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

[KaktoR]

What help you need exactly? Try to be more precise!

[Jahan1373]

://www.mediafire.com/file/gh4um1dsm92xbeg/Help.zip/file
Hello
Can someone help me, I have a problem with this installation
CPU will be 100% after installation
Second, after the installation is finished, the installation icons are opened, the problem is that they are white on the desktop, the game icon is not visible.
Friends, how to solve this problem?

[KaktoR]

Portal Revolution

 21:39:48 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1a-01.bin was: msc_tak+xtool:dd3+4x4:b64mb:lzma:ultra:64m:bt4:fb273:lc8:mc1000000
 21:39:48 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1b-01.bin was: xtool:dd3+4x4:b64mb:lzma:ultra:64m:bt4:fb273:lc8:mc1000000
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 21:53:29 - Overall input size: 10,84 GB
 21:53:29 - Overall output size: 4,23 GB (Ratio 39.07%)
 21:53:29 - Overall conversion time: 00:13:40

[Dragonis40]

Originally Posted by Dragonis40

Good morning everybody! I'm trying to compress "Fallout: New Vegas Ultimate Edition" and my mask for *.bsa files and results are:

xt_zlib+srep_old:392+lolz:dtb1:d512m:mtb96:ldl5:mc 1023
21 files: 8,588,002,315 byte => 4,776,969,655 bytes. Ratio 55.62%

This site reports the following results:

*.bsa
xtool(zlib)+srep+lolz
(54.5% Ratio)

I suppose the compressed byte are the same bytes as I compressed, but the result is better. Which is the configuration of LOLZ? It seems it isn't reported...

Thanks for your reply!

Any ideas?

[Masquerade]

Very likely high dictionary size, all detections on, fast bytes off etc.

[Dragonis40]

Originally Posted by Masquerade

Very likely high dictionary size, all detections on, fast bytes off etc.

What does exactly mean? Can you post here an example of the parameters you're talking about please?

[KaktoR]

lolz settings

Data detection options:
-dt [0..1] - enables / disables the pos_ctx / dxt / raw detection. no headers, everything is detected based on the analysis of data statistics. Default: -dt1;
-dtp [0..1] - enables / disables transmission of statistics from previous blocks to subsequent blocks in the detector. Default: -dtp1;
-dtb [0..1] - enables / disables enumeration of all options regardless of heuristics. Default: dtb0;
-dto [0..1] - enables / disables detection of the best positional o1 context. Default: -dto1;
-dtm [0..1] - enables / disables raw graphics multimedia detection. Default: -dtm1;
-dtw [0..1] - enables / disables width detection for raw graphics and dxt textures;
-dtd [0..1] - enables / disables detection of dxt textures;

Multithreading options:
-mtt [0..1] - for multithreading, specifies the operating mode to be used. When set to 0, the dictionary size must be at least 2 times the block size. In this mode, data for each stream will be loaded alternately in block size. In this mode, in most cases, you can achieve better compression than in the second, however, decompression requires as many streams as in compression. When 1, each block is compressed separately, without dependencies on neighboring data, respectively, the compression here is usually worse than in the first mode, but you can specify any number of streams for unpacking. It is for this mode that the options from cls.ini MaxThreadsUsage and MaxMemoryUsage are used. Default: -mtt0;
-mt [1..16] - sets the number of threads to process. With -mt1 and -mtt0, normal sequential lossless compression is obtained by dividing the stream into blocks. Default: -mt1;
-mtb [2..512] - sets the block size in MB. When -mt1 -mtt0 also plays a role, but minimal. And more does not mean better. Usually, for -mtt0, the optimal value is about 32-64MB, respectively, the size of the dictionary should be more than 2 times larger. For mtt1 mode, the dictionary size must be no more than the block size;

Main options:
-d [16..2032] - dictionary size in MB. Default: -d64;
-tt [1..256] - the number of paths to consider in the optimal parser. It greatly affects the speed and compression ratio, but not unpacking. You shouldn't ask more than 16, I assure you it's not worth it. Default: -tt4;
-oh [8..14] - sets the maximum number of bytes that the optimal parser will process at a time (2 ^ X). Default: -oh12;
-os [0 .. -oh] - sets the minimum number of bytes that the parser will process at a time (2 ^ X). Default: -os8;
-fba [0..4096] - sets the size of the minimum match, at which the parser will not bother much in the calculations. Compression is decently accelerated (2 times) with a small loss of compression. At 0, these simplifications are disabled. Default: -fba256;
-fbb [0..4096] - THIS OPTION DOES NOT WORK AT THE MOMENT. Asked for even greater simplifications;
-al [0..1] - enables / disables the calculation of the literal price even if rep0 matches. Default: -al1;
-x [0..2] - turns on the slow modes of the parser with the calculation of (almost) all lengths of the found match, as well as the options match + lit + rep0match. Very slow and merciless. And the benefit is very small. It's easier to add -tt; Default: -x0;

