216 replies to this topic

[the bigg]

So ... tweaking with minimization?? Keep the backups for tweaking, but do some intelligent biffing (patchy files biffed later ... non-patchy stuff gets biffed with megamod)??

Biffing large static files early (TIS/WAV/...) is useful, both because it means that the final gen_biff is faster, and because you don't need gen_biff if you only install BGT. Also, you can't safely tweak your install if anything was deleted (notably, biffing moves the files in a temp folder and creates an archive out of that, thus leaving two copies of the content).

[Miloch]

Biffing large static files early (TIS/WAV/...) is useful

I think not for BAMs though, because some early-installed megamods overwrite creature animations and then biff them (NEJ I suspect does this at least). Infinity Animations restores the proper ones, and reorganises the added ones in proper slots, but it's not as simple as overwriting the buggered ones, because the megamods put completely different structures in there (such as weapon overlays) that could really fubar things. So our only solution now is to batch delete the faulty animations from the override, but I'm not sure how or even if that'll work if animations are biffed. Not sure a WeiDU MOVE command will even help with that. I guess we could move/delete the biffs too, assuming there are specific ones for animation BAMs but I doubt there are. I suppose there is something insanely complex patching we could do with the .bif and .key files, but I don't really want to go there. I don't think there's anything like an "UNMAKE/REMAKE_BIFF" in WeiDU either (not that I would want to go there either, but we probably need to do something about this eventually).

[the bigg]

I suppose BAMs shouldn't be biffed in that case

[Lollorian]

Aye then, no BAM biffing either I probably should wait for the 12 days thing to finish but, any idea when IA's gonna be up?? (now that you have extra time cause the download manager's down )

(and is this forum looking nifty or wot?? ... kinda miss the codeboxes though ... is it my browser or is the crying simley not showing up?? )

Cheers,
Lol

Edited by Lollorian, 02 January 2010 - 12:57 AM.

[Lollorian]

So here's my part of the deal, all the stuff needed to biff only the stuff that need be biffed (unpack and let im run!!!)

Pack contains the .tp2's and .bat's that are changed so that no sto/itm/spl/cre/dlg/bcs/2da/are/eff/ids biffing is done in any mod (all the others get biffed )

Oh, and I left bam's in too, it'd be easy to remove them later anyway If someone could check the code with the originals, I'd be mighty grateful

Cheers,
Lol

EDIT: Ok, I ran it on me test install, and I'd say it did pretty well (and I should also mention that SoBH didn't install because it couldn't find _KAGAIJ.DLG?? A Tutu file?? :blinking:)

AND I also found out that the Cleanup.bat given out by the BWP8.2.2 installpack saves backups too So no need to use robocopy or anything

Anyway, final statistics:

Time elapsed - Don't have the exact time cause I paused the installer when SoBH broke But I'd say it took much less than the first one ... some 4-4.5 hrs (a HUGE improvement imho!!! )

data - 13.0 GB
override - 737 kB
BGII-SoA - 21.5 GB

So, in summary, I'll say the main gain seems to be time here (apart from the ~1 GB less space too )

Cheers,
Lol

Attached Files

•  biffmeister.7z   109.72K   224 downloads

Edited by Lollorian, 03 January 2010 - 06:47 AM.

[Lollorian]

Ok, these are the mods that make a backup of the entire override and chitin.key when installed (some of them are commented out in the .tp2 but I list them for completeness sake )

//These still make backups of the override, dialog.tlk & chitin.key

DrizztSaga
BGT
CtB
PlanarSphereMod
SoS
TDD
TS-BP

//These have the backup lines commented out

AzenMod
RevisedBattles
Vault

Btw, Revised Battles has 3 .tp2's within it, ImpBattles.tp2, ImprovedBattles.tp2 and NythrunFiXBGT.tp2 What are they used for??

[Lollorian]

Btw, I was thinking about Helborn's statement that the newer tisunpack/oggdec are faster and overall better than the ones provided with the mods.

So, why not update the tisunpack/oggdecs just like WeiDU?? Why not provide the latest versions in the BWPInstall/Fixpack and update all the mod .exe's with the newer versions with these lines in the .bat??

I tried it (using the last modified tisunpack/oggdec in my installs)

tisunpack -> from BGIUB
oggdec -> from Wheels of prophecy

renamed them to tisunpackX and oggdecX, moved them to the BGII-SoA folder and ran this:

FOR /f "tokens=*" %%s IN ('DIR /b /s tisunpack.exe') DO xcopy /y tisunpackX.exe "%%s"
FOR /f "tokens=*" %%s IN ('DIR /b /s oggdec.exe') DO xcopy /y oggdecX.exe "%%s"

Is there a newer version of these .exe's?? I'm gonna start a new install soon (I'll note down the time )

Btw, there are other .exe's in there, mosunpack, snd2acm, xm2wav, tis2bg2 and acm2wav ... would they need updating too??

Edited by Lollorian, 11 January 2010 - 06:54 AM.

[the bigg]

If you're tweaking tisunpack and oggdec, the most important thing to do is ensure that you're using the non-verbose switch (tisunpack is 3x faster if you remember to use said option, for instance).

[Lollorian]

I'm sorry but I'm rather ignorant on these new utilities and their switches, their usages etc

Is there some kinda documentation on them??

