This GCF Extractor I’ve been working on ever since Valve came up with Steam is becoming a pain in the ass.
I mean really, its not any sort of ‘killer-app’ and for the general public they can either get the files out by using an HLDS install or downloading them from someone else who has. However, my natural curiosity and the fact that I’ve ‘cracked’ file formats before is probably what’s driving me to even bother trying.
Thing is though, I’ve started to get stupid ammounts of e-mails asking for updates on its progress and begging letters basically demanding I send them a copy of it as if their very existence relies on this program.
Well sorry to say but the truth is, as of time of writing, that the GCF extractor is nothing more than some crudely bashed together scripts which I have to re-compile and customise for every single task I want to do with the file. Theres no GUI and not even any sort of command line interface to speak of. So in short, I can’t send you a utility that doesnt yet properly exist. Not even the fact that I haven’t fully worked out the GCF virtual filesystem format matters to some people!
Actually what I have found amusing is some of the ‘hate’ mail I’ve been getting. It seems to come in two flavours – those who are also trying to write one and seem to be scared/jealous/envious that I might finish an extractor before them, and others who have tried and failed and list reasons why even trying to create the extractor is a pointless exercise anyway.
Ain’t people funny?
Ah well, I don’t really care. I have more important things to worry about so this isn’t exactly the number one priority in my life right now and its not as if I’m being paid to write it.
Related posts
Theres been a lack of updates on my part for quite some time now. Not completely my fault as evil forces have been conspiring to keep me away.
My computer decided to blow a chip and I’ve been forced to spend 3500 SEK on an upgrade. Apart from replacing the motherboard I had to replace all the RAM too as my system was orginally Rambus based (still, I managed to sell the old RAM second hand for 1200 SEK within 5 hours of placing an advert) and I also had to replace the processor to as my old one was the wrong form factor. Bloody typical.
So those minor set-backs aside, everything else has been *fairly* O.K.
I’ve managed to do some minor updates to the side, namely I’ve added a new tutorial on how to build a Steam-aware installer for Half-Life based mods. Little bit nicer than the old zip file method and a little more intuitive. I’ll eventually move all my downloads to this system.
I also hacked out the relevant parts of the DoD GCF (game cache file) so that I could edit the hideous GUI that Valve shipped with the DoD 1.1 update.
Im still working on a GCF extractor. Pace has been slow due to illness and lack of energy but I’ve had some sucess. The file format is like no other I’ve come across and although I’ve figured out some of it (such as block sizes and part of the indexing) I’ve got a long way to go before fully functional gcf extractor application.
Anyway, now my computer is working and my scanner too (I had to make my machine dual boot XP/98SE to get it to work!) I might be able to put some more pictures on the site.
As the above picture illustrates, I’ve become quite the “fika-monster” of late having discovered the joys of sitting in a café on a rainy day with a huge mug of coffee and cake du jour, watching the world go by.
I suppose not working has some benefits…
Related posts
I’m still pretty whacked out on my medication and pretty much confined to my sick bed at the moment but, aided by Mr. Coffee, I’m slowly starting to stay awake for more than 4 hours a day.
It’s rather frustrating because by nature I’m a person that likes to keep myself busy and I feel myself slipping further and further behind with tasks I planned to do. It’s *really* starting to annoy me – and thats Not A Good Thingtm
A cold snap has decended upon Stockholm and Autumn is most certainly here. So far the rain has restricted itself to the nights and the grey days are thankfully few. Leaves are turning golden, chestnuts are falling on the ground and with blue skies and sun all is right with the world. Autumn does the soul good.
Related posts
I’m sick. Really sick.
I havent been able to get off the couch for almost 12 days and I have zero energy. Even standing up is a struggle and I feel dizzy all the time.
Pjöh
Damn this medication…
Related posts
It is with a fond farewell I had to retire my server yesterday. Nothing wrong with it, its just that I can no longer host it at the NOC it has lived at for the past 4 years and I haven’t found a new home for it.
One of the most annoying aspects of losing it was that with my current mail hosting package I’m unable to run procmail which means I’m suddenly starting to get e-mail borne viruses and the reminants of other malignant mail worms.
Up until now a few simple procmail rules removed every mail virus and SoBig.F type mail that ever came near me and gave me peace of mind. Now Norton Antivirus regularly has a hissyfit as a new attempt to attack my machine crops up.
Why oh why can’t hosting companies set-up this simple yet invaluble little application so that users don’t have to deal with these things?
Related posts
Every once in a while you get an e-mail that reminds you why the heck you bother…
Neil,
You are an absolute star. I started re-compiling sendmail 8.12.10 late this afternoon after installing the latest Berkeley DB (all in the cause of trying to get going some libmilter filters going – I’m drowning in spam here as of the past few days), and immediately came unstuck with pthread undefs in the link phase.
For the last 7 hours, I’ve been bashing my head against a wall. I actually found your site at about 8pm this evening but it wasn’t until 2am as I was about to give up and head for bed that I stopped messing around and decided to read your “tutorials/smtpauth.php” page in real detail. It was then that I noticed your comments re having added (after many tears at your end):
(a) –enable-posixmutexes to the configure for the db build, plus
(b) the -lpthread line in your sendmail site.config.m4
I thought “what the hell, why not hang in there for another 10 minutes and give it a go” and – bingo – problem solved.
Can’t easily afford to send you any money (my own site here is running at a bad loss but you have my heartfelt thanks for creating a great page of info.
Oh, BTW – similar to you here. Running RH 9, etc
Your page is also coherently written – a pleasure to read from an English language point of view – something which is becoming rarer these days on the ‘net
Thanks for a great resource,
Tony
Thanks Tony, you made my day.
Related posts
Wow been quite a busy few days…
First of all we’re almost (at time of writing) up to 1000 downloads of HLMV. That means that more people download it than the original two beta’s which isn’t something I expected to happen.
Sadly no donations though but hey, what did I expect.
Other stuff, well I got involved in some technical discussions and theories about whats causing the current frame rate hits and network lag in the latest version of Day of Defeat and it seems my theories struck a chord.
Two people involved with the games development have contacted me thanking me for my comments and apparently my ideas have been forwarded to Valve the games makers for comment. That last sentance didnt make sense but its late and I’m too tired to correct the grammar.
Though its strange to be taken so seriously it is kind of amusing that its gone this far.
Anyway, that aside I decided to add a guestbook to the site for anyone who might want to leave me a message not directly relating to any of my rambling diary entries.
2 days to go…
Related posts
Oh look somthing non-technical…
Todays the 4th anniversary of me leaving England to live in Sweden. Not very significant I know but seeing as I’ve had to live on my own for the past 3 years in a country with bugger all friends and a language I can’t speak I think I just about did O.K.
One more year to go and they might offer me residency. Or more than likely kick me out…
Skol…
Related posts
Yes sorry, another “geek” update.
I just got an O.K. from the original author to say I can release my new version of Half-Life Model Viewer with my name on it.
I promise I will post less computer related news in the future…
Related posts
For those that use it theres an update to my Milkshape 3D POV-Ray 3.5 plugin.
No major changes from version 1.0 except I’ve fixed support for different texture formats.
That is all…
Related posts
