2008 version and v6 DATpacker constantly freezing

[Loney 22]

I spent about two hours trying to figure out what was going wrong. I removed the main D_BAT folder and placed the sub-folders directly into the Plugin folder. I also split the giant D_BAT commercial folder into five smaller folders that were a little less than 390 MB per folder. However, it still kept spitting error messages.

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/4333/unledmt.jpg

I then switched to the older v6 DATpacker, the error messages it gave mentioned something about the files being too large.

  Edited October 10, 2011 by Loney  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

I spent about two hours trying to figure out what was going wrong. I removed the main D_BAT folder and placed the sub-folders directly into the Plugin folder. I also split the giant D_BAT commercial folder into five smaller folders that were a little less than 390 MB per folder. However, it still kept spitting error messages.

http://img442.images...333/unledmt.jpg

I then switched to the older v6 DATpacker, the error messages it gave mentioned something about the files being too large.

Instead of Datpacker, you could try ilive's files2dat. Not as convenient, perhaps, but a solid program written in C.

[Loney 22]

The problem is that I have to manually combine all of the files in each content's folder, and there are nearly 1.6K of them. I really don't have the patience to do that.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

The problem is that I have to manually combine all of the files in each content's folder, and there are nearly 1.6K of them. I really don't have the patience to do that.

Well, you don't save that much with datpacker anyway, so why not just forget it. It only saves on initial program loads anyway.

[Loney 22]

The problem is that I have to manually combine all of the files in each content's folder, and there are nearly 1.6K of them. I really don't have the patience to do that.

Well, you don't save that much with datpacker anyway, so why not just forget it. It only saves on initial program loads anyway.

How do I cut down the loading time between the underground and above-ground view? It takes about a minute even with a small subway network, and switching between tunnels and stations take just as long for it to load.

[Jazzmaster 716]

The problem is that I have to manually combine all of the files in each content's folder, and there are nearly 1.6K of them. I really don't have the patience to do that.

Well, you don't save that much with datpacker anyway, so why not just forget it. It only saves on initial program loads anyway.

How do I cut down the loading time between the underground and above-ground view? It takes about a minute even with a small subway network, and switching between tunnels and stations take just as long for it to load.

I had the same problem at one point. I don't know if it's memory or NAM based. When I updated to the most recent NAM, I could almost say beyond a reasonable doubt that the strange 'subway lag' went away.

Either way, DAT packing the game isn't going to fix that problem by a lot, assuming it even does. I would honestly avoid DAT packing, simply because it makes it impossible to resolve plugin conflicts. And on the note of conflicts, do not under any circumstances DAT pack 'heavy' mods like the NAM. It will create problems. Any mods with an installer should be left in their original location, because the creators placed them into that location for a reason; mods have to load in a certain order to work properly. The NAM in particular needs to stay in its default install to uninstall and update properly as well.

If you insist on DAT packing, you would probably get more support on the SimCity 4 Devotion forums. But if you DAT pack, do, and I mean absolutely DO backup your plugins suite in its unpacked form to another location. You will need that if you have to track down plugin conflicts. It's saved me many, many times, regarding a DAT pack I did 2-3 years ago.

  Edited October 10, 2011 by Yoshiisland  

[Loney 22]

I always keep a backup and DATpacker never gave me any problems on my old Window xp laptop. I gave it a test run on my old laptop with the same files today and it worked fine despite the hardware being overall slower.

My only conclusion so far is that DATpacker is incompatible with Window Vista or 7. Adding in the needed .dll files didn't help.

EDIT: Oh, there's a new NAM version? I'm still using version 29.

  Edited October 10, 2011 by Loney  

[z1 566]

The problem is that I have to manually combine all of the files in each content's folder, and there are nearly 1.6K of them. I really don't have the patience to do that.

Well, you don't save that much with datpacker anyway, so why not just forget it. It only saves on initial program loads anyway.

How do I cut down the loading time between the underground and above-ground view? It takes about a minute even with a small subway network, and switching between tunnels and stations take just as long for it to load.

Most people (including me) find that the DatPacker reduces loading times of both the game and individual cities to a fraction of their non-Packed time. It also virtually eliminates the delay in switching between the Zone view and the normal view; if you're using the NAM, the Subway Building view is based on the Zone view. I've had no problems at all using the 2008 version of DatPacker with Windows 7 SP1.

Any mods with an installer should be left in their original location, because the creators placed them into that location for a reason; mods have to load in a certain order to work properly.

Not true; I always modify the location that the installers specify to match my storage system and then I later DatPack the results; I have never gotten into trouble doing this. If a mod needs to be in a certain location for loading order, the Readme will specify this. But most mods that use an installer do so simply for ease of use.

The NAM is the one mod that I wouldn't DatPack, for reasons that have already been explained; if you DatPack everything else, then the relative loading order for the rest of your plugins is retained.

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

My plugin suite is really too small to datpack, and besides I would have to debug it for Linux, which I can't be bothered doing since I don't really need it. I do use files2dat on BATs that download not stitched up already to save on disk space and loading time, even though it doesn't matter much. I often go do something else on slow loads, and am not frozen to my console. It is a good time for a comfort stop or to grab some food or drink.

And because I am running Linux, I can switch to another desktop and do other things while the game runs during times when I don't feel like watching the paint dry. It is a good time to update my calendar and shopping list.

[Loney 22]

I've had no problems at all using the 2008 version of DatPacker with Windows 7 SP1.

How did you use the DATpacker, and how were your plugins organized?

[z1 566]

How did you use the DATpacker, and how were your plugins organized?

I just use it in the normal way; sometimes I turn "Force Repacking" on if I'm replacing some files with newer versions. I leave the other two options permanently on. If a folder is too big to be DatPacked, I simply make a folder with that name in my Plugins_Compressed folder and then DatPack all its subfolders, making sure that I update the Destination Directory box appropriately first.

As for my plugins, I let the ones that choose their install folder install where they want. For plugins without an installer, I have folders named Buildings, Civic Structures, Landmarks, Transport, and Utilities that I store them in.

When I use DatPacker, I make sure that only the files I want DatPacked are in my Plugins folder.

I should also mention that I use DatPacker to pack over 4 GB of plugins, so this is not a trivial case.

  Edited October 12, 2011 by z1  

[Loney 22]

I finally got V6 to work by deleting [iRL] Connolly Hall from my plugins. It turned out that the folder was causing DATpacker to freeze up for some reason. I noticed that all of DATpacker's error messages mentioned something about Connolly Hall.

I'm going to see if the 2008 version works tomorrow.

  Edited October 12, 2011 by Loney  

[z1 566]

It's true; a bad plugin can cause DatPacker to hang or crash. But the plugin will often work if you don't pack it.

[Loney 22]

Gave 2008 version a try. It packed the files well, but when I attempted to repack the files to reorganize them into larger files, this occurred:

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/1119/unleddofg.jpg

V6 also hanged at the same set of files

  Edited October 12, 2011 by Loney  

[z1 566]

Are you saying that you were trying to DatPack files that were already DatPacked? (That might explain the RecurseAllFilesFull routine.) I'm not sure you can do that. I also don't think it's necessary; I have 97 files after DatPacking, and everything runs plenty fast. It's when you have hundreds or thousands of files that you get your major slowdown.

[Loney 22]

Hm, by turning off "Optimize space", it was able to repack all of the files into five larger ones without any error messages. It also ironically saved space than if I left the chunks of files unpacked.

  Edited October 12, 2011 by Loney