Once you have extracted the downloaded archive to the desired location, you are at the point where you might
want to run the program. Depending on your Operating System and the variant of UT2004CacheExtractor that you
have downloaded, this is done in slightly different ways.
If you don't take some care while selecting the files to extract, you may extract too many files for a map
that you copy from the cache. Too many files means files that actually don't belong to the map and aren't
needed to play it. This is not critical since the map will function for sure, but the redundant files will
be copied to the game directory or included in archives, etc. (depending on what operation you choose) and
thus waste HD space and pollute your installation of the game by the time.
Here's the explanation:
Since I don't know a method to safely check if a given file is really needed by a specific map, the method
I use is the following: When connecting to an internet server for playing and files are being transfered via
redirected downloading, the first files that are sent are logos, jingles, mutators and the like. Only if
everything has been sent that makes the server special in any aspect, the current map file is being sent and
all resources needed by the map are sent afterwards. The order of the downloads is reflected by the
cache.ini file that records all files that reside in the cache. So what UT2004CacheExtractor does,
is scanning the cache.ini file. When a map file is found, all succeeding files are considered to
belong to this map, until a new map file is found. This works fine for one game-session. But if you connect
to another server afterwards that sends special files at the beginning, too, then guess what happens? Right,
these files become subsequent entries to the last map, recorded in the cache.ini. So if you start
UT2004CacheExtractor after that, the files will be displayed as belonging to the last map that was
downloaded from the previous game server. Only when a new map file is found after these files, the following
entries are considered to belong to the new map.
What can you do to avoid redundant files?
Well, the best is to use UT2004CacheExtractor directly after a gaming session on one server, before
connecting to the next. If you use it irregularly every now and then (like I do), then the best you can do
is to expand the map entries that you select from the list and validate the names of the files that are
considered to belong to the map. In most cases, you can easily see which files have another origin than the
map that you want to extract. Further on, it is impossible that a file doesn't belong to the map and files
following to this one do. The order of files is important! Simply uncheck all files that don't belong to the
map in your opinion. Here is an example:
How can you be sure that you don't uncheck files that are really needed by the map?
Well, after (or while) extraction, you can install the map to the UT 2004 game directory. Once, it's inside
there, you can open the UT 2004 map editor and load the extracted map. If there are any resources missing,
you get an appropriate message. If you don't get one, everything is ok.
First of all, each button has a tooltip help describing it's function or meaning. So you just need to hold
the mouse over one of them to get the information. If the information disappears too quickly to read everything
(that's a setting of the OS), simple hold the mouse pointer over another button for short and return to the one
you're interested in. The information is then displayed again.
- Directory selection
The first thing, you should do after starting UT2004CacheExtractor for the first time, is selecting
the Cache directory of your UT 2004 game. It's a subdirectory of the UT 2004 main directory. Only
after this, you will see the contents of your local cache. Just use the Select button to open a directory
requester to choose from. But, of course, you can also type it in the appropriate text field, if you like.
Important: Dependant on the UT 2004 game directory configuration, the UT 2004 game
directory may be considered to be the parent directory of the one you select here. So if
you select a copy of the Cache directory somewhere on your harddrive that is detached from the game itself, you
should not choose to copy extracted files to the game directory!
If you want to copy extracted files to another location but the UT 2004 game directory (or if you want
to create archives from the extracted files), you should also select an appropriate destination directory.
Simply use the Select button or type the path into the text field to do this.
- Modes of operation
There are basically four things that UT2004CacheExtractor can do:
-
Copy files from the cache directory to the game directory (installation).
The selected files are copied to the associated subdirectories of the UT 2004 game directory. That
means, map files are copied to Maps/, texture files are copied to Textures/ and so
on. Already existing files are only overwritten after confirmation. After copying a map and it's
appropriate files to the game directory, the map is immedately ready for playing. You may quit
UT2004CacheExtractor afterwards and start the game to try it.
-
Copy files from the cache directory to any specified destination directory (extraction).
The selected files are copied to the destination directory that you must previously specify. You
can have them grouped, according to the different maps you extract (a single directory is created for
each map), create appropriate subdirectories for the different file types, just as they exist in the
game directory (for easy map installation by simply copying the contents of a created map directory to the
UT 2004 game directory), and create archives with an archiver of your choice (Zip, Rar, 7-Zip, etc.)
that may or may not contain the described subdirectories (if they do, you can install a map by simply
extracting the archive to the UT 2004 game directory). In archive form, you can easily send the
extracted maps to your friends via e-mail, FTP or common instant messengers.
