and each creator for the lots it is easy to keep track of any updates or additional stuff you may wish to install.
Of course the simplest way to reinstall is to donate 25€ to SC4Devotion and get the DVD with everything from the LEX up to September 2008 plus some exclusive stuff. :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: turtle on February 02, 2009, 12:13:27 PM
Quote from: BarbyW on February 02, 2009, 10:31:21 AM
-snip good advice-
Of course the simplest way to reinstall is to donate 25€ to SC4Devotion and get the DVD with everything from the LEX up to September 2008 plus some exclusive stuff. :thumbsup:

Hehe thats good salesmanship there. ;) unfourtunately i'm abroad in a country where i don't expect you to deliver. Besides that's quite a hefty donation for someone like me. Maybe when I get back home, I will give it an thought. I'm happy that you guys put all this together.

Either way, say I put BSC stuff in a folder and datpacked it, so I have a BSC.dat file. So when I want to update something from BSC, I bring back the original BSC folder to plugins, run the update, datpack the folder once again and replace the old BSC.dat with the new BSC.dat. Is that correct understanding, or is it possible to only repack that particular file that was updated?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on February 02, 2009, 12:34:58 PM
If the original folder contains the original files that is the correct way to do it.
We deliver anywhere. ;D I have sent to remote South Pacific islands as well as big cities.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: turtle on February 02, 2009, 12:45:19 PM
ok, I'll have to redo my plugins folder... again  ::) Once I get around to do that, that is...

I dont know, how about the West Bank, Palestine...?  it would be expensive and complicated because it would have to go through Israel. besides I'm going home in a couple of months anyway.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 02, 2009, 01:40:02 PM
Remember, it is stated in the SC4Packer readme to not delete your plugins folder but to move it elsewhere when playing
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mitch on February 03, 2009, 03:59:54 PM
Hello!
First off what an awesome tool, i used for the first time yesterday and it works beautifully! However I ran into I little snag involving this tool and the CAM; (hope this is the right place to post this) I started a CAM region (with an unpacked plugins folder), used the dat packer the next day, but when i tried to run the same CAM region, it was if i tried to run the region as if the CAM if had been newly installed (and if you follow the CAM, running an existing city with CAM causes problems ... residential growth  problems in my case). Otherwise, starting a new region is of no consequence and the original CAM region was crap anyways, but i thought it was worth mentioning.

Cheers

Mitch

EDIT: Sorry, I just noticed that in the TIPS section of the read-me, it recommends not compressing essential files. Maybe i should just exclude the CAM from the compression?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 03, 2009, 11:52:35 PM
Can you explain why you think CAM is not working on your preDatPacker region ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mitch on February 04, 2009, 08:24:24 AM
Actually, the CAM city worked fine on the pre dat packed folder, it was after i dat packed it that CAM in the same city seemed to fail......then in the readme &ops, i noticed how i should exclude mods and essential files in the packing, works beautifully now.
Sorry and thanks for your time!

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mittfh on February 04, 2009, 02:14:45 PM
I'm a nutter, running SC4 Deluxe in Linux using Wine...

DatPacker 2008 doesn't want to run for me - even after installing the three dlls mentioned in the readme (Yes, I know you're shocked that someone actually reads readmes...but I did warn you I was a nutter :) ).

Traceback (most recent call last):

  File "datPacker.py", line 1, in ?

  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2814, in ?

pywintypes.error: (2, 'RegOpenKeyEx', 'File not found')


But not be deterred, I tried v6 (lurking in one of my old Windows folders from before the laptop died) and that does run OK.
However, for reasons I cannot yet comprehend, as well as packing all my plugins, it also merrily packs whatever's sitting in plugins_compressed by the time the packing run reaches the folder...

Anyone running it in Windows encountered this slightly unusual error, or is it likely to be something to do with Wine?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 05, 2009, 02:42:54 AM
Looks like you manually installed SC4DP ( maybe you copied it from another pc ? )

retry a SC4DP install
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mittfh on February 08, 2009, 03:36:00 PM
Whatdayaknow?! Re-downloaded and re-installed DatPacker 2008, and Hey Presto! - it now works fine (in Wine!)

Now to see how fast 3.2 GB of Datpacked plugins (originals: 3.4 GB after Cleanitol's cleanup.txt has worked its magic) load :)

And since startup times are a frequent feature of this thread...
1 min 20 - Splash screen / 1 min 26 - Region view (i.e. 6 seconds later)

Loading a city - large, 220k residents: 15s - Loading screen / 1 min 40 - Done

Save + Exit to Region - 35s.

Computer spec: Athlon 64 X2 5000+, 3GB RAM, GeForce 6100 (onboard), SATA HDD, Mandriva Linux 2009.0.
N.B. With 'raw' plugins (i.e. not datpacked), the game would C2D as soon as it entered region view...

On the other hand, there is a disadvantage of DatPacker...in making the game more playable, it's very easy to lose track of 'real' time inside SC4...
i.e. it's now 3:30am and I've got work in the morning. Oops!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: diamon on March 09, 2009, 12:17:01 PM
wouanagaine:

Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

I had so many CTD's recently and someone suggested I use DatPacker.  Initially I was disappointed with the, seemingly, small reduction in Plugins directory size (saved only about 6 Mbytes over  1.21 Gbytes), but boy it did the trick.

I've experienced NO CTD's since packing.  So, once again, I thank you from the heart of my bottom for your terrific application.  &apls


Quote from: mittfh on February 08, 2009, 03:36:00 PM

On the other hand, there is a disadvantage of DatPacker...in making the game more playable, it's very easy to lose track of 'real' time inside SC4...
i.e. it's now 3:30am and I've got work in the morning. Oops!

I agree.  However there is a useful little mod that can remind you to save every 10 minutes, but also tells you the real time and how long you've been playing.  SaveAlarm by daeley, I believe it's called.  It's saved my job on many occasions as I, also, play into the very early hours without realising  ;)  I'm sure, without it, I'd have got the sack by now!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: cowcorn on March 11, 2009, 07:14:53 PM
Quote
Quote from: mittfh on February 08, 2009, 05:36:00 PM

On the other hand, there is a disadvantage of DatPacker...in making the game more playable, it's very easy to lose track of 'real' time inside SC4...
i.e. it's now 3:30am and I've got work in the morning. Oops! [end quote]

I agree.  However there is a useful little mod that can remind you to save every 10 minutes, but also tells you the real time and how long you've been playing.  SaveAlarm by daeley, I believe it's called.  It's saved my job on many occasions as I, also, play into the very early hours without realising    I'm sure, without it, I'd have got the sack by now!

About that I developed the reflex to do a fast save (ctrl+alt+S) every time I'm about to build something important and when I'm finishing it. If your pluggins are packed it should be relatively fast even with a slower computer. At least it worked when I had a P4 at 3.2 ghz, without the datpacker however saving was a hassle...
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeBlow on March 15, 2009, 10:36:24 AM
Is there anywhere the previous version of DP can be found? Version 2008 not only insist on listing a lot of absolutely necessary files as "useless"; but it utterly messes up the plugins folder by creating DAT file prefaced by "plugins" - and does not create - like the previous version - an orderly Plugins_Compressed folder

Any help would be appreciated.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 15, 2009, 02:41:30 PM
As I said in the other thread, the old version is not correct

If it says that some files are useless, they are. It means that all entries in those files are redefined by others files that are read after the one useless

The folder 'Plugins_compressed' is created if you enter it. make sure you use the '...' button near the top right and select the folder where you want SC4DatPacker to write your packed files

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeBlow on March 15, 2009, 03:31:46 PM
Quote from: wouanagaine on March 15, 2009, 02:41:30 PM
As I said in the other thread, the old version is not correct

If it says that some files are useless, they are. It means that all entries in those files are redefined by others files that are read after the one useless

The folder 'Plugins_compressed' is created if you enter it. make sure you use the '...' button near the top right and select the folder where you want SC4DatPacker to write your packed files


Is it not a bit presumptious to declare files useless? Especially since the game either turns out brown boxes or even crashes when these files are excluded. And moreover: yes, I did use the the browse button, even manually created the folder, still DP decided to do it its own way. Well, a pity - luckily I have found the old version - which does work.

Apart from which: what does DP do with the "useless" files? It cannot possibly presume to delete them? Again,as luck had it I was able to restore five GB (all in folders the largest of which was 250mb) from backup.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on March 15, 2009, 03:38:23 PM
JoeBlow: when he said useless, he meant duplicate or unrecognised (things like readme's and images) , which would render the file in question useless. and it just ignores them, leaving them in the original set but not packing the data in with the new .dats. thus brown boxes shouldnt appear unless it wasnt included in the datpacking process
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 15, 2009, 03:45:39 PM
So what are thoses files exactly ?
And no it is not presumptious, as I said the file is declared useless if all its entries has been superseed/redefined by others files. So I'm really interested in those files and wondering why removing them will cause a problem, please let me know which are they so I can fix any problem

And I'm warning you again, SC4DP old version is not correct, it is of course up to you to use it

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeBlow on March 18, 2009, 12:58:44 AM
Here is what it does (and the results):
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi283.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fkk289%2FDocRorlach%2Fdp_mess_a.jpg&hash=95ae4368638d614f4aa2f96f2b8e162dbe29ae81)
resulting - of course - in this:
(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi283.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fkk289%2FDocRorlach%2Fdp_problem_b.jpg&hash=f4d9ee7215e41fc6c55882a986e56bdf0a2ac29a)
Excerpt from the INI:
[Settings]
folder = C:\\Users\\DocRorlach\\Documents\\SimCity 4\\Plugins\\Plugins_Compressed
And all checkboxes were checked off during the second attempt - the results in both cases were the same. The original folders where moved (manually) to uncommpressed_plugins, as advised in the guid, and there was no folder called plugins_compressed, anywhere on the PC.
OS: Vista Ultimate
RAM: 2GB
Dual-Core Intel 2GHZ
1TB HDD
nVidia 8500
SC4 Deluxe & Rush Hour installed
Full admin rights

JoeB
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on March 18, 2009, 02:23:24 AM
Hi Peter/HandsOn/JoeB

Can you please try to create the plugins_compressed folder yourself and see what happen ? I can't yet see the reason why it does not create it
Can you also try to add a \\ at the end of the path in settings.ini ?

Can you please tell us what the brown box is so I can download thoses files and see why it happens ?

One explanation of brown box is that as the packed files are not in the subfolder and hence the loading order is not respected, because it will load your regular files ( like the porkieprops-Vol1.dat ) in betweeen

Take care
Wouanagaine
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: DilbertinMtl on April 11, 2009, 08:44:06 PM
I click on the link to to download page and there is not a link to tbe found to download the actual program, help!  I tried it from several locations, even accessing it from another site's forum, but alas no luck tonight, %confuso
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Pat on April 11, 2009, 10:11:35 PM
Hey there DilbertinMtl as it seems you need to register for the LEX here Linkie (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/Default.htm) and that will take care of ya's!!!
Title: Superseed files: what are them? Why useless?
Post by: 0rion79 on April 19, 2009, 03:14:55 AM
Hello,

I've just been succesfully able to datpack all of my plug-in files with datpacker 2008.
Still, a message has warned me that some files have not been packed because useless, and claiming something about superseed.
It was not very clean for me, so I have made a copy of those files: what do I have to do with them? Delete or keep into an additional directory?

