SC4 Dat Packer

[wouanagaine]

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

[Gaston]

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

[wouanagaine]

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.

[Gaston]

Thanks wouanagaine.     I think I have the first version.   lol


---Gaston

[wouanagaine]

then maybe make a backup of your compressed plugins, as duplicate TGI are now handle correctly this may impact your alredy developed cities

[Gaston]

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

[wouanagaine]

Type Group Instance, which are 3 numbers the game used to uniquely identify a data ( being from 3D meshes, textures, sounds, etc... )

[M4346]

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:

wxPython: stdout/stderr

Info in little window:

Traceback (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

[wouanagaine]

delete your config.ini which is located on the installation folder. It should correct the error

[M4346]

Thank you!!

It worked! 

[snorrelli]

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... 

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.

[wouanagaine]

Strange or the loading order is not what we think   

[snorrelli]

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?

[tragicomicus2k7]

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?

[brevat]

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~

[snorrelli]

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.

Edit : Merged ~Wouanagaine~

[wouanagaine]

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

[snorrelli]

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...

[wouanagaine]

good news 

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.

[Rayden]

good news 

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.

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