It’s not that I don’t trust, but I want to understand. What is actually happening and how do these Repack thingies work?
And why are they called that 😂
Thanks in advance.
Edit: thanks so much for the replies all, I think I got it! :)
A repack is usually a cracked release from another source that has been heavily compressed to reduce file size. They often come with a custom installer that manages the decompression process and streamlines the installation process, so you don’t have to manually install patches/cracks after installation, and can skip optional content. Trusted repackers like FitGirl will also check for malware/viruses in the original crack, so you can be reasonably confident the repack is safe to install. Having said that, always take your own precautions when installing anything from the internet, i.e. virus scan and only use trusted sources.
Cracks are usually released separately from the uncracked game files. Repackers take those cracks and package them with the correct version of the game, compress the files and add an installer. Then they upload them to the more mainstream public trackers.
Repacks have several benefits. They tend to be easier to setup and usually more reliable. They download faster and use less data because they are compressed. They are also sometimes packaged with extras like soundtracks, mods, etc.
Fitgirl repacks are known to be more compressed, so the files are a little smaller but take a fair amount longer to install.
Why don’t the crackers just repackage it? Or is repackaging an art unto itself?
Crackers mostly post the cracks to IRC sites, cs.rin.ru, and private torrent sites. Repackers are the main way releases make it to the mainstream torrent sites.
Repacking isn’t that complicated anymore, it’s more about reputation. There was a time when games were big and internet speed was slow so saving every MB of size was important. Repackers would reencode video files and find other ways of dramatically reducing the file size. Nowadays they don’t do a lot of that, but repackers are still important for casual pirates who just want to easily play pirated games and not worry about malware.
Most of dodi and fitgirls repacks are actually just other peoples releases, they aren’t installing any cracks, that’s why the upload notes always say “based on codex”, or elamigos, or empress, etc. Unless what you meant was that they apply the cracks to the games that come as seperate ingredients in the original releases?
They do however usually make those releases smaller by compressing the shit out of them and making things like the additional media and language packs optional. And make the releases available through more mainstream avenues like torrents.
They exist for people with data caps and terribly slow internet. I’d argue they also exist for people with limited hdd space but you still need to decompress the game before you can play so instead you could say they are good for people that have seperate storage servers for their media libraries and backups.
You can keep an archive of all your downloaded pirated games that collectively take up half the space if you are the kind of person that hordes things like that, in case you decide you wanna reinstall and play a game again or something.
So the hierarchy generally goes like this:
- You have a game
- Then you have your patch and crack makers that circumvent the games DRM. This game and patch ingredient box is called a “release”
- Then you have your repackers like fitgirl and dodi that take a release, apply the included patch to the game, make sure everything is configured and the game runs, then compress the whole thing heavily, sometimes reducing everything by up to 50%, then break the package up into a handful of large chunks, some of those chunks being things that you might not want, making them optional to you, like the soundtrack, alternative language audio packs, etc.
Because everything is so damn compressed, a game will usually take a long time to install, because your computer is literally re-inflating the bouncy castle. A lot of people will take those install times over the download sizes of the original releases which I think clarifies most who these repackers actually serve.
They exist for people with data caps and slow internet. If you can avoid downloading languages and soundtracks you don’t want in the first place then that saves you much needed data and time. And even though installation (which is actually just decompression) takes an age, it’s still faster than terrible internet downloading twice as much.
literally re-inflating the bouncy castle
What if my computer isn’t attached to a bouncy castle? Do I need to buy special hardware for this?
! () [] for inserted images!
My (limited) understanding is this:
When someone cracks a game, the end result of their work may not be accessible or easily distributable to average users. Their focus is on cracking the game, not necessarily distributing the crack.
Others like FitGirl come along, creating launchers that take care of any dependencies needed for the game, and in general making it painless to run the cracked game. In other words, they repack the cracked game in a more user-friendly packaging.
If you’ve seen Breaking Bad, there’s a similar dynamic there. Walter may be the one making the product, but he can’t distribute it alone - he needs someone to make it widely accessible, if he wants people to actually use his product.
To add to this: I consider myself relatively tech savvy for somebody who is not “a coder“ or similar. That being said, whenever I am interested in a project or something for my computer and I am directed to a GitHub repo, I immediately start calculating how badly I want to do the thing against the steps that are being given to me. If somebody has a stable/relatively easy to run package (like Dolphin), I am far more likely to move forward.
Sorta this but more so the crackers release essentially a bunch of files and folders that runs the game, someone like fitgirl can take a bunch of the files and rrpack them in a smaller, compressed format. This quickly became popular for people with bad connection, as download size is small; and also for archivalists, who don’t need to install/unpack the game, just want to keep it as efficiently as possible
