How do you reduce WAD size?

[Canofbacon]

So I just finished my new WAD. I've posted 2 WADs and on both of them I have a review complaining about the file size being to big. I am aware of the "Clean Up" feature on XWE. Anything else?

[Memfis]

You can try compressing the OGGs/MP3s that you put in your wads. Removing more than 1000 unused textures might help too.
But really I think it's a bit silly to complain about this stuff in 2013.

[Canofbacon]

Memfis said:

You can try compressing the OGGs/MP3s that you put in your wads. Removing more than 1000 unused textures might help too.
But really I think it's a bit silly to complain about this stuff in 2013.

I know right! Anyway, how would I compress the MP3s? (Sorry Im sorta new to WAD making)

[blackthrones]

The way to reduce size for mp3's is to reduce the kbps (but I try not to lower it to the point of showing noticeable sound quality loss; 192kbps is the usual way to go if the mp3 is already at 320kbps).
I use Nero Wave Editor. With it, you just open what you want to reduce, save as, click on options and choose a lower kbps and whether you want it stereo or not.
As for .ogg files, I got no clue. Google's your friend ;)

[Canofbacon]

blackthrones said:

The way to reduce size for mp3's is to reduce the kbps (but I try not to lower it to the point of showing noticeable sound quality loss; 192kbps is the usual way to go if the mp3 is already at 320kbps).
I use Nero Wave Editor. With it, you just open what you want to reduce, save as, click on options and choose a lower kbps and whether you want it stereo or not.
As for .ogg files, I got no clue. Google's your friend ;)

Thanks for the help. I found this thing called "WADptr - WAD compressor," do you know anything about that?

[Gez]

I was going to suggest it.
http://soulsphere.org/projects/wadptr/

It'll compress Doom-format images, maps, and redundant data.


If you use ZDoom, you can also convert images to PNG, then install PNGOUT and DeflOpt, set up SLADE 3 to use them, and run optimize PNG on the pictures.

[Canofbacon]

Gez said:

I was going to suggest it.
http://soulsphere.org/projects/wadptr/

It'll compress Doom-format images, maps, and redundant data.


If you use ZDoom, you can also convert images to PNG, then install PNGOUT and DeflOpt, set up SLADE 3 to use them, and run optimize PNG on the pictures.

I downloaded WADptr and when I clicked it a black box with some white text came up for a second then went away.

[fraggle]

I'm the author of wadptr. It's a command line tool, not a GUI one, so you'll have to run it from the command line. But it's not very difficult. Just run:

wadptr -c filename.wad

It will only work on Doom-format WADs, not Hexen-format ones.

[TimeOfDeath]

I looked at op2000.wad and it looks like there is an entire texture pack included in the wad. You could try to only include the textures/flats your map uses.

Besides that, midi files are way way smaller than mp3s. Doom already has textures, sounds and sprites, so maybe you could use the default stuff from Doom instead of new stuff (you could edit your decorate to use the default stuff). Avoiding new music, sounds, textures, sprites will drastically reduce the size of your wad (I wasn't the /idgames commenter btw).

[Canofbacon]

fraggle said:

I'm the author of wadptr. It's a command line tool, not a GUI one, so you'll have to run it from the command line. But it's not very difficult. Just run:

wadptr -c filename.wad

It will only work on Doom-format WADs, not Hexen-format ones.

"wadptr is not recognized as an internal or external command,operable program or batch file" I think I did something wrong...

[Canofbacon]

TimeOfDeath said:

I looked at op2000.wad and it looks like there is an entire texture pack included in the wad. You could try to only include the textures/flats your map uses.

Besides that, midi files are way way smaller than mp3s. Doom already has textures, sounds and sprites, so maybe you could use the default stuff from Doom instead of new stuff (you could edit your decorate to use the default stuff). Avoiding new music, sounds, textures, sprites will drastically reduce the size of your wad (I wasn't the /idgames commenter btw).