They are:

2x2 Paloma Tower-0x6534284a-0x3227ba12-0x73f9aa1c
American Flag
BLS GA Farm Field Essentials_v2
BSC Textures JENX Gare_Du_Nord Vol01
BSC_DAE_DirtTrackTextures
BSC_PropPack_Pegasus_Vol01a
csx_FieldsUI
Enable SWAP Package Loading Center
IM$$6_4x2_jes_ReplogleGlobeFactory_CAM_5404ed41
NDEX Global Essentials
PEG_CDK-OWW_Ponds_205
PEG_CDK-OWW_Stream_205
PEG_Ponds_206
PEG_Ponds_Transparent_206
PEG_Pond-WF_Medium_206
PEG-CDK3-SP_Pier-One_LV_100
RTMTV3_APropBase_BusStop_SG
RTMTV3_APropBase_GLR_Modern
RTMTV3_APropBase_Subway_Mcdrye
RTMTV3_Prop_PhoneBooth_BlueYellow
Superstar's Key Tower [Model]-0x5ad0e817_0x102a45d9_0x30000

Also, I have another question: does the game see files or folders first? I ask because I have separately dat-packed also some folders as A-cam, or ZZ_PEG SEAPORTS, to preserve their order in the files queue, but I wonder if it is better to keep them into sub-folders with the same name or if I can keep them in the main plug-in folder.
Thank you a lot!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: djp on April 23, 2009, 11:02:24 AM
wouanagaine -Thanks for this valuable addition to SC4

I do have a couple of things that I need help with please

1. when packing my BSC folder gets split into 2 DAT files - BSC & BSC-001

what is the maximum folder size datapacker will allow before it splits them, I would prefer to manually re-do my BSC folder as it's the one I update the most.

2. The "useless file has been superseeded" message - although I understand why datapacker is doing this (another game file is being read and used after the first one?).

Is it possible to gain more information on which file is being replaced. I had about 20 NAM ones and further investigation found I had numerous "traffic plugin" files installed that were all overriding the last, I now don't have any NAM errors on packing. However I still have about 40 other various "useless file has been superseeded" messages whilst packing and would like to eliminate these but I need more information from datapacker!!!!!

Thanks for your help with the above

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: 0rion79 on April 23, 2009, 11:05:17 AM
D'oh! :( I was hoping that it was the answer to my questions and instead it was somebodyelse with MORE questions, LOL!  :D :-[
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Jonathan on April 23, 2009, 11:06:36 AM
I don't know much about your questions, but I just want to point out that it's best *not* to datpack the NAM (and CAM).

Jonathan
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on April 23, 2009, 11:11:12 AM
I am sorry but wouanagaine is very busy in RL at the moment but I am sure he will come along and answer your questions soon.
The maximum packed file size is about 383MB and so DatPacker will split anything over that into two files. I update my BSC folder frequently so just keep all the sub folders as normal in the BSC folder and pack the whole lot after updating.
I don't pack NAM or any special folders like a_CAM, X-Ports or z_CAM. These are generally single dats that SC4 will read happily.
As for the "superseed" files, I often see that message and have never lost files because of it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: 0rion79 on April 25, 2009, 08:59:19 AM
Hm this is interesting because it conflicts with other informations that I've got from other users.
Maybe I don't remember right, but I think that Z or Riplejet have told me, a lot of time ago, that there was no problem in packing NAM, cam & stuff *IF* they were packed separately, because they MUST respect a specific game order, and it is what I've done until now. Also, I have NOT packed the NAM because I'm not sure I've properly set Simulator Z.

Hope that wouanagaine will come back soon, because I don't want to start to play with an unstable version.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on April 25, 2009, 09:08:58 AM
yes, you can pack it. But it is ill advised because of the loading order. Because of this the NAM team will not support anyone with it packed.

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: 0rion79 on April 25, 2009, 09:11:36 AM
Yes, thanks, but what about the list of the files that I've mentioned before?? And what about the error message?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: MaximePenen on April 28, 2009, 12:02:15 PM
Question... I'm experiencing the following error after the tool has packed the BSC subfolder

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2175, in WriteADat
WindowsError: [Errno 8] Onvoldoende opslagruimte beschikbaar om deze opdracht te verwerken

--> the last line in Dutch means: Insufficient space available to execute this command.
Now, this is not entirely possible since I have +30GB space on my C: partition (where the plugins are) and +60GB on the D: partition (where the game is).

EDIT: I also searched the thread and read that it happens on 'low RAM machines'. Since I have about 4GB in RAM, that can't be it either.

Ideas?

Much appreciated
Maxime
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: MaximePenen on April 28, 2009, 12:59:21 PM
Right... Seperating the big map into smaller ones seems to have done it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: hooha47 on April 28, 2009, 02:41:41 PM
OK, long time lurker, first time poster.  This site, and datpacker in particular, are just incredible. The devotion of the people here to this 6 year old game is really amazing.  I've been using datpacker for a couple of days, and it works just as advertised.  I do, however, have one minor problem.  I've scanned this forum and haven't seen it mentioned before.  When I run SC4 with my datpacked plugins, everything on the mayor mode trees menu is now showing up twice in the menu.  I have a number of Jeronij trees, cp trees, etc., as well as Maxis ploppables and other rocks and flora.  Some of the duplicates appear right next to each other in the menu, sometimes they are separated by up to 10 or so items, but they're all in there twice.  I loaded SC4 with my plugin folder not datpacked, and the menu was back to normal, so I'm relatively confident it's something with datpacker.  Any ideas?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on April 29, 2009, 02:32:26 AM
I have no ideas  as I doubt you forget to move the original trees out of your plugins folder.

Can you try with and without the 'optimize space' to see if it changes anything ?
Can you also give us your rought folder structures and where the trees are in original plugins ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: k808j on April 29, 2009, 04:56:37 AM
hooha47
I suggest you download a program that searches for duplicate files  before you run DatPacker. You can find these for free at download.cnet.com/windows/
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: hooha47 on April 29, 2009, 09:17:32 AM
My apologies.  I guess I posted this problem in the wrong forum.  A little more testing has revealed that the problem is with SC4 start up manager.  Thanks for the quick responses and the great program.  I can add to the testimonies, using datpacker has sped up the game and practically eliminated CTDs.  It's made the game playable for me again, without having to upgrade my computer. So thanks again.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: djp on May 02, 2009, 10:59:13 AM
Quote from: MaximePenen on April 28, 2009, 12:02:15 PM
Question... I'm experiencing the following error after the tool has packed the BSC subfolder

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2175, in WriteADat
WindowsError: [Errno 8] Onvoldoende opslagruimte beschikbaar om deze opdracht te verwerken

--> the last line in Dutch means: Insufficient space available to execute this command.
Now, this is not entirely possible since I have +30GB space on my C: partition (where the plugins are) and +60GB on the D: partition (where the game is).

EDIT: I also searched the thread and read that it happens on 'low RAM machines'. Since I have about 4GB in RAM, that can't be it either.

Ideas?

Much appreciated
Maxime

I am experiencing the same problem, I've used DP for about 2 years and never had any problems.
However I've just had to do a re-install of my system. I had a back up of my plugins but I can no longer datapack.

Also the bottom part of the screen fills up straight away with "skipped because not a SC4 File" with all the needed files
eg - dat, sc4model, sc4lot.

I don't know if this is a problem with reinstalling things but any help would be great

Dave
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: k808j on May 02, 2009, 02:12:20 PM
Did you install the dll files?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: djp on May 02, 2009, 02:18:27 PM
Quote from: k808j on May 02, 2009, 02:12:20 PM
Did you install the dll files?
Yep - I forgot the first time and DP wouldn't even start.

I downloaded all 3 and put them in the system32 file where I had them before

I'll get some screen shots tomorrow.

Dave
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: k808j on May 02, 2009, 07:20:35 PM
You can always redownload the plugins and start from scratch. Thats what I'm doing right now.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: djp on May 03, 2009, 04:17:41 AM
Quote from: k808j on May 02, 2009, 07:20:35 PM
You can always redownload the plugins and start from scratch. Thats what I'm doing right now.

Would this cure my DP issues?

This is what I am getting

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg134.imageshack.us%2Fimg134%2F1306%2Fdp1t.jpg&hash=c9e6424396d7408c094f544f013379ee9acb2953)

And DP main screen

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg134.imageshack.us%2Fimg134%2F6951%2Fdp2.jpg&hash=dd872e207d15b1fbba2d6f30a5f006819bb2d8a6)

As you can see DP has already split the file into a .001 dat - the folder is only 16mb
and all needed folders are being "skipped because not a SC4 File"

Any ideas!!!!!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on May 03, 2009, 05:09:24 AM
There could be problems with the models or the naming. Remove the BLaM folder and try again. If it works without any problems then there is something wrong in that folder.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: djp on May 03, 2009, 05:39:11 AM
Thanks Barby,

I've tried it with numerous folders individually and they all come back with the same message.

All my plugins have packed fine in the past and I haven't downloaded anything extra since I copied my folders to another hard
drive and reinstalled XP.

I don't know if it's related but I kept all my zip files in case I needed to re-install any plugins and over 1/2 of these are now corrupt, I'm wondering if my plugins have also encountered the same problem and are somehow corrupt - any way of testing?

Dave
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: k808j on May 03, 2009, 09:31:15 AM
See if the game starts using the plugins unpacked.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on May 03, 2009, 12:19:00 PM
It looks like there is a '&' in your main folder path. I'm not sure SC4DP can handle that correctly, hence why it reports your SC4Lot files as not DBPF files


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: djp on May 03, 2009, 01:16:18 PM
Quote from: k808j on May 03, 2009, 09:31:15 AM
See if the game starts using the plugins unpacked.

Thanks k808j - the game does run but there are various plugins missing, but they mainly seem to be NAM and other game files that I will actually have to reinstall. Buildings etc show fine.
Quote from: wouanagaine on May 03, 2009, 12:19:00 PM
It looks like there is a '&' in your main folder path. I'm not sure SC4DP can handle that correctly, hence why it reports your SC4Lot files as not DBPF files

Wouanagaine - Thanks for an excellent program!!!!

