Best ways to prevent XWE from corrupting files?

I haven't had a problem with this much until recently. Anyone got some good tips?

Yes, don't use it! Use SLADE instead. I switched a couple of years ago and I use SLADE exclusively now.

Also if you had problems with XWE messing with your IWADs, you can try out unxwe.

(sorry Gez :P)

Mechadon said:

Yes, don't use it!

But I like XWE! :(

I highly recommend switching to SLADE. It does pretty much everything XWE can (well, aside from some of the more esoteric features...but that may change) and then some.

I use to use XWE as my primary wad editor too, and I liked it well enough. But SLADE is just so much better in my opinion. It may take a few tries to get used to it, but I really do think it is a step above XWE.

Of course, if your dead-set on using XWE, my advice is to make and keep backups often. After XWE ate my wads a few times, I started keeping two or three manual backups. If you plan on doing extensive editing, always make a new backup and work on the copy.

It has been a while since I used XWE, so I can't remember any specific bugs. Except for how it will corrupt PNAMES/TEXTURE1 lumps.

Don't open your wad in multiple programs at the same time. That's the primary reason wads gets corrupted I believe.
My XWE loves making backups btw so I don't have to worry about that. :D
I use Slade for some cool features but still rely on XWE most of the time. I find its interface much simplier and easier to work with.

I'd love if XWE worked. I keep trying to extract shit from Powerslave's stuff.dat but it freezes when I try.

A curious program. The only way to win is not to use it.

Mechadon said:

It has been a while since I used XWE, so I can't remember any specific bugs. Except for how it will corrupt PNAMES/TEXTURE1 lumps.

The old SlumpEd/XWE double shuffle - I hate that.

I do like XWE for simplicity. I have encountered said crash before. It's a shame that since the source code's release that no one has bothered to continue the work on it. If I could code well then I would take over the project. Just remembered the question I came originally to ask: does anybody know what in XWE causes it to crash? Like, what section of code would be the culprit?

Mechadon said:

I highly recommend switching to SLADE.

I am currently in the process of switching. It's just that there are some things I haven't figured out how to do in SLADE that I know how to do in XWE.

Canofbacon said:

I am currently in the process of switching. It's just that there are some things I haven't figured out how to do in SLADE that I know how to do in XWE.

What I did when I first started using SLADE was keep XWE as my main, but use SLADE for lighter editing. The more I used it, the more I got used to it. And eventually (I think after XWE mangled my PNAMES/TEXTURE1 lumps), I just switched to SLADE completely.

Oh yea, and definitely don't open your wad in XWE, and then open it again in another program like Memfis said. I've learned that the hard way :(

It would be great if someone could pick XWE up and fix the bugs and other issues with it. I used it for years and, after learning how to avoid some of those issues, it served me very well.

If there is something specific your trying to do in SLADE that you can't figure out, don't hesitate to ask for help :)

Mechadon said:

It would be great if someone could pick XWE up and fix the bugs and other issues with it. I used it for years and, after learning how to avoid some of those issues, it served me very well.

From everything I know, it'd be easier to start from scratch on a new project. I mean, the thing is in BORLAND DELPHI for Christ's sake. Using that language is like nailing yourself to the cross.

XWE feature that i think is still missing from SLADE3: table view for map things, vertices, linedefs and so on. SLADE3 currently just offers to show you the HEX view, after you click a button.

Mechadon said:

If there is something specific your trying to do in SLADE that you can't figure out, don't hesitate to ask for help :)

Alright before you laugh at my questions remember I haven't been using Slade that much, actually I just started a couple days ago. Anyway, how do I merge WADs in Slade? Also does Slade have a "clean up" option like XWE does?

There's no automatic merger, but you can open different wads in different tabs and then copy/paste lumps between them.

There are a few cleanup features. Use Archive->Maintenance to see them.

Gez said:

There's no automatic merger, but you can open different wads in different tabs and then copy/paste lumps between them.

There are a few cleanup features. Use Archive->Maintenance to see them.

Thank you.

Mechadon said:

It would be great if someone could pick XWE up and fix the bugs and other issues with it. I used it for years and, after learning how to avoid some of those issues, it served me very well.

I gave it a shot many moons ago, since the SC was released and official support officially -well- terminated, but the source code was released in an incomplete form, missing many essential dependencies, so it's not easy to even get to build "as is".

Quasar said:

From everything I know, it'd be easier to start from scratch on a new project. I mean, the thing is in BORLAND DELPHI for Christ's sake. Using that language is like nailing yourself to the cross.

Why? It's not a bad language, and actually gives you as much power and flexibility as C/C++, together with a much more self-contained application development framework, and generates 100% self-contained executables. It's RAD features are still superior to the latest Visual Studios, IMO. However it's very easy to write bad/unmaintainable code in it, and the IDE doesn't do it justice in terms of code navigation features, being surpassed even by Code::Blocks.

Maes said:

Why? It's not a bad language, and actually gives you as much power and flexibility as C/C++, together with a much more self-contained application development framework, and generates 100% self-contained executables. It's RAD features are still superior to the latest Visual Studios, IMO. However it's very easy to write bad/unmaintainable code in it, and the IDE doesn't do it justice in terms of code navigation features, being surpassed even by Code::Blocks.

Because of VCL.

Inane bugs like invoking event handlers after the destructor has run, or before the constructor has executed. No re-entrancy control. Very poor ability to separate UI from program logic. Requirement to subclass controls where it shouldn't be necessary due to over-protection, and in some cases, impossibility to alter behaviors at all because things have been made unnecessarily private. Also, when using it from C++Builder, the objects with Delphi base classes don't obey basic C++ language rules, creating an "object zoo".

I feel I am qualified to say this because I've spent the last 3.5 years working with C++Builder and VCL on large production projects, and it's always a nightmare, every time.

Quasar said:

Very poor ability to separate UI from program logic.

I could point at several RAD environments for different languages that also do that -ranging from the venerable VB6 and VS98 (especially with MFC applications), up to the latest Visual Studios with C#.

Basically, double-clicking on an UI element and getting an auto-generated "OnClick" method is always a temptation to follow bad practices like putting important logic in the "Form1" class...but you don't have to. At most you could accuse Delphi of encouraging to write bad code because of this, but then you'd have to extend the accusation to nearly every language with a RAD.

Oh well, I guess there's always the MVC pattern... ;-)

Jayextee said:

I'd love if XWE worked. I keep trying to extract shit from Powerslave's stuff.dat but it freezes when I try.

It's not an exotic file format, it's the same as Duke Nukem 3D or Shadow Warrior's *.GRP files, anything that works with them will work with it.

Oh, I fixed it. Some registry setting in the config file that apparently needs to be '0' actually needed to be '1' for me.

Thanks anyway though. :)