How to use Dat2 (.dat creator/extractor) by TeamX

H

Howlsh

First time out of the vault
I downloaded Dat2 recently but I just can't get the command arguments right. The usage info is barely useful. Ah well I guess I should be thankful it's not written in cyrillic. (hehe?)
Has anyone figured out how to use it? Or can anyone recomend an easier fallout 2 .dat file creator? The only other I found was datman lite, which would not work.
 
Are you running it from command line? (DOS Prompt)

Just click 'start' then 'run' and tpye 'cmd' and it will launch a command line window (if you have Win98/WinMe you will need to type 'command')

I think dude_obj and Corpse have got it going.

dude_obj has written a batch file that he uses to automaticaly run command line program.

I suspose a friendly programer out there might be willing to write a small GUI front end for DAT2, I've seen this done for other command line apps. It only needs to generate a small batch file in and run this in memory.

Then again I personaly like the command line apps, it reminds my of my DOS days :D
 
Wild_qwerty said:
it reminds my of my DOS days :D
Click to expand...

Oh, yeah :D

Funny how you actually miss those bootdisks after all these years of working with a graphical OS.

I still loathe them for canning the autoexec.bat and config.sys.


...

Aah... good old days of cheap Unix rip-off OSses.
 
To build a DAT file:
DAT2 a -r \Directory\Filename.DAT *.*

a - command: add files to dat file
-r - option: recurse subdirectories

This will make a DAT from the current directory and include everything in it, placing the DAT in the directory specified.

To extract a DAT file:
DAT2 x Filename.DAT

x - command: extract dat file

This will extract the whole thing and make the directory tree

What is odd about DAT2 is that some of the parameters have a hyphen in front and some don't. I was confused about that too, and it took a while to figure out the syntax. The params not preceded by hyphens are commands, while the params preceded by hyphens are optional switches.

EDIT: Sorry I forgot the *.* in the build command above, added.
 
i don't understand the purpose of the recurse into subdirectories option.

I like comand line apps too, but I like them when their usage is clear. If I ever feel brave enough I may dive into the code and puzzle it all out.
 
Howlsh said:
i don't understand the purpose of the recurse into subdirectories option.
Click to expand...

Recurse means "include subdirectories". The source tree of my mod looks like:

\art
\data
\maps
\proto
\scripts
\sound
\text

The -r option tells DAT2 to include all of these subdirectories in the DAT. Without the -r there will be nothing in the DAT because there's no files at the top level.
 
It's been a long time since i've used any comand line apps and longer still that i've needed to suply a list of files to include. If I try .\folderwherefilesarestored\*.* it creates a .\ folder and the second folder. This makes the .dat ugly in datexplorer (it may break stuff), i can fix this by moving zlib1.dll and dat2.exe into the directory I am using to store files but then they become part of the .dat file, how do I create a real list instead of simply *.*?
another way I can fix this is to delete the two unwanted files but it would be better if they were not there at all.
 
Put the DAT2 util (and zlib1.dll) in another directory somewhere and include it in your PATH environment variable. For example, I put all of my fallout modding tools in \FOTOOLS and include that in my PATH (you can set this in windows control panel). This is what I do in my batch file that builds DAT:

CD Source
DAT2 a -r FO2XP-M.DAT *.*

My batch files are a bit complicated because I build both master and critter patch DATs, so I use XCOPY to copy the relevant files to a temp dir just for building the dat. But if you're not adding a critter patch DAT the above should work.
 
Thanks to you Mr. Obj I seem to have it working almost perfectly. But my definition of current directory is where dat2.exe is located, I still need to use .\*.* as my list of files to include but that creates a mysterious . folder (same as if I was to specify the entire directory path to the files, which includes the entire path). i'm not sure how important this is
 
Thanks for the help. I've have it working as I need it. Current directory should have been the dat contents directory not the app directory. also I a shortcut and edit the "start in" property for convenience. Windows XP is my OS just to clarify that matter.
 
That mysterious . folder showing up in DatExplorer probably doesn't actually exist. DatExplorer has a bit of a strange user interface, and I don't useit anymore since DAT2 became available. I have a build.bat file I click on to make the dats (uses DAT2). If I need to extract a dat I can also use DAT2.

If you're not sure if the DAT will work, easy to test, name your file PATCH000.DAT and run the game.
 
That mysterious . folder showing up in DatExplorer probably doesn't actually exist. DatExplorer has a bit of a strange user interface, and I don't useit anymore since DAT2 became available. I have a build.bat file I click on to make the dats (uses DAT2). If I need to extract a dat I can also use DAT2.
Click to expand...

hmm nope i think that this '.' is a DAT2 problem.
When you give him source dir like this:
c:\mod\*.*
Then it will create DAT file with mod directory as root.
So the only good way is to use only *.*
 
naa just passing :D.

BTW I just made a small GUI for DAT2 for those poor souls that do not like Dos.

Grab it from here

How to use:

Just put DAT2Frame.exe to DAT2 folder and run it.
Select source files folder(where you put all your mod files - c:\MyMod)
Select Dat filename with dir like that: C:\MyMod.dat
Press Build DAT button.

Wait

You just created a DAT.
 
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