How to manage PAK files in vb programs?

[Melawen]

Hi!

I have a vb program which uses bmp files and displays them on the screen. These files are kept in a folder named "Graficos". I would like to compress all those bmp files so that the program code, internally, would uncompress the needed bmp in every moment, it would use it, and then it would close it. Above all, I want the bmp files to be completely invisible for everyone.

I've had a look at "pak" files... but I don't understand a word. Please, could you help me? I will be very grateful to anyone who could help me with this way (pak files) or with any other one.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I'm not an English speaker, so please excuse my mistakes ^^)

[Bernie]

Hi,

You need some tool to temporarily depack the wanted file, show it, and then delete it. A quick google search gave this, that might be a start...
http://www.aegidian.org/gqt/depak/

But why are you trying to invent the wheel again? Nowadays Windows can do this by itself. Both showing BMP files as well as creating compressed archives. Are you in the porno business or???

Bernie

[Melawen]

Hi, Bernie,

What I want is not a format like zip because that could be seen by everyone. And I'm not in the porno business: it's about a game which uses BMPs for characters, trees, houses and so on. I want to run the program without showing those files. Why? Because they are "handmade" by our staff and, although the game is free, we don't want people to "steal" our images.

I don't just mean to zip the files, but to use them in the game without having to include the images themselves. Somehow encripted. I'm sure it is perfectly possible, but I don't know how

Is it clearer now?

Thanks ^^

[Bernie]

Hi,
And sorry about the porno stuff. Well, there are a number of ways to keep something invisible. From the easiest thing (using zips but changing extension to DAT, BIN or whatever) to some 256 bit encrypted style. The choice must be up to you. Don't forget though, that as soon it's showed on screen it can be captured, and all your effort is lost.

Are the images small? If less than 64k you can hide them as resource data in a RES file! Or find out you own imageformat that no other app can resolve. There are numerous ways to go. The simpliest one might be the best...

Bernie

[Melawen]

Thanks for your answers,

I think I didn't explain the problem properly... We would chose the PAK way to do it because we know how to compress all the files in a PAK file. Nevertheless, we don'k know how to manage those data from the vb program. I mean, how can I "explain" to the program that the images it had before in the "Graficos" folder, are now in a PAK file... What code shall I use?

[Bernie]

Hi,

At the link I posted previously you can download some code (written in RealBasic) that manage to unpack PAK-files. I haven't studied it, but it may give you some input to how the PAK-files are constructed and how to extract each content of it. I downloaded it but found it compressed with Stuffit (.SIT) a tool I don't have.

Bernie

[Melawen]

OK, I have tried with that link, but I can do nothing.

Anyway, thank you Bernie.