Silmarils Data Cruncher

tolkien · 11 May 2020, 18:58

Hello.
We are trying to translate a few Amiga games to spanish and now was the one of the Ishar from Silmarils.
I can decrunch the files with XFD as "Silmarils data cruncher".
The question is, How can I crunch again with this format?

meynaf · 11 May 2020, 19:30

I do not know any software that will do that.
The game however supports uncrunched data files (if they are properly decrunched, i.e. they contain the file header indicating it's not crunched).

tolkien · 11 May 2020, 19:52

Then I have to figure out how to fool the header.
Thanks for the tip meynaf!

meynaf · 11 May 2020, 20:23

You don't need to if you use the decruncher i've written, it does that by itself.
You can find my XFD decrunch slave in the Delitracker2 player package from my site.

tolkien · 11 May 2020, 21:12

Oh yes! It works! You are a f#?c¶ machine.
Thanks so much meynaf.

jotd · 11 May 2020, 21:21

A decruncher exists for most packed data formats from games, but the packers are AWOL. Rob Northen is a notable exception (reverse engineered from amiga exe), alongside with Imploder (ATN!, 68k asm code available, C translation has been done by me too). For the others, the source code of the packer (most of the time written in C on a PC) hasn't been published/released to the public, and the games themselves never include packers anyway.

Most of the time too, specially when the unpacker works in-place, replacing by the unpacked file works (it was also more convenient when developpers were testing the game assets without having to repack them after each modification). Else game must be hacked to support it, but that's not very difficult either.

tolkien · 11 May 2020, 22:25

I understand. So thing is try if the game support uncrunched files or learn "a few" more asm

Thanks jotd!

meynaf · 12 May 2020, 10:10

All Silmarils games i know of, do support uncrunched files (and some are not crunched on original disks already).
Btw, it might be better to start from French version rather than English, not only because it's the original language, but also because there is usually more space used for texts.

demoniac · 14 May 2020, 06:00

For a quick compression workaround, you could just use PowerPacker on the data files and run PowerPackerPatcher for decompression on the fly.

tolkien · 14 May 2020, 15:16

Good trick but I guess if is really necessary to crunch data today, with a lot of hd space, RAM, whdload...
Sure, a disk version is always good but..

UrBi · 07 September 2020, 18:32

Is there any cruncher that is supported by Silmarils games ?

11 May 2020, 18:58	#1
tolkien AmigaMan Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Castro Urdiales/Spain Posts: 762	Silmarils Data Cruncher Hello. We are trying to translate a few Amiga games to spanish and now was the one of the Ishar from Silmarils. I can decrunch the files with XFD as "Silmarils data cruncher". The question is, How can I crunch again with this format?

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11 May 2020, 19:30	#2
meynaf son of 68k Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Lyon / France Age: 51 Posts: 5,350	I do not know any software that will do that. The game however supports uncrunched data files (if they are properly decrunched, i.e. they contain the file header indicating it's not crunched).

11 May 2020, 19:52	#3
tolkien AmigaMan Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Castro Urdiales/Spain Posts: 762	Then I have to figure out how to fool the header. Thanks for the tip meynaf!

11 May 2020, 20:23	#4
meynaf son of 68k Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Lyon / France Age: 51 Posts: 5,350	You don't need to if you use the decruncher i've written, it does that by itself. You can find my XFD decrunch slave in the Delitracker2 player package from my site.

11 May 2020, 21:12	#5
tolkien AmigaMan Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Castro Urdiales/Spain Posts: 762	Oh yes! It works! You are a f#?c¶ machine. Thanks so much meynaf.

11 May 2020, 21:21	#6
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,336	A decruncher exists for most packed data formats from games, but the packers are AWOL. Rob Northen is a notable exception (reverse engineered from amiga exe), alongside with Imploder (ATN!, 68k asm code available, C translation has been done by me too). For the others, the source code of the packer (most of the time written in C on a PC) hasn't been published/released to the public, and the games themselves never include packers anyway. Most of the time too, specially when the unpacker works in-place, replacing by the unpacked file works (it was also more convenient when developpers were testing the game assets without having to repack them after each modification). Else game must be hacked to support it, but that's not very difficult either.

11 May 2020, 22:25	#7
tolkien AmigaMan Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Castro Urdiales/Spain Posts: 762	I understand. So thing is try if the game support uncrunched files or learn "a few" more asm Thanks jotd!

12 May 2020, 10:10	#8
meynaf son of 68k Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Lyon / France Age: 51 Posts: 5,350	All Silmarils games i know of, do support uncrunched files (and some are not crunched on original disks already). Btw, it might be better to start from French version rather than English, not only because it's the original language, but also because there is usually more space used for texts.

14 May 2020, 06:00	#9
demoniac Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: - Posts: 1,698	For a quick compression workaround, you could just use PowerPacker on the data files and run PowerPackerPatcher for decompression on the fly.

14 May 2020, 15:16	#10
tolkien AmigaMan Join Date: Oct 2012 Location: Castro Urdiales/Spain Posts: 762	Good trick but I guess if is really necessary to crunch data today, with a lot of hd space, RAM, whdload... Sure, a disk version is always good but..

07 September 2020, 18:32	#11
UrBi Registered User Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Poland Age: 41 Posts: 103	Is there any cruncher that is supported by Silmarils games ?

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