Toolkit for DOOM/DOOMTOOL.ISO/editors/wadgc2.zip/WADGC.NFO

Text File | 1994-07-31 | 6KB | 164 lines

WADGC - a simple PWAD graphics compiler (pre-release version, July 27, 1994)

The program takes a text input file, and creates a PWAD file for Doom
version 1.1, 1.2 or 1.5 with any or all of the following entries:

Sprites (curently between S_START and S_END entries as required for Doom 1.2)

Floor and ceiling textures (between F_START and F_END entries)

Wall patches, PNAMES, TEXTURE1 & TEXTURE2 entries

Note that TEXTURE1/2 and PNAME resources can only fully replace those
already in the IWAD. Therefore, the original resource data are kept
and any new patch names and textures appended to them. Since the original
data is copyrighted, you'll have to extract it from your DOOM.WAD for
yourself. Use the supplied utility WADEXT, or DEU or any other suitable
WAD editor, and extract the entries PNAMES, TEXTURE1 and TEXTURE2 as raw
data into files named "pnames.raw", "texture1.raw" and "texture2.raw",
respectively, and you're ready to go.

As of Doom version 1.2, sprites can only be replaced on a wholesale basis.
Every sprite for every object must be explicitly present between
S_START...S_END entries in your PWAD. This will change in version 1.5.

Floor textures can NOT be included in PWAD files. You need to build a
new IWAD file to change these freely, and if you do, a few names must
still be present for Doom to run, since they are used for a few other
purposes, too. Refer to the Unofficial Doom specs for details. See also
the utility NEWFLATS in the vicinity of this document.

The input file is a plain ASCII text file. The spelling is crucial,
and everything is case-sensitive. Extra blank lines, spaces and tabs are
allowed anywhere, though, to increase the readability. Comments are
allowed and should be preceded with a hash (#). Comments can be placed
on a line of their own or after a command on the same line. Everything
from the # to the next end of line is considered a comment and ignored.

Input PPM files must be in raw format (P6), not text format (P3). The
image is color quantized to the Doom palette when it is read in. If you
want to be certain about the results, use only the Doom colors when you
create the image in the first place. My quantization is a raw extensive
search for a best fit on a pixel by pixel basis, which is quite crude and
very slow. If only the Doom palette colors are used, images will be read
in about 30 times faster.

Existing textures may be replaced, and new ones added. Changing existing
textures is needed to change the frame animated walls. All replacement
textures must be listed before any new textures, and they must be in the
same order as in the original IWAD file. This is similar to the utility
NEWFLATS. It is a limitation, but not a severe one. What it restricts you
from doing is changing the number of animation frames for animated walls.


The input text file format should be as follows.

The sprites section:
--------------------
S_START
<spritename> <ppmfilename> @ <x_origin y_origin> W <width> H <height> X <x_insertion> Y <y_insertion>
...
S_END

x_origin and y_origin define the upper left corner for the sprite image
within the ppm image. Having several sprites in one input image gives
you a better overview when editing them.


The wall patches section:
-------------------------
P_START
<patchname> <filename> @ <xorigin yorigin> W <width> H <height>
...
P_END

Apart from the lack of an insertion point, this is exactly the same
format as the sprites section. The insertion point for wall patches
is always at the middle of the bottom row of pixels.
The P_START/P_END markers are actually not written to the WAD file.
If they were, all the original wall patches would become inaccessible.
New wall patches are just placed on the top level in the WAD directory.
Therefore, make sure they do not have the same name as any of the
existing entries: wall patches, sprites or non-graphic resources.
(Unless you want to replace an existing wall patch, in which case you
 should of course specify the same name as the existing one.)


The textures section:
---------------------
TEXTURE1_START
<texturename> <width> <height> <numpatches>
<patchname> <xoffset> <yoffset>
<patchname> <xoffset> <yoffset>
...
<texturename> <numpatches>
<patchname> <xoffset> <yoffset>
...
TEXTURE1_END
TEXTURE2_START
(exactly like TEXTURE1 above)
TEXTURE2_END

Note that patches are referred to by name. All the names used must
be present either in the original PNAMES entry or in the P_START..P_END
section.

The floor/ceiling section:
--------------------------
F_START
F1_START
<texturename> <filename> @ <xorigin yorigin>
F1_END
F2_START
<texturename> <filename> @ <xorigin yorigin>
F2_END
F_END

Apart from the absence of a size specification, this is
the same format as the wall patch section. The width and
height of these textures are always 64.
Either F1_START..F1_END or F2_START..F2_END may be omitted.

Note that having floor/ceiling entries in a PWAD file gives an
error if you try to run Doom with it using the -file option.
For information on how to make your own flats, see the file
NEWFLATS.README.

Any of the sections S_START...S_END, P_START...P_END,
TEXTURE1_START...TEXTURE1_END, TEXTURE2_START...TEXTURE2_END or
F_START...F_END may be omitted. The presence of the section
P_START...P_END automatically generates a PNAMES entry. The
presence of any of the sections TEXTUREn_START...TEXTUREn_END
yields a corresponding TEXTUREn entry.


Example input file:
-------------------
# A very simple example input file for WADGC
S_START # Some dummy sprites
 TESTSPR1 test.ppm @ 0 0 W 8 H 8 X 4 Y 8 # The first test sprite
 TESTSPR2 test.ppm @ 8 0 W 8 H 8 X 4 Y 8 # A second test sprite
S_END

P_START # A few new wall patches
 TESTPTC1 test.ppm @ 0 8 W 8 H 8
 TESTPTC2 test.ppm @ 8 8 W 8 H 8
P_END

TEXTURE1_START # One replacement texture for AASTINKY and one all new
 AASTINKY 8 16 2
  TESTPTC1 0 0
  TESTPTC2 0 8
 TESTWALL 16 16 4
  TESTPTC1 0 0
  TESTPTC2 0 8
  TESTPTC1 8 0
  TESTPTC2 8 8
TEXTURE1_END

F_START # Floor tiles are actually not allowed in PWADS
 F1_START
  TESTFLR1 test.ppm @ 0 0
 F1_END
F_END