How to read .pak files? Created 18 years ago2005-11-01 05:17:22 UTC by Daubster

I was workin on my Sentences.txt editor, and I thought that it would be really cool, if it could read sound files from .pak files and make sounds from them. Like a mini .pak explorer..

Now the big problem is:
How do I read .pak files thru notepad or any other text editor?
What are the specialities of the file?
If you know any site or other source of explanation, please let me know.

I tired googling, but found nothing on it..
I tried examining the file myself, but it wasn't clear enough.

Any ideas?

Wally can open .pak files, if that's what you mean.

Clicky!

Well, judging by this PHP code for "creating dynamic PAK files for the Quake I and II engines", it's an incredibly simple format. I thought there was some compression involved :/. Don't have WON HL installed, though, so I can't look myself.

PS: madcow, I think he wants it integrated into his program.

PS: madcow, I think he wants it integrated into his program.

Oh, so, you're making your own .pak opener Daubster? :S

Not sure about pak files, but pk3 files (the Quake 3 equivalent of the Pak format) are zip format it seems.

@Seventh: I know it's simple.
Heres an example:

PACK @ blahblahblah
blah.txt ų d~ūwxųw˙˙˙˙?ų  x � ?ī�  ?Ų�  

This .pak file is made with pak explorer, opened with notepad. It has 1 .txt file named "blah", which has "blahblahblah" in it.
The things I don't understand is the array of those mixed up symbols in the end of the file.

Although I'll try make somethin out from that code, it's pretty much like C++..

@m0p: Yea, I thought they were like .zip files too, I tried comparing a .zip and a .pak with the same file in them, but they weren't the same.

Later:
I found some source code for an app that opens .pak files. That's great, just that the example app doesn't openplay sound files

could I get that source? I'm making a game at the moment, and it would be cool to be able to use the standart pak file format.

Try pakexplorer! Found in the 67th valtitude.(links page)

He's not looking for a tool to open pak files, he's looking for the source code.

Ohh...why.....

I think you mean "specification" not "specialities" for the pak file.

The following link (2nd hit when googling) explicitly describes creating a pak file with wav's in it.

http://www.planethalflife.com/studiosound/mike_and_pete/creation.html

I'll probably just create my own format, anyway. And it'll probably be almost the same as the pak format.

Well it's still not what i'm looking for.
To make this more understandable - I need to read .pak files in text format (notepad, for e.g).
I need to know, if the wav files stored in it aren't compressed or changed, I need to know, the process. How the .pak is made from the technical side
I tried emailing the creator of pak explorer, but I bet that the email is old and unused.. :
Any more ideas?

Can't you figure out that PHP, then?

Ohh...why.....

Well maybe if you read the previous posts...

OK, I think I get it now.
Thanks for the help, guys..

I need to read .pak files in text format (notepad, for e.g).

.pak files are a binary format.