Cabbed files with something_ extension

[vgsangiuliano]

Hi, I have another question for the forum guys.

The files in the I386 folder on the windows xp CD, for example bliss.jp_ is a normal file cabbed with cabarc from microsoft SDK and with a simple extension renaming or not?

Thank you all.

[jaclaz]

Any file on the XP CD with an underscore as last character (_) is compressed, not necessarily "cabbed with cabarc from microsoft SDK".

Actually there is a MS "COMPRESS.EXE" app that corresponds to the "EXPAND.EXE" one, there are several versions of it:

http://searchwindowsserver.techtarget.com/...1280435,00.html

http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/...it-utility.html

though most probably you are right and cabarc.exe or makecab.exe was used.

I doubt that mscompress was used though :

http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/mscompress.htm

Such a file can be viewed/opened/extracted by 7zip, among others freeware compression utilities.

Something that may interest you:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=112121

jaclaz

[vgsangiuliano]

Ok thank you but the problem is:

if i expand the file and i put it on the win xp CD (after the deletion of the compressed one) there is no problem, during the installation the file is copied without expansion because it is already uncompressed.

The problem is with the luna.th_ file wich uncompressed is luna.the and not luna.theme, so if i edit the luna.theme file do you think i should put it on windows cd without compression with the extension .theme or should i put it with the extension .the ?

Thank you

[jaclaz]

Ok thank you but the problem is:

if i expand the file and i put it on the win xp CD (after the deletion of the compressed one) there is no problem, during the installation the file is copied without expansion because it is already uncompressed.

The problem is with the luna.th_ file wich uncompressed is luna.the and not luna.theme, so if i edit the luna.theme file do you think i should put it on windows cd without compression with the extension .theme or should i put it with the extension .the ?

Thank you

Well, maybe we've come to the "real" question.

I am not at all into "themes", but luna (both ms_/mst and th_/the) have entries in TXTSETUP.SIF:

luna.mst  = 1,,,,,,,68,0,0,luna.msstyles	
luna.the  = 1,,,,,,,129,0,0,Luna.theme

Would this help? Hint...Hint....

If not, these may :

http://gosh.msfn.org/txtsetup.htm

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=14852

jaclaz

[vgsangiuliano]

yes the hints are great...what a stupid i was

In txtsetup.sif there is written where and with what name a file must be copied from CD to HD.

Thanks again

[johnhc]

vgsangiuliano, I used makecab to convert Luna.theme to luna.th_, then used 7-Zip to expand luna.th_ to luna.theme. The initial and final files have the same hash and are identical. Open a command prompt and type "makecab /?" without the quotes to see how to use it. You do not need to specify an output file name, the correct name will be created for both directions of conversion. Enjoy, John.

[jaclaz]

vgsangiuliano, I used makecab to convert Luna.theme to luna.th_, then used 7-Zip to expand luna.th_ to luna.theme. The initial and final files have the same hash and are identical. Open a command prompt and type "makecab /?" without the quotes to see how to use it. You do not need to specify an output file name, the correct name will be created for both directions of conversion. Enjoy, John.

John, try expanding the luna.th_ file you made with EXPAND.EXE.

What happens?

Then, try again with the original luna.th_ file in the \I386 directory of your CD.....

jaclaz

[johnhc]

jaclaz, the final luna.theme is the same in both cases. When I run expand.exe, I have to specify an output file name. The luna.th_ I created with makecab is smaller than the one in my AMD64 (I'm running XP x64), but when expanded by 7-Zip or expand.exe they are the same file (Hashes agree) as they should, really must, be. Enjoy, John.

[jaclaz]

When I run expand.exe, I have to specify an output file name.

Yep, that's the point of the lines in txtsetup.sif.

If you compress luna.the to luna.th_ when expanded it will become again luna.the and the line in txtsetup.sif will rename it to luna.theme, without anyone supplying any name.

jaclaz