SC 4 Dat Packer problem

[bwhitejr]

First of all, I think the idea of the DAT Packer is great! I have used it with some success but i have also had a couple of problems with it and I would like to know how to deal with them.

Sometimes the DAT Packer skips files and does not include them in the .dat package. I only find out after i restart a city and get brown boxes or a notice that a plugin package is missing.

Is there a suggested way to set up the dat packer? A particular number of files,  for example, before I run it? or a particular way to arrange the files or folders?

I know that the program removes folders, duplicate files, and a host of files that have nothing to do with the buildings like .jpg, read me, .html, etc. That is great!

Are there certain MODS or files that should not be included in a dat file? like the CAM files or the NAM which is updated frequently or other files that reference other files and locations in order to function?

Bill

[Grneyes]

I never datpack the Nam. I didn't datpack my BSC folder for a long time because when I did I got brown boxes. I tried datpacking my BSC folder the other day and it works fine, no brown boxes. Who knows why I got them in the first place. I also don't datpack the Cam. Some people say to never datpack the NAM and other mods. I'm sure the "experts" will have more explanations on why or why not.

[jmyers2043]

I never datpack the Nam....

That's interesting. I have four compressed (packed) files. My general plugins organized by author or team, the NAM, all of the CAM building's which includes the starter packs, and I've also separated all the farms and pack them separate from everything else.

... Is there a suggested way to set up the dat packer? A particular number of files,  for example, before I run it? or a particular way to arrange the files or folders? ...

Just need to insure everything you wished to be packed is in \My Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\name of folder. Dat packer will not pack loose or individual files in your plugins root. You can have very large folders. The dat packer will write multiple files, such as BSC, BSC01, at 500MB intervals.

The dat packer will not remove unnecessary files. A better word to use is 'skip' them. I use the SimCity Start Up Manager a lot. It writes an INI file for each folder. The dat packer skips it because it's not used by the game. I've never had the Dat Packer skip files in the way you describe though. Brown boxes have not been a problem for me.

Dat packing the NAM if you make a lot of updates would not be useful. I update my NAM about once a year so for me it is useful. I tinker with my farm files a lot but find it handy to dat pack them as it speeds up the game loading time. 

Any mod that needs to be in a ZZZ_folder should not be dat packed.

I collect things through the year. I put them in a ZZZ_Things to Pack folder. Then do a pack in the spring and fall. The SFBT Start Up Manager is very handy program. I have a configuration called "Dat Pack" which insures everything I want to put into a compressed folder loaded properly. Nothing is left out.

- Jim

[Grneyes]

I never datpack the Nam....

That's interesting. I have four compressed (packed) files. My general plugins organized by author or team, the NAM, all of the CAM building's which includes the starter packs, and I've also separated all the farms and pack them separate from everything else. 

- Jim

I would always have problems when I datpacked the NAM. For awhile I would get brown boxes if I datpacked my BSC folder.  Then one day I tried datpacking it and it worked, no brown boxes. I hadn't changed anything, hadn't added anything. It was weird.

[Jim14409]

Anyone have any idea as to why Dat Packer does not work for me? I have spent hours and hours over the course of several days off and on with this program. Have copied the Read Me and gone over it countless times. I don't get results at all like what is described for the program. 

When I try to pack the plugins folder I do not get the new plugins packed folder. What I do get is a LOT of my dat files dumped out of folders and put in the root of the plugins folder. I tried restarting my computer, uninstalling and re-installing Dat Packer. Checked and unchecked boxes in various combinations. I finally gave up on packing the plugins as it had become a headache. I restored my backed up copy of plugins countless times during all of this.

Then I came across the jobs fix where the CAM and SimCity_1.dat are packed together and thought surely it would do that for me. That did not work either.  It produced no packed folder, and in the folder where I had placed the two files to be packed it always added another file into that folder. The one just below the files/folder being packed. SimCity_1.dat ended up being smaller in kb's. 

I have no more ideas and hoped someone else might be of help    before I just write Dat Packer off and move on.   

Thanks in advance. BTW my plugins weigh 980 MB.

[jmyers2043]

Windows 7 broke a number of handy tools. What is your operating system.

[Jim14409]

Windows 7 broke a number of handy tools. What is your operating system.

Thanks for responding.
I have Vista Home on a x64

[Jim14409]

I gave a very detailed description of my problem with DatPacker and expected a better response than I have received.
Does one have to be a member of the "Good Ole Boys Club" around here or something to get a response? I noticed that a lot of people and their posts are ignored while others are fawned over like a newborn. All I want is equal and fair treatment to a real problem and a fair question.
If my direct approach ticks someone off or hurts their "feelings" then my apologies in advance but the direct, no beating around the bush is who I am 24/7 and believe "feelings" are something we shouldn't wear so exposed anyway.