-
Copy files from the cache directory to the game directory and the specified destination directory.
This is simply a combination of the modes, described under i. and ii., at the same time. This way, you
can very easy install the maps for yourself and create archives to give them to your friends, in one go.
-
Clear selected files from the cache directory
In this mode, you can delete all files from the cache directory that you select from the list. This
may be useful if you experience any version incompatibilities with mutators stored in your cache
directory. You can also simply use this mode to clean up your cache directory. This is very useful if
you change the Cache Holding Time of the game itself (configurable with UT2004CacheExtractor as well),
especially if you set it to unlimited (0).
You might see a special node in the selection tree that is entitled "(files that don't belong to a map)".
It appears only in this operation mode and offers you the opportunity even to clear files from the cache
that are not associated with any map. Usually, these are files that were chronologically downloaded before
the first map (e.g. mutators, special files for a server like logos, jingles, etc.). This way, you have
complete control over the contents in your cache directory. If you choose "Select all" and start the
clearing operation, your cache directory will be empty afterwards.
Be warned! In this mode, files are being deleted irretrievably from the cache directory. So be careful what
you do if you still want to use them.
- Options
- Create appropriate subdirs
If you select this option in "Copy to destination" mode, a subdirectory with the name of the map to be
copied will be created for each map in the destination directory. Inside this directory, the files
belonging to this map will also be stored in subdirectories, according to their type (Maps for
map files, Textures for texture files, etc.). These "inner directories" carry the same names
that are used by the game. So after copying, you could install the extracted map by simply entering the
directory with the name of the map and recursively copying all contents to the UT 2004 game directory.
Here's an example what this option does. Lets say, you extract the map "ONS-RFKitchen" with all its associated
files to the destination directory. Then this is what is being copied and what you get:
If this option is not set, all files will be copied directly to the destination directory and may
become individable if you copy files of several different maps. But still, this may be useful, for
example, if you want to copy (and maybe UZ2-compress) them for your redirect server. Redirect servers
store all downloadable files in one big directory.
When copying files to the UT 2004 game directory, this option is always implicitly set, with the exception that
the outer subdirectory (the one with the map name) is not being created. If the option "Create archives" is set
together with this one, then the subdirectories are created inside the archive as well, but the outer subdirectory
is left out again here. The reason is that, this way, you can install the archived maps by simply unpacking the
archive to the UT 2004 game directory.
- Delete source files
If this option is set, the files that are copied from the cache directory are deleted from there after
copying. This option always has an effect, no matter what the destination was. To reflect the change to
the game, the associated entries are removed from the cache.ini file as well. With this option
set, you can actually move files from the cache, rather than just copying them.
- Create archives
With this option set, you can create archives from the files that are being copied. Archives are a
collection of source files, bundeled together in one single archive file, usually with more or less good
compression allpied to it. UT2004CacheExtractor already brings internal support for Zip archive creation
with it. With this, you easily create Zip archives without the need to care about anything technical.
Additionally, you can integrate any external command line archiver that you like, using the
Archivers configuration from the settings menu. You can use real archivers as
well as single file packers (for UZ2 file creation, for example).
The creation of archives is only available when not exlusively copying to the UT 2004 game directory.
If you want to install files to your game directory and create archives from them, use the
combined mode, described under 2. iii. If the option "Create appropriate subdirs" is checked additionally
to this one, then the subdirectories associated with the file types are created inside the archive as
well. Just the outer subdirectory (the one with the map name) is left out. This way, the archived maps
can easily be installed to the game by extracting the archives directly to the UT 2004 game directory.
- Remove archived files
Setting this option is only possible in conjunction with the option "Create archives" being set. Using
this option will result in all copied files being removed after they were added to the archive. This way,
you will get only archives in the destination directory. If this option is not set, you will also get the
copied files in unpacked form (grouped in subdirectories or not, depending on the option "Create
appropriate subdirs being set or not) besides the archives.
- Remove zombie entries
Zombie entries are records in the cache.ini file that point to no longer existing files in the
cache directory. For example, if a file is automatically deleted by the game itself, after the Cache
Holding Time for this files has expired, its reference in the cache.ini file may still exist.
The same thing happens, if you manually delete files from the cache directory. No matter what lead to
these dead references, with this option being set, you can implicitly remove them from the cache.ini
file when executing the next operation. The removal is optional, because you may have your reasons to
keep these entries, for example to check what maps were downloaded or
when experiencing with the cache on your own.
