Qhimm.com Forums
Miscellaneous Forums => Scripting and Reverse Engineering => Topic started by: odo324 on 2005-05-02 18:43:21
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I'm posting this because I have never tried anything like this before.
QUESTION:
Using my backup'ed FF8(PC) BIK files, how can I re-create FF8(PC) Disk2's PAK file?
BACKED-UP:
From disk2, I have all the High-Rez movies (iow: all odd-numbers; 1, 3, 5, etc...).
I might be able to re-create the low-rez versions using Rad-Tools (http://www.radgametools.com); by converting the bik files to another format, shrinking them, and converting it back into BIK format. (Could be a lot of work.)
SITUATION:
The foil on my FF8(PC) 2nd CD is scratched! I can see light through it :weep:. It's been that way for years and I haven't played it since then.
It's only a scratch, about 2mm by 0.5mm in size. The damage is minimum, since the scratch is almost parallel to the 'grain' or 'lines' on the cd. To locate the infected files, I tried copying them to my HD. To much joy, it seems only the PAK file is affected; I get a "data sync" error 1/3 way through, when copying it.
When I first got the game, my younger self had extracted all the movies to a couple of CDs (still in BIK format), so I could watch them whenever I wanted. Although, I didn't backup the low-rez versions! Sadly, Qhimm's FMV extractor can't handle my CD's bad archive (the window turns white then the app freezes), so I might be stuck with whatever I've backed up.
OTHER INFO:
- FF8, Disk2 (the PC Version).
- This is the actual game CD! I was too stupid to create any backups back when I got it.
- Originally, I wanted to download an image of the CD but I cant afford broadband internet and I'm sick of waiting. ...Its been over 3 years and I miss FF8!
- The game plays fine, until the end of the Missile Complex mission. The last move I got to see was when Selphie's Group watched the missiles being fired, with Balamb Garden as the target. Out of the 2 times I seen it in game: once it played all the way through (I wasn’t caught in the base until it was required) but the Tank killed me, the second time it crashed as I watched the missiles over the ocean water (I fought my way through the base). Oh, and before crashing, the movie stuttered quite a lot for about a minute.
Apps
- FF8 FMV - Wanted to extract the "surviving" movies (which do work in the game) but can't (probably because it doesn’t skip over corrupt files). I realize this was likely to happen. I just had to try anyway.
- Eight - It doesn’t see the PAK file. I guess it isn't supported anyway.
- Ficedula FFLZS - Yikes, a cmd-line tool! I'm not yet convinced this can create PAK files... ...I'm looking into it though.
- Just a thought... I'm not sure, probably not, but the old "Thief" games might use the same format for it's archives. I'll have to check into this...[/list:u]
EDIT
I just spent the last five~sum hours creating -new- low-rez files (yawn). Thankfully, Rad-Tools can make new BIK files from existing BIK files, saving a ton of time. Regarding the PAK part, I think Dragon UnPACKer (http://www.elberethzone.net/index.php) might work. I use-too use it with Thief2 a --long-- time ago, extracting textures from the game. Not sure about ff8 but it does support Quake2 PAK files so, we'll see...
I'm more confident it will work now... Can't wait until I get back to Balamb and see it fly once again! [/b] :D
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Nope, FF8 PAK files are completly different from Quake PAK files, so Dragon Unpacker wont help you probably.
You can use my tool Unmass (http://mirex.mypage.sk/index.php?selected=1) to unpack ff8 pak's, but I dont know any tool for re-packing though.
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Ya, I can't find one either. Five UnPackers but zero re-packers. Arg :evil:!
Guess all I can do now is ask the people at Dragon UnPacker to add support for FF8 PAKs with their archival program (called "Barf Packer"). If they do, I'll be sure to mention it here.