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

[L33THAK0R]

Hi all,

Does anyone know if there are any better methods to use to compress Metro 2033 & Last Light redux other than srep+lolz?

[darkwolves]

Originally Posted by L33THAK0R

Hi all,

Does anyone know if there are any better methods to use to compress Metro 2033 & Last Light redux other than srep+lolz?

not familiar with those do you know what kind of streams they contain?

[L33THAK0R]

Originally Posted by darkwolves

not familiar with those do you know what kind of streams they contain?

Both contain zlib streams, however I don't have any other file scanning tools to determine what other streams may be present. There are two .dll files present in each of the data folders for the titles that I don't recognise: "oaremote_plugin.dll" & "BugTrap.dll". I'm not sure if these are relevant at all but I thought I'd mention it. The vast majority of zlib streams in both titles are level 9.

[Newbie-repacker]

How to find out which streams the game files contain.......???

[Dragonis40]

Originally Posted by KaktoR

I think you have to remove -a2 parameter for old forge engine games with v0.19.

You were right, once I've removed -a2 option, everything was OK! Thank you!

[L33THAK0R]

Compressing "Mad Max" with xzlib+srep+lolz gave me an output of 21.8gb (from 31.8gb), instead of the reported under 4gb compressions others were able to achieve! My arc.ini headers look like the following, any help would be greatly appreciated!

[Compression Methods]
CUSTOM     = xzlib+srep+lolz
LOLZ	   = lolz:dt:dtb1:dtw1:dtm1:dto1:dtd1:mtt1:mt4:d64m:fba4096:mc1023

[External compressor:xzlib]
header    = 0
packcmd   = "Resources\XT.exe" e:precomp:t50p,c128m:zlib $$arcdatafile$$.tmp $$arcpackedfile$$.tmp

[External compressor:srep]
header     = 0
default    = -m3f
packcmd    = "Resources\srep_x64" {options} $$arcdatafile$$.tmp $$arcpackedfile$$.tmp

[External compressor:lolz]
header     = 0
packcmd    = "Resources\lolz_x64" {options} $$arcdatafile$$.tmp $$arcpackedfile$$.tmp

[Masquerade]

L33THAK0R
Since srep does the most work in removing dupes here, I think something maybe wrong there,

your xtool and lolz looks fine

Try this srep packcmd:

[External compressor:srep]
header = 0
packcmd = srep -a0 -m3f -l512 $$arcdatafile$$.tmp $$arcpackedfile$$.tmp

[L33THAK0R]

Originally Posted by Masquerade

L33THAK0R
Since srep does the most work in removing dupes here, I think something maybe wrong there,

your xtool and lolz looks fine

Try this srep packcmd:

[External compressor:srep]
header = 0
packcmd = srep -a0 -m3f -l512 $$arcdatafile$$.tmp $$arcpackedfile$$.tmp

thanks man I'll give that a go

[kj911]

Originally Posted by kj911

Noob questions from compression via LOLZ: Compression rate better than TTA (FreeArc) methods use LOLZ compressing *.WAV files??

Or use double compression from WAV files?

My favorized methods (from MSTS or any older(?) games): The *.WAV files compressed to --> Archive.arc (with TTA comp.) this archive compressed again to --> Archive2.arc (with REP) method. Fast and good ratio. Second compression process replacing REP to RAZOR or MSC or/and any ones?

Some testing its best rate. Size reduction lower than 35-40% via original size.

Example: Compressed 5001 WAV files. Size: 2.09GB --> 923MB--> 632MB

Please testing and find better methods.

Any tests:

Test1

Compressing WAV files used UltraARC 2.9.0.0R6. Its programs created 4 dataX.arc files.

Methods=SREP+LOLZ
Total size: 811672kB

Test2

Methods=MSC+LZMA2
Total size: 736416kB (187533+199572+282870+66441kB's)
Compression time its badly long. (TAK compressor issue.)

Test3

A test: Its will compress 923MB's ARC file (compressed WAV files with TTA methods) with RAZOR 1.03.7 compressor use 256MB dictionary size.

Its results: 646908kB

B test: Its will compress 923MB's ARC file (compressed WAV files with TTA methods) with LOLZ x64 compressors.

Methods: dt:dtb1:dtw1:dtm1:dto1:dtd1:mtt1:mt4:d64m:fba4096: f1023
Its results: 647626kB

Its use MMC switches?

