UCC Tutorial: Using Data.ini Files

Alongside the Settings.ini file in the Common\Settings folder you will find the Data#.ini files, there are 3 of them by default (Data1.ini. Data2.ini, Data3.ini) but you can add as many as you need.

Let's see what's in them and how to use these options...

Compression Variables
The first section of the Data#.ini files deals with compression related settings, this is where you will set the type of compression software to use and the method of compression to use.

Compressor Methods
The table below list the available compression methods for each compression software: (1)External compressors, can be combined with any other FreeArc method & each other, further external compressor options can be set here as well (e.g. srep:m3f+lzma:a1:mfbt4:d256m:fb128:mc1000:lc8)

(2)7Zip method # sets compression level, 0 is store only, all the others uses lzma but can be set to a different compression method by adding =MethodID when MethodID is replaced with the name of the method, available methods are: lzma, lzma2, PPMd, BZip2, Deflate, Copy (no compression), these methods can be combined together to enhance compression.

FreeArc Compressor Notes
(3)pZLib64 (64 bit) & pZLib86 (32 bit) make use of pZLib v3.2, pZLib64 will not work on 32 bit systems

(4)RZ make use of Razor Archiver by Christian Martelock

(5)ztool make use of ztool v0.0.19.9 by Razor12911 with codec pOodle

(6)pzlib, plz4, plzo,  & pzstd are all compressors that make use of ztool v0.0.19.8 by Razor12911

(7) 64bit Version of Precomp 0.4.5 & 0.4.6

(8) Advanced Compressors Using FreeArc's Arc.exe

(9) Using ZST.exe command

(10) Using CLS-LZHAM FreeArc Plugin, For Example: lzham:d26:l4:u8:t0

(12) pZLib30 make use of the x64 (64 bit) version of pZLib v3.0.1, will not work on 32 bit systems

(13) pZLib2 make use of the x64 (64 bit) version of pZLib v2, will not work on 32 bit systems

(14) LOLZ & the LOLZ presets are disabled by default, please use the new feature to add/update compressors to enable it (added in v4.1.3.2 Update 2.0)

FreeArc Presets
UCC also support over 50 freearc method presets, these presets can be used to set a more complex compression methods that uses multiple external compressors easily.

Here's the complete list:

Disc Variables
The seconds section of the Data#.ini files actually have only one (1) option:

Include
This section of the Data#.ini files is used to set what files to include in the created data archive.

Exclude
This section of the Data#.ini files is used to set what files to exclude in the created data archive.

How-To: Using Pre/Post Commands
The Pre/Post Commands, as explained in the table above are used to run additional commands before and/or after compressing the data file(s).

It can be used to manipulate files and folders and their location, for that purpose there are a few predefined variables that you can use when typing your Pre/Post Commands... Here they are:

!MISCFOLDER!
Example: copy C:\MyPath\MyFile.file !MISCFOLDER!\MyFile2.file /y

Explanation:

The !MISCFOLDER! variable is a preset for the UCC's [Common\Files\Misc] folder, the example shown here copies MyFile.file to the Misc folder with the new file name MyFile2.file

!REDISTFOLDER!
Example: copy C:\MyPath\MyFile.file !REDISTFOLDER!\MyFile2.file /y

Explanation:

* New in UCC v4.1.3.2 Update 2.0 Hotfix 1*

The !REDISTFOLDER! variable is a preset for the UCC's [Common\Files\Redist] folder, the example shown here copies MyFile.file to the Redist folder with the new file name MyFile2.file

!GAMEFOLDER!
Example: copy !GAMEFOLDER!\MyFile.file !MISCFOLDER!\MyFile.file /y

Explanation:

The GAMEFOLDER variable is a preset for the game folder defined by the user during the conversion script process, the example here copies MyFile.file from the game's directory to the UCC's Misc folder without changing the file name.

!OUTPUTFOLDER1!
Example: copy !GAMEFOLDER!\MyFile.file !OUTPUTFOLDER1!\MyFile.file /y

Explanation:

The !OUTPUTFOLDER1! variable is a preset to the final disc folder of the conversion when creating a single one (1) disc conversion, for example, if the game is assassin's creed origins & the MediaPrefix is ACO the example shown to the left here will copy MyFile.file from the game's directory to the ACO folder (the disc folder) in the location where the conversion is created (e.g Conversions_Output\ACO_1xBD25\ACO)

!OUTPUTFOLDER2!
Example: copy !GAMEFOLDER!\MyFile.file !OUTPUTFOLDER2!\MyFile.file /y

Explanation:

The !OUTPUTFOLDER2! variable is a preset to the final disc folder of the specific DATA file when creating a multi disc conversion, for example, if the game is assassin's creed origins & the MediaPrefix is ACO the example shown to the left here will copy MyFile.file from the game's directory to the ACO_# (where # is the disc number as set in the Data#.ini file) folder (the disc folder) in the location where the conversion is created (e.g Conversions_Output\ACO_3xDVD9\ACO_1)

!OUTPUTFOLDER3!
Example: copy !GAMEFOLDER!\MyFile.file !OUTPUTFOLDER3!1\MyFile.file /y

Explanation:

The !OUTPUTFOLDER3! variable is a preset to the final disc folders of the conversion when creating a multi disc conversion with CLSDiskspan, for example, if the game is assassin's creed origins & the MediaPrefix is ACO the example shown to the left here will copy MyFile.file from the game's directory to the ACO_1 folder (the first disc folder) in the location where the conversion is created (e.g Conversions_Output\ACO_3xDVD9\ACO_1)

Please Note: Due to how diskspan works, the variable points to the folder without the disc number, to copy files to disc 1 add the number 1 immediately after the variable (!OUTPUTFOLDER3!1).

!COMMANDPATH!
Example: !COMMANDPATH!\MyExe.exe Variables Parameters

Explanation:

The !COMMANDPATH! variable is a preset for the optional [Common\Files\Commands] folder of UCC, to run external custom commands that are not part of the windows CMD environment, place your commands executable files in the aforementioned folder and use the !COMMANDPATH! variable to point to them as seen in the example to the left.

Note: Not all commands will work, some will need to be combined with other CMD commands to work, a little experience and knowledge in batch files is recommended.

That's it for the Data#.ini files and the Settings folder, you're ready to move on...

Continue To Next Part: UCC Tutorial: Files and Folders