Clean texture wads

[40oz]

I kinda want to start using texture packs, but often end up finishing a map without using every single texture or flat in it, (As I am sure that most other mappers do too.)

I really dont want my wads to be like 40MB just because of textures, so what are the different methods of cleaning up wads by removing unused textures?

Are there any programs that remove unused textures from pwads? Do I have to open up the wad in XWE and pick out every texture patch I didn't use manually? Do map editors keep track of unused textures and offer a list? Or do I have to manually write a list for that too?

Is there an easy way to use texture wads? Should I just leave my wad at 40+ Mb and try to use every single available texture? Anyone have an easy method of doing this?

[Creaphis]

XWE's "list unused textures" command saves a list of unused textures to your hard drive's root directory. (Probably c:)

You could also map with an external resource wad and then add just those textures to your wad afterward.

As far as I know, there isn't any automated extra-texture-removal wad utility, which is unfortunate.

One other thing: I find it interesting that you believe that a large wad filesize is less justifiable if not every resource is used than if every resource is used. If your levels look good either way, what's the difference?

[shinobi.cl]

I did a crappy perl script that looks for all the unused textures and its patches on a wad. Does not work for ANIMATED or SWITCHes, but is better than nothing. Is only a helper tool. Does not do anything for you, just generates a report.

Anyway, there it is
http://forums.zdaemon.org/viewtopic.php?p=196102#196102


It helped me. I hope it works for you... requires some 'advanced' computer skills, like using cmd and such things... Is not a clicky thing. But is not too hard, and you have to do it once.

Please, be aware, is a crappy script, so read carefully the instructions before using it. It does not modify any file, though.



(I posted this some time ago, here
http://www.doomworld.com/vb/doom-editing/41376-wanna-remove-unused-textures-and-patches-in-your-wad/)


It would certainly be nice to have someone improve this script. I can't, for now.
There's even some programs that allow to make perl scripts into executables, so maybe some GUI can be developed to give a friendly interface to this thing.

[40oz]

Creaphis said:

One other thing: I find it interesting that you believe that a large wad filesize is less justifiable if not every resource is used than if every resource is used. If your levels look good either way, what's the difference?

The filesize obviously.

Thank's for the info anyway, I didnt know XWE had a 'list unused textures' command.

I'm gonna check out that script you linked to too, shinobi.

[Death-Destiny]

Creaphis said:

One other thing: I find it interesting that you believe that a large wad filesize is less justifiable if not every resource is used than if every resource is used. If your levels look good either way, what's the difference?

JohnnyRancid's point is simply that if he does not use all the textures, then the unused ones serve no purpose and waste memory space with useless information. The number of textures a map uses has nothing to do with its quality.

Addressing the question at hand, I just use Doombuilder's "Textures and Flats from WAD file:" field to use textures from the resource WAD in my map without merging anything. When I'm done, I make a list of all the textures I use and copy them into my WAD with XWE. With a filtered list, this usually doesn't take me very long.

[shinobi.cl]

JohnnyRancid said:

The filesize obviously.

Thank's for the info anyway, I didnt know XWE had a 'list unused textures' command.

I'm gonna check out that script you linked to too, shinobi.

Yes, it lists the unused textures, but the thing that uses the most disk space are the patches, that´s why i made a tool for that.

So, to reduce the space you have to delete the patches, and of course the texture that uses them.

[40oz]

Death-Destiny said:

Addressing the question at hand, I just use Doombuilder's "Textures and Flats from WAD file:" field to use textures from the resource WAD in my map without merging anything. When I'm done, I make a list of all the textures I use and copy them into my WAD with XWE. With a filtered list, this usually doesn't take me very long.

Does DoomBuilder record the textures used?

EDIT: Nvm I guess it does.