How to Use Hi-Res Textures in jDOOM
(Continued from page 6.)

Here’s what we’ll see in the editor as a standard DOOM flat:

And here’s the PNG file that will show up in its place in JDOOM:

Ok. Now it’s time to package all of this up and get it into the hands of the user. Let’s assume that you have all the new textures and flats you need, and that you’ve already made your map.

The preferred way to distribute JDOOM specