Squeezing some MBs out of Toonstruck & Urban Runner data

[dooplex]

I wondered, is it possible to save a few additional MBs on the data files for Toonstruck and Urban Runner? Both are pretty big, even when reducing the installation to just the data files (Toonstruck: 1GB, Urban Runner: 2GB).


Here's my findings so far:

Urban Runner:
The compress_gob.exe tool (at least not the 1.3.0 one) doesn't work with Urban Runners' *.ITK files. They must be some newer version. I'm sure, however, that a lot could be saved with some simple extraction/recompression. As far as I see it, there are mainly badly compressed movies (SMK?) contained in the *.ITK.

Toonstruck:
1.) The encode_dxa.exe tool works with the *.SMK files, but it actually produces bigger files than before :-/. encode_dxa.exe worked pretty well f.e. with Feeble Files in the past. I just used the convert_dxa batch script, maybe there's something I'm doing wrong. The *.SMK files take up ~500MB of the total 1GB data files, so saving on them should make sense.
2.) According to the data files page (http://wiki.scummvm.org/index.php/Datafiles), the ACT1, ACT2 and MISC folders are needed. I might be nitpicking but actually not all of the files are needed. The MISC folder does contain some .EXE files (the univbe driver) and some other stuff (f.e. *.386 files) that I'm sure SCUMMVM doesn't need. Plus, there are some file duplicates across the ACT1 and ACT2 folders. Maybe it's possible to copy all files to just one folder?


I know, this might be not all to interesting for everyone, but I'm still mainly playing on a netbook with only 20GB HD, so every MB is precious. Plus, I like my stuff neat and tidy .

[DrMcCoy]

The compress_gob.exe tool

Yeah, no, don't use that.
That tool just recreates an STK/ITK file from a previously extracted one (using extract_gob_stk). It's not for decreasing the size of an STK/ITK file.

I'm sure, however, that a lot could be saved with some simple extraction/recompression. As far as I see it, there are mainly badly compressed movies (SMK?) contained in the *.ITK.

Wrong.

The ITK files contain VMD videos, with the video frame data already lossily compressed by the Indeo3 video codec, and the audio data compressed using a DPCM algorithm. There's nothing to be saved there.

The few sprites not in VMDs are compressed too.
The only thing that could be compressed there would be the very few free WAV files, but that won't save more than, say, 10MB. At max. Not worth it.

[dooplex]

Thanks!

I hoped there still was something that could be done about the 2GB Urban Runner data files but it's also good to know that theres no room left for savings.

For Toonstruck, however, it should be different I think. Half of the data is in *.SMK video files, which should be compressible by converting to *.DXA. Sill, the conversion actually leads to bigger files.

[Freddo]

Converting some older heavy compressed formats to a more modern lossless format, can sometimes cause the files to become larger.

For example, if you compress the audio in older games to FLAC it will become larger. Same with the SMK videos.

[clone2727]

For Toonstruck, however, it should be different I think. Half of the data is in *.SMK video files, which should be compressible by converting to *.DXA. Sill, the conversion actually leads to bigger files.

The Toonstruck Smacker videos are actually non-conforming videos with extra scale data passed through the second audio channel. So, they couldn't possibly be compressed properly in DXA.