What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

I've noticed that some mod files are in the 'rar' format. How do you open them after downloading?

I used the 'search function but could not find anything even slightly helpful.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

Re: What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

Re: What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

They are compressed with the RAR algorithm, which gives much smaller archive files than ZIP does. WinRar will open them.

Re: What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

Try winrar:
www.rarlabs.com

It's shareware; not sure if any *free* programs can read them...

Re: What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

There are "free" programs. It just depends on if your definition of "free" is a ton of spyware being installed on your PC and it being rather unreliable [img]/threads/images/Graemlins/mad.gif[/img]

Winrar should be fine for them http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

That's why I'm extremely careful about what I DL and where I DL it from.

Re: What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

WinRAR is a great program. Far better than WinZip.

Re: What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

95% of archiving programs are far better than WinZip. WinZip is just an extremely basic program, lacking any advanced features, as well as support for a lot of compression algorithms. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: What are \'rar\' files and how do I open them?
 

Oh yes, there are definitely free programs -- genuine 'free' not fake 'free' with the cost extracted in ad-hassles -- that handle .RAR files. Quickzip for example. I haven't bothered to compress any .RAR files with it so I don't know how it compares to the original in compression performance but it does extract them, and many other formats also.

www.quickzip.org