Here's one that Kael wrote up for pakking your art files in order to speed up loading a mod. Tried it with my modpack and it went from 2 minutes down to 15 seconds.
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=187699
Civ4 PakBuild
- Thread starter Thunderfall
- Start date
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=187699
is it for civ4+bts also ??
Where can I get if for civ4+bts ??
Also after I patched my civ4+bts.
strategyonly
C2C Supreme Commander
OK i have tried so many times to get this to work to no avail.
When mine paks it leaves out the folder it was packaged in, and just places the files itself in the Pak1 file.
And i have marked stored full paths.
When mine paks it leaves out the folder it was packaged in, and just places the files itself in the Pak1 file.
And i have marked stored full paths.
Wolfshanze
CFC Historian
Okay... I JUST USED PAKBUILD v2.14 to package my Art directory for my BtS mod and it worked just fine with no problems. Mod loads much quicker, and all graphics show up fine in BtS.OK i have tried so many times to get this to work to no avail.
When mine paks it leaves out the folder it was packaged in, and just places the files itself in the Pak1 file.
And i have marked stored full paths.
The tutorial is skipping the "name file" part, because you don't want the file to be named the same as the default Paks (like pak0, pak1, etc, etc).
It's also very important to ONLY place the Art folder in an EMPTY folder before using Pak build (Pakbuild will try to compress everything in the folder you select).
To recap the tutorial (and this DOES work with BtS), do the following:
1) Create an EMPTY folder on your hard drive... let's call it "PAKFOLDER"
2) Go to your Mod folder in BtS, go into the "assets" folder, highlight and copy the "ART" folder only of your mod (this will include the art folder itself, and all sub-folders)... don't bother messing with the XML folder.
3) Paste your "ART" folder into the EMPTY "PAKFOLDER".
4) Start Pakbuild v2.14 use pulldown menu "FILE" and select "New..." then select the "PAKFOLDER"... you'll see the Pakfolder in the left window and you should ONLY see the "ART" folder in it.
5) Click on the "New PAK File" button in the middle
6) Click on "Store Full Paths" on the bottom right (do NOT select "compress all").
7) Click on the "Rename" button a little above the box you just clicked on in step-6... rename the file whatever you want except the default (like Pak0 or Pak1). I recomend naming the file the same as your mod name. It should have a new name such as "Bubba.pak", or whatever you called it (including the ".pak" extension).
8) Select the pulldown menu "PAK" and click on "Build"... it should now create your new art PAK file.
9) Copy the new Pak file ("Bubba.pak" or whatever you called it) into your Mod's "Assets" directory... you can now remove the old "Art" folder from this directory. For most people, you should only see the "PAK" file and the "XML" folder in the mod's Assets directory (your mileage may vary depending on the mod work you're doing, but I'm trying to show the Pak file goes in the same place the old Art folder went and/or where the XML folder is... just-inside the Assets folder of your mod).
10) Fire-up the game with your mod... should load much quicker now if you have all the art files stored in a PAK file.
That's it... it does work with BtS if you do it as I explained above.
strategyonly
C2C Supreme Commander
OK i did exactly what it says here, besides saving it? and still same results, no folders inside the pakbuild??? The file i renamed has nothing in it and then it makes another thing called PAK0.FPK, with the files only, no folders??
I try to unpak it and it even does not list it as a FPK file??
Wolfshanze
CFC Historian
Okay... well that's really strange.OK i did exactly what it says here, besides saving it? and still same results, no folders inside the pakbuild??? The file i renamed has nothing in it and then it makes another thing called PAK0.FPK, with the files only, no folders??
I try to unpak it and it even does not list it as a FPK file??
If that didn't work for you, I'm grasping at straws here, but I'll try... here's a few toughts/suggestions... I garauntee none of these will work, but they come from things I've heard...
1) Somebody mentioned that there is a PakBuild v2.15 that works perfectly with BtS... (that person, who I forget their name, said v2.14 never worked with BtS for them). Before PAK'ing my own stuff, I searched all over for PakBuild v2.15 and couldn't find it anywhere... either I got bogus information, or this is a harder program to find then it should be. Maybe your luck will be better then mine in finding it... or it might just be a white elephant and not exist at all... after giving up finding it, I did get v2.14 to work with BtS.
2) Maybe the size of your file(s) for Pakbuild is too large... I also heard if it's too big, Pakbuild will bug-out on you. I heard that you can break down your FPK into multiple folders of smaller size (the game will load ALL FPK files when it loads, so it can be one big file or five smaller ones... doesn't matter). I know this is true, because I did make the mistake of accidentally putting the folder I wanted PAK'd into a directory with other large files in it... PAKBUILD kept locking up until I realized my error and put my "ART" folder in an empty directory (then it worked). In my own Wolfshanze mod, my art folder was approximately 232MB in size. I have no clue what the maximum size a FPK file can be, but I do know 232MB is okay!
Like I said... the above suggestions are total guesses... the directions I listed in my previous post worked for me, and I passed-on to you all I know about Pakbuild. I have no more information to give... hope you get it working.
strategyonly
C2C Supreme Commander
OK PAK 2.15 is the XP Server one, right below the XP one.