I had to reinstall my whole system, but the folder structure is the same as I had before and DP worked fine then. I'll change things to remove the "&" and see what happens

Cheers
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: tsitrana on May 08, 2009, 08:20:00 AM
I want to say thank you to you Wouanagaine for creating this excellent program, and also for your consistence in helping people with this program these past few years. It's inspiring!
I have a question, can you have multible compressed folders in your plugin folder? I mean can you pack the lots and bats then pack the nam and so on? Would that cause stability issues?
Thanks again, your awesome.  :thumbsup:
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: k808j on May 08, 2009, 03:53:28 PM
Yes, you can have multiple compressed folders but it is recommended not to datpack NAM, CAM or the functional airports and seaports.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JJ on May 08, 2009, 09:21:48 PM
I finally got around to trying this finally and well... It cut my load time from 5 minutes to 1 minute 30. And loading of a medium city tile which is half full from 2 minutes to 10 seconds :D.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: tsitrana on May 09, 2009, 10:35:26 AM
Thanks k808j, now to get packin'!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rady on June 16, 2009, 11:17:08 AM
Hi Wouanagaine,

I just compressed all of my plugins. Two of them produced an error message:

********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0xD3D5AF87L 0x1491265EL
located in C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Morawetz\Eigene Dateien\SimCity 4\Plugins\CAM\SFBT\Pre-Fabs\R$9_4x4_SFBT Pre-Fab Low Rise Double Block.SC4Lot

*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Morawetz\Eigene Dateien\SimCity 4\Plugins\Dusktrooper\Keaton Plaza\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0x00000010:{"Exemplar Type"}=Uint32:0:{Buildings}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Morawetz\Eigene Dateien\SimCity 4\Plugins\Dusktrooper\Keaton Plaza\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0x27812832:{"Wealth"}=Uint8:0:{High Wealth}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Morawetz\Eigene Dateien\SimCity 4\Plugins\Dusktrooper\Keaton Plaza\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0x27812833:{"Purpose"}=Uint8:0:{Office}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Morawetz\Eigene Dateien\SimCity 4\Plugins\Dusktrooper\Keaton Plaza\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0xAA1DD396:{"OccupantGroups"}=Uint32:6:{Building: Commercial,Building: CO$$$,Style: Chicago,Style: New York,Style: Houston,Style: Euro}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Morawetz\Eigene Dateien\SimCity 4\Plugins\Dusktrooper\Keaton Plaza\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0xAA83558F:{"Crane Hints"}=Uint8:0:{Outer Then Inner Crane}
*************************************************

Pls advice how to proceed?

thx!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: k808j on June 16, 2009, 09:08:17 PM
I believe the Keaton Plaza files may have been updated by a mega pack. Use Cleanitol before you compress.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on June 16, 2009, 11:08:24 PM
The Keaton Plaza files look like the original files which, if you are using CAM, should be deleted. For CAM you only need the model files as the original lots were modded to grow at no more than stage 8. There may also be modding errors as these are old files.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: debaser on July 27, 2009, 09:30:47 AM
Well I gotta say that for a while I was a little intimidated of using the Datpacker, but after finally encountering some major lag over the weekend (I'm just getting back into the game after a long layoff and of course a reinstall), I took the plunge.

The results are definitely noticeable, but I guess I was expecting a miracle and unfortunately didn't get quite that. 

It's funny, I have a fairly large city of almost 700k people.  Now when I try to move around it, it will still lag pretty heavily if I'm zoomed out.  There's some improvement but not what I'd call a lot.  However, if I'm zoomed in pretty tight I see a pretty big improvement.  I don't see an improvement with loading/saving cities.  Maybe a little but nothing really that noticeable.  Of course this is a very large region (mostly undeveloped however) with all large tiles.  I downloaded it and that's what I got.  Not sure if that makes a difference.  I don't like playing huge regions and I especially don't like playing all large cities, but I liked the map and that's how it came.

I guess it's just the game itself.  I've always heard it was poorly written.  The computer I'm playing it on these days is basically a supercomputer compared to what I used to have.  Quadcore Intel, 8 gigs ram.  Vista runs seamlessly on it.  I am a photographer and work with extremely large files in photoshop (larger than my plugins folder would ever get) and it's very snappy.  It's just SC4.  Maybe it can't take advantage of all the RAM and processors?  I'm guessing that's what it is because even if I get away from the developed areas of a city it moves around pretty freely.   When I hit downtown, though, it sure hiccups a lot.  Was hoping to get rid of that.

But it's improved somewhat.  Yesterday it was difficult even to start dragging a road.  The cursor wouldn't settle in.  I'm sure you all know what I mean.  Now it still does that but it's improved enough that I can deal with it. 

Pretty sure that I did everything correctly.  I'm not going to lie -- I didn't real all of this threat but did read a lot of it.  Read the readme fully and think I understand it.  Kept all my mods and NAM and the AC Airports away from the Datpacker.  Files labeled as essentials were left in the root. 

I've never had to wait four minutes for a city to load, much less some of the times reported in the early part of this discussion.  I would guess that the datpacker is helpful to everyone but probably those with machines that aren't spec'd out all that well will benefit the most. 

Anyway I don't mean to rain on the parade.  Like I said yesterday it was a serious challenge to play and now things are definitely workable.  Real good job with this tool.  Before it came along how in the hell were you guys working with these big cities on these big maps?  Can't say enough about you guys who make CAM, Cleanitol, and this one.  Reminds me of a guy I know that has a 1969 Camaro.  It has a new corvette engine in it, new front end and high tech suspension.  He says it's an amazing car and certainly better than anything produced back then, but it cannot compare with, say, the new ZR1 (maybe on pure power but not on handling).  What I'm saying is you guys are like whoever build this guy's car.  You take something and it is what it is and it will always be that, but you push the envelope by improving every single component that can be improved and it ends of being a hell of a ride. 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on July 27, 2009, 09:39:54 AM
I wasn't aware this tool is supposed to actually get the game to perform better in terms of moving around the screen and lessening the lag.  I've always assumed (maybe wrongly) that it allows the game to load faster since it can load larger one file plugins that used to perhaps be hundreds or thousands of files since it packs them all into one pack.  It does lower the load times for me, but I dont' have any issues with large lands and large cities, it plays the way it plays.  Now when the game first came out and I had my old 486 dx25mhz, then lag city, but on todays hardware it seems to be just fine (for me anyway).

The only time the game feels laggy to me now is when I find something really intensive running in the background (like antivirus deciding to run when Im playing), other than that, game runs rather smooth on my 6 month old computer.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: debaser on July 27, 2009, 11:10:30 AM
Quote from: City Builder on July 27, 2009, 09:39:54 AM
I wasn't aware this tool is supposed to actually get the game to perform better in terms of moving around the screen and lessening the lag.  I've always assumed (maybe wrongly) that it allows the game to load faster since it can load larger one file plugins that used to perhaps be hundreds or thousands of files since it packs them all into one pack.  It does lower the load times for me, but I dont' have any issues with large lands and large cities, it plays the way it plays.  Now when the game first came out and I had my old 486 dx25mhz, then lag city, but on todays hardware it seems to be just fine (for me anyway).

The only time the game feels laggy to me now is when I find something really intensive running in the background (like antivirus deciding to run when Im playing), other than that, game runs rather smooth on my 6 month old computer.

Are you saying that it's as easy for you to scroll around the CBD of a 600k person city as it is to move around in an undeveloped area?

This is confusing.  I'm not bragging but my computer's not a year old and I built this thing to be an absolute beast, and it is with every other program.  Maybe I have something with the game that's not set up correctly?  I mean I deal with 2 gig image files in photoshop regularly and this computer throws them around like they were a little jpeg.  It can't be hardware....something I've done to my game has done this.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on July 27, 2009, 11:18:01 AM
No, obviously it's not going to perform as well on a 600k population city as it is on an undeveloped landscape, however with shadows to minimum or off (i believe it's the lowest setting), scrolling around a 600k pop city is not any great bother.  Is there lag, Im sure there must be atleast a little, but it's really not a bother for my computer.  If however I simply turn on or raise the level of shadows and have too many trees on the map, then yes, I will experience some heavy heavy graphical lag on even a unbuilt landscape (although it takes a ABSOLUTELY HUGE amount of trees, like filling the landscape with them).

But my main point was that I wasn't aware that datpacker was supposed to do anything besides help the game to load faster, is this not the primary purpose of datpacker?

My computer was setup to be mainly for video and photo editing (hence the 8GB of RAM) but it plays all the games that I own first class if I simply turn off shadows or turn them to the lowest settings.  I've never owned a computer (and I've owned quite a few let me say) that was able to deal with shadows properly without taking a hit to performance, SC4 is no different in this regards from what I recall, it's been atleast 2 or 3 months since I've played SC4.

The only time I turn on shadows in any game that I play is to take pretty screenshots.  Perhaps shadows are slowing down the game for you too.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: debaser on July 27, 2009, 12:00:18 PM
Quote from: City Builder on July 27, 2009, 11:18:01 AM
No, obviously it's not going to perform as well on a 600k population city as it is on an undeveloped landscape, however with shadows to minimum or off (i believe it's the lowest setting), scrolling around a 600k pop city is not any great bother.  Is there lag, Im sure there must be atleast a little, but it's really not a bother for my computer.  If however I simply turn on or raise the level of shadows and have too many trees on the map, then yes, I will experience some heavy heavy graphical lag on even a unbuilt landscape (although it takes a ABSOLUTELY HUGE amount of trees, like filling the landscape with them).

But my main point was that I wasn't aware that datpacker was supposed to do anything besides help the game to load faster, is this not the primary purpose of datpacker?

My computer was setup to be mainly for video and photo editing (hence the 8GB of RAM) but it plays all the games that I own first class if I simply turn off shadows or turn them to the lowest settings.  I've never owned a computer (and I've owned quite a few let me say) that was able to deal with shadows properly without taking a hit to performance, SC4 is no different in this regards from what I recall, it's been atleast 2 or 3 months since I've played SC4.

The only time I turn on shadows in any game that I play is to take pretty screenshots.  Perhaps shadows are slowing down the game for you too.

It could be.  I'll try turning them off.  Datpacker is purported to speed up a number of things aside from that which it was intended.  Just from what I've seen so far, it speeds up everything just a little but loading time, ironically, not so much.  But things like going from the zones data view back to the regular view, opening the parks menu or whatever...these things have sped up most noticeably for me. 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on July 27, 2009, 12:05:31 PM
Quote from: debaser on July 27, 2009, 12:00:18 PM
It could be.  I'll try turning them off.  Datpacker is purported to speed up a number of things aside from that which it was intended.  Just from what I've seen so far, it speeds up everything just a little but loading time, ironically, not so much.  But things like going from the zones data view back to the regular view, opening the parks menu or whatever...these things have sped up most noticeably for me. 

Yes things like opening the parks menu, if you have a lot of content and it's not packed, then it's slower than if the files are packed.  For me on my last install of SC4 when I had about 4GB of plugins, it dropped my load times from many minutes to only a couple minutes.  Of course if someone has no plugins or only 100 or some such small amount then the load time isn't going to be all that noticible since SC4 is perfectly capable of handling a reasonable amount of plugins when they are all loose files, it's only when you really start to collect the plugins that it starts to really slow down SC4's load time.  Right now Im up again at about 3.2GB Packed and the load times are still reasonable.  I dare say that if I were to put back in all the loose files instead of the packed files my load time would go up again.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: debaser on July 27, 2009, 01:13:13 PM
Yep.  I think I have this all straightened out now.  I took your suggestion to turn the shadows down and that worked okay.  But then I thought about software rendering.  I have a good graphics card but then you know SC4 is just screwy with that stuff and with the kind of software power that you and I must have, it should be able to do that, right?  Well, I tried it and it works great.  I even turned shadows back to high and it still works great.  Everything looks fine, and just as importantly there is NO lag at all.  Not even when zipping through the densest part of a big city...it's as smooth as it could possibly be. 

I say it looks fine, but there may be a little bit of a drop off in the graphics quality.  Honestly I can't tell but that would make sense.  But still if you're playing the game as in building a region, this solution works very well.  If you're doing a mayor diary then, yeah, you probably don't care as much about being able to move around and you can set it back and restart to make your illustrations or whatever.