I've seen these switches though, dunno what they are

tisunpack -f -s -h -o

//AND

oggdec -w

Edited by Lollorian, 11 January 2010 - 07:05 AM.

[the bigg]

run one of:

<programname> -h
<programname> -help
<programname> --help
<programname> -?
<programname> /help
<programname> /h
<programname> /?

Edited by the bigg, 11 January 2010 - 07:04 AM.

[Lollorian]

I'd tried "x /?" and "help x", but they gave me ... stuff Thanks!

So, tisunpack -s?? or -s -s??
and oggdec -q??

Wait ... why does Jan's Extended Quest's oggdec have a -w switch when it doesn't exist??

Edited by Lollorian, 11 January 2010 - 07:19 AM.

[Lollorian]

Ok, so that means 43 file mods for tisunpack and 112 files for oggdec (yeah, it's a sinch )

I'll try to get the tisunpack stuff up today

Btw, is -s or -s -s better for tisunpack? There has to be some sorta trade-off for increased silent-ness

Edited by Lollorian, 11 January 2010 - 07:50 AM.

[the bigg]

Single -s is as good as -s -s regarding speed, so I'd go with the single -s (just to have slightly more information in the *.debug files). It's just the non-silent behavior that is embarrassingly slow.

[Lollorian]

And here she is!!!

Man, I can't believe I did that All the stuff that needs to be overwritten, have a look

So, the biffmeister package now has:

• Better biffing:
  
  • The package now biffs only the files that need to be biffed, so that all the other stuff can be biffed after being patched to HELL!!!
• Utility updater
  • After unpacking this to your BGII - SoA folder, run the Unpacker_updater.bat to update ALL your tisunpacks and oggdecs to the latest version (included)
• Safer Cleanup
  • Also provided is the CleanupX.bat, which afaict only works on systems with the windows resource kits installed
• No stupid backups
  • No more backing up the entire override, a humongous dialog.tlk and the chitin.key It's common knowledge that once your game's fubared, IT IS FUBARED!!!

EDIT: Package removed cause of blatantly stupid typos that freakin broke your BWP install!!! Sorry for the trouble

Edited by Lollorian, 12 January 2010 - 05:03 AM.

[Hoppy]

It's common knowledge that once your game's fubared, IT IS FUBARED!!! [/list][/list]

Not my cup of tea since you can't even try to fix the game after this . I would rather fubar my game myself than have Weidu do it (twice)

[the bigg]

Not my cup of tea since you can't even try to fix the game after this . I would rather fubar my game myself than have Weidu do it (twice)

Either do setup-mymod --uninstall or restore your manually created backup. No point in wasting gigabytes of space backing up your override mid-install multiple times (case in point: worldmap).

[Lollorian]

It's common knowledge that once your game's fubared, IT IS FUBARED!!!

Not my cup of tea since you can't even try to fix the game after this . I would rather fubar my game myself than have Weidu do it (twice)

Mate, the megamods that backup the override etc are installed pretty early in even the BWPStandard, total reinstalling is much better than uninstalling and then doing the stack thing that WeiDU does

Now, question time What are the latest and greatest and fastest versions of all the unpackers?? I googled, with no results

Edited by Lollorian, 12 January 2010 - 12:08 AM.

[Lollorian]

Well, the biff"meister" I attached above turned out to be a disaster It didn't create BG1ARE.bif (the check for BGT) and suffice to say, that the last install was simply put ... shit

I ran a string search of "FILE_EXISTS ~data" on all the .tp2's and it reveals something ... BPv179 checks for BG1BCS.bif

Damn, I'm moving 2 of the .mos's into those 2 bif's (BG1ARE and BG1BCS) ... This should be done then

Ok, found a new problem with the older mega's that should be resolved by added this block to all the biffing .bat's

FOR %%s IN (
.\override\*.baf
.\override\*.d
.\override\*.ogg
.\override\*.tiz
) DO del %%s

Are there any other packaged files that need be deleted??

Edited by Lollorian, 12 January 2010 - 06:16 AM.

[Hoppy]

Well, the biff"meister" I attached above turned out to be a disaster It didn't create BG1ARE.bif (the check for BGT) and suffice to say, that the last install was simply put ... shit

I ran a string search of "FILE_EXISTS ~data" on all the .tp2's and it reveals something ... BPv179 checks for BG1BCS.bif

Damn, I'm moving 2 of the .mos's into those 2 bif's (BG1ARE and BG1BCS) ... This should be done then

Ok, found a new problem with the older mega's that should be resolved by added this block to all the biffing .bat's

FOR %%s IN (
.\override\*.baf
.\override\*.d
.\override\*.ogg
.\override\*.tiz
) DO del %%s

Are there any other packaged files that need be deleted??

Maybe using FILE_EXISTS ~Some signature file from the mod you are checking. Could be an item, area, creature etc and that may help get what you want to achieve.

[Lollorian]

Yeah

But that'd mean editing all the .tp2's of many non-biffing/tisunpacking/oggdecing mods, I say we put all the non patchy stuff into those bif's that get checked and leave the patchy stuff in the override (which is what my install is doing right now )

3:30 hrs in and it's now reached SCSII, with NO errors (except the Rupert Dye merchant thing, which is a typo in the .tp2 )

Edited by Lollorian, 12 January 2010 - 10:58 AM.