Matchfinder options:
-rt [0..2] - THIS OPTION DOES NOT WORK AT THE MOMENT. I set the type of matchfinder - lz, rolz or hybrid mode, but rolz did not meet expectations and I made all the changes without taking it into account, so it does not work now; Default: -rt0;
-mc [2..1023] - Specifies the maximum number of traversals of the binary tree of matches, after which matches for the given position are no longer searched; Default: -mc128;

Model options:
-cm [0..1] - enables / disables a simple context mixer in some critical places, which mixes a couple of models in each place. When enabled, it improves compression, but slows down decompression. Default: -cm1;
-bc [0..8] - sets the level of influence of the previous byte on the mixer; Default: -bc4;
-lm [0..4] - THIS OPTION DOES NOT WORK AT THE MOMENT. Specifies the type of an "elementary" literal. Complex high-order models with cm did not perform well, so I abandoned them, as did rolz. Default: -lm0;
-blo [0..8] - sets the degree of influence of the previous byte on the encoding of the upper part of the literal. Default: -blo8;
-bll [0..8] - sets the degree of influence of the previous byte on the encoding of the lower part of the literal. Default: -bll8;
-blr [0..8] - sets the degree of influence of the rep0lit byte on the encoding of the upper part of the literal. Default: -blr4;
-bm [0..8] - sets the degree of influence of the rep0lit byte on the encoding of the match type flag. Default: -bm4;
-pc [0..4] - sets the positional context for all encoding operations. It is automatically ignored when the detector is on. Default: -pc2;
-dmXY(X [0..3], Y [0..4]) - sets the model for encoding color pairs (X) and alpha channel (Y) pairs. At the maximum value of each parameter, adaptive switching between models is used, while the decompression speed is reduced, but the compression is better in most cases. Default: -dm34;
-gmXY(X [0..2], Y [0..1]) - X - sets the model for encoding raw graphics. at the maximum value, adaptive switching between models is enabled. However, in this case, it is rare to see a gain over the adaptive mode. Generally, mode 0 is in the lead, but its unpacking is 2 times slower than mode 1. Y - enables updating of statistics of models when they were not used (for example, there was a long match). For X0 and X1, it usually gives a small gain in compression, but the speed drops by a factor of 2 (it all depends on the data). In general, the most appropriate is -gm00, he - and the default mode;

[kj911]

Dragonis40: Try it use very slooow settings:

xZLib(old Xtool 0.12)+srep:m3f:a0(srep 3.92!)+lolz:dt:dtb1:dtw1:dtm1:dto1:dtd1:d512m:fba4096:mc1023:tt16:mt1:ldmf1:ldc0:ldl5

Questions: The *.bsa archives contain goodly compressibble raw/wav audio files? MP3's or any? Videos?

Alternative1: xZLib+srep+delta+lolz
Alternative2: xZLib+msc+srep+delta(used or not)+lolz

[Dragonis40]

Originally Posted by kj911

Dragonis40: Try it use very slooow settings:

xZLib(old Xtool 0.12)+srep:m3f:a0(srep 3.92!)+lolz:dt:dtb1:dtw1:dtm1:dto1:dtd1:d512m:fba4096:mc1023:tt16:mt1:ldmf1:ldc0:ldl5

Questions: The *.bsa archives contain goodly compressibble raw/wav audio files? MP3's or any? Videos?

Alternative1: xZLib+srep+delta+lolz
Alternative2: xZLib+msc+srep+delta(used or not)+lolz

Thanks for your reply! How can I find out what *.bsa files contain? Do I have to use any tool?

[Masquerade]

@kj911
Don't use LDMF if you are using srep, no point.

@Dragonis40
https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/974

[KaktoR]

Tales of Arise
v12.12.23

 17:25:12 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1a-01.bin was: xtool:c128mb:mzlib+xtool:dd3+4x4:lzma
 17:25:12 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1b-01.bin was: xtool:dd3+bcm
 17:25:12 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1c-01.bin was: xtool:dd3+4x4:lzma
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 19:54:25 - Overall input size: 52,19 GB
 19:54:25 - Overall output size: 34,37 GB (Ratio 65.86%)
 19:54:25 - Overall conversion time: 02:29:11

Japanese audio was ripped out and wem's are encoded. Gives you another 100mb size reduction (only 100kb+ files), but honestly not sure if the game is working without crashes with ripped files as this was just meant to be as a test with fixed xtool version (like I was doing since days for now) and I am not planning to play this game actually. So if you want to test this for yourself use "unreal_tournament_4_0.4.25e.bms" script with quickbms, then erase with xtool.

Key: 0x61FC71A1376A29598393E2BFB976B275705F460E29399CFD1F9C060C8CD6CE40

Just keep in mind that any patch for the game will fail, as long as "pakchunk0-WindowsNoEditor.pak" is modified.