So with this simple option clicked, cleanitol having dealt with my plugins file (which was not as big as yours but it's pretty big), and now the datpacker having it's way with the beast, SC4 is for the first time in my life working the way it ought to work.  So far anyway.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on July 27, 2009, 01:43:04 PM
I pay attention to threads like this since my machine is getting older now. Dell 3gh, 2gb ram, and a good video card back from 1985 when I bought this computer. Its been a great machine for SimCity. I had to start data packing when my plugins got into the 700mb area. Now I have 4.3gb of plugins and this machine runs fantastic. The only thing that never gets updated is the video card driver. Same one since May of 85. I have tried more current drivers but SimCity does not like them. I can scroll around pretty well in my bigger cities but I can see the improvement that the latest machines can give. I plan to buy or build a new machine in 2011 but I well still keep this baby in tip top running order just as backup. My how costs have come down on parts.  I upgraded to 1gb of ram in late 85 and it cost around $200 back then. Now I even have 2 extra sticks of ram (1gb each) for $50. One thing for sure though without data packer we would all be dead in the water.

Need to correct the date above its 2005 and not 1985. Did buy my first computer in 85 though a Victor and it cost a good $5000 back then. Was a great machine but the floppies didn't like the dust.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on July 28, 2009, 09:09:47 AM
Quote from: High5Tower on July 27, 2009, 01:43:04 PM

Need to correct the date above its 2005 and not 1985. Did buy my first computer in 85 though a Victor and it cost a good $5000 back then. Was a great machine but the floppies didn't like the dust.

Yeah I had a feeling that was something like that.  I remember, when SC4 first was announced (or shortly after that, I remember seeing screenshots and thinking I'd have to buy a new computer to play it), so I bought one on time on my Mobil Gasoline card (yeah they used to send offers like "buy this 486 dx25 with monitor for only $2500.00 on installments using your Mobil Gasoline card) so that I'd have a computer capable of playing SC4.  Prior to that I was still running on an old 386 computer used mostly to just play shareware games and or chat on old dialup BBS's.

Anyway, yeah datpacker is  great as it does allow us to use many more plugins than we might other wise be able to do.  I'm positive the developers never had any ideas that we might have as many plugins as we have available to us today when they were developing SC4.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: allan_kuan1992 on July 29, 2009, 10:29:33 PM
Umm... I know that Wou is currently away and has limited time to work on this... but is there a way to change the folder paths in the program? I have most of my downloaded programs in "I Plugins" and the DATpacked files in the "Plugins". Every time I run the program I have to rename the folders to "Plugins" and "Plugins I" respectively. If there was a way to customize the paths a little it would save me some time trying to find the folders and renaming them before and after running the program.

- Allan Kuan
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on July 30, 2009, 12:07:18 AM
I certainly am not arguing against configurable paths (in fact I'd say that FOR TOOLS I'd support that they ALL have configuration control... through .ini files or whatever) but in the case for SC4 the difficulty is that the world of SC4 basically revolves around the "standard path" and changing datpacker would have minimal impact on the overall issue.. for example many programs use "installers" that are singularly aimed, etc. just my 2 cents.. :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: brooksy10366 on August 12, 2009, 08:11:17 AM
hi,
   i was wondering if we could use the datpacker on the lex dvd? thank you for your help
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on August 20, 2009, 01:47:37 PM
Quote from: brooksy10366 on August 12, 2009, 08:11:17 AM
i was wondering if we could use the datpacker on the lex dvd? thank you for your help

Sure - it will pack anything.

But this brings up a related question I have about the DATPacker and the LEX DVD.  Many files on the DVD are duplicates of ones in my Plugins folder.  If I just DATPack everything together, will it essentially get rid of the duplicates, so that the resulting compressed files are no bigger than if I had culled the duplicates manually?  I wouldn't have thought so initially, but I've seen some hints that this might be the case.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: jmyers2043 on August 20, 2009, 07:05:01 PM
Quotewill it essentially get rid of the duplicates,

To some extent yes.

The Dat Packer will look at my BSC folder and all its subfolders. Examine, compress, and write the BSC.dat file. And I believe it will deal with duplicates within the BSC folder. It doesn't 'get rid' of them per se, but simply will not write the same file twice into the dat file.

But what if I have the SimGoober_Props_Vol 01 in my BSC and SimGoober folders? Not likely. The packer will examine the SimGoober folder in due course. Compress and write the SimGoober.dat file. In that case I will have the duplicated prop file in both dot dat files.

There are probably other good programs that find duplicate files. I wouldn't use the dat packer for that purpose as its primary function is to speed the loading process of the game. 

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on August 20, 2009, 09:15:18 PM
Quote from: jmyers2043 on August 20, 2009, 07:05:01 PM
... Examine, compress, and write the BSC.dat file. And I believe it will deal with duplicates within the BSC folder. It doesn't 'get rid' of them per se, but simply will not write the same file twice into the dat file.

I think that the effect you suggest is generally true, however unless the DatPacker has been modified it will simply overwrite (not refuse to overwrite as you've suggested above) the first info. This is why the ordering of files is important .. for example simulators or mods like the HSRP or the BSC Park Textures, etc needing to be in "z files or folders". DatPacker used to give a running output of "duplicate info" in the bottom window as it ran, but Wou removed that somewhere along the way.. perhaps because it was causing so many support questions from people that didn't understand what to do.. :)

Further as you suggest, datpacker basically does the same thing as the SC4 game at load time, so you are in effect "preprocessing" it.. It does however save a HUGE number of file handles.. cutting it from 100's of thousands sometimes to under 10 thousand. Some folk argue that in theory the datpacker should only help for "load times" but I and others have shown that it does in fact improve performance under certain conditions and the file handles count is the only thing I can think of that changes significantly..
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: High5Tower on August 20, 2009, 09:58:47 PM
To keep items in order I have 24 different main file folders that can be data packed individually.A new download is put in its appropriate folder and just that folder then needs to be data packed.
All Props (no BSC)
All Rewards & Landmarks
Big Name BATS
Big Box & Small Retail Stores
BSC BAT Props; BSC Mega Props; BSC Props; BSC Textures
CAM; CAM Commercial;  CAM Mega Props
City Wide Services
Commercial
Commercial stage 8
Current Likeables
Farm stuff
Industry
Mods & other important standards
Parks & Other related stuff
Pegrod
Residential
Residential stage 8
SG Mega packs
Transportation & Road
For the last couple of years this method has worked very well for me with around 4.5gb of plugins.
Of course there are many subfolders in each of the above listed main folders but you get the idea.
Gotta keep your ducks in a row. :thumbsup:


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on August 20, 2009, 10:40:05 PM
Quote from: SC4BOY on August 20, 2009, 09:15:18 PM
I think that the effect you suggest is generally true, however unless the DatPacker has been modified it will simply overwrite (not refuse to overwrite as you've suggested above) the first info.

So in other words, it sounds like I can ignore the duplicate files from the LEX DVD, and I won't get duplicates in the compressed files.  True?  I don't care if it takes a lot longer to DATPack the files - I hardly ever do it.  It sounds like it would be good to make the LEX DVD the first folder, though.

QuoteSome folk argue that in theory the datpacker should only help for "load times" but I and others have shown that it does in fact improve performance under certain conditions and the file handles count is the only thing I can think of that changes significantly..

I can tell you two other places where it makes a HUGE difference - even more than the initial load time.  The first is in the time required to return from the Zones view to the normal view.  The second is in returning from the new NAM Subway Building View to the normal view, since that is now essentially a modified version of the Zones view.  In both cases, the DATPacker cuts long waits down to almost nothing.  The reduced file handle count makes a lot of sense here.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on August 20, 2009, 11:53:11 PM
Quote from: z on August 20, 2009, 10:40:05 PM
So in other words, it sounds like I can ignore the duplicate files from the LEX DVD, and I won't get duplicates in the compressed files.  True?  I don't care if it takes a lot longer to DATPack the files - I hardly ever do it.  It sounds like it would be good to make the LEX DVD the first folder, though.

That's correct as long as an "outdated" file doesn't overwrite an "updated" file.. as I said they are order dependent.. they process files in "DOS order"

QuoteI can tell you two other places where it makes a HUGE difference - even more than the initial load time.  The first is in the time required to return from the Zones view to the normal view.  The second is in returning from the new NAM Subway Building View to the normal view, since that is now essentially a modified version of the Zones view.  In both cases, the DATPacker cuts long waits down to almost nothing.  The reduced file handle count makes a lot of sense here.

So we have more "YAY!" user datapoints? ;)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: olegario39 on September 06, 2009, 08:21:36 AM
Wouanagaine, is there a way to unpack the compressed file? i want to change a texture mod and i cant open the compressed file.  :'(

how should i do it? 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on September 06, 2009, 08:27:41 AM
The compressed file is not where you should do your mods and maintenance.. DatPacker was never aimed at that.. Maintain your original plugins folder contents and re-datpack it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: kyero on September 24, 2009, 10:53:43 AM
Am I just blind or where can I get the gem of a program called DatPacker?  My load times are getting bad and I sure could use some help.

Thanks

Kelly
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: io_bg on September 24, 2009, 11:08:46 AM
Quote from: kyero on September 24, 2009, 10:53:43 AM
Am I just blind or where can I get the gem of a program called DatPacker?  My load times are getting bad and I sure could use some help.

Thanks

Kelly

From the LEX ;) (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=26)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: kyero on September 25, 2009, 11:30:09 AM
This was wonderful. In completing my first datpacking I found a few things that I assume are true, but would like validation.

1. It would seem that all dat files need to be in sub folder for datpacker to include them in the packing, true?

2. It looks as if the only things that get compressed are the dat files, or at least that is the end result of the packing. Does this mean that the only thing that really needs to be in the plugins folder are the dat files? Everything else is additional info or unnecessary files?

3. I noticed that the instructions said 'not' to pack any of the essentials files. What will be the result if you do? I packed everything and the game seems to work just fine.

Thanks for the help!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on September 25, 2009, 11:36:56 AM
It packs the contents of the subdirectories into dat files.

The only reason not to pack essential files is that they are already packed.

Joe
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: kyero on September 25, 2009, 11:55:57 AM
So packing the essentials files to make one compressed folder in the plugins folder won't hurt anything. I just like it when I can simplify a process.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on September 25, 2009, 12:08:00 PM
Quote from: kyero on September 25, 2009, 11:30:09 AM
1. It would seem that all dat files need to be in sub folder for datpacker to include them in the packing, true?

Yes.  Each subfolder becomes a separate .dat file.  However, subfolders that it may contain become part of the same .dat file.

Quote
2. It looks as if the only things that get compressed are the dat files, or at least that is the end result of the packing. Does this mean that the only thing that really needs to be in the plugins folder are the dat files? Everything else is additional info or unnecessary files?

The .dat file type is actually a sort of miscellaneous file type.  So all files of types SC4MODEL, SC4DESC, SC4LOT, etc. are also packed.  Basically, anything that is needed for the operation of the game is packed.  Things like Readme files, JPG files, etc. are simply skipped.

Quote
3. I noticed that the instructions said 'not' to pack any of the essentials files. What will be the result if you do? I packed everything and the game seems to work just fine.

