packing/unpacking pbos - problem

Somehow it seems my tools dont function.

I am using Eliteness V2.93 and cpbo.exe with an unknown version number.

Simple test I did: First I unpacked a pbo using eliteness and then packed it again using cpbo.exe.

As far as I can observ - all files stay included in the pbo - no visible loss of data.

But when I try to replace the newly created pbo with the old one - the game cant find certain files - files that are surely inserted.

It seems my tools are outdated. Or is this expected behavior.

If not - which tools am I supposed to use?

Greetings!

Im not sure about cpbo.exe but I do use Eliteness and I know you also need DePbo.dll file. It works here no problem

Jeah without that dll the whole exe wont work - I had that problem earlier;)

But then again - I can unpack pbos with eliteness - and repack them with cpbo. But the game wont work with these.

So either its normal that you cannot pack/unpack pbo files out of the arma/addons/ dictionary and expect them to work - or the tools dont work right for me.

Greetz!

I really can't say with addons -but creating PBO's with Eliteness 2.95 worked for me no problem mission-wise.

cpbo was problematic back with A2

Why not use BinPBO ?

My Tool List;

BinPBO

unRap

PBO Manager (dePBO'ing by WINCE)

NotePad++

An update: I played around a bit more and it seems the toolset works fine for arma 2.

Unpacking and repacking will result in a working endproduct.

On the other hand - Arma 3 pbos still get unusable with the same tools.

I will try your suggested tools today

Greetings!

---------- Post added at 12:55 PM ---------- Previous post was at 11:30 AM ----------

Okey next try - I switched cpbo with BinPBO.

I did following (Arma2):

I used a working addon and unpacked it via Eliteness.

Then I packed it back with BinPBO.

I exchanged the original addon pbos with the newly created ones and tested it ingame. No Error

Should be fine right?

Sadly no...

I unpacked the newly created addon pbos again and compared the original and the newly created unpacked files.

It seems BinPBO erases several files. For example: In the original there were 3723 files in one sub folder. In the unpacked - packed - and reunpacked folder there are only 2049 files left.

On top of that - BinPBO created a "PboPrefix.txt" and "texHeaders.bin" file which were not there in the first place.

Now this COULD be intended behavior - say if BinPBO found out that these files are not relevant to the addon or sth.

But I am not sure about that.

Now I am trying to do the same with an Arma 3 addon and after that - I will switch Eliteness with PBO Manager as suggested by Gnat.

---------- Post added at 01:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 PM ----------

Wow now that looks messed up....

I did the same with an Arma 3 addon and what came out looks pretty wasted.....this cannot be correct. And even though I got not error while loading the altered addon - it didnt load the new files.

Here is what the original pbo and the altered pbo unpacked look like.

BinPBO basically created a folder in a folder while doubling all files - this seems just ridiuclous....

Now I am going for the PBO Manager. Hope this will work better...........I doubt it though.

Oh, so you're trying to repack prior (BI) binarized PBO's. i.e BI's own PBO's .........

Yeh, not sure now, I never repack BI's stuff, only inspect, so not sure what tools are best.

I didnt know there was a difference.

But I also tried it with community addons and had the same results.

Basically what I want to do is retexture certain parts of the game (to be precise: trees and stones)

But I just dont get them into the game.

I tried figuring out how to create functioning pbos by rebuilding community addons - which didnt work.

Then I tried the same with BIs own addons - which didnt work.

But I just dont know why a simple repack wouldnt work.

And since theres no tutorial to be found for replacement mods - I am all on my own. Even more since it seems nobody is likely to answer any my several topics regarding the retexture theme.

btw: I now tried MakePBO and ExtractPBO and several mixes with Eliteness.

It seems Eliteness and ExtractPBO deliver the same results in the first instance (while BinPBO fucks everything up) but after packing and repacking and so forth - they deliver different behaviors such as that ExtractPBO keeps a config.cpp while Eliteness keeps a config.bin

Also a "TexHeaders.bin" went missing with both workflows.

