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First post, by 3371-Alpha

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Does anyone know of a tool that can compare the contents of two directories and show the differences, if any, of similarly named files. I doesn't need it to tell me the exact differences of the similarly named files, hex editor can do that once I know which files. Also before anyone asks, I'm planning on using this tool to compare two separate versions of a dos game, before and after update which files changed.

Reply 1 of 11, by Dominus

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I think Total Commander does a good job at that and gives you the easy tools right away

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Reply 2 of 11, by 3371-Alpha

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Tried it, only seams to be able to compare if one directory has files the other one doesn't. Maybe I should clarify, the game I'm studying, both versions have exactly the same files with same names. I want to find which of said files changed in the update. I could compare each file with the same name one by on in a hex editor if only there weren't 164 items I need to do so with.

Reply 3 of 11, by eL_PuSHeR

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Synchronize directories on TC has got an option for binary comparing files (content).

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Reply 4 of 11, by tayyare

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3371-Alpha wrote:

Tried it, only seams to be able to compare if one directory has files the other one doesn't. Maybe I should clarify, the game I'm studying, both versions have exactly the same files with same names. I want to find which of said files changed in the update. I could compare each file with the same name one by on in a hex editor if only there weren't 164 items I need to do so with.

Not very practical but:

dir > blah1.txt
dir > blah2.txt

Import blah1 and blah2 into excel. Put your required formulas and conditional formating in place.

This is what I do 😊

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Reply 5 of 11, by root42

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Beyond Compare. Commercial / Shareware. You need to spend 60 USD for the full version. Free trial is possible.

https://www.scootersoftware.com

I am all for open source, but a lot of colleagues swear on this piece of software. So you might want to give it a try.

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Reply 8 of 11, by Tetrium

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Dominus wrote:

I think Total Commander does a good job at that and gives you the easy tools right away

eL_PuSHeR wrote:

Synchronize directories on TC has got an option for binary comparing files (content).

tayyare wrote:
Not very practical but: […]
Show full quote
3371-Alpha wrote:

Tried it, only seams to be able to compare if one directory has files the other one doesn't. Maybe I should clarify, the game I'm studying, both versions have exactly the same files with same names. I want to find which of said files changed in the update. I could compare each file with the same name one by on in a hex editor if only there weren't 164 items I need to do so with.

Not very practical but:

dir > blah1.txt
dir > blah2.txt

Import blah1 and blah2 into excel. Put your required formulas and conditional formating in place.

This is what I do 😊

This is what I do as well. Worked for years now 😀

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Reply 9 of 11, by 3371-Alpha

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eL_PuSHeR wrote:

Synchronize directories on TC has got an option for binary comparing files (content).

Really? Documentation only mentions comparing two file at a time (Same a hex editor).

root42 wrote:

Beyond Compare. Commercial / Shareware. You need to spend 60 USD for the full version. Free trial is possible.

https://www.scootersoftware.com

I am all for open source, but a lot of colleagues swear on this piece of software. So you might want to give it a try.

Will look into it thank you.

tayyare wrote:
Not very practical but: […]
Show full quote

Not very practical but:

dir > blah1.txt
dir > blah2.txt

Import blah1 and blah2 into excel. Put your required formulas and conditional formating in place.

This is what I do 😊

Probably what I'll do if all else fails.

Reply 10 of 11, by xjas

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FreeFileSync can compare a whole directory structure including subdirectories, and can find differences in files by size or content (probably using diff as a backend.)

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Reply 11 of 11, by 3371-Alpha

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xjas wrote:

FreeFileSync can compare a whole directory structure including subdirectories, and can find differences in files by size or content (probably using diff as a backend.)

Thanks, worked like a charm!

I suppose I'll tell you guys now what I'm doing. I recently got back into Interplay's ol' M.A.X. As it just so happens though, there's an unofficial Russian-made patch for the game called 1.56. The problem? 1.56 is an abandonware distribution with the full game included, similar the what System Shock Portable once was. I've spent since last year sifting through the files in an attempt at making a legal version of 1.56, of which I've uploaded here. Thanks to you though I've been able to confirm my suspicions; in addition to the uploaded files, all the DESCR*.* files, the FONT5 file, MAX.RES and setup.exe are different in the 1.56 version.