The problem with packing essential files is that if they change, you have to repack their containing folder.  For the same reason, you shouldn't pack the NAM, which has frequent updates, or RTMT, where packing would interfere with its customization options.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: kyero on September 25, 2009, 12:18:42 PM
Gotcha! Thanks a bunch. This really helps.  :P
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: slystone2 on November 19, 2009, 09:25:27 AM
hello, long time lurker, first time question-asker...

I have a couple of questions regarding datpacker

it's my understanding that packing NAM and essentials is only a bad idea because you would need to repack them if they are updated, not because it effects how those plugins behave, correct? So technically, repacking NAM and other dependancies is fine, it just means if you update you would need to repack.

Also, does packing effect large Mega packs in any way? Specifically the Simgoober Mega Packs that contain multiple lots/models - because there are so many lots already packed in those files, would including them in plugins folders that you Datpack effect their ability to grow or anything?

#3: What exactly is the "Repacking" option in the main Datpacker menu for?

Last question - if a file in a particular lot plugin is labled "PLOP" or "LM", is it okay to remove that file without effecting the growable lot? It's my understanding that as long as there is a model, a lot, and a file for the growable (labled with a R$$ or C$$, for example), the PLOP or LM (Landmark?) file aren't needed for the growable to function - they are just there to allow you to plop them. Correct or no?
The reason is, I don't use ploppables, and would like to trim down my Landmarks folder for easier access, and to trim my plugins folder for better performance as well. Seems like a waste of space to have all those PLOP and LM files there for no reason. I just don't want to screw anything up.

thanks in advance for any answers, love the site!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on November 19, 2009, 12:11:50 PM
Quote from: slystone2 on November 19, 2009, 09:25:27 AM
it's my understanding that packing NAM and essentials is only a bad idea because you would need to repack them if they are updated, not because it effects how those plugins behave, correct? So technically, repacking NAM and other dependancies is fine, it just means if you update you would need to repack.

Yes.

Quote
Also, does packing effect large Mega packs in any way? Specifically the Simgoober Mega Packs that contain multiple lots/models - because there are so many lots already packed in those files, would including them in plugins folders that you Datpack effect their ability to grow or anything?

No.

Quote
#3: What exactly is the "Repacking" option in the main Datpacker menu for?

I'm just putting my new computer together, so I don't have DatPacker up yet, and can't answer that.  Anyone else?

Quote
Last question - if a file in a particular lot plugin is labled "PLOP" or "LM", is it okay to remove that file without effecting the growable lot?

Yes; I do that all the time.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on November 19, 2009, 12:36:44 PM
IIRC, "Force Repacking" means to compile a DAT from scratch. If you just want to update a DAT, you can simply add the new loose files to the folder with the DAT and merge everything into a new DAT. But like with the NAM items, some files might be obsolete in future versions, so I wouldn't trust the automatisms too much, but rather use your uncompressed source folder, update the files manually and prune it from outdated stuff, and then run DatPacker for creating a fresh copy of the DAT(s).
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: slystone2 on November 19, 2009, 12:39:02 PM
Great! Thanks to both of you for confirming those things, i really appreciate it!  &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on November 19, 2009, 01:56:34 PM
Hi

Quote from: slystone2 on November 19, 2009, 09:25:27 AM
it's my understanding that packing NAM and essentials is only a bad idea because you would need to repack them if they are updated, not because it effects how those plugins behave, correct? So technically, repacking NAM and other dependancies is fine, it just means if you update you would need to repack.
yes, rerun datpacker as soon as you add new files or change files in your plugins folder


Quote from: slystone2 on November 19, 2009, 09:25:27 AM
Also, does packing effect large Mega packs in any way? Specifically the Simgoober Mega Packs that contain multiple lots/models - because there are so many lots already packed in those files, would including them in plugins folders that you Datpack effect their ability to grow or anything?
no, the gameplay should be identical with or without datpacked files, only the load speed, and stability is better with datpacked files

Quote from: slystone2 on November 19, 2009, 09:25:27 AM
#3: What exactly is the "Repacking" option in the main Datpacker menu for?
By default, if you rerun datpacker on an already packed folder, it will re create the packed file only if it detects a modification in the folder. Sometimes datpacker is unable to detect such a modification, so you'll have to check that option to force it to rebuild the file

Quote from: slystone2 on November 19, 2009, 09:25:27 AM
Last question - if a file in a particular lot plugin is labled "PLOP" or "LM", is it okay to remove that file without effecting the growable lot? It's my understanding that as long as there is a model, a lot, and a file for the growable (labled with a R$$ or C$$, for example), the PLOP or LM (Landmark?) file aren't needed for the growable to function - they are just there to allow you to plop them. Correct or no?
The reason is, I don't use ploppables, and would like to trim down my Landmarks folder for easier access, and to trim my plugins folder for better performance as well. Seems like a waste of space to have all those PLOP and LM files there for no reason. I just don't want to screw anything up.
yes, as far as you can trust the name to reflect the function of the file
Title: Useless files
Post by: markouellette on December 13, 2009, 12:58:04 PM
Big time reduction on program and city loading times, as well as improvement on in game play speed. &apls

A while ago a question was posed about getting more information on files noted as "Useless files, all entries have been superseed in..."
I can't see a respone, and was wondering the same thing.  Are these files that have since been combined into Megapacks?  Can I delete them? There are lots, models .desc files and .sav files coming up with this message.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 13, 2009, 01:05:08 PM
I won't bother delete them, to much hassle to find them and not sure you'll get that much harddrive space back

"Useless files" are useless because there is one or more files that redefines all of what the useless file defined, and they are loaded after this one

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: markouellette on December 16, 2009, 10:14:03 PM
Thanks Wouanagaine.  Since it ain't broke, I won't fix it.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Jonathan on January 23, 2010, 02:04:25 PM
Is there anyway to change the location of where Datpacker looks for folder to pack?
Because I'd like to have folder where I install my plugins(and the game doesn't see this folder), then run datpacker which datpacks them into the plugins folder for the game to read.

Jonathan
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on January 23, 2010, 02:09:34 PM
No, but you can do it the other way, let SC4 use another folderwith the -userdir option and let SC4DP scan My Docs\Plugins and pack to the userdir folder

That is how I'm playing



Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: daolian89 on February 16, 2010, 01:22:41 AM
I repacked my plugins with it then i realised that there was an plugin i dont want,i tried to remove it from my the .dat file  i had repacked using BSC cleanitol but  nothing was removed? Anyone know how to remove it from dat file?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on February 16, 2010, 03:55:25 AM
Move your backupped individual files (to be more precise, the folder that you DATpacked and which contains the unwanted plugin), remove said plugin, run DATpacker again to create a new DAT from that folder and delete the old one.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: hazsmix on March 14, 2010, 05:10:51 AM
hey
this is a great tool, no more crashes
just a question: does the force repack 'repackage' the files (ie so you dont have to recompile) or do you have to keep all the uncompressed files (out of the plugins folder) so you can keep adding mods?
thanks heaps for this great tool btw
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: BarbyW on March 14, 2010, 05:52:42 AM
I keep all the original files in their folders and repack each time I add new stuff. That way if there are problems you can go back and find them easily with out having to deal with huge packed files.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Builder on March 14, 2010, 02:51:45 PM
The way that I work it is that I've got a folder named PluginsU where all my "un"packed files are located.  I then datpack them to PluginsC.  When I want to datpack, I rename my PluginsU to Plugins (deleting the current Plugins folder).  Then datpacker goes to work and creates PluginsC for me.  When it's done I rename Plugins to PluginsU and rename PluginsC to Plugins.

So now all my unpacked plugins are in PluginsU and my packed files are in Plugins like they shoudl be.

When I add new files I add them to both Plugins and PluginsU and test them out in the game (if they're ploppable).  So now the new additions are in both the unpacked plugins folder and they are also "unpacked" in the packed folder inside of a folder the name of which is your choice, mine is simply named unpacked.

When I get enough (your choice how many) new plugins added to the game I simply delete the Plugins folder again (remember that all the new files are also in your PluginsU folder) and rename PluginsU to Plugins, then run datpacker again when it recreates the PluginsC folder with all the packed files.  When it's done I rename Plugins to PluginsU and rename PluginsC to Plugins and all is synced up again in packed files.


Anyway, that's the way that I have been dealing with adding new files.

But I too wonder what the force repack option does and if it would make transfering around all these files and renaming folders obsolete by using that option or if I'm already doing it the most efficient way possible?

Thanks,

Edit: I also use a small program named dupit to find duplicate (before packing my files) files so that if I've added any new files of which I already had them I can remove them from my plugins before packing them.  Very useful little program, until an author decides to repack his files into a new file with a different name as I've seen some authors do between here and some of the other sites that have an exchange.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Crazy_Ivan80 on April 30, 2010, 11:45:58 AM
Tried to reinstall the latest version but no dice. The installer itself crashes on me :(
Shame cause I could really use it right now.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Panda_Power on May 04, 2010, 12:10:38 AM
Hello!

Could someone help with this Dat Packer problem? I keep getting the following error message to do with one mod...the DT Keaton Plaza and I really need it as it is a dependency for a CAM mod:

********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Mark\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Misc\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0x00000010:{"Exemplar Type"}=Uint32:0:{Buildings}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Mark\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Misc\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0x27812832:{"Wealth"}=Uint8:0:{High Wealth}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Mark\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Misc\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0x27812833:{"Purpose"}=Uint8:0:{Office}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Mark\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Misc\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0xAA1DD396:{"OccupantGroups"}=Uint32:6:{Building: Commercial,Building: CO$$$,Style: Chicago,Style: New York,Style: Houston,Style: Euro}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x2D2D42D9L 0xD658243L
located in C:\Mark\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Misc\DT_Keaton Plaza Growable.dat
0xAA83558F:{"Crane Hints"}=Uint8:0:{Outer Then Inner Crane}
*************************************************

My plugins folder is at 1.5GB and the rest of the contents pack fine except for this one mod! I have tried splitting the files into folders of less than 1GB, but it didn't make any difference...this mod still errors.

Thanks!

*edit*
I have 2 files in my plugins folder that relate to this error:

DT_Keaton Plaza Growable (dat file)
KEATON PLAZA-0x5ad0e817_0x2d2d42d9_0x640000.SC4Model
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on May 04, 2010, 12:26:36 AM
For CAM dependencies, the only file you need, and the only file you should use, is the model file.  I'm not sure why you're getting errors with the Growable file (although it looks like it might be errors in the file), but you really shouldn't be using it if you're using CAM.

In your other CAM dependencies you should also remove files other than the model files, although you should be sure to bulldoze any growable buildings that arose from these files in your cities first.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Panda_Power on May 04, 2010, 01:32:43 AM
Oh...didn't realize that! Now that I've looked closer at my plugins folder I can see that the CAM folder has all the lot files in it and the corresponding model files are in the main plugins folder. I've been installing mods that are CAMpatible and putting all the files in my plugins folder!

Just noticed as well that the Keaton Plaza is in there twice as CAM Residential and CAM commercial.....probably the reason for the Dat Packer error!

