Recovering PK3 file

[Lazorinc]

So here's what happened. Apparently, one of the old Slade 3's autosave bugged out while I was working on a mod, and now the entire file comes up blank, or won't load at all due to "Archive format". I imagine that this is just my file now being royally fucked, so is there any kind of quick recovery method that can be used for a PK3? Despite being blank in the editor, the file size is still the save in my folder, so something must still be in there.

[kb1]

Supposedly, there are tools that can repair a Zip file. In the DOS days, it was called PKZIPFIX.EXE. I think it can correct some very specific issues when a zip file's internal bookkeeping gets out of whack, like from a partial update. If it is truly a zip file, the first 2 bytes of the file should contain "PK".

 

But, based on your description, I can't tell what happened. Make backups before you run a recover program, and look for autosave/backup files. Often, these tools will do an autosave, so, if you're careful, and find it before loading anything else, you might get your file back.

 

Good luck.

[Lazorinc]

14 hours ago, kb1 said:

Supposedly, there are tools that can repair a Zip file. In the DOS days, it was called PKZIPFIX.EXE. I think it can correct some very specific issues when a zip file's internal bookkeeping gets out of whack, like from a partial update. If it is truly a zip file, the first 2 bytes of the file should contain "PK".

 

But, based on your description, I can't tell what happened. Make backups before you run a recover program, and look for autosave/backup files. Often, these tools will do an autosave, so, if you're careful, and find it before loading anything else, you might get your file back.

 

Good luck.

I wish I could tell you more, but it was just a completely random occurance. I tried the backups, both the bak file and the zip that goes in AppData, but the former was exactly the same, and the latter wasn't even there. I'll see what I can do with the fix, thanks for the help.

[kb1]

If you can use a hex editor, see if the first 2 bytes of the file are "PK". This will determine if the file is in PK format. Or upload it somewhere, and I'll  search the entire hard drive for a file edited on the day in question. You might get lucky and find a copy in a temp folder.

Edited September 13, 2017 by kb1

[Lazorinc]

After running the bak through 7-zip, all of the content is somehow magically still in there, just not displaying in Slade. All I had to do was extract everything in it, rezip, and they all show up in Slade again, so problem solved I guess, appreciate the tips.

[kb1]

Does Slade have direct support for 7-Zip format, vs WinZip format?

[Lazorinc]

Not too sure what you mean by format. All I know is that I just learned that pk3 files do work with it too.

[kb1]

Image files can be in .bmp, .gif, .png, .jpg, and a bunch of other formats. Sounds can be .wav, .mpg, .mod, etc.

 

File compressors store compressed files in a particular format. 7-Zip uses a specific format. WinZip uses a format different than 7-Zip. PKZip and PK3 are basically different names for the WinZip format.

 

Older image editing programs do not understand, for example, .PNG images. Similarly, some programs that can handle WinZip/PKZip/PK3 compressed files cannot understand 7-Zip/PK7 files.

 

In fact, I don't know of any Doom engines that directly understand 7-Zip files (but maybe that has changed since I looked last). So, my question was: Does Slade have direct support for 7-Zip format> Because that might explain what happened in your situation.

 

Anyway, glad you got it working!
 

[Lazorinc]

Ah, I see now, just a bit confused by the broad term "format". Well it wasn't actually a 7-zip file for itself. It was the auto backup generated by Slade. The thing was whenever I loaded it into Slade, the file appeared completely empty, but putting it in 7-zip let me see everything that was in it. I'm pretty sure if I saved the blank one then that would've wiped everything. As for actual 7-zip files, I don't know if Slade supports them or not because I've never had to use the two even close to each other until just recently.