While ECWolf can load data from the original game with the help of map files, doing so is not recommended for mods. ECWolf can load various other, more advanced, formats.

Format Comparison

Below is a list of formats supported by ECWolf in recommendation order.

Format	Compression	Paths	Notes
Zip (PK3)	Yes	Yes	Fast decompression, recommended format
WAD	No	No	Basic uncompressed format
7z	Yes	Yes	Slow decompression
PAK	No	Yes	No standard tools
GRP	No	No	No access to name spaces
RFF	No	No	No access to name spaces

Overall the zip format is preferred as it allows your data to be easily organized into logical directories and its compression is fast enough for general purpose use.

Name Spaces

ECWolf uses various name spaces to logically organize data. In WADs in some cases use empty marker lumps (XY_START and XY_END) to signify a change in name space, but may be automatically detected. Below is a table describing the various name spaces used by ECWolf.

Directory	WAD Marker	Description
graphics/	None	Graphics such as title picture or sign on screens are placed in this directory.
hires/	HI	High resolution textures. The scale factor for the high resolution texture will be determined by the size of the similarly named low resolution texture.
flats/	F	Floor and ceiling textures. Lumps here should be of type "Graphic (Flat)" or PNG. "Graphic (Doom)" lumps will not work.
maps/	None	Maps stored within wad files. Maps must contain the data for a single level and the name of the file will be used as the map label.
music/	None	Background music.
patches/	None	Small textures which are to be referenced by the TEXTURES lump.
sounds/	None	Sounds to be referenced by SNDINFO.
sprites/	S	Sprites for actors. Sprites may be organized into sub-directories.
textures/	TX	Textures to be used as-is.

Notes

• In formats which support paths the '^' character is sprites is changed to a '\'. This is a carry over from ZDoom where this was needed in order to be compatible with the arch-vile sprites.
• Although in general the order of lumps should not be relied upon. For formats which support full paths, the lumps are loaded alphabetically.
• It is strongly recommended that you do not use the zip/7z extension when using the respective formats since the average user is used to decompressing those files. Use PK3/PK7 instead.

See Also

• Using ZIPs as WAD replacement