Thanks for your help...looks like I really need to reorganize my plugins folder!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on May 05, 2010, 12:32:22 AM
Only the original lot is giving you the error, not the CAMelots. Indeed, the CAMelot starter packs use several buildings on multiple lots, but they don't conflict with each other in any way.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: MOREOPTIONS on May 17, 2010, 11:39:11 AM
Before I would use this Dat Packer. is there a way i can see the contents of my dat's before. so i may be able to rem things i dont whant or need?  Thank you..
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on May 17, 2010, 01:49:06 PM
Ilive's Reader (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?topic=6532.0) will show all.  But there's no way to comment out things that you don't want; you basically just need to copy them to someplace outside your Plugins folder.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: kaylacey on May 18, 2010, 12:26:13 PM
I want to know when files are dat-packed, say a dependency I need is in PEG.dat on my computer, but the file calls for PEGPROD.dat on the dependency listing, will I get a brown box? 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Andreas on May 18, 2010, 12:31:08 PM
File names are completely irrelevant for the game, only the content (or the IDs of the content, to be precise) needs to fulfil the requirements. The only case where file names are relevant is the loading order (needed for some mods in particular) of certain items.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: xxdita on May 28, 2010, 02:22:46 PM
I'm getting a new error. mfc71.dll is missing. Win7 Home Ultimate 64bit, pretty fresh install.

dll is available from here (http://www.dll-files.com/dllindex/dll-files.shtml?mfc71). dll installed and no more problems.

- Nate
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Dime3us on June 04, 2010, 04:55:39 PM
At first, too, was an error about missing mfc71.dll. I downloaded and copied this dll into the folder of the program. Now just offers to watch the log. And there is -

Quote
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPacker.py", line 1, in ?
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2822, in ?
pywintypes.error: (5, 'RegOpenKeyEx', '\xce\xf2\xea\xe0\xe7\xe0\xed\xee \xe2 \xe4\xee\xf1\xf2\xf3\xef\xe5.')

OS Win7 Ultimate 32bit
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: sim-city_freak on June 21, 2010, 05:32:38 PM
Hello i need help with this error,

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2200, in WriteADat
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 1879, in Copy
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 1779, in IsBinary
AttributeError: Examplar instance has no attribute 'sig'

it only happened to a specific folder that i was datpacking all the other ones were fine.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 22, 2010, 12:15:34 AM
Dime3us, a vey strange log as it doesn't report any function, I can't help you, I only can guess it looks like the problem with 'My docs' under a folder starting with a 'u'

sim-city_freak, looks like a file is not understood by SC4DP, can you do a binary search on that folder to find it out and then either post it here or provide a download links so we can look at it ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: sim-city_freak on June 22, 2010, 05:05:27 AM
i am rather inexperienced at these things :(, so how do a do a binary search on my computer?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on June 22, 2010, 06:22:44 AM
take out half of your files in the problematic folder, try to datpack, if it is ok, then the problematic file is in the other half, if not ok it is in that half

repeat until you're left with only one file, it is the problematic file
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: sim-city_freak on June 25, 2010, 07:21:35 AM
ok after much delay i have finally did it.
it is this file. i dat backed everything else just to double check and they worked out fine
http://www.simtropolis.com/stex/details.cfm?id=11396&v=1
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Dethsrow on July 08, 2010, 01:59:00 PM
Could someone explain this to me................

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2351, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2293, in VerifyNew
OSError: [Errno 38] Filename too long

I keep having this problem but im illiterate to what it means
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on July 08, 2010, 02:26:55 PM
looks like there is either :
- a plugin file with a very long name
- your folders hierarchy is too deep
- you have a folder hierarchy with long folder name and the concatenation of all names exceeds the system capacity

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on July 08, 2010, 02:31:36 PM
sim-city_freak
the file raxincplop_8eee90a8.SC4Lot in the plugin you pointed is totally wreck
delete it with no fear and you might contact the author of this file to let him know


Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: dragonshardz on July 08, 2010, 06:38:42 PM
Hey Wouanagaine,

I've got my Plugins in a directory other than the default. Is there a way to make DatPacker look in the custom directory instead of the default?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on July 08, 2010, 09:32:37 PM
Quote from: dragonshardz on July 08, 2010, 06:38:42 PM
Hey Wouanagaine,

I've got my Plugins in a directory other than the default. Is there a way to make DatPacker look in the custom directory instead of the default?

It's simple enough instead to direct SC4 to look elsewhere and use the default directory as your "unpacked maintenance directory". Use this startup:
"C:\Program Files\Maxis\SimCity 4 Deluxe\Apps\SimCity 4.exe" -userdir:"C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins PAK\" -intro:off -f CPUCount:2 -customresolution:enabled -r1280x768

The -userdir is the relevant element.. That folder MUST be structured exactly as SC4 expects to find it or startup will fail. Use your standard Plugins directory to store and maintain all unpacked elements.

Put this into the DatPacker window to cause DatPacker to put the "packed" files in the proper spot instead of in your Plugins directory:
C:\Documents and Settings\Dad\My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins PAK\Plugins\Plugins_compressed

This will put the plugins_compressed there. NOTE: Don't forget to copy any "root" plugins files such as "essentials" files to that same directory as DatPacker doesn't touch those! You must also copy all unpacked folders in this directory too or SC4 won't find them! :) .. for example some people don't pack the NAM folder.. you must copy that here, etc

Good luck

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on July 08, 2010, 11:38:58 PM
I can't have said it better :)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: City Planner on August 08, 2010, 08:44:39 AM
I just want to say that this is a great time saving tool.  &apls
I have over 8GB of Plugins which compressed to about 6.5gb. 

I can tell you that the game runs like there are NO plugins in the folder, it runs like new.  It went from taking 20 minutes to loading the game to 2 minutes.   Plugins show up on the menu in 1 second. (plazas and landmarks take about 5-8 seconds). 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mindaugas on August 18, 2010, 02:53:18 PM
This may seem like an easy question, and sorry if it has been addressed already. From the readme "Do not move or compress the essentials files, They should stay on your root plugins" -- what are the "essential files" mentioned in that quote?

Or are essential files, basically mod files? IE below:

"Move all mods away (Terrain and tree mods, nam, support files, essentials, stuff in zzz folders, slope mod, basically anything that is not a lot or a bat) - For me I always have these files in my maxis/simcity/plugins folder and not in mydocuments/simcity/plugins - see further explanation below)."

I was having some weird issues with dat packer and I think maybe it's because I packed everything.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on August 18, 2010, 06:53:05 PM
essentials files contain the name "essentials" in the name... ie BSC_essentials.dat  All essentials should be in the root of either of your plugins directories and datpacker does not target compression at files in the root.

If packing everything (without any other maintenance or mods and without "ingame" alterations such as by the simulator controller) causes a problem, likely your problem is in your plugins, not in DatPacker... You will have to be more specific, but I'd look to problems in your plugins. This thread contains references to specific problems, but I'd gather you have not read it. I suggest you do so.

This does not imply that you should or should not datpack everything, just indicative in the way datpacker works. There are reasons not to datpack, but not because of the datpacker itself, rather due to other issues in using, maintaining, adjusting, etc your plugins.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Lowkee33 on August 19, 2010, 08:51:00 AM
SC4BOY has a good point.  SimCity reads the plugins in alphabetical order.  Files that start with zzz do so because they aught to be loaded last, and datpacking them into one file will loose that identity.

I dont have any individual files in my plugin folder, but have named folders in proper alphabetical order.  Within those folders are datapacked files.  For example, I have NAM datpacked, within a folder called NAM.  All of my lots are datpacked in my plugins (in a folder called options), but I keep them individual (and well ordered) outside of SimCity.

BTW, I am not sure that the files literally named "essential" should not be datpacked.  I think essential means the examples that mindaugas spoke of.  However, they can be datpacked, just not into each other, and not out of the needed alphabetical order             
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mindaugas on August 19, 2010, 11:45:16 AM
Thanks, those explanations are great. Sorry, I did not mean to imply this was the fault of dat packer. I'll pull out all "essential" files and zzz and place them in the root to be safe.

...this is a VERY long thread. Specific issues should be posted in their own threads so they can be searched, as I should have done. I didn't realize Dat packer had it's own forum. Thought it was just this single thread.  &ops
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on August 19, 2010, 01:08:20 PM
I've always DatPacked my "essential" files, and never had a problem.  I don't see why there should be one.  I don't DatPack the "zzz" folders, however, since that does defeat their purpose of being last.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: monnikje on September 08, 2010, 09:32:18 AM
Just a small note to thank you for this wonderfull program :).

I also ran into some trouble, but just before I wanted to ask you guys for help, I found the solution. I don't know if it's posted over here before (didn't find it yet, but I might have overlooked it, and I haven't read through this entire topic yet), but in case it hasn't, I want to share it with you.

The problem:
I'm using Windows 7, which has MSVCP71.DLL and MFC71.DLL in the c:\Windows\System32 directory. I couldn't find GDIPLUS.DLL, so I downloaded that, and installed it also in that directory. Despite me having the three necessary dll's, the program still wouldn't run, and the logfile made the first errorlog displayed in the readme. What was wrong?

The attempts:
I tried putting these three dll's also in the c:\Windows\system and c:\Windows\SysWOW64 directories, without any improvements. I also tried to register those dll's using Start -> Run -> regsvr32 (both the 32bits version in the SysWoW64 directory and the 64bits version in the System32 directory), but that only resulted in an errormessage (DllRegister Server entry point was not found) for each of the three. I also tried to download MSVCP71.DLL and MFC71.DLL and replace the Windows 7 files by these. This didn't solve my problem, ánd made my Windows buggy.

The Solution:
It's so simple... I downloaded the three dll's and put them in my empty c:\Windows\system directory. Everything works fine now. So I don't use the dll's already present in Windows 7, but instead put those old ones in the empty system-directory.

It works like a charm. Really many thanks for the program!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on September 08, 2010, 11:20:26 AM
Nice solution, you can also put thoses dll next to the exe
In that case if you have also some of my others tools, you'll need to copy them in each folder

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Moonraker0 on October 03, 2010, 09:02:40 AM
Hmm...I'm having the same problem as someone posted a while back.  I get these errors while trying to DATPack.  The files mentioned in the error message are all new downloads that I haven't DATPacked before.  I used iLive Reader to correct the building style exemplars for all of these files, which, since these edits are the first I've done with iLive Reader after reinstalling Windows, leads me to believe that somehow iLive Reader is corrupting the files in the eyes of DATPacker.  However, I can still open the supposedly corrupt files with Reader just fine.  The previous post reporting this problem had replies telling the user to check if the files are in a mega pack, but of course these problematic files are not (as they are new uploads).  Here are the errors given by SC4DATPacker:

