File System

Overview

I-War 2 features a flexible file system that can read both normal files and folders, and zip files.

A zip file is an archive designed for easy distribution of files and folders. Zip files support compression, to reduce the zip file size. Zip files have the file extension .zip, e.g. file.zip. You can create, modify and read zip files using programs such as WinZip.

The game treats zip files and folders identically - a zip file called my_files.zip would be considered to be the same as a folder with the same content called my_files.

Note: The game uses files in folders in preference to zip files. Thus if a folder and a zip file are in the same location and share the same name, then the files in the folder will be used over the files in the zip. This feature is very useful as you can 'override' files in a zip with modified version by placing them in an indentically named folder (omitting the .zip extension).

 

Game Resources

The majority of the game's resources, such as graphics, ship definitions, etc. are held in a zip file in the game's folder called resource.zip. Additional resources for localised versions are held in a supplemental zip file such as resource_french.zip. Another folder called streams contains video and audio files.

The game's flux.ini file defines which folders / zip files are searched for resources, and in which order.

The flux.ini section [FcResourceManager] contains at least these two entries:

search_paths[0] = .\resource
search_paths[1] = .\streams

These are standard INI File numbered entries, each of which defines a folder / zip file to search for game files. The path names are all relative to the game's install folder. In the example above the game would search for a file in this order:

  1. In a folder called resource.
  2. In a zip file called resource.zip.
  3. In a folder called streams.
  4. In a zip file called streams.zip.

Only if the game failed to find the file in all the resource locations would it fail with an error.

You can add your own paths to the flux.ini if you wish, but make a backup of the flux.ini first. See the INI Files section for information on numbered INI file entries.

However, the game features an automatic system where you turn new resources on and off. See the Creating and Distributing Mods section for details.