Just like the Quake 3 .PAK files, the data files (.TRF I believe, but don''t nail me down on it) from Thief II: The Metal Age are actually just basic PKZIP files with a different file extension. Rename to .ZIP and voila... open them. Mr.Mouse
XeNTaX Zax
XeNTaX MultiEx
(:Music for PC and C64!:)
www.xs4all.nl/~michael

Not surprising, considering the zip format is one of the most widely used compression formats known throughout the Universe...well, at least on Earth. If they were just going to use a common compression format, though, why didnt they go with something a little more efficient? Pkzip is not known for its phenomenally high compression ratio. Perhaps some of the better algorithms are too complex to be worth implementing in a game.

--nevyn

"k thx" --pLaTeDeWd

We plan on using .Zip files for Tribes2 too. There are numerous OpenSource libraries available to read/write them. Why reinvent the wheel every time you write some code?

--Rick

nevyn: The datafiles don''t need high compression ratio. It''s more important that they allow short load times. If I''m not mistaken Q3A''s pk3 files are not compressed at all. For that matter, as the zip format is so widely used there is no need to write your own manager, you could use WinZip for example.