********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x765AB520L 0xB9B1253EL
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\Blok37\Blok37-b_R$7_9x2_b9b1253e.SC4Lot
0x27812810:{"Occupant Size"}=Float32:3:{Width: 135.39700317, Height: 67.81099701, Depth: 17.52000046}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x765AB520L 0xB9B1253EL
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\Blok37\Blok37-b_R$7_9x2_b9b1253e.SC4Lot
0x27812851:{"Pollution at center"}=Sint32:4:{Air: 0x00000016, Water: 0x00000006, Garbage: 0x00000004, Radiation: 0x00000000}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x765AB520L 0xB9B1253EL
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\Blok37\Blok37-b_R$7_9x2_b9b1253e.SC4Lot
0x68EE9764:{"Pollution radii"}=Float32:4:{Air: 5, Water: 5, Garbage: 0, Radiation: 0}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0xD692584CL 0x99A54886L
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\Boutique Shops - Dark Nite\CS$$$5_1x3_BoutiqueShops_GROW.SC4Lot
0x27812810:{"Occupant Size"}=Float32:3:{Width: 15.75, Height: 35, Depth: 45.5}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0xD692584CL 0x99A54886L
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\Boutique Shops - Dark Nite\CS$$$5_1x3_BoutiqueShops_GROW.SC4Lot
0x27812851:{"Pollution at center"}=Sint32:4:{Air: 0x00000004, Water: 0x00000003, Garbage: 0x00000006, Radiation: 0x00000000}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0xD692584CL 0x99A54886L
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\Boutique Shops - Dark Nite\CS$$$5_1x3_BoutiqueShops_GROW.SC4Lot
0x68EE9764:{"Pollution radii"}=Float32:4:{Air: 6, Water: 7, Garbage: 0, Radiation: 0}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x57237D2FL 0x59AFE11CL
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\chow tai fook center\Chow Tai Fook Centre-0x6534284a-0x57237d2f-0x59afe11c.SC4Desc
0x27812810:{"Occupant Size"}=Float32:3:{Width: 113.88500214, Height: 534.41699219, Depth: 77.80000305}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x57237D2FL 0x59AFE11CL
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\chow tai fook center\Chow Tai Fook Centre-0x6534284a-0x57237d2f-0x59afe11c.SC4Desc
0x27812851:{"Pollution at center"}=Sint32:4:{Air: 0x00000000, Water: 0x00000000, Garbage: 0x00000000, Radiation: 0x00000000}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x57237D2FL 0x59AFE11CL
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\chow tai fook center\Chow Tai Fook Centre-0x6534284a-0x57237d2f-0x59afe11c.SC4Desc
0x68EE9764:{"Pollution radii"}=Float32:4:{Air: 0, Water: 0, Garbage: 0, Radiation: 0}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x9729F905L 0x19A7C144L
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\PvM_Admirant\de Admirant-0x6534284a-0x9729f905-0x19a7c144.SC4Desc
0x27812810:{"Occupant Size"}=Float32:3:{Width: 25, Height: 106, Depth: 40.37400055}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x9729F905L 0x19A7C144L
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\PvM_Admirant\de Admirant-0x6534284a-0x9729f905-0x19a7c144.SC4Desc
0x27812851:{"Pollution at center"}=Sint32:4:{Air: 0x0000000A, Water: 0x0000000A, Garbage: 0x0000000F, Radiation: 0x00000000}
*************************************************
********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0x9729F905L 0x19A7C144L
located in C:\Users\Sam Korson\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\BATs, Lots\PvM_Admirant\de Admirant-0x6534284a-0x9729f905-0x19a7c144.SC4Desc
0x68EE9764:{"Pollution radii"}=Float32:4:{Air: 5, Water: 6, Garbage: 0, Radiation: 0}
*************************************************
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Lowkee33 on October 03, 2010, 09:43:25 AM
First I would recommend that you dont post full names.

   I am quite certain that this is a problem with Reader.  The new version gives me troubles editing exemplars.  I can tell the problem has happened because when I change a stat and click "apply" the screen appears to flash.  The properties that are listed in your post are changed after that flash (a conformation of that would be great).  I believe the properties get changed to invalid numbers, and every "observant" program will have problems (DatPacker, PIMX, SimCity4) with them.  I have posted this problem in the Reader support thread.

   Best bet is to use a different program to change styles.  They are: PIMX (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?board=180.0), SC4tools (http://sc4devotion.com/forums/index.php?board=17.0), or an old version of Reader.  If you are doing quick/small changes like building style my opinion is that SC4tools is best.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mika880829 on November 08, 2010, 08:43:25 AM
Quote from: wouanagaine on January 16, 2007, 05:51:52 AM
This is a place holder for those who have registered to the BSC LEX and had downloaded SC4DatPacker

If you have any problems, questions, comments, just put them here




Thanks for sharing!
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: MattyFo on December 16, 2010, 04:14:26 PM
I tried opening the datpacker today to try and find a plugin I want removed.  I was unable to open it and got this error message.

"It seems there is no subfolder in your plugins folder located at:
C:/.......
Program will now exit."

There are plenty of subfolders in my plugins folder!!! Anyone know what is going on?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 16, 2010, 11:14:03 PM
Does the the path SC4DP show you is correct ( ie the "c:\...." points to your MyDocuments\Simcity 4\Plugins ) ?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: MattyFo on December 18, 2010, 03:37:38 PM
yes it points to the correct place in my documents folder.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 19, 2010, 03:47:49 AM
Can you put the full path here or in PM if you prefer to keep it private and a path to the first subfolder of your plugins folder please ?

and if there is a SC4DatPacker.exe.log in your SC4Datpacker installation folder, please show us it content ( you can open it with notepad )

Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: MattyFo on December 19, 2010, 02:45:28 PM
The path described in the error message is
"C:\Users\Matt Forest\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins"

There is no SC4DatPacker.exe.log in my installation folder,  If I uninstal and then reinstall the program would that cause any problems with my already compressed Plugins folder?

- Matt
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 20, 2010, 12:46:04 AM
No problem if you reisntall it ( make sure you install this one : http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=26 )

What is your OS btw ?

Edit : Make sure you've installed SC4 correctly with the original installation disk and not from any other sources
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: skell on December 29, 2010, 05:55:07 AM
Wouanagaine,

I used the DatPacker for the first time yesterday and I have to congratulate you on such a remarkable tool.  It cut my loading times by at least half, if not 3/4.  At first, I ran into problems with the program giving me an error about running out of memory.  I decided that it was due to the huge Dependency subfolder that I have (close to 2 GB or however much is on the LEX DVD plus a anything after that I've grabbed).  I ended up moving the Dependencies out and then packing the rest of the files together and then moving the Dependencies back in. Given that the Dependencies are largely .dat files, I don't imagine this will cause any problems.

I do have a question about how the DatPacker works.  Let's say I download 5 new buildings on the LEX and each creates a separate subfolder.  I read on the board how some people will re-pack their entire set of plugins each time they get new content.  Is that necessary?  If were to run the DatPacker on my directory with the new plugins, which has a handful of loose essential files, Plugins_Compressed and Dependencies, and the 5 new folders, will DatPacker just insert the newly packed .dats into Plugins_Compressed or would it create a Plugins_Compressed(2) folder?  Or do you suggest for stability purposes to put the new 5 folders with my Spares and repack the whole thing again?  Hopefully that makes some sense. 

Thanks again.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on December 29, 2010, 10:09:44 AM
Hi Skell

Thanks for using SC4DP

For your question, SC4DP first checks that nothing is new in the already packed folder, by comparing the date of files in that folder and the corresponding packed file ( in Plugin_Compressed ) so it is safe to repack everything ( but Plugins_Compressed !!! ) as in normal case nothing changed and it will only pack the new 5 folders in your case

For effeciency however I recommend you put your new 5 folders in your "Spares" folder and repack it. This will not increase the number of packed files and so SC4 will keep loading fast

Take care
Wouanagaine
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: skell on December 29, 2010, 12:59:14 PM
Thanks for the input.

Now that I'm back up and running smoothly, hopefully I can get started again on a couple of good looking regions (I'm debating between a heavily planned out region for a big city and my usual more organically grown region).  If only I could guarantee that work wouldn't get in the way. 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: rjinmd on February 14, 2011, 10:17:02 PM
I downloaded SC4DatPacker and read the readme file.  It advised to go to DLLdownloads.com to download 3 files.  I went to the site, but when I hit the free download link at the bottom of the page, it never gave me the download.  It appears that many people that visit the site have that problem and others do not. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.  Any suggestions?  Is there another site I could go to for those three downloads?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: wouanagaine on February 15, 2011, 01:04:17 AM
if yuo can't download from dlldownloads try to google for the 3 dlls to find another download site
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: MattyFo on April 24, 2011, 03:03:45 PM
Before I do anything dumb and cost myself a whole lot of time I figure I should ask here first.  Here's my current situation.

I am switching Terrain Mods, luckily my old terrain mod was not compressed so it is removed. However,  the texture dependancies are compressed and I want to remove them because i don't like the way the beach textures.  The texture packs are in the TSC folder.  So If I were to delete the compressed TSC DAT file.  Then go into my "plugins disabled" folder, remove the texture packs, copy the "new" TSC file, place it in my active plugins file, recompress that TSC file, would all work fine?  I would hate to have to find, and reistall all my great TSC addons.

To sum up that long, confusing spiel I am basically asking how to remove a plugin that is compressed and hidden in one of the compressed files.

Thanks in advance,
-Matt
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Lowkee33 on April 24, 2011, 03:25:45 PM
QuoteI am switching Terrain Mods, luckily my old terrain mod was not compressed so it is removed. However,  the texture dependancies are compressed and I want to remove them because i don't like the way the beach textures.  The texture packs are in the TSC folder.  So If I were to delete the compressed TSC DAT file.  Then go into my "plugins disabled" folder, remove the texture packs, copy the "new" TSC file, place it in my active plugins file, recompress that TSC file, would all work fine?  I would hate to have to find, and reistall all my great TSC addons.

Should work, just don't datpack the beaches back in.  :P.  There also may be stray files in your Compressed file, but hopefully you have a good recollection of what you did.

Easier may be to do this in Reader.  The beach textures are instance 0x00000#39.  The # represents the five zooms, and you will find that digit to be a 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.  Remove all five beach textures.  Many beach mods also have the lower and deep sea textures too, and those are 0x00000013, and 0x00000014 (with the respective zooms).

Cliffs are 0x00000#44, but water is different. Water is 0x0918730#, where the # are  the zooms (like a base texture).
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: markouellette on May 07, 2011, 12:01:32 PM
Love this! my start-up time is only about 20% of what it used to be.

Is there a way to unpack a DAT file?  I don't mean the one created by dat packer, but I have a few files downloaded as collections that have some buildings I don't like; and other collections that only have a few things I do like.  I'd like to be able to remove just the things I don't want rather than have to bulldoze them every time they grow.

Thanks.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on May 07, 2011, 01:09:23 PM
Use Ilive's Reader for this, and just delete the exemplars of the buildings and lots that you don't want to grow.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 12, 2011, 09:42:35 PM
I've got a question for everybody, which IMO will help everyone save time:

Has anyone made a cumulative list of what is recommend or suggested not to DatPack?

I've heard some people not to DatPack the NAM and the SPAM, but I wanted to get your opinions first.

EDIT: I just read through the whole thread, and I'm pretty convinced not to DatPack the NAM folder.

I, however, got this error in the process:

********************* ERROR *********************
in examplar 0x6534284AL 0xD3D5AF87L 0x1491265EL
located in C:\Users\<I HID MY NAME LULZ>\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\CAM\SFBT\Pre-Fabs\R$9_4x4_SFBT Pre-Fab Low Rise Double Block.SC4Lot

*************************************************


I had a million more about the Keaton Plaza, but I read through on what to do with them. ;)

And then... I get 114 superseded files. I'll take them out of my plugins folder, but if something goes wrong... It's your door I busting down, Wou. :P
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 17, 2011, 07:32:28 AM
Hey wou,

What filesystem does the DatPacker follow? FAT/FAT32 or NTFS? It would be good to know how deep I can make the folder hierarchy.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on May 17, 2011, 10:42:31 AM
I would guess that it reads through the Windows 'Logical' VFS, in which case it doesnt care on how deep you go (though you might hit issues with inception). All it does is take each file it finds in a directory (recursively) and appends it to the outputted file, in the special format of sc4files (DBPF).
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 17, 2011, 02:37:01 PM
Weren't there cases for filenames being too long, or having too many directories? That's why I asked.



