You don't need to repack PAK files

PAK files don't need to repacked after you have extracted the files with the PAK program from Vercingetorix. R:TW first looks at the PAK files but if they are not there it will look for them inside the normal directory structure.

If you extracted the files then the tool makes something like:

DATA\UI\etc.

You then copy the UI/etc and paste it into

\Rome - Total War\data

If you extracted all packs then do this for all created directories and you can then rename/move the PAK files. If you only extracted 1 PAK then only rename/move that particular PAK file.

Why isn't this a sticky? You are a moderator after all, you can sticky it. I think it's important enough.

Yes you are still a moderator here. Do your job! ~D


CBR

Behold one of my last acts! :grin:

Edit: I did notice that R:TW loaded slower when you removed the PAKs. So you should only do this when testing small things that are inside the PAK; interface and such.

I feel like I made a difference ^_^ :charge:

ALso be aware that Jerome indicated the unpacked TGA files take up more texture memory. This means you should avoid large numbers of tgas. If a mod has a large number of these it should be repaked as a courtesy to users with low mem graphics cards.

In order to repack wouldnt you have to include other tga files that are already in the game? if so this could increase the size of a mod alot!

Lt

LT, did you see my post on re-packing and patching the pak files?

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index...howtopic=25235

I found a easier and more direct method to patch the pak files.
Have a look at this post:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showp...1&postcount=30

ohhh. :book: ..I see I used Vertingorixs xpak extracter etc.... but left in in the packs file...so if I take out the now unpacked data file and put it in rometotalwar/date file + delete the original pack files I can finally change the unit enums etc....... :charge:

Right????

Well, you can change export_descr_unit_enums anyway without unpaking anything. But generally yes, do that and you should be able to change any of the pakked files. Except that I would rename the paks, rather than delete them, so that they're there in case anything goes wrong.

I'm conused-

Do you paste the Data\UI into Rome - Total War\Data\packs or do you directly put them into Rome - Total War\Data, because there seem to be a few folders with the same name as some of the ones im trying to put in (i unpacked everything btw) and i don't know if I should replace them or not

Thanks ahead of time for any responses!

hi, i was going to ask, but this thread is already close enough to topic...so no need for me to start a new one and waste any space doing so...
could someone please explain the whole PAK files stuff..., what are in these pakfiles??? unpak them for what? how does this extractor work exactly?
and how does this relate to RTW and to RTW-BI? i noticed in the BI folder there are files like the data/ui/ stuff...breaking down into factions and such too.
so could someone tell me what its all for? is it all just tga images used in the game or the expansion?

Seven.the.Hun: The pak files contain lots of different files used by the game, including most of the textures and UI images. If you want to change, replace, or re-use, any of these files you need to un-pack the pak files to get at them.

Clux Deluxe: This may be a little late to help, but you should copy everything into the data directory.

hi..i have been looking through ur forum and i have ask numerous people and they all have told me to get the pak. files.
i have renamed them as u hav e suggested but the game keeps on CTD.

as you all know i would like to change the picture:

img210.imageshack.us/my.p...w124wa.jpg

i already know how to change the stats, description and ablities at a glance.
if anybody can help me how to change it plz contact me on amos_1990@hotmail.com

thank you

P.S.: i already paked the xpak file..ad i was directed by somebody else...but tats about it.

Great that this is a sticky, a shame that the info is not one hundred percent correct.
:oops:
If you change animations or skeletons you do so have to repack!



A "would have /could have been a modder".

I believe animations are held in .idx files which do need to be repacked (as it says here). This thread is only talking about .pak files which contain most of the UI information and which don't need to be repacked.

Great!Thi help me too a lot

Since Bouis' thread at TWC disappeared, is there any other threads for modifying pak files?
Is there a line switch to list the contents of a pak file?

I guess this will be helpfull for the "packers" ..
http://www.download.com/PrintFolder-...ml?tag=lst-0-1

its a little program that is able to print out the content of folders and sub-folders, usefull for making that list you need for repacking your files (there is a much much beter freeware tool around but cant retrace my steps where I got it earlier ...)

anyway with a couple of minutes practise it allows you to repack your files in no time together with Vercingetorix xpak-tool


G

Thanks

found "the good program" again, check out there entire site, these are great tools!!

http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptdirprn.asp
http://www.karenware.com


G

I've made some tests to see whether repacking the files resulted notable performance improvement. (Earlier in the thread, it is mentioned reduced VRAM usage)
I used RSII to test it, because it has numerous and large textures and files.

Here are my results.
I have a quad-core I7-720Q 1.6GHz + turbo boost, a 7200 rpm hard drive, and a ATI 5870 HD mobility.
The results were made using the launcher, RTW.exe and the main folder (no modfolder).
I put the content of models_building, models_strat, models_unit, sprites, textures, UI and vegetation folders in the mod_0.pak, resulting in a 1.75 GB file. I then overwrote the existing mod_0.pak.
There were a few UI errors (not the right UI element at the right place), but it does not matter for this test.



First is first launch time : it starts when the splash screen appears and ends when the menu appears.
The computer was rebooted between each run.
3 run for each, averaged.

Unpacked : 45"87
Packed : 34"99

That's about 31% quicker, there was less than 1" of difference between each run of the same category.


Now, cached launch time.
There is some serious caching going on, so each time the game had already been launched once.
7 run each, the two extreme ones are removed, the 5 remaining averaged.

Unpacked : 17"83
Packed : 17"31

That's about 3% quicker, there was less than 1" of difference between each run of the same category.


FPS, VRAM, RAM, CPU and GPU utilization.
I used FRAPS for FPS, and Process Explorer for the rest.
The battle was done on Flatlands, with 4 armies, each time the same.

There was no noticeable difference in each of those category, no VRAM reduction, nothing.



To sum up, packing the files only results in some reduced launch time, probably because of the nature of the hard drive (low random read, high sequential read).
No other improvement noticed.