Hyper archive
Hyper archive (HYP) is a compressed archive format associated with an MS-DOS utility named Hyper. The utility was developed by K. P. Nischke and P. Sawatzki, and distributed as shareware.
Contents |
Format details
Checksum algorithm
Each member file has a checksum, in the form of a 32-bit unsigned integer. It is a checksum of the compressed data, not the original data as the v2.5 English documentation implies.
The algorithm starts by initializing the checksum to 0. For each byte: Add the byte's value to the current checksum value (mod 2^32), then rotate the checksum value left by 1 bit.
Self-extracting archives
Self-extracting HYP archives in EXE format are supported. They are constructed manually, by appending a .HYP file to a copy of the main HYPER.EXE file. In such a file, the archive data is embedded in the overlay segment (refer to MS-DOS EXE#Special file positions).
Identification
A HYP file begins with bytes 1a 48 50 (if the first member file was compressible), or 1a 53 54 (if not).
Specifications
- Format info from Corion.net and FileFormats.Info
- There is some format information in the HYPER.REF/HYPER.DOC file included in the distribution.
Software
- Hyper v2.5 (English)
- Hyper v2.6 (German)
- Hyper v2.7 (German): CD Direkt 1995 03 → CDD/DIREKT/WIN/SF_PRG_2/INSTALL/HYPER.EXE
Hyper v2.7 (assuming it's legitimate) has only been found as a bare executable file, possibly only as a component of something called SF Install.
Sample files
Links
- Information from a PC Magazine article (Oct 15 1991, p. 316)