- Use the following archiver
Here, you can select the archiver that shall be used when the "Create archives" option is being set. If
you didn't speficy any external archivers on your own, you will only see
"ZIP (internal)" here, which selects the internal Zip support of this program. If you configured additional
archivers, they will be selectable from the list that you can drop down here.
- Settings
The configured paths, the selected mode of operation, the options that you set and the window size
and position are automatically saved in a simple config file when you exit the program (under Windows, it
is located in the user's application data directory and under Linux and MacOS, you'll find it in the user's
home directory). You can change this behaviour by unchecking the setting "Save settings on exit" in the
settings menu. The last saved settings will then be frozen until you check this setting again one time.
Besides this general setting, there are two more configuration options that will be described in the
following:
- Configure UT 2004 game directory
Under Windows, the cache directory of UT 2004 is a subdirectory of the game's main directory. Under
Linux (and maybe MacOS) where the user usually has no rights to write to the installation directory,
there's a .cache subdirectory in the user's home directory. If the program fails to locate
the game directory in the parent directory of the cache directory that the user selects in the main
window, it has to be specified in the dialog that opens when this menu entry is selected.
- Configure archivers
In this dialog, you can configure various external archivers and packers that can then be used to
create archives or single packed files with UT2004CacheExtractor. Basically, you can integrate any archiver
that is startable from the command line (or shell). Archivers that require GUI usage can not be
used. Under Windows, I tested RAR (command line version is included in the WinRAR distribution)
and 7-Zip, which is free and very powerful, successfully.
Under Linux, tar and its variants will do fine, I think. If you search for a good archiver,
this list
might help you. Unfortunately, it's in German, but it's still a good reference with supported OSs info
and Homepage- and Download-Links.
Anyway, how is an external archiver being integrated? First of all, you should add a new entry in the
archivers list. Click the Add Button to do so. Next, you have to enter the name for the archiver
in the Name field. This is only to identify the archiver in the list of selectable archivers in
the main window. After that, you have to specify the archiver call, just as you would enter it in the
shell. Parameters that differ in each call (like the archive name or the files to be archived) can be
substituted by suitable variables. The following ones are available:
| Variable |
Meaning |
Description |
| %t |
Target file |
This one should be sufficient for most archivers. It represents the complete path plus the
archive name in one. You should use it with surrounding quotation marks for the case that the
path contains spaces (this depends on the destination directory that you select for copying,
as well as the map name).
|
| %d |
Destination path |
This variable should be used if you can't combine the output path and the archive name in
one parameter for a specific archiver. These archivers typically have an option to set the output path
(you would then specify %d here), whereas the archive name is written without any path. Like
for %t, you should also enclose %d in quotation marks, since the output path may contain
spaces (the path is identical to the destination directory that you select). Usually, if
you used this variable, you would use %a as well (see below).
|
| %a |
Archive name |
Use this variable if you need to specify the archive name without any path for a specific
archiver. In this case, you usually must set the output path in a separate option (see
description for %d). Quotation marks aren't really needed here, since maps can not be
redirected if their names contain space characters, but it can't harm if you use them.
|
| %s |
Source path |
This variable is being substituted with the path that becomes the current directory when
the archiver is run. This is the location where the files (and subdirectories) that need to
be archived are found. Usually, every archiver should be able to collect the files to be
archived from the current directory, so with high probability, you won't need this variable
at all. But still, there may be very exotic archivers around that want a source directory
to be explicitly specified. In this case, you would use this variable. If you do, enclose
it in quotation marks, because the selected destination directory will be a part of it.
|
| %f |
Single filename |
This is a special variable that lets UT2004CacheExtractor activate the single file mode
when being used. In this mode, the archiver is not being called after all files of a map
have been copied, but after the copying of each single file instead. This is unsuitable for
the creation of archives, but necessary if you want to compress the files one by one, rather than
archiving them together. I implemented this mode to enable support for UZ2 compression
which is used by game server admins to compress the redirected files. This option should
only be used in conjunction with %s, because otherwise the files to be compressed won't be found
if the user selects the option "Create appropriate subdirs".
|
When setting up archivers, a few things should be regarded:
- Please do always provide the full path to the archiver, even if it is in your search path. You
will get an Exception when the archiver is being called otherwise. On the other hand, you may omit
the extension (like .exe, .com, .bat or whatever).
[Explanation: I tried several ways to set a path as current directory before creating the
archiver proccess - without success. There is a similar function in Java, but there, the directory
is only set if the executable was found already.]
- The first space character in the command line separates the archiver from its parameters. So if
there if a space in the path where the archiver itself is located (such as
C:\Programs\My Packers\RAR\rar.exe for example), you have to enclose the path and filename
of the archiver in quotation marks, regardless if quouation marks are used in the parameters
already, or not. In this example, it would be "C:\Programs\My Packers\RAR\rar.exe" and
after that, a space character and the parameters would follow.
