wadconvert

This is a tool to convert WAD files to JSON format and other formats.

Work in progress: currently the tool converts vertices, linedefs, sidedefs, sectors and things to JSON format.

Tools needed

The tool is built with C++ and uses the conan package manager to manage dependencies and cmake to build the project.

• conan - C++ package manager
• cmake: A cross-platform build system generator.
• clang - C/C++ compiler

At the moment I'm testing the tool on macOS. Please tell me if you have any issues or you make it work with other platforms. Issues and comments are welcome.

Building from Source

The executable will be created in build/bin/wadconvert.

Debug Build

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/neverbot/wadconvert.git
cd wadconvert

# Install dependencies using Conan
conan install . --output-folder=build -s build_type=Debug --build=missing

# Configure with CMake
cmake --preset debug

# Build the project
cmake --build --preset debug

Release Build

# Clone the repository (if not already done)
git clone https://github.com/neverbot/wadconvert.git
cd wadconvert

# Install dependencies using Conan
conan install . --output-folder=build -s build_type=Release --build=missing

# Configure with CMake
cmake --preset release

# Build the project
cmake --build --preset release

Usage

./build/bin/wadconvert -<format> <input.wad> <output.json>

Accepted formats are:

• json: JSON format
• jsonverbose: JSON format with more verbose object names
• dsl: Domain Specific Language format (custom)
• dslverbose: Domain Specific Language format with more verbose object names (custom)

The latter two formats are not standard, completely custom for my own use. The JSON format is more useful and maybe could be of use for other people.

Some examples:

# Convert a WAD file to JSON format
./build/bin/wadconvert -json wads/doom1.wad test.json
./build/bin/wadconvert -jsonverbose wads/doom1.wad testv.json
./build/bin/wadconvert -dsl wads/doom1.wad test.dsl

WAD file structure

A WAD file has three main parts:

1. Header (12 bytes):

   • identification (4 bytes): "IWAD" or "PWAD"
   • numlumps (4 bytes): Number of lumps (entries)
   • infotableofs (4 bytes): Offset in the file where the directory starts

2. Lumps:

   • These are the raw data blocks that include things like THINGS, VERTEXES, LINEDEFS, SECTORS, sound data, images, etc.

3. Directory:

   • A list of fixed-size entries (16 bytes each) at the end or near-end of the file.
   • Each entry has:
   • filepos (4 bytes): Offset of the lump in the file
   • size (4 bytes): Size of the lump in bytes
   • name (8 bytes): ASCII name of the lump (null-padded)

File outputs

Brief JSON structure -json

This is the smaller file size that is still human readable. It is a more compact version of the verbose JSON structure. The keys are shortened to save space, but the structure is still clear.

{
 "levels": [
  {
   "name": "name",
   "v": [
    {"x":0,"y":0},
    {"x":128,"y":0},
   ],
   "l": [
    {"s":0,"e":1,"f":0,"t":0,"g":0,"r":-1,"l":-1},
    {"s":1,"e":2,"f":0,"t":0,"g":0,"r":-1,"l":-1},
   ],
   "si": [
    {"l":"-","m":"STARTAN2","s":0,"u":"-","x":0,"y":0},
    {"l":"STARTAN2","m":"-","s":0,"u":"STARTAN2","x":0,"y":0},
   ],
   "se": [
    {"c":128,"f":128,"g":"FLOOR0_1","l":"CEIL1_1","t":"FLOOR1_1","x":"CEIL4_1","y":"FLAT14"},
    {"c":128,"f":128,"g":"FLOOR0_1","l":"CEIL1_1","t":"FLOOR1_1","x":"FLAT14","y":"FLAT14"},
   ],
   "t": [
    {"a":90,"f":7,"t":"PlayerStart","x":512,"y":256},
    {"a":180,"f":7,"t":"PlayerStart","x":1024,"y":512},
   ]
  }
 ]
}

Verbose JSON structure -jsonverbose

{
 "levels": [
  {
   "name": "name",
   "vertices": [
    {"x": 0, "y": 0},
    {"x": 128, "y": 0},
    {"x": 128, "y": 128}
   ],
   "linedefs": [
    {
     "start": 0,
     "end": 1,
     "flags": 0,
     "type": 0,
     "tag": 0,
     "right_sidedef": 0,
     "left_sidedef": -1
    }
   ],
   "sidedefs": [
    {
     "x_offset": 0,
     "y_offset": 0,
     "upper_texture": "-",
     "lower_texture": "-",
     "middle_texture": "STARTAN2",
     "sector": 0
    }
   ],
   "sectors": [
    {
     "floor_height": 0,
     "ceiling_height": 128,
     "floor_texture": "FLOOR0_1",
     "ceiling_texture": "CEIL1_1",
     "light_level": 160,
     "type": 0,
     "tag": 0
    }
   ],
   "things": [
    {
     "x": 512,
     "y": 256,
     "angle": 90,
     "type": "PlayerStart",
     "flags": 0
    }
   ]
  }
 ]
}

Custom DSL structure -dsl

LEVEL name START

VERTICES:
(-9344, 7104)
(-9344, 7552)
...

LINEDEFS:
19 -> 18 | flags: 1 | type: 0 | tag: 0 | right: 5 | left: 65535
18 -> 17 | flags: 1 | type: 0 | tag: 0 | right: 4 | left: 65535
...

SECTORS:
floor: 0 | ceil: 300 | light: 200 | floor_tex: FLOOR1_1 | ceil_tex: CEIL4_1
floor: 200 | ceil: 264 | light: 190 | floor_tex: FLOOR1_1 | ceil_tex: FLAT14
...

THINGS:
PlayerStart at (-9024, 7072) | angle: 90 | type: 1
Thing at (-8224, 6112) | angle: 0 | type: 14
Thing at (-5728, 5984) | angle: 180 | type: 14
...

LEVEL name END