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[Ozzie]

Well, first I reply to Saccade's points one by one!

Originally Posted by Saccade

If you feel that .7z archives or self-extractors could be useful for ISO Cellar - as it is obvious (or should be) that they will not be used the main site games - then why not start re-packing the archives from the ISO Cellar as your contribution to the good fight?
It'd be a good way to become re-acquainted with some old games and meet some new ones.

Well, if my only interest was to upload games, then I would have stayed at "Adventure Legends" and continued to upload images there. I may care about sharing rare games, but I don't care where I do it. I came to Abandonia to write reviews. And to perfectly honest, I don't want my "Secrets of the Pyramids" review go to waste.

It's really good that you have new ideas and the enthusiasm that it takes to become one of the staff at AB, Ozzie, but as you recognised - this is going nowhere.
Abandonia will not be using the .7z format for site archives at this time.
End of conversation.
Let's talk about what we *can* do.

I'm sure people would really appreciate a download that is half the size, but both you and I know that we will be fielding troubleshooting questions and will have to talk people through how the hell to unpack and run them. Even if they are self-extracting.

Well, I may not know much about it, maybe I need to familiarize with the apparently hellish huge amount of help requests that exist. I'm sure there will be a spike in requests if we introduced 7ZIP. But then, change always irritates a bit.
I realize that the priorities here are different than mine. I just would be content with a guide that explains the whole process of unpacking and burning.

More importantly, you could also write a short guide, maybe a standard readme.txt to include with repacks, as to how you go about:

- making a cd/dvd image (iso/bin/cue) NOT a rip [though people do rip]
- making a .7z archive of said image, so others can start doing this too
[^not necessary for readme.]

- downloading one of the ISO Cellar's .7z archives
- unpacking the .7z archive so the iso is ready to use
- mounting the iso, using Daemon/Alcohol/etc...
- installing and running progs/games from an iso. Esp in Dosbox.
- troubleshooting for complete r-tards.

Well, it just so happens that I wrote such a guide.

A Newbie's Guide to Unpacking und Burning Images that are compressed with 7-ZIP & ECM

I'd be happy to include a guide like this in the Abandoned Times.

Well, if you want to...

If you'd like, I can send you Bullfrog's Magic Carpet iso. That will (hopefully) be going on site soon. It could be the first .7z option archive in the ISO Cellar.

I dunno. I'm really not interested in repacking stuff. I just brought this whole discussion up so I could create an archive under the 150MiB limit. And that didn't work with ZIP.

I'm sure people will weigh your ideas a lot more heavily in future if there is some evidence that you are willing and able to follow them through to the end
[ed]
There are too many people who say they will/can do all these wonderful things and then bugger off or come up with excuses when it is time to do something.
(i'm not bitter or anything)

Hehe. Well, like I said, and hopefully showed, I'm interested in contributing, but mainly only in writing reviews.

---------------------------

Originally Posted by Marko River

Enough of this already. If you want to talk about which packer is better, then move this thread to 3xblah.

No, I care about the practical use, not much about the format itself. I thought its use would be a good thing for Abandonia.

Ozzie, no hard feelings, you were not wrong to bring this up. You are right to say that some matters should be discussed again after some time. What you couldn't know is that this is not one of those matters. And there are always people who are capable of using the computer that agree with this, and then discussion starts.

Well, thanks.
I just wished I would have known before. Now I feel I wasted my time. :-/

Edit: Somehow, this forum sucks. When you swing open the spoiler you can only read half of the guide, the rest is cut off.

[marko river]

Well, I wish I could do something about that feeling, but you will have that feeling every now and then if you are doing voluntary work of any kind. I somehow see it as normal and I've accepted that. Especially if you have lot of ideas (trust me, I know what I'm talking about). Despite that I'm still contributing. It all comes down to the basic motive: it's either ego or love (love for old games and reviewing in this case). If love overcomes ego, you will keep contributing and thinking of new ideas although some of your ideas are refused, or even impossible. And no decent review will go to waste here...

edit: yes, we are having lot of technical problems. You will be able to see entire guide once the page is long enough (yeah, it sucks )

[Ozzie]

Originally Posted by marko river

Well, I wish I could do something about that feeling, but you will have that feeling every now and then if you are doing voluntary work of any kind. I somehow see it as normal and I've accepted that. Especially if you have lot of ideas (trust me, I know what I'm talking about). Despite that I'm still contributing. It all comes down to the basic motive: it's either ego or love (love for old games and reviewing in this case). If love overcomes ego, you will keep contributing and thinking of new ideas although some of your ideas are refused, or even impossible.

We understand us, it seems.
Sure, ego plays its part, but I don't think that the contrary force here is love for the old games, but the love to Abandonia, which isn't the same! I didn't lose my motivation to contribute now, but if it ever happens, I'll still contribute in other ways, for other sites.

And no decent review will go to waste here...

Then you might tell me what we can do with my review on Abandonia then? Maybe publish it for Abandonia Times? Anyway, this should be a part of another topic. If there's no way, it will go on MobyGames.

edit: yes, we are having lot of technical problems. You will be able to see entire guide once the page is long enough (yeah, it sucks )

I should create some more space then.

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[Eagle of Fire]

Again .....?
'Again' because a quick search pointed towards this

So yes, again .....?

So true! So much that I in fact didn't even bother reading the whole thread. Don't we have such a thread and also a "why don't we start a mIRC channel this year" thread every year?

[marko river]

Yes, we do. It is good thing actually, to see people liking abandonia

[The Fifth Horseman]

Originally Posted by Eagle of Fire

So true! So much that I in fact didn't even bother reading the whole thread. Don't we have such a thread and also a "why don't we start a mIRC channel this year" thread every year?

Also "Why are we keeping reviews of sold/protected games anyuway" and "Why do we care about sold/protected status in the first place".
Have to admit, though - they always have some amusement value.

[bobson]

You forgot to mention - we often talk about: Why there is a limit for a size of the game

Without the limit - this discussion would not have place

back to topic: When i upload files to ISO Cellar I use 7zip, but only as a program - the files are still ordinary ZIP. I really do not like when some downloadable things are compressed with something I do not know (it does not happen often, but it happens) or are not useable without additional soft. I got a collection of programs which I like and installing things for just *one* other thing is no fun.

As we earlier agreed - let's stay with ZIP

[marko river]

Shouldn't we start to slowly bypass the current limit?
I mean, I'm not for adding 700MB CD images all of sudden, but what difference does it make if the archive is 150MB or 250MB?

[The Fifth Horseman]

I said numerous times before - this "rule" is not absolute nor immutable.
If we have a slightly bigger game, go and add it anyway.

[Ozzie]

Originally Posted by Total Anarchy

Your dots were reported as spam. I agree that they're not pleasing to watch

What!? I'm not even allowed to add an ugly workaround for an ugly bug!?
Well, okay, I guess I have to create a new thread for the guide then...

Originally Posted by bobson

Without the limit - this discussion would not have place

That's probably true.

Originally Posted by The Fifth Horseman

I said numerous times before - this "rule" is not absolute nor immutable.
If we have a slightly bigger game, go and add it anyway.

Well, I went ahead and added the *slightly* bigger 341MiB archive. That's the smallest size I got while still remaining compatibility with Windows Explorer unarchiver.