I am not really sure what this should tell me other than packing and unpacking fucks things up while Bohemias BinPBO tool fucks things up the most.

Still theres no way for me to tell how to get this running.

You need to read, learn and understand about prefix/pboprefix:

http://community.bistudio.com/wiki/CMA:DevelopmentSetup#Use_namespaces

Check also the readme(s) of makePbo.

You cannot mix eliteness/mikero's tools with outdated/old tools.

To make it easier for your simple data modification and repack goal use: extractPbo -K target.pbo

*Output to pboname\ or 'prefix'\

-K ignore prefix (ofp behaviour)

To add it up: When I unpack the files with Eliteness and repack them with cpbo.exe - thepbo-file size is EXACTLY the same as it was before.

Also I can unpack and repack and unpack and so forth - the files and folder structure stays exactly the same.

So theres no visible difference between the files. They look the same - they are at the same place, they have the EXACT SAME SIZE, when unpacking them they have the EXACT SAME FOLDER STRUCTURE.

Still - when I load the altered file instead of the old one - the texture cannot be loaded.

I am slowly getting insane.

The solution is just above your post.

cpbo only knows $PBOPREFIX$, while mikero's tools nowadays use pboprefix.txt

Thanks for your link .kju

Having read all this and looked through the extracted files again - I came to the conclusion that Eliteness creates more files than necessary when its unpacking. For example it creates a "PboPrefix.txt" which seems to be related to the stated $pboprefix$ but contains more data and more lines.

Still - when unpacking and repacking only with up to date Mikeros tools - the filesizes dont fit before and after. Also after the repacking some files went missing (for example the texHeaders.bin).

On top of that I am not completely sure yet what to put into the $PrefixPbo$

"@Mod1/Addon1"

and

"x/@Mod1/addons/Addon1" seem to be allowed both if I understand correctly.

Must my folder structure then look like this or is it irrelevant?

".../armaroot/@Mod1/addons/Addon1.pbo"

Also it says that a PBOPrefix wouldnt be necessary - so for testing purposes I should be fine without it, shouldnt I?

---------- Post added at 02:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:42 PM ----------

;2365576']The solution is just above your post.

cpbo only knows $PBOPREFIX$' date=' while mikero's tools nowadays use pboprefix.txt[/quote']

Okay so I will try the following now: I will delete Mikeros PBOPrefix.txt and create a $PBOPREFIX$ instead - with following entrance (without marks) "testmod/addon1"

Also I will create a folder structure like ".../armaroot/@Mod1/addons/Addon1.pbo".

And then I will try to repack the files with cpbo.exe since it works with $PBOPREFIX$.

Ps: that doesnt explain why the workflow with cpbo.exe and Eliteness results in files with the EXACT same size. I am no developer and practice learning by doing but shouldnt an EXACT SAME AMOUNT OF DATA mean that the files are identically? Bisigns do work the same way as far as I know, dont they?

---------- Post added at 02:54 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:45 PM ----------

Update: And it didnt work

---------- Post added at 04:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:54 PM ----------

Could it be, that I have to pack/unpack in a specific dictionary on the "p-drive"?

I am momentanely doing everything in my Arma root...

Sorry but I don't really get the problem. What files are missing / the exact issue?

If you are working on an addon it's not a good idea to this in the arma root folter. Work from the P folder and use BIN PBO as it only exports stuff you need and keeps unnecessary stuff away.

Good Guy Greg is here again...

I finally got it working.

To summarize: What I wanted to do:

I simply wanted to unpack and repack an addon.

But every repacked pbo would create an error when loaded ingame.

How I finally got it running was by using Eliteness both for unpacking and repacking (Before I didnt know that there even was a repacking option).

Using Eliteness alone led to working results.

In consumption I would say that Eliteness unpacked some files different than other tools would expect and therefore lead to not working files.

This so anyone else with the same problem will find help here.

Greetz