MPK Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 A PBEM opponent has current trouble with his email provider: an anti-virus measure means that temporarily he cannot receive winzip files. Supposedly there is a way to rename .zip files so that they will slip under the radar, whereupon he will rename them and play the turn... I've tried this, can't make it work... Does anyone know how to do it? I'm running Win98 SE. Thanks, Matt 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Zipping shouldn't be neccessary in first place and makes makes them bigger during transit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Are you renaming the ".zip" extension to something else ? That would be the only way around this that I can think of. Perhaps try an extension name like ".zbr", which should hopefully go through. I assume that your opponent is using Microsoft Outlook and it is now preventing attachments of .zip and .exe files (and possibly others). Your opponent would have to rename the extension to ".zip" in order for it to typically be opened by a compression program. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPK Posted June 22, 2005 Author Share Posted June 22, 2005 Redwolf- I agree, it's mostly not necessary... although on a really big Op the files can get past 2mb in size... Schrullenhaft- yes, renaming the .zip file extension IS the idea...but when I use the 'rename' function in win 98 SE I get a file name like 'Blau1_001.zbr.zip' (to use your example) and this doesn't fool the virus filter...i.e I can't get rid of the .zip part via the rename function...my opponent thinks it's possible, but doesn't know how to do it... thanks, Matt 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted June 22, 2005 Share Posted June 22, 2005 Originally posted by MPK: Redwolf- I agree, it's mostly not necessary... although on a really big Op the files can get past 2mb in size... Still, if you zip them they get bigger during transit (not on disk). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPK Posted June 22, 2005 Author Share Posted June 22, 2005 Sorry Redwolf, I don't get what you're saying...when zipped, the big, big files are emailed quicker than if they are not zipped...what do you mean they 'get bigger in transit'? Doesn't Winzip compress the file, so it is smaller? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPK Posted June 22, 2005 Author Share Posted June 22, 2005 Obviously, I don't understand how this stuff works, only that my opponent first requested that I send my turns zipped, then we discovered that his email provider has a temporary block on zips..there is some reason (which he has not gone into) that he wants all turns zipped...I dunno. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Can you rename the file in an MS-DOS command line box ? I wouldn't attempt to name the file with a different extension in the program that is creating the zip. Most compression programs will append the .zip extension to whatever you put in the file name dialog. Typically if there is a file association with the extension (in this case .zip being associated with your compression program), Windows will often warn you about renaming the file. I think for file integrity purposes zipping files is just fine. Some mail programs or ISPs can cause problems with large text files. I'm not sure how much larger, if at all, .zip files are in transit over high speed connections. With modems there are text compression algorithms built into the communications protocols which were quite convenient in the day modems ruled personal internet communications. The arguement comes down to whether these text compression routines in the communications protocols are more effecient than LZW compression that .zip archives typically use. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted June 23, 2005 Share Posted June 23, 2005 Originally posted by MPK: Sorry Redwolf, I don't get what you're saying...when zipped, the big, big files are emailed quicker than if they are not zipped...what do you mean they 'get bigger in transit'? Doesn't Winzip compress the file, so it is smaller? It is smaller on disk. But now it is a binary file, not an ASCII file anymore like the plain PBEM move is. During transit in email, all data is ASCII. If it is not ASCII to start from it is converted to ASCII by putting a wrapper around it. That wrapper makes the file bigger during transit, although on disk it looks smaller. A CM PBEM move as written by the game is already compressed and then ASCII-wrapped. Compressing it a second time only crushes that original ASCII-wrapper but since you need a new ASCII wrapper you don't gain in the end. Here are the sizes of a plain move, the move zipped and the same move with two common ASCII wrappings around them: </font>3611983 redwolf-hagleboz-joust-009.txt</font>2643820 redwolf-hagleboz-joust-009.txt.zip</font>3623016 redwolf-hagleboz-joust-009.txt.zip.base64</font>3642651 redwolf-hagleboz-joust-009.txt.zip.uue</font> As you can see, the zipping squishes the ASCII wrapper in the original move. But when you add either one of the new ASCII wrappers you come out bigger overall. [ June 23, 2005, 09:09 AM: Message edited by: Redwolf ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MPK Posted June 23, 2005 Author Share Posted June 23, 2005 "Some mail programs or ISPs can cause problems with large text files" Yep. I think that's exactly his problem. Thanks to you both, Redwolf and Schrullenhaft, for your explanations... Problem sidestepped by him opening an new, different email account. cheers, Matt 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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