SC4 DatPacker Advice

[ElysiumTrace]

Hi everyone first time posting in the forums, and my question today is how should I organize my plugins folder for DatPacker to compress them?  Can I have just one huge .dat file with all my plugins in there? Or should I group them by name or creator, or file type?

[CasperVg]

It depends on how large your Plugins-folder is actually. I'm pretty sure Datpacker will automatically split large folders into multiple (smaller) .dats. I, for example, have a 1.7 GB folder "LEX", which is split into 7 250MB files called "LEX-1.dat", "LEX-2.dat", etc. Generally I wouldn't advise organising your plugins like this, but rather a system based on function. A folder for mods, a folder for civic lots, a folder for growables (with subdivisions in it for residential/commercial, etc.) is much more easy in case something doesn't function, as it will be easier to locate the culprit in your plugins this way.

I'm not 100% sure which system has the best compression rates though (many files in a few folders or many folders with less files).

[jmyers2043]

Hey Elysium ...

.... It depends on how large your Plugins-folder is actually. I'm pretty sure Datpacker will automatically split large folders into multiple (smaller) .dats ....

That is correct. About 500MB intervals. So it breaks my 700MB BSC folder into a 500MB (or close) dat and a smaller 200 MD dat file.

Back to the question - I do my plugins by 'team' first. If not team, then by author/creator. Mods go to a 'mod' folders. Nam goes to the NAM folder. ZZZ_folders do not get dat packed.

Good Luck - Jim

[Lowkee33]

I'm not 100% sure which system has the best compression rates though (many files in a few folders or many folders with less files).

As far as I know, the only to reason DatPacker will make your total file size smaller is by converting human readable exemplars (what we make with PIMX or PM) into binary ones.