Good day,
~ Jim

Anyone have any idea as to why Dat Packer does not work for me? I have spent hours and hours over the course of several days off and on with this program. Have copied the Read Me and gone over it countless times. I don't get results at all like what is described for the program. 

When I try to pack the plugins folder I do not get the new plugins packed folder. What I do get is a LOT of my dat files dumped out of folders and put in the root of the plugins folder. I tried restarting my computer, uninstalling and re-installing Dat Packer. Checked and unchecked boxes in various combinations. I finally gave up on packing the plugins as it had become a headache. I restored my backed up copy of plugins countless times during all of this.

Then I came across the jobs fix where the CAM and SimCity_1.dat are packed together and thought surely it would do that for me. That did not work either.  It produced no packed folder, and in the folder where I had placed the two files to be packed it always added another file into that folder. The one just below the files/folder being packed. SimCity_1.dat ended up being smaller in kb's. 

I have no more ideas and hoped someone else might be of help    before I just write Dat Packer off and move on.   

Thanks in advance. BTW my plugins weigh 980 MB.

[jmyers2043]

Hey J

Does one have to be a member of the "Good Ole Boys Club" around here or something to get a response?

Nope. None that I know of. OK, look, I'm not a computer expert. I have Windows XP on an 10 year old Alienware computer that runs the game and all the neat tools like a champ. That's my frame of reference. I have no ideas as to why it works on my machine but not yours. Hopefully someone has an answer but, you may be on your own if not. 


- Jim

[vortext]

On vista 32 bit here and datpacker works fine.

Now, I'm no whizzkid, let alone a Good Ole Boy, however, I do know the DLL files listed in the read-me are not correct. For instance, I actually needed MSVCR71.dll instead of MSVCP71.dll  Perhaps a simple typo but I also needed some dll files which weren't listed at all. So it might pay of to do some digging around online and seek for the dll files that work with vista 64. Also make sure the right version of phyton is installed. I remember this being a particular hassle. Hope you'll get it going.

[ScottFTL]

Jim, the attitude really isn't called for - but I do understand your frustration. The author of DatPacker is no longer active in the community, so the only support you will receive is from people willing to donate their valuable time to assist you.

Unfortunately, while you think that you provided a detailed description of your problem, it was actually difficult to follow and incomplete.  Since you indicated that you found DAT files in your Plugins folder after running DatPacker, I'm going to assume that you are able to launch and run the program without any errors.  If this is the case, then you have all the required DLL files.  It's never a bad idea to check, so make sure you have these files in DatPacker's program folder: GDIPLUS.DLL, MSVCP71.DLL and MSVCR71.DLL.  They should be in the DatPacker program folder and NOT a Windows system directory.

Next, make sure that the Destination Directory is listed properly when you are running DatPacker.  For example, the default for me is C:\Users\Scott\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Plugins_Compressed.  If this points to the Plugins folder rather than the Plugins\Plugins_Compressed folder, then the DAT files will be placed into your Plugins root directory as you described.



The program will create a separate DAT file for each subfolder under the root Plugins directory, but it will not touch any loose files in the root folder.  If you have a particularly large subfolder, it will split them into multiple DAT files to keep the size of any individual file under 394 Mb.  If the program is creating DAT files named for each subfolder, then it is working properly.  In my example, the Plugins_Compressed folder would contain Automata.dat, Civic.dat and so on.

If these tips don't help with your problem, please provide screenshots of your Plugins directory before and after running DatPacker.  It would also help to have a screenshot of DatPacker before it runs, like I provided above.  The program generates a log with any errors while it is running, so also check that for any clues to what is going wrong.

For now, just try to get DatPacker working on your Plugins.  I can help you properly apply the CAM fixes once you have it running properly.

I hope this helps! 

[Jim14409]

Hey J

Does one have to be a member of the "Good Ole Boys Club" around here or something to get a response?

Nope. None that I know of. OK, look, I'm not a computer expert. I have Windows XP on an 10 year old Alienware computer that runs the game and all the neat tools like a champ. That's my frame of reference. I have no ideas as to why it works on my machine but not yours. Hopefully someone has an answer but, you may be on your own if not. 


- Jim

Jim, I appreciate your patient response and your comment "I have no ideas as to why it works on my machine but not yours....but, you may be on your own if not." I would have liked to know that before and as for being on my own it is the norm it seems. Thank you for getting back with your response. While it doesn't end my problem it helps more than you may know. Thanks again.

[Jim14409]

On vista 32 bit here and datpacker works fine.