And any big test results with UltraARC2.9.0.0R6 it will compress the full games via 40+ hours process times. (with splitted arc files.)

Generated archive files list:

data1a.arc: 1047552kB
data1b.arc: 604611kB
data2a.arc: 443966kB
data2b.arc: 1048576kB
data2c.arc: 243390kB
data3a.arc: 805187kB
data3b.arc: 309900kB
data4.arc: 703894kB
----------------------
Total: 5207076kB = ~4.966GB. Hmm. Tiny Compressor v1.4 results will better than UARC versions. Smaller than ~1.08GB file size.

[L33THAK0R]

Originally Posted by Hexagon123

Start Sizes:
Total original size: 5.68GB
Total new size: 8.85GB

Note: This is not MD5 perfect, but completely lossless since it plays fine.

Compress with the following:

• .resS, .assets, .(noextension): Note! For AssetBundles, use UABE to decompress them (Size for the AssetBundles: Old: 3.94GB, New: 7.12GB)
  

  srep:m5f:a2:l512+lolz:dt:dtb1:dtw1:dtm1:dto1:dtd1:mtt1:mt4:d128m:fba4096

• .bk2: Exclude the transparent and the credits video itself due to some CRC errors
  

  bpk

• Rest of the Files
  

  srep:m5f:a2:l512+mcm:t9

Total packed size: 2.51GB

Hi there, what is "UABE"? If this tool/pre-compressor helps with getting .bundle files to decompress properly I'd be very interested in seeing if this tool helps!

[Snake288]

Greetings To All

Hitman 3 do you know the method about compression

[L33THAK0R]

Originally Posted by K4miKaZe

Hi, this one is not on the list. I made this with two methods (with and without xtool zlib). The gain with xtool is not worth, it has not much zlib...

Tools used: Ultraarc 2900 R5, Srep v3.9.2, Lolz, Xtool 0.9 (zlib)

Computer: As always, 4 cores at 3.9GHz (up to 4.3 on boost), 8GB Ram + SSD

Ripped Files: Only languages, keeping only 1 Language (spanish in my case)

Title: Dying Light: The Following Enhanced Edition v1.16.0 (GOG with all DLCs)

Method 1:

Method:          binkpack on .bik/.bk2 files, rest of files srep+lolz
Original Size:   25.1 GB
Compressed Size: 13.2 GB
Compress Time:   6 Hours
Install Time:    12 minutes

Method 2:

Method:          binkpack on .bik/.bk2 files, rest of files xzlib+srep+lolz
Original Size:   25.1 GB
Compressed Size: 12.9 GB
Compress Time:   6 Hours 20 minutes
Install Time:    13-14 minutes

Final note: I did tried some more things but could not get this lower, using higher dictionaries like d256, d512, etc... on lolz should give you more gain but it takes double time on compression and probably you wont get more than 100-200mb (not worth to me). There are also some repeated bik files, i didnt delete them because i dont know if it works and im too busy to test them now. As always CRC checked and all is fine !!!

Just wanted to report with the duplicate .bik files comment, of which there are 4 (2 versions per video, total 8). By removing the LQ_ (low quality) at the start of the filename you can force the game to load that videofile. I'm not sure when the LQ_ is actually played in normal circumstances, but I would assume it would be when the user is playing at a 720p or lower resolution. Opting to use only the high quality (1080p) videos saves you 702mb, and when choosing the opposite (720p) you save yourself 1.27gb! Additionally the following videos can be removed to save an additional 1.21gb. These videos are just promotional or introductory videos for the "Be the Zombie" online-multiplayer gamemode, which isn't very active especially with cracked clients (mp is p2p).

[Masquerade]

Originally Posted by L33THAK0R

Hi there, what is "UABE"? If this tool/pre-compressor helps with getting .bundle files to decompress properly I'd be very interested in seeing if this tool helps!

Literally 1 online search away: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=uabe

[L33THAK0R]

Originally Posted by Simorq

Mad Max
pzlib+srep:m3f:l1024+lolz:d1024:al1:mc1023:tt16 (3.95 GB)

Did you have to decrypt or unpack the archives first? Try as I might, I can't seem to get the blasted thing under 21.8gb.

[L33THAK0R]

Originally Posted by Masquerade

Literally 1 online search away: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=uabe

Argh the 1am brain strikes again, sorry about that.