Pack Ice

PACK ICE
by Axe of Delight

Editorial note: This article as such wasn't written by Axe of
Delight - indeed, we don't even know who he is! It is a touched
up version of the READ_ME.TXT file normally found with the packer
that we included in the PROGRAMS folder of this issue of ST NEWS.
It is a very good packer, and hence we have included it.
Here it starts.

Today I have decided to give out my packer "Pack-Ice" as Public
Domain. That means that you can use it on whatever program you
want to. Actually I never wanted to give it out to anybody, but I
see many groups using very slow and very bad packing and
depacking routines. I hate waiting for my computer to decompress,
so I give this packer into your hands. I hope that you will use
it instead of Jek or anything. The packing algorithm is based on
the Automation packer, but I have improved and debugged (!!!) it
a lot. The packed files that are created are ALWAYS smaller than
files packed with the Automation packer.

In the folder, you will find:
ICE_2_1.PRG - the packer itself
ICE_UNPA.S - the normal unpacking source
ICE_UNP2.S - the comfortable unpacking source
ICE_DISK.S - source that depacks all loaded files
ICE_READ.ME - the document file

As I told you above, you may freely copy this folder to anybody
you want to. I really hope that there is nobody out there who
still uses lame packers like Jek, Jam, Automation or anything
that's even worse...

This is what the packer can do:
- Pack all files without errors (I hope!!!)
- Crunch files smaller than Automation packer 2.31
- Work on harddisks and ramdisks!!!
- Pack several files in one go (FILE*.* or SHIT.*)
- Files are saved under the same name as the original
- The Offset is set to the value with best results (which is
$1528)
- Percentage is shown during packing
- Time for packing is shown after packing
- The packed file is checked for errors automatically (even
though there won't be any. If there should ever occur an error,
please contact me!)
- The packed file is only saved if it is smaller than the
original
- The data may also be unpacked at an odd address

Improvements for Version 1.1:

- Packing time was reduced.

Improvements for Version 1.11:

- Version 1.1 which I made in one night returned with a
Verify-Error when a special combination of bytes appeared.
Pack-Ice now works fine again.

Improvements for Version 1.12:

- If you press Alternate during packing (while the number of
remaining percent is decreased), the current file is left
unpacked and the next file is packed.

Improvements for Version 1.13:

- Some executable files that were packed with Pack-Ice caused an
error on STE computers or very new TOS version. I never
realized that error, because I don't have any of those. Thanx
to Jinx of FOF who spotted the error and told me about it.

Improvements for Version 1.14:

- Was (Not Was) found a bug in the packer. It has been removed.

Improvements for Version 2.00:

- Comfortable working with Pack-Ice is possible, because the
mouse is used.
- Fileselectbox: Select the path in which the file(s) which you
want to pack are. If you select a filename, only this file is
packed. If you select FILE*.*, then all files with this name
are packed. If you do not specify any filename, then all files
in the current directory are packed.
- If you don't like working with mouse (or don't have one), then
press the Alternate-key while the program is loading. Then you
can work with the old keyboard commands.
- If you compress pictures (Degas, Neochrome, Doodle, ...), you
may want to use the additional algorithm for picture
compressing. It compresses screens to about 2 kB less. The
unpacking for screens is done automatically with the normal
source (ice_unpa.s or ice_unp2.s). If a picture file is packed
with the special algorithm, then P> is shown. If it is not in
the correct format, then -> is shown, which indicates that the
normal compression routine is used. If you never use this
feature, you can kill the 15 marked lines of the unpacking
sources in your routines.
- Some files returned with "Data could not be packed". This only
occured, if there were (somewhere in the file) more than 1038
bytes in a sequence that could not be packed. I corrected this
and files like Castle Master 2 should not make any problems
anymore.
- Other changes in packing and unpacking source have been done.
The old unpacking source is not compatible with the new one!
- With the source "ice_unpa.s", you can unpack data to whatever
address you like (e.g.: original address: $32345, target
address: $72213). Please check out that the target address is
at least 120 ($78) bytes higher than the source address.
Otherwise, you might overwrite the original data.
- You do not need the packed length for unpacking anymore. You
just need to specify source and target address.
- The source "ice_unp2.s" will unpack every file onto itself.
The program needs 120 bytes of free memory for saving and
restoring data.

Improvements for Version 2.1:

- Unfortunately I have put some wrong sources into the Pack-Ice
folder. Only the ice_unpa.s source worked correctly. Sorry
about that.
- the decrunch at an odd address wasn't possible in version 2.0

Improvements for Version 2.11:

- I got special wish, demanding an input for the offset. Here it
is.

Have fun using this great packer!