Now, I'm no whizzkid, let alone a Good Ole Boy, however, I do know the DLL files listed in the read-me are not correct. For instance, I actually needed MSVCR71.dll instead of MSVCP71.dll  Perhaps a simple typo but I also needed some dll files which weren't listed at all. So it might pay of to do some digging around online and seek for the dll files that work with vista 64. Also make sure the right version of phyton is installed. I remember this being a particular hassle. Hope you'll get it going.

Vortex,
Thanks for your response and willingness to help. I think all my dll's are up to date but will keep your advice in mind if I don't find another solution. I have no idea what python is or why I would need it.
Thanks again.

[Lowkee33]

Like Vortext said, some images would be nice.  Also note that DatPakcer makes new files, it doesn't overwrite the existing ones.

When I try to pack the plugins folder I do not get the new plugins packed folder. What I do get is a LOT of my dat files dumped out of folders and put in the root of the plugins folder. I tried restarting my computer, uninstalling and re-installing Dat Packer. Checked and unchecked boxes in various combinations. I finally gave up on packing the plugins as it had become a headache. I restored my backed up copy of plugins countless times during all of this.

Have you tried playing the game with said files?

[Jim14409]

Jim, the attitude really isn't called for - but I do understand your frustration. The author of DatPacker is no longer active in the community, so the only support you will receive is from people willing to donate their valuable time to assist you.

Unfortunately, while you think that you provided a detailed description of your problem, it was actually difficult to follow and incomplete.  Since you indicated that you found DAT files in your Plugins folder after running DatPacker, I'm going to assume that you are able to launch and run the program without any errors.  If this is the case, then you have all the required DLL files.  It's never a bad idea to check, so make sure you have these files in DatPacker's program folder: GDIPLUS.DLL, MSVCP71.DLL and MSVCR71.DLL.  They should be in the DatPacker program folder and NOT a Windows system directory.

Next, make sure that the Destination Directory is listed properly when you are running DatPacker.  For example, the default for me is C:\Users\Scott\Documents\SimCity 4\Plugins\Plugins_Compressed.  If this points to the Plugins folder rather than the Plugins\Plugins_Compressed folder, then the DAT files will be placed into your Plugins root directory as you described.
[image link removed]

The program will create a separate DAT file for each subfolder under the root Plugins directory, but it will not touch any loose files in the root folder.  If you have a particularly large subfolder, it will split them into multiple DAT files to keep the size of any individual file under 394 Mb.  If the program is creating DAT files named for each subfolder, then it is working properly.  In my example, the Plugins_Compressed folder would contain Automata.dat, Civic.dat and so on.

If these tips don't help with your problem, please provide screenshots of your Plugins directory before and after running DatPacker.  It would also help to have a screenshot of DatPacker before it runs, like I provided above.  The program generates a log with any errors while it is running, so also check that for any clues to what is going wrong.

For now, just try to get DatPacker working on your Plugins.  I can help you properly apply the CAM fixes once you have it running properly.

I hope this helps! 

Scott,
You may be right about the attitude not being called for but it was my true thoughts at the time. My apologies to you and everyone on the board who may have been offended. Yes, I was terribly frustrated.

Perhaps if you slowed down and read more carefully you might better understand what I wrote as a description of my problem. I'm not an English major but I believe I wrote quite clearly and simply. Your response, while much appreciated and received in the spirit it was intended, indicates to me that you did not grasp all that I wrote. I read the instructions "countless" times and said so yet you repeated many of them in your response. I also said that the program does not create the new compressed folder for me but appears you missed that also. So on and so forth...

As for being "incomplete" I'm sure it was as I saw no point in going to points B, C, and D before A is examined. My apologies if that confused some folks.

Yes, I can launch and run the program without any issues, but I thought I implied that when I went on to tell about trying to pack the folder. Anyway, as I said before it does NOT create the "Plugins_Compressed" folder but the program gives every indication that all is running correctly. Even gives the time it took to pack.
Even if DP would create the Plugins_Compressed folder for me, wouldn't I have to originally be in the root plugins folder as there would not yet be a compressed folder? Am I missing something here?

I installed DP on my old XP machine and while I did not try and pack the plugins there, (they had not been put back after re-install of SC4) I did take a folder with CAM fix files and it seemed to work fine, creating the compressed folder etc. However when I took that folder back to this machine and removed duplicate files I could find including the original CAM file I get duplicates in some of my menu items that are original to SC4.

As time allows and I am of sufficient mind to deal with it I will try and provide the screen shots you requested if need be. I will check whether or not the DLL's you mentioned are in my DP folder.

Scott, I appreciate the time and effort you have put into this post. Thank you. I will let you and others know how it goes.

[Jim14409]

Have you tried playing the game with said files?

Yes I did, but that was weeks ago when this started and I have forgotten the result. I seem to remember it was not favorable as I deleted them and restored my old plugins folder.