Also, using logical and virtual in the same sentence.  $%Grinno$%
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: SC4BOY on May 18, 2011, 02:38:36 AM
Quote from: legoman786 on May 17, 2011, 02:37:01 PM
Weren't there cases for filenames being

it  would take you only a few seconds to test this.. move it and see if it matters
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: FrankU on May 18, 2011, 02:44:31 AM
Quote from: markouellette on May 07, 2011, 12:01:32 PM
Love this! my start-up time is only about 20% of what it used to be.

Is there a way to unpack a DAT file?  I don't mean the one created by dat packer, but I have a few files downloaded as collections that have some buildings I don't like; and other collections that only have a few things I do like.  I'd like to be able to remove just the things I don't want rather than have to bulldoze them every time they grow.

Thanks.


I would copy the original file, rename it and then start deleting. Otherwise you will confuse the original and the edited file someday.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 26, 2011, 07:42:37 PM
Can the DatPacker successfully pack a folder with 2.35GB of data?

I'm trying to DatPack my BSC folder and it keeps telling me that it doesn't have enough memory to continue.

It has 4,359 files and 827 folders.

Analyzes the files, packs BSC.dat (it needs to go up to BSC005.dat, I've seen it myself), then hangs on that error.

It's really driving me nuts.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2701, in OnStart
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2358, in RecurseAllFilesFull
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2450, in BuildIt
  File "datPackerApp.pyo", line 2268, in WriteADat
WindowsError: [Errno 8] Not enough storage is available to process this command


Before you ask how much RAM I have, it's 4GB. Windows Task Manager is telling me that I have 50% of it free. My hard disk has 136GB free, so I really don't know what the heck is going on.

Also, Win Task Mgr is reporting that the DatPacker is using ~690MB of RAM when it hangs.

Somebody tell me there is a fix.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Lowkee33 on May 27, 2011, 06:45:02 AM
Well, there is a limit to the file size that SimCity can read, so your 2.4 gigs wouldn't be pakced as one file anyway.

Best to just datpack small sections at a time. 
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 27, 2011, 08:17:52 AM
The DatPacker would split the files automatically. Thing is, when it finished packing the first file, it would hang.

I've found a workaround, of sorts. That is to split the folder into 2 (or more if needed) and DatPack the smaller folders.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on May 27, 2011, 11:54:14 AM
Quote from: legoman786 on May 27, 2011, 08:17:52 AM
I've found a workaround, of sorts. That is to split the folder into 2 (or more if needed) and DatPack the smaller folders.

My Plugins folder is over 4GB, and so I have to do the same thing.  It seems to be required when you have huge folders.

However, I've had DatPacker split files successfully into at least three parts before hanging.  Do you have the latest version of the DatPacker?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 27, 2011, 10:06:14 PM
Yes, I grabbed the latest version off the LEX. This is my first time using it in the many years I've been playing SC4.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rady on May 29, 2011, 01:27:06 AM
Hello

I run into a small problem: due to performance matters, I had to move my "My Documents" folder form drive C: to drive D:. However, the SC4 Deluxe installation remained on drive C,  as did the plugins folder. So basically I kept the old directory structure "C:\...\My Documents\SimCity4\Plugins" just for the SC4 plugins despite the official "My DOcuments" folder now resides on "D:\My Documents". Initially I inteded to move the plugins as well, but that caused problems with the SC4 DIC (Donwload & Installation Catalogue) I'm using.

Now when I start up the DatPacker, it per default looks into what Windows says to be the "My DOcuments" folder, which in my case is located on D-drive. That way, DatPacker get's the wrong information about what to pack. See screenie below.

Official "My DOcuments" folder as set up in Windows

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg11.imageshack.us%2Fimg11%2F1663%2Fdat1c.jpg&hash=2a482cba89f5a716a376af439df99ce0f0f4743b)

"Old" location which is still used for SC4

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg4.imageshack.us%2Fimg4%2F9719%2Fdat2l.jpg&hash=9895b02a667d24d964a36d5f7e251b7b10f41f27)

That's how DatPacker recognizes the content of the D:\..\Plugins folder (the "wrong" one):

(https://www.sc4devotion.com/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg225.imageshack.us%2Fimg225%2F4561%2Fdat3.jpg&hash=26bd8d6e99c22c176a0dc9f95c652f2565f8c60b)

So, is there a possiblility to change the DatPackers folder presets?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 29, 2011, 09:21:53 AM
There is!


If you navigate to the install folder of the DatPacker, there should be a config.ini file there. Use NotePad (or other text editing software) to change the plugins folder path.


Make sure you save it as an INI file though.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Rady on May 29, 2011, 09:33:24 AM
 ()sad()

Thanks, done that. I have the following in my config.ini file:

[Settings]
folder = C:\\Dokumente und Einstellungen\\Peter\\Eigene Dateien\\SimCity 4\\Plugins\\Plugins_Compressed


Now in addition, to make sure DatPacker won't use the wrong directory, I added a "!_" to the SimCity4 and SC4Stuff folder in my "official" "My Documents" folder.

However, when starting the DatPacker, I receive the error message "It seems there is no subfolder in your plugins directory located at D:\...\"

So, DatPacker still seems to look in the wrong place. I also searched the registry but didn't find anything that would point to the D-drive ...

%confuso

Or is it that I'm completely wrong as far as the plugins location is concerned .. where are the SC4 plugins folder (SimCity 4, SC4 Stuff) expected to be? Do they have to be on the same drive like the game installation (C: in my case), or do they have to be in the "My Documents" folder as recognized by Windows (D: in my case)?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 29, 2011, 10:13:19 AM
You might need to look up the simple versions of the folders then.


I'm going to assume you know how to navigate through the Command Prompt.


If you use dir /x, it will bring up shortened folder paths. IE: Documents is Docume~1 for me.


Try pulling up the shortened folder names for the entire path.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: z on May 29, 2011, 01:07:17 PM
Or you could just take the easy way out and mount your SimCity 4 folder in the correct place on your D: drive.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on May 29, 2011, 04:53:53 PM
Quote from: z on May 29, 2011, 01:07:17 PM
Or you could just take the easy way out and mount your SimCity 4 folder in the correct place on your D: drive.


Yeah, but if everyone took the easy way, there would be no engineers/inventors/tinkerers.


And, that's coming from Mr. z himself. :o
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on June 08, 2011, 09:16:33 AM
Is there a syntax to ignore a certain file?

Like I want to remove all of the *.ini files but leave the desktop.ini files (Thank you MS for doing this crap).

I have a Cleanitol file with *.ini but I do not want to get rid of the desktop.ini files.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on June 08, 2011, 11:14:18 AM
why do you wish to keep the desktop.ini's?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on June 08, 2011, 12:00:56 PM
I was having some installers crap out because for some reason the plugins folder was set to read only.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JoeST on June 08, 2011, 02:25:06 PM
that's probably remedied by making the parent folder's permissions nicer (as in %MYDOCS%/Simcity4/ should have the desktop.ini, the subdirs should be fine)

Else, you could try 'deleting' the plugins folder and using said installers to actually create the directory.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Lowkee33 on June 08, 2011, 02:45:15 PM
I would do a windows search for ".ini" on the plugin folder.  Non-desktop.ini files could be deleted pretty quick, and the cleanital could have *.ini removed from its remove list.

Quote from: legoman786 on June 08, 2011, 12:00:56 PM
I was having some installers crap out because for some reason the plugins folder was set to read only.

Or does this mean that you have corrected that problem?
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: legoman786 on June 08, 2011, 04:33:46 PM
@Joe:

I researched and tried for about 2 weeks straight. It's a nifty 'feature' that MS had made bulletproof when you're on a HomeGroup network.

@Lowkee:

Yes, my resolution was to have Windows make the desktop.ini's in all folders of the plugins directory, including the root folder. :\


EDIT: More reading Change file/folder attributes? (http://www.overclock.net/windows/1015159-change-file-folder-attributes.html)
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: eagle1 on September 10, 2011, 07:11:53 AM
I am really new at all of this even though I have had the game since it came out. However, I have problems. I followed everything you said here and everything went great untill I tried to get into a city, even a new one.. Game just locks up and kicks me out.. I am trying to run the Damn Menu, will or does that effect it ?.,
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: joker09 on January 27, 2012, 03:44:21 PM
Is it possible unpack this created dats (plugins compressed) folder?
I update some lots/bats and I wish delete some old bats, check what I have and why some icons on my menus are duplicate or do not showing.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Gringamuyloca on January 27, 2012, 06:42:49 PM
@ joker09

I only know Ilives Reader (http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=656) to 'open' a .dat file. (you must be registered separately on the LEX to see the download button)

This program requires patience to learn and a great deal of research / knowledge to use well, but there are many fine tutorials and helpful people to help you accomplish your 'task'.  :thumbsup:

Better yet, if you made a back up of your plugin folder before you 'Dat' packed, use that  back up folder to make your updates/ deletes, back it up again and then dat pack. (Don't forget to back things up before you change them! Some things are time consuming to redo.  $%Grinno$% )

Please post back if you need more information.  :thumbsup:




Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: Thredz on June 23, 2014, 09:08:40 PM
Thanks for this soft, it work very well, especially when I tried to put subway station, the game change view on zone viewing, and with all dependancies, lot, and many more, it take almost 1 or 2 minutes to change, putting the station, opening the menue take the same time, select also, and on, and on.... Loading city take time also, and since I've compressed all my 3.09Go plugins to a 2.8Go, it is very fast, and the area zone view for subway station work in a second, changing view also, select menue also. All is fine. &apls
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: JahnSpd on December 09, 2020, 01:36:10 PM
Don't mean to necrobump, but the 'skipped because useless file' feature of DP has been troublesome for me. Sometimes it skips lot files resulting in the lot not being included in the datpacked files. For example, it skips a number of lots included in 'TL Gazebo parks'.
Title: Re: SC4 Dat Packer
Post by: mgb204 on December 12, 2020, 09:09:26 AM
I appreciate you didn't mean to Necro this thread, but then you would have had a warning pop up before posting. It's no big deal, but around these parts, we'd prefer it if in such a situation, you just posted your question in a new thread. That way, these out of date threads don't get pushed into view so easily.

With regards to your problem, if this is just how the application works, you'll probably have to live with it, because it's not exactly being developed anymore. This should only happen when the IDs of the file's contents are a duplicate of another set that is loading after them. It figures since only one actually is used in game, it only needs to keep the last one (loading order). If that's not functioning as expected, you'd have to start by looking at the lots in question, to see if there is anything that explains this there. But, since we can be fairly sure something is overriding at least parts of them, unless this is a really random bug, it would help to know what.

As a workaround in any case, I'd put these lots to one side when DAT Packing, then either pack them into a separate file or just leave them as they are. You might need to make them load after any DATPacked files with the same IDs, in which case this will ONLY happen, if the files are also DAT files. But you'll have to see how things are working really to know if this is an issue or not.