In the .txt file of one of Eric Harris's WADs, he mentions that he deleted sprites to make the WAD size smaller. That seems like it would help a lot. Would you happen to know how to do that?

[GreyGhost]

Canofbacon said:

"wadptr is not recognized as an internal or external command,operable program or batch file" I think I did something wrong...

Looks like Windows can't find WADptr. Either learn how to CD or open the Command Console in the folder where WADptr is located, it'll also help if your wad's in the same location.

[40oz]

You'd help yourself a ton if you only included in the wad the textures you used. That can be a little tricky after your map(s) is/are already done, but if the textures can't be seen in your levels, they don't serve any purpose in being included with your wad.

Usually I'm very finicky about including new textures in a doom wad, and only carefully select the ones I know ill use. I always thought it was rather misleading to have texture resources in wad format, since mappers will probably just merge them into their wads like you did and inflate the wad size to be huge.

[Canofbacon]

Well after a bit of messing around I put in the code again and got this:
0 [sig] wadptr 2144 handle_exceptions: Exception: STATUS_ACCESS_VIOLATION
1112 [sig] wadptr 2144 stackdump: Dumping stack trace to wadptr.exe.stackdump

Hmmmmm.... when I start up CMD it says C:\Users\Jordan so I just moved WADptr and the WAD file into there and did the code. I guess I can't do that huh?

[TimeOfDeath]

I don't really think wadptr is going to make a big difference in reducing your wad size.

Look at op2000.wad. Your map only uses 6 new textures and 4 new flats, yet you included over 1000 unused textures/flats in the wad. Delete all of the unused stuff and you can cut your size down to almost half.

[GreyGhost]

A few questions, before I see if I can replicate your WADptr problem. What version of Windows are you running, what format did you save the map in and which source port (if any) is it intended for?

At first glance it looks like an access rights issue, which is a little unexpected in your C:\Users\ folder.

Canofbacon said:

In the .txt file of one of Eric Harris's WADs, he mentions that he deleted sprites to make the WAD size smaller. That seems like it would help a lot.

That assumes there are unused sprites in your wad. Identify them before you start deleting, otherwise you'll run into problems with missing sprite frames.

[Canofbacon]

TimeOfDeath said:

I don't really think wadptr is going to make a big difference in reducing your wad size.

Look at op2000.wad. Your map only uses 6 new textures and 4 new flats, yet you included over 1000 unused textures/flats in the wad. Delete all of the unused stuff and you can cut your size down to almost half.

Well I know to delete textures now. I'm not planning to change op2000.wad I'm just making this thread for future reference. I'm using op2000.wad as a test for WADptr though since it is a big file.

[Canofbacon]

GreyGhost said:

A few questions, before I see if I can replicate your WADptr problem. What version of Windows are you running, what format did you save the map in and which source port (if any) is it intended for?

At first glance it looks like an access rights issue, which is a little unexpected in your C:\Users\ folder.

That assumes there are unused sprites in your wad. Identify them before you start deleting, otherwise you'll run into problems with missing sprite frames.

Windows 7, ZDoom source port, and by format you mean what I selected in that list that is at the left side of the Game Configurations box in Doom Builder 2?

[Kappes Buur]

Housekeeping is the key to a well organized pwad.

You have ca 1100 textures in op2000.wad, which is 16.5 MB in size. Simply converting all the textures
in Graphic (Doom) and Graphic (Flat) to PNG (paletted) and then optimizing them reduced the size by ca 5 MB.

Considering that you only used 46 of the textures, your map would be better described as a texture resource pwad. :)

[Canofbacon]

Kappes Buur said:

Housekeeping is the key to a well organized pwad.

You have ca 1100 textures in op2000.wad, which is 16.5 MB in size. Simply converting all the textures
in Graphic (Doom) and Graphic (Flat) to PNG (paletted) and then optimizing them reduced the size by ca 5 MB.

Considering that you only used 46 of the textures, your map would be better described as a texture resource pwad. :)

Yeah I know haha, but that was before I thought to only include used textures. Learn something new everyday I guess.