- The archiver should be configured to collect the files and directories to be archived recursively
from its current directory. This enables you to use a wildcard (that means *) to speficy the
files that shall be archived. Recursion is important when the option
"Create appropriate subdirs" has been set. Otherwise, no files will be
archived at all.
- If the archiver doesn't append an extension to the archive name automatically (like tar does, for example),
you should type the extension manually right after %t or %a, respectively. If you use tar, you would type
%t.tar in the call, for example. If you don't do this, you will get an archive creation error, because the
archive name will be identical to the name of the directory that holds the files to be archived.
- If the archiver outputs a progress indicator like a bar or a percentage display, this should be
disabled, if possible. The reason is that the output in the log window might get skewed since
cursor repositioning codes aren't interpreted correctly.
Here are some example calls that I currently use under Windows:
| RAR: |
C:\Programs\WinRAR\rar a -m5 -md4096 -r -idp "%t" *
|
| 7-Zip: |
C:\Programs\7-Zip\7z a -bd -r -t7z -mx9 "%t" *
|
| UCC (for UZ2 compression): |
E:\Games\UT2004\System\UCC COMPRESS "%s\%f"
|
| TinyUZ2: |
C:\Programs\TinyUZ2\tinyuz2 -c -o "%d" "%s\%f"
|
Of course, you should change the paths of the archivers to your own paths if you copy these calls.
Some words about UZ2 compression: TinyUZ2 is a nice standalone packer by Michiel "El Muerte" Hendriks
that compresses UT 2004 resources. It is available for Windows, Linux and FreeBSD and you can get it
here. You can also
use UCC, which is shipped with UT 2004, to compress the files with UZ2. Depending on your OS and your
CPU architecture, you must choose the correct version. UCC can be found in the System subdirectory of
your UT 2004 game directory. The names of the different version are:
ucc (for Windows), ucc-bin (for Linux with 32 Bit- or Intel-CPU),
ucc-linux-amd64 (for Linux with Athlon64 CPU) and ucc-bin-macosx (for MacOS X).
UCC has one issue that you should know about: If you call it from anywhere else but the directory it resides
in, and the path to UCC has a space character in it (like E:\Games\Unreal Tournament 2004\System\UCC),
then UCC will fail to load its compression modules. If you have this problem, the only solution that
makes UCC still usable with UT2004CacheExtractor, is to create a batch file in the game's System
directory that starts UCC. If we take the path from the example above, the batch file under Windows
(called UCC.bat here) would look like this:
@ECHO OFF
E:
CD "\Games\Unreal Tournament 2004\System"
UCC.exe %1 %2
And the UCC call in the Archiver Configuration would be:
"E:\Games\Unreal Tournament 2004\System\UCC.bat" COMPRESS "%s\%f"
- Set cache holding time
This setting lets you configure the time that the game itself waits until downloaded files in the
cache are deleted automatically. This is checked each time when you start UT 2004. Files that are
older than the limit (which I call Cache Holding Time) are removed then. This ensures that your HD
space doesn't shrink by the time when you play UT 2004 on the internet. But on the other hand, it
causes that maps have to be re-downloaded, if you play them again after a time.
With this setting, you can decide on your own, how long downloaded maps shall stay in the cache. The
value to be entered here is meant in days. If you have lots of HD space, you may set a long or even
unlimited time (if you enter 0). If you have only little HD space left, you might reduce the period to 1 day,
if you like. But if you use UT2004CacheExtractor regularly, you may optimize it all, using the method
that I prefer:
I set the Cache Holding Time to 0 and regularly check the cache contents with UT2004CacheExtractor.
Maps that I like or that I play often on my favourite servers are moved from the cache to the game
directory for fix installation (they need HD space, of course, but I must never download them again
and can play them locally as well). Other maps that are not my favourite ones but are played every now
and then on the internet stay in the cache and thus must not be downloaded as well. Maps that
I only tried on some random servers and that I likely won't need again are deleted manually, using the
"Clear selected files from the cache directory" mode. The advantage is: If
I feel like I need to have more HD space, I can use UT2004CacheExtractor to clear some or all of the
maps that I don't like that much but that are played on my preferred servers. This way, I will
definitely keep my favourite maps and must only download the disliked maps again when they're played
on the internet. This is far better than having everything deleted by the time or having nothing
deleted at all (when simply setting the Cache Holding Time to 0).