PK3 VS PK7

[insightguy]

Which one is better?

[AFADoomer]

Generally, PK7 (7zip) gives you better compression/smaller file size but is slower to decompress. I know this is definitely true in ZDoom, as I had to change one of my files to a PK3 because loading sounds from a PK7 was causing noticeable performance hits in-game. The PK7 files with map/graphic/game data still work just fine, though.

[Enjay]

Putting my usual "but a PK3 is just a zip file with its extension changed" rant aside, I personally prefer zips PK3s because of the loading time that AFADoomer mentioned. With a sizeable mod, there can be a second or more of additional hesitation at the startup screen with a 7z file compared to using the same mod but in a PK3. Indeed, the decompression time for a zip is barely noticeable compared to the very noticeable delay with a 7z.

[ChronoSeth]

However, there's usually little to no difference during gameplay, as far as I can tell.

[AFADoomer]

However, there's usually little to no difference during gameplay, as far as I can tell.

The only time I've seen an effect on gameplay was when I had sounds in a .pk7. The first time they were played, there was a framerate-stuttering lag effect while the sound loaded. Other than that, textures, data files and whatnot are all decompressed on level load, so you see some delay up front, but not while playing.

[randi]

The only time I've seen an effect on gameplay was when I had sounds in a .pk7

What if you have all the sounds in separate blocks instead of cramming everything into a single block in the archive?

(Actually, since general-purpose compression doesn't work too well with sounds, it would probably be best to use some sound-specific compression like FLAC and then store them in the archive without any additional compression.)

You can also create zips (pk3s) with LZMA compression, so that's another alternative to pk7.

[insightguy]

Sorry but, what's LZMA?

[edward850]

Sorry but, what's LZMA?

You really need to learn to use google much, much more. But seeing as I'm already posting this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LZMA

[Mr. Tee]

Putting my usual "but a PK3 is just a zip file with its extension changed" rant aside, I personally prefer zips PK3s because of the loading time that AFADoomer mentioned. With a sizeable mod, there can be a second or more of additional hesitation at the startup screen with a 7z file compared to using the same mod but in a PK3. Indeed, the decompression time for a zip is barely noticeable compared to the very noticeable delay with a 7z.

This.

I agee with Enjay. How large can Doom mods get anyway where you'd absolutely need the smaller size created by 7z?

[leileilol]

LZMA sucks for games, okay. No one likes very long load times, even more so of crunched, pointlessly solid-compressed PNGs. If you think you need LZMA, solid compression, then you have failed.

LZMA's good for packing the shipping archive (provided you have verification/recovery record of some sort), but it's not good for play.

I constantly have to turn down the suggestion of LZMA for OpenArena because of people failing to realize how much of a processing overhead LZMA would bring. In addition they also want me to use PNG instead of TGA X_X

[Blzut3]

While that's definitely true for solid compression, do you have numbers for non-solid LZMA? As Randy pointed out you can LZMA compress zip/pk3 files as well and I don't recall there being a significant loading time difference.