Data Container Formats
From ECWolf Wiki
Revision as of 00:02, 8 September 2023 by Adambiser (talk | contribs) (→Name Spaces: Added note about flats/ needing the lumps to be in Graphic (Flat) or PNG, not Graphic (Doom).)
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
- This page was last edited on 8 September 2023, at 00:02.
- Content is available under GNU Free Documentation License 1.3 unless otherwise noted.
- Privacy policy
- About ECWolf Wiki
- Disclaimers