[Answered] Preferred executable cruncher in 2021? - Page 3

jotd · 23 March 2023, 10:04

making AGA game work properly on stock A1200/020 is really a pain. People expect a big game and you're stuck with 2MB of slow chip.

AmigaDweeb · 23 March 2023, 10:27

Yes those AGA extra graphics eat the machine regards base 2MB chip as you say and with regards to using 2 disks to ship the end game on.

Anyway, I further tested Shrinkler with colour poke and text message options and will run with it for now. I can now fit the .exe on disk 1 at least without taking anything out of the game given everything is heavily compressed already pretty much.

For anybody remotely interested in this particular subject and Shrinkler, I used...

Code:

shrinkler --textfile decrunch.txt --flash DFF180 cp2 cp2.srk

Which ends up looking like this (sorry it's a bit large off the emulator screen)...

It'll do

AmigaDweeb · 23 March 2023, 11:54

And finally... nope that's a no go in reality then as Shrinkler seems to want more than the base 2mb chip mem in A1200 to decrunch my game I just found out on real Amiga's, WinUAE and A500Mini at least.

Final answer: I'll chop some bits down further in the game code and use RNC ProPack

[Edit: Yes after full testing I had to remove an optional end part of my game, compress with RNC ProPack then it fitted on disk1 and unpacks nicely in 2Mb chip ram (no fast ram needed) which is my target machine spec.]

I'll shut up now

jotd · 23 March 2023, 14:28

Rob Northen for president!

AmigaDweeb · 23 March 2023, 14:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by jotd

Rob Northen for president!

I agree and think so

CFou! · 23 March 2023, 17:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by Adrian Cummings

I agree and think so

idem

andy2004 · 24 March 2023, 15:49

You never thought about using StoneCracker 4??

AmigaDweeb · 24 March 2023, 16:10

I tried stonecracker but the compacted size came out larger than rnc propack, as did cranker. Only shrinkler packed my game code smaller than propack for me, but it took about 50secs to decrunch and needed fastram I later found out.

In the end I went back to rnc propack and it unpacked in basic 2mb chip ram (AGA).

Propack for king ...for games

a/b · 24 March 2023, 16:23

Shrinkler is not a "general purpose" packer, it sacrifices pretty much everything for size, depacker included. When you are constrained to e.g. 4kb it makes a lot of difference.
That being said, if you look at depacker main loop, it has a bunch of bsr calls. Copy/pasting parts of the code to replace them and doing some reshuffling could result in a noticable speed increase on expense of, lets pesimistically say, ~100 bytes of code (it would still fit in icache).
Whether that's worth the effort and space or not, only you can tell.

AmigaDweeb · 24 March 2023, 16:32

I really like shrinkler but for a full game and not a demo it was just too slow on decrunch.

RNC ProPack as an all rounder is still the best for games IMHO. Demo's no, probably not tho but I only write games for Amiga. After trying them all that is just the way it is regards cramming a large exe onto disk 1 at least.

The other cruncher I use in game, is RNC CompactP which is really good for data compaction. I've used that for 30+ years now on and off.

Shrinkler deffo gets the thumbs up tho - really nice.

23 March 2023, 10:27	#42
AmigaDweeb Mutation Software Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 811	Yes those AGA extra graphics eat the machine regards base 2MB chip as you say and with regards to using 2 disks to ship the end game on. Anyway, I further tested Shrinkler with colour poke and text message options and will run with it for now. I can now fit the .exe on disk 1 at least without taking anything out of the game given everything is heavily compressed already pretty much. For anybody remotely interested in this particular subject and Shrinkler, I used... Code: shrinkler --textfile decrunch.txt --flash DFF180 cp2 cp2.srk Which ends up looking like this (sorry it's a bit large off the emulator screen)... It'll do

23 March 2023, 11:54	#43
AmigaDweeb Mutation Software Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 811	And finally... nope that's a no go in reality then as Shrinkler seems to want more than the base 2mb chip mem in A1200 to decrunch my game I just found out on real Amiga's, WinUAE and A500Mini at least. Final answer: I'll chop some bits down further in the game code and use RNC ProPack [Edit: Yes after full testing I had to remove an optional end part of my game, compress with RNC ProPack then it fitted on disk1 and unpacks nicely in 2Mb chip ram (no fast ram needed) which is my target machine spec.] I'll shut up now Last edited by AmigaDweeb; 23 March 2023 at 13:48.

24 March 2023, 16:10	#48
AmigaDweeb Mutation Software Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 811	I tried stonecracker but the compacted size came out larger than rnc propack, as did cranker. Only shrinkler packed my game code smaller than propack for me, but it took about 50secs to decrunch and needed fastram I later found out. In the end I went back to rnc propack and it unpacked in basic 2mb chip ram (AGA). Propack for king ...for games Last edited by AmigaDweeb; 24 March 2023 at 16:33.

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23 March 2023, 10:04	#41
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,234	making AGA game work properly on stock A1200/020 is really a pain. People expect a big game and you're stuck with 2MB of slow chip.

23 March 2023, 14:28	#44
jotd This cat is no more Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: FRANCE Age: 52 Posts: 8,234	Rob Northen for president!

24 March 2023, 15:49	#47
andy2004 Zone Friend Join Date: May 2006 Location: Hampshire Age: 49 Posts: 271	You never thought about using StoneCracker 4??

24 March 2023, 16:23	#49
a/b Registered User Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: europe Posts: 1,039	Shrinkler is not a "general purpose" packer, it sacrifices pretty much everything for size, depacker included. When you are constrained to e.g. 4kb it makes a lot of difference. That being said, if you look at depacker main loop, it has a bunch of bsr calls. Copy/pasting parts of the code to replace them and doing some reshuffling could result in a noticable speed increase on expense of, lets pesimistically say, ~100 bytes of code (it would still fit in icache). Whether that's worth the effort and space or not, only you can tell.

24 March 2023, 16:32	#50
AmigaDweeb Mutation Software Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Sconnie Botland Age: 59 Posts: 811	I really like shrinkler but for a full game and not a demo it was just too slow on decrunch. RNC ProPack as an all rounder is still the best for games IMHO. Demo's no, probably not tho but I only write games for Amiga. After trying them all that is just the way it is regards cramming a large exe onto disk 1 at least. The other cruncher I use in game, is RNC CompactP which is really good for data compaction. I've used that for 30+ years now on and off. Shrinkler deffo gets the thumbs up tho - really nice.

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