[Dragonis40]

Originally Posted by kj911

Dragonis40: Try it use very slooow settings:

xZLib(old Xtool 0.12)+srep:m3f:a0(srep 3.92!)+lolz:dt:dtb1:dtw1:dtm1:dto1:dtd1:d512m:fba4096:mc1023:tt16:mt1:ldmf1:ldc0:ldl5

Questions: The *.bsa archives contain goodly compressibble raw/wav audio files? MP3's or any? Videos?

Alternative1: xZLib+srep+delta+lolz
Alternative2: xZLib+msc+srep+delta(used or not)+lolz

I've made some test:

xt_zlib+srep_old:392+lolz:dtb1:d512m:mtb96:ldl5:mc 1023
21 files: 8,588,002,315 byte => 4,776,969,655 bytes. Ratio 55.62% (17127.25 sec)

xt_zlib+srep_old:392+lolz:dt:dtb1:dtw1:dtm1:dto1:d td1:d512m:fba4096:mc1023:tt16:mt1:ldmf1:ldc0:ldl5
21 files: 8,588,002,315 => 4,764,178,217 bytes. Ratio 55.47% (35516.07 sec)

The last combination is NOT worth it!

Several .bsa files are plenty of .ogg file (hundreds), so I should extract these .ogg files, compress and before the end of installation make a backup of original .bsa file. I think it takes very long to install the videogame!!!

[KaktoR]

I tested a bit.

Do not use msc for any of the files. msc_frog will work for encoding, but decoding will give you errors. So use xtool with flac plugin and l8 setting for now for all the WAV files.

For the OGG files you have to extract them first (with BAE tool), erase them out of all the files (with xtool erase command), compress them with oggre. After installation, you have to put all the OGG files back inside the original bsa files (with xtool decode command + XTL file).

BIK file use bpk.

Edit: You can also use bethesda.bms with quickbms instead of BAE if you want.

Edit 2:

 17:55:35 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1a-01.bin was: xtool:mzlib:dd3+lolz:d81:mtt1:mt12:mc1023
 17:55:35 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1b-01.bin was: xtool:mflac,l8
 17:55:35 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1c-01.bin was: oggre
 17:55:35 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1d-01.bin was: 7zdll-pm:m0=mp3det:m1=packmp3c
 17:55:35 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1e-01.bin was: bpk+xtool:dd3+lolz:d81:mtt1:mt12:mc1023

 18:53:04 - Overall input size: 11,92 GB
 18:53:04 - Overall output size: 5,41 GB (Ratio 45.41%)
 18:53:04 - Overall conversion time: 00:57:28

Install time + decoding BSA files 10 minutes.

Edit 3: Keep in mind that the input size is a bit inaccurate due to extracted files, as the BSA files are still the original size but with zero'd data inside.

[KaktoR]

Fallout 3 GOTY

 20:13:34 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1a-01.bin was: xtool:mzlib:dd3+lolz:d84:mtt1:mt12:mc1023
 20:13:34 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1b-01.bin was: msc_tak
 20:13:34 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1c-01.bin was: oggre
 20:13:34 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1d-01.bin was: 7zdll-pm:m0=mp3det:m1=packmp3c
 20:13:34 - Selected ARC/DS method for Data1e-01.bin was: bpk+xtool:dd3+lolz:d84:mtt1:mt12:mc1023
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 21:22:39 - Overall input size: 11,25 GB
 21:22:39 - Overall output size: 5,08 GB (Ratio 45.13%)
 21:22:39 - Overall conversion time: 01:00:31

Used quickbms + bethesda.bms to extract WAV, OGG and MP3 files out of all the BSA sound archives.

Example

for %%f in (*.bsa) do quickbms_4gb_files -d -o -Y -f "{}.wav,{}.ogg,{}.mp3" bethesda.bms "%%f"

Used xtool with erase command to erase all WAV, OGG and MP3 files out of the sound archives (zero data).

Example

"xtool" erase "Fallout - Sound.bsa_extract" "Fallout - Sound.bsa" "fallout3.xtl"
...
...

Data1a -> All BSA files
Data1b -> WAV
Data1c -> OGG
Data1d -> MP3
Data1e -> Rest of the files

After installation, use xtool again with decode command to copy all the extracted files back into their original places inside the BSA archives.

Example

"xtool" decode "fallout3.xtl" "Fallout - Sound.bsa_extract" "Fallout - Sound.bsa"
...
...

Remove extracted files from game dir.

PS: Original input size is about 8.70 GB, but due to extracted data this is a bit bigger. However all the sound BSA files will be compressable something like near 1%, so only the install step will require some additional space, but once xtool decode is finished, the size is the same as original but also the crc of all the files.

Edit: Install time + xtool decode about 10mins

[Masquerade]

A Way Out

xtool_zlib_dd5+lolz

20.6GB ---> 14.4GB