SC4 Dat Packer

[Fred_Ginger]

Okay Wouanagaine, you're in trouble now!  My game plays so much better now that I played from around 4 PM until 1:30 AM last night!  I'm so use to the game crashing to the desktop that I use that as a signal to stop playing so last night the only reason I stopped was because I was so cold (my heater automatically turns off at 11:00 PM).  This has got to stop!  (*looks for the emoticon that indicates joking!*)  Thank you again for this most wonderful tool!

Oh, I didn't mean to ignore you Jeronij, thanks for the info re the updated trees....

[wouanagaine]

lol
So now I can tell my wife I'm not alone in that case

[dioangel]

SWEEET! I'm glad you guys made this program! I'm going to looooove it! 

[DuskTrooper]

Gaston, You don't sctually need to move them out of the MyDocs\SC4 folder but out of Plugins. Make a folder in the SC4 folder called Plugins Disabled and then you haven't far to move them. The game will not take any notice of the Plugins Disabled folder.

Furthermore, you could simply rename the plugins folder to "Plugins off" and move the compressed DAT folder to a new folder renamed "Plugins".  This will take less time to do, since moving around several GBs of plugins can sometimes take several minutes.  If you have to edit/add plugins, etc, just get rid of the supercompressed DAT directory thingy, and rename the folders appropriately.

Thanks Wouggie (if I may call you that ) for another wonderful SC4 tool!

[dioangel]

I'm trying the program an having trouble... It taking a loooong time to compressed the files. Is it normal?  help me please

[wouanagaine]

DT & gaston, I don't know how windows display file operation on a non french verison, but when I use 'moving' it means move, not copy. Moving files ( even if there is 2Go ) is almost instant if it occurs on the same drive. CTRL-C CTRL-V is a copy  ( duplicate ), CTRL-X CTRL-V is a move ( no duplicate )

DT , yes you can call me Wouggie, that sounds not as funny as my full nickname from me but sounds good

Dioangel, Yes it can be long, It tooks around 3/4 mins on my 2Go. It can take way more long if you have check the 'force compression' option as the tool will try to compress the data.

EDIt an updated version will be upload today ( new readme and added more TGI to be removed when using the 'only useful tgi' option )

[Elektra]

This is an awesome little tool.     Thanks bunches for creating it. 

Though I have a question?    Does one have to compress everything in the plugins folder for it to work correctly?  In that I mean, I don't always use the Block Maxis Mod on all the maps I am working on, I just move it in and out of the plugins folder.  I don't want to have to compress the plugins everytime to make the changes.  I guess I could make two different compressed one with the Maxis and one without, move those back and forth.  Would that work? 

Heh....I probably answered my own question, just looking for clarification.

[wouanagaine]

Well the best way is to make a subfolder with DT Block mod
then after you used datpacker, just delete the corresponding dat file in the plugin compressed sub fodler, and just play with or without the DT subfolder

And you can play with both compressed file and normal ( I have a 'mine' subfolder where I put lots I'm working on, this one is never compressed )

[BarbyW]

As I have already said I use Start Up Manager. This is an excellent program as it does the moving for you and you can set up as many regions or development options as you want. I keep my Maxis blocker files in the main program plugins directory as SUM deals with both the mydocs and the program plugins separately. I have compressed all the files I want to use for Shosaloza and renamed the folder to that. I then set up SUM to only load that plus the root plugin files (as they aren't compressed) and separately check off the terrain mod, radical mods etc that I want to use from the main program plugins folder. I also have a separate set up for making lots with the separate prop and texture packs in place and another for making descs in PIM. SUM does all the moving for me and loads the game without the intro and in a window if I want.
SC4DatPacker + SUM = easy, faster loading for all purposes

[wouanagaine]

UPDATE ALERT => I have updated the readme ( thx to barbyw ) and added some TGI in the useless list

[Alek King of SC4]

OK so i am stupid, but is this still in testing or can we download it yet, it sounds to good to be true.

[BarbyW]

It is on the LEX here: http://sc4devotion.com/csxlex/lex_filedesc.php?lotGET=26

[Alek King of SC4]

AWWWWW yeah, 

i cannot wait to try this when i get home from work 

[Elektra]

Barby,

Is there a tutorial on all you said in plain english.....?
You lost me right after:

As I have already said I use Start Up Manager.

[BarbyW]

Elektra, the information on and link to Start Up Manager is here: http://www.simtropolis.com/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=121&threadid=70989&enterthread=y
There is a lot of information in the thread including bried info on a new version but I wouldn't wait for that if you are interested in using the program. If you have any more questions, send me a PM and I'll try to help.
It and SC4DatPacker make SC4 much easier to play.

[DuskTrooper]

DT & gaston, I don't know how windows display file operation on a non french verison, but when I use 'moving' it means move, not copy. Moving files ( even if there is 2Go ) is almost instant if it occurs on the same drive. CTRL-C CTRL-V is a copy  ( duplicate ), CTRL-X CTRL-V is a move ( no duplicate )

Ah, I tried that, and yes;it is almost instant.  I used to move my stuff to desktop, and that usually took several minutes.


Anyway, you can experience even faster gameplay if you use the DAT packer, along with a few other space saving options, such as modular "drag and drop" folders, and any others that have been discussed so far.

*goes off to play SC4 for hours on end, once again*

[dioangel]

wouanagaine - Oh thanks for the info my friend! 

[Gaston]

Thanks to everyone for all the suggestions.   This speeded up my gameplay an incredible amount.   I wish I had kept up with the French I took in high school and college.    Then we could converse in something easier for you wouanagaine.   


Thanks again for creating this great tool.


---Gaston

[Elektra]

@Barby,

Thanks bunches, I will take a look.

[Grneyes]

So, can you use this on the program files plugins? Or just the mydocs plugins?