And nope the files are only about 40M in size.
I have tried 2.14 and 2.15 both and they do the same thing except 2.14 makes two different file 0 & 1 whereas 2.15 only makes 0, both of course after the renaming of my file like you said.
OK i did like Kael said, i made a TEMP file on the desktop, i then copied my complete ART folder to that temp folder and placed it inside of that temp folder.?? Everything is exactly the same right up to the point of the BUILD part, the only file listed on the left side is the ART file (with the files and folders inside).
Then i use BUILD after changing Create new file and renaming the one like you said, and i have store full path marked also., just like everyone says, then POOF i get separate FPK 0 from the renamed one with the art files in it, but no folders, just the files. Then i save it all.??
Wolfshanze
CFC Historian
Honestly, I have no idea what's going-on at your end... I used v2.14, did the steps as I outlined them above, with a single "ART" folder containing about 232MB of files, and I got ONE FPK file called "Wolfshanze.fpk" of roughly equal size (232MB). I didn't get any extra files/folders, I got ONE fpk file named what I requested, and it works just fine with my BtS mod.
I wish I could help you further, but, alas, I'm at a loss as to your problem. Maybe if you gave me a link to your zipped 'ART' folder I could PAK it for you on this end and see (of course that probably won't help you for convenience).
strategyonly
C2C Supreme Commander
Does anyone understand whats going on here??
Everything i do the same as listed, but then as soon as i hit the BUILD, it makes Pax0.FPK right besides the one i renamed??
The one i renamed has nothing in it, and the Pax0 one has the files in it and not the folder??
I save it and it makes a (what looks like a FPK with the renamed one in the temp file with the ART file). But when i try to unpak, it doesnt even list it as a FPK file?
Then i place the one i renamed into the MOD and try to unpak it and nothing there to unpak?
EDIT: Come on some one has to have had the same problem??
Everything i do the same as listed, but then as soon as i hit the BUILD, it makes Pax0.FPK right besides the one i renamed??
The one i renamed has nothing in it, and the Pax0 one has the files in it and not the folder??
I save it and it makes a (what looks like a FPK with the renamed one in the temp file with the ART file). But when i try to unpak, it doesnt even list it as a FPK file?
Then i place the one i renamed into the MOD and try to unpak it and nothing there to unpak?
EDIT: Come on some one has to have had the same problem??
Wolfshanze
CFC Historian
Unfortunately it would seem to just be you?
I was able to get it to run with v2.14... no idea what your problem is, but it may-well just be on your end? Dunno...
I was able to get it to run with v2.14... no idea what your problem is, but it may-well just be on your end? Dunno...
strategyonly
C2C Supreme Commander
I got it working, one instruction was wrong, thats why i didnt get it right till now, but anyways,
Wolfshanze
CFC Historian
Just thought I'd mention everything is somewhat unstable on Vista....Just thought I'd mention that it pakbuild was somewhat unstable on vista, but if you go to properties and set its compatiblilty mode to winxp it stabilizes
Xenomorph
King
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2007
- Messages
- 972
I am at a loss. The PAK->Build command doesn't always want to work for me. I put the files I want to pak into a folder (D:\Paking\AssetPack1\) and make sure the directory structure is intact (art files go into the \Art\ subfolder, etc) so in the end a file like a new leaderhead button would be in the folder D:\Paking\AssetPack1\Art\Interface\Leaderheads\sid.dds
I then open PakBuild and choose New and point it to D:\Paking\AssetPack1\
In the excluded extensions box I enter "bik;wav;bmp;tga;png" I click the button "New PAK File" and rename it "AssetFiles1.FPK" and select "Store full paths"
When I try to build it all the files are properly shown in the Packed Files area, but no PAK file is actually created. I've even tried saving the fpk_loadout and reloading it from there to try building again, but still no luck. What's even more frustrating is that other files I've packed worked fine.
UPDATE:
It seems that when packing at least one of my PAK files the .pak file gets created, but is deleted by the program before it finishes. Talk about strange.
I then open PakBuild and choose New and point it to D:\Paking\AssetPack1\
In the excluded extensions box I enter "bik;wav;bmp;tga;png" I click the button "New PAK File" and rename it "AssetFiles1.FPK" and select "Store full paths"
When I try to build it all the files are properly shown in the Packed Files area, but no PAK file is actually created. I've even tried saving the fpk_loadout and reloading it from there to try building again, but still no luck. What's even more frustrating is that other files I've packed worked fine.
UPDATE:
It seems that when packing at least one of my PAK files the .pak file gets created, but is deleted by the program before it finishes. Talk about strange.
rockinroger
WoC Team Member
How big is the pak build file your trying to do, i talked with mamba and he has seem to hit a limit of 200-250 mb. If you look at vanilla civ 4 they keep them at about 100mb. maybe that will help.
rockinroger
WoC Team Member
Hum try splitting the second one down. to about 100-150 MB. See if that works.
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