Packing Blitz 3d games into a single .exe

Blitz3D Forums/Blitz3D Programming/Packing Blitz 3d games into a single .exe

Wigwam(Posted 2015) [#1]
I want to pack a game I made in Blitz3d into a single .exe file- I downloaded the molebox demo and it works perfectly, but it seems you can't download the full version anymore. Their store no longer works.

I tried Blitzmedialinker but it makes the game laggy, and it put a bug in the game I couldn't reproduce in the blitz compiler, but could reproduce perfectly in the blitzmedialinker exe- in other words, it makes all my hard work look like laggy, buggy, crap.

All the other alternatives seem to have vanished from this site to time. Is there anything else I can use? I would pay out for molebox immediatley if there was still a way to get it. I'm getting pretty desperate because I want to get this game out there, only to find that the last step, packing it up, is impossible. (and no, I'm not interested in releasing a game with over 2000 files unsecured)


kiami(Posted 2015) [#2]
After a week and still no response, it is unfortunate.


Floyd(Posted 2015) [#3]
Their store no longer works.

Does customer support still respond to emails or are they completely gone?


steve_ancell(Posted 2015) [#4]
You could code yourself something that reads all the colours from an image and then converts them to data statements that can be used as a palette. Then just tokenise each pixel based on that palette. Everything will then be in the EXE upon compiling.

As for converting audio to and from data statements, I have no idea on that one.


steve_ancell(Posted 2015) [#5]
On the other hand, if a hardcore hacker wanted to get your media that badly then they quite simply would.

As long as you plug your game all over the net, scumbags would then have a hard time passing off your work as their own. They may be able to copy but they can't wind back the time, their copy would always have a later date than your's has.


Yue(Posted 2015) [#6]
Here, Download https://www.dropbox.com/s/2jhk4gxhj7ymaql/PakMaker.zip?dl=0

:)


Rroff(Posted 2015) [#7]
Trying to secure files by packing them up either as a big file or as part of the exe is a complete and utter waste of time sorry - if anyone really wants the files someone will code an unpacker in like a couple of days tops.

There may be format or performance reasons for packaging files in certain ways but they can all be implemented in B3D without using traditional "fastfile" packing type methods.

Unfortunately B3D doesn't tend to accommodate loading resources from anything other than the original stand alone file very well which is a bit of a pain if you want to stream resources from online, etc. - I keep meaning to dig into the source to see if its possible to implement reading from banks and streams just by changing the runtime.dll rather than recompiling b3d wholesale but not had a lot of time to investigate.


Yue(Posted 2015) [#8]
With pakMaker, the resource can be saved into a single executable or contenedopres this is an example of what can be done.




RemiD(Posted 2015) [#9]
You can create your own files formats for meshes, textures, animations, images, fonts, but for sounds, i don't know...
Is it necessary to do that ? I think it depends if the components of your game can be reused for others games or not...


Matty(Posted 2015) [#10]
Why not pack 2000 files into 2 files rather than 1. Data and exe. Write your own extractor for the data file. Makes patching easier too if the exe needs changing.


RGR(Posted 2015) [#11]
Instead of molebox you can use the free Enigma Virtual Box

http://www.enigmaprotector.com/en/aboutvb.html


Wigwam(Posted 2015) [#12]
I went with BMLinker in the end- It was the only option I could use- The txt files were exposed but I got to pack everything else. There was some slowdown but I reduced it by optimising the program a little more. I maybe shouldn't've needed to, but it was good enough.

I'll look into enigma and pakmaker over the next weekend or so. If they're really good I might make a new version of the game.


Blitzplotter(Posted 2015) [#13]
Hi Wigwam - there is a packer that I managed to get to work a while ago, you have to use a hex editor a little but it does work.... will research tomorrow for ya ;)