Thanks for responding.

[vortext]

I have no idea what python is or why I would need it.

Cutting some corners here but in short Phyton is the code used to write the program. DatPacker needs certain so-called library files to look up commands, otherwise they'll fail to execute properly.

Like Vortex said, some images would be nice. 

Actually it was ScottFTL but I second the request; could you perhaps provide some screenshots? May help to gain a better understanding of the situation.

[Jim14409]

The program generates a log with any errors while it is running, so also check that for any clues to what is going wrong.

For now, just try to get DatPacker working on your Plugins.  I can help you properly apply the CAM fixes once you have it running properly.

I hope this helps! 

Scott, I'm back again.
I checked the DLL files you listed and found I only had MSVCR71.dll in the DatPacker folder so I found the other two, GDIPlus.dll and MSVCP71.dll in one of my Windows System folders. Copied them to DP folder checked my plugins to see that all was well and ran DP. It seemed to do a much more thorough job than it ever had before and took one minute four seconds and had been taking around half that. I still did NOT get a "Plugins_Compressed" folder. However it did take all of my folders and turn them and the relevant files into a dat file. I removed the folders from plugins and left only the dat files. Double checked and checked again and found no compressed folder. Fired up the game and ran for a couple of minutes and all seems well. No brown boxes etc.
What do you think??

One thing I was confused on and after telling you to slow down I followed my own instructions and did the same. After reading numerous times what you wrote I realized the files were NOT compressed and returned to the same folders, but were compressed into one file (if under 394 MB) and thrown out of the folder sort of. Have I come to understand this correctly?
It only saved just under five MB but I assume it makes reading the files, ie plugins, much more efficiently. Is this correct understanding on my part?

Do you think I should proceed with the CAM fix at this point or...??

Thank you and EVERYONE for all your patience and help!

[Jim14409]

Cutting some corners here but in short Phyton is the code used to write the program. DatPacker needs certain so-called library files to look up commands, otherwise they'll fail to execute properly.

could you perhaps provide some screenshots? May help to gain a better understanding of the situation.

Thanks, I saw the Python files while checking for the DLL's in DP folder and figured they had something to do with the program. Originally I thought it was an external program you were referring to.

Screenshots require a hosting site and I have not used mine in so many years I doubt it exists anymore and have not signed up for a new one yet. 

[ScottFTL]

I checked the DLL files you listed and found I only had MSVCR71.dll in the DatPacker folder so I found the other two, GDIPlus.dll and MSVCP71.dll in one of my Windows System folders. Copied them to DP folder checked my plugins to see that all was well and ran DP. It seemed to do a much more thorough job than it ever had before and took one minute four seconds and had been taking around half that. I still did NOT get a "Plugins_Compressed" folder. However it did take all of my folders and turn them and the relevant files into a dat file. I removed the folders from plugins and left only the dat files. Double checked and checked again and found no compressed folder. Fired up the game and ran for a couple of minutes and all seems well. No brown boxes etc.
What do you think??

Well, that is definitely progress in the right direction!     I had another look at my DatPacker directory, and I realized that I forgot one DLL.  You also need the MFC71.DLL file in the DatPacker folder.

Were you able to verify that your Destination Directory looks like the example I posted in my previous message?  If the configuration is correct, then perhaps this DLL is required to create the Plugins_Compressed folder.

One thing I was confused on and after telling you to slow down I followed my own instructions and did the same. After reading numerous times what you wrote I realized the files were NOT compressed and returned to the same folders, but were compressed into one file (if under 394 MB) and thrown out of the folder sort of. Have I come to understand this correctly?
It only saved just under five MB but I assume it makes reading the files, ie plugins, much more efficiently. Is this correct understanding on my part?

Yes, I think you understand how DatPacker works now.  It doesn't change or move the existing files in Plugins.  It simply processes them and creates new DAT files, which are compressed versions of all the loose files in Plugins.  Once you have packed the files, you should move the originals to another folder outside of Plugins for safekeeping.  For example, I create a folder named Plugins_Backup at the same level as the Plugins folder.  This way the game will not load these files, but you have the original files in case of any problems.  You only want the compressed DAT files and any loose files that were not compressed in the Plugins folder.  There are certain files that are not recommended for packing, such as the Network Addon Mod.

There is overhead associated with loading all of the loose files, so DatPacker helps the game launch and run faster by reducing the number of files.  The program also makes the files smaller by eliminating anything duplicate or unnecessary in the files during compression.

Do you think I should proceed with the CAM fix at this point or...??

Thank you and EVERYONE for all your patience and help!

Not yet.  Let's see if the MFC71.DLL helps.  You want to be 100% sure things are working correctly before you do this.