Exomizer 2 website

Exomizer is a program that compresses files in a way that tries to be as efficient as possible but still allows them to be decompressed in environments where CPU speed and RAM are limited. For some popular 8-bit computers using 6502 compatible CPUs it can also generate executable files that decompress themselves in memory when run.

The exomizer program itself is a 32-bit console application written in ANSI-C.

Exomizer operates in two major modes. It has a raw mode that compresses plain files and produces plain files. This mode is used by the raw subcommand. All other subcommands use the second mode. It requires all source files to be targeted to be decrunched at specific addresses in the 16-bit address space of the target computer. In this mode, no file can be larger than 64kB since all data must be addressable using 16-bits. The targeted mode has the following features:

• It reads plain or .prg files to any given address.
• It can produce stand-alone self-decrunching files for the following targets:
  • Commodore VIC20, C64, C16/plus4 and C128
  • Atari 400/800 XL/XE
  • Apple ][+ and //e
• It can produce files for both "in memory" and "from disk" decrunching.
• It handles RLE-sequences well, no packer is necessary.
• It is able to link/combine more than one source file into the same crunched target file.

Exomizer version 2 is still under development and is available as a beta release. Included in the downloadable zip file are the source code and precompiled binaries for DOS and Win32. It also includes a makefile for Gnu make and gcc so it should be easy to build on any system where these tools are available.

Any suggestions, comments and/or bug reports can be sent to me, the author.

• 2008-09-08: Exomizer v2.0 beta 7 released

  Changes since the 2.0 beta 7 release:
  • Fixed a bug in the 6502 forward decruncher regarding literal sequences longer than 255 bytes.
  • Added z80 decruncher source code contributed by Metalbrain.
  • Added experimental desfx sub-command to decrunch a sfx-generated file.
  • Fix broken ROM/RAM banking NMI handling for the Atari target of the sfx sub-command.
  • Added flags to customize enter and exit code for the sfx sub-command.
  • Added loading of Oric tap files to the sfx sub-command.
  • Oric 1 target of the sfx sub-command supports starting basic-programs.
  A complete changelog is included in the zip file. Download it here.

• 2007-01-28: Exomizer v2.0 beta 6 released

  Changes since the 2.0 beta 5 release:
  • Bugfix: sfx -t 128 placed decrunch table at $0334, not at $0b00 where it is supposed to be.
  • Bugfix: sfx -t 128 was unable to bank RAM/ROM properly.
  • Bugfix: Now works when compiled in a setting where unspecified char types are unsigned.
  • Added experimental Oric 1 target to the sfx command. (not properly tested, comments are welcome)
  A complete changelog is included in the zip file. (download removed)

• 2006-10-08: Exomizer v2.0 beta 5 released

  Changes since the 2.0 beta 4 release:
  • New option -f to the mem and level sub commands that enables forward crunching.
  • Added a forward decruncher contributed by Krill / Plush.
  • Fixed a bug that made the sfx sub command fail on big endian architectures.
  • Added a dasm syntax version of exodecrunch.s.
  • Changed exodecrunch.s to support literal sequences by default.
  A complete changelog is included in the zip file. (download removed)

• 2006-07-08: Exomizer v2.0 beta 4 released

  Changes since the 2.0 beta 3 release:
  • Change email address.
  • Don't use setjmp/longjmp due to obscure bug when building using mingw with -O3 -fomit-frame-pointer.
  • Add multipass functionality to the assembler in order to be able to do more complex things in the decruncher source.
  • Fix the sfx decruncher to work for a wider range of i_load_addr values.
  • Add optional offset,len for raw command file reading.
  A complete changelog is included in the zip file. (download removed)

• 2005-11-14: Exomizer v2.0 beta 3 released

  First public 2.x beta release. (Download removed).

If you're looking for builds for other operating systems, here's some external links:

• Exomizer built for AmigaOS 4 is available for download here.
• Exomizer port for MorphOS is available for download here.

For older releases, see the old website here.

Latest update 2008-09-08.