Can somebody enlighten me about pak file support? (Twitter post)

Post: https://twitter.com/Tiyuri/statuses/420159355825426432

I know what .pak files are, if we're talking about games like quake etc... But how exactly are they going to benefit modders here? Is it just that mods can become a single file now rather than a folder, or is there more behind it?

 

I'd also like to know, as someone from a non-modder standpoint.

 

It's possible the files will have internal compression, making them even smaller.

Another possible advantage is that by bundling up the files into a single file it will make client/server mod management even easier for those servers which sync the server and client-side mod packages. I just hope they don't remove the ability to use open file structure in the mod folder too as it makes mod making far far easier when it's unpackaged

 

What I was hoping for, is that this would be the first step towards making clients able to download mods from servers on join.

It's exactly the kinda stuff that a lot of older (2000-ish) games supported, which was kinda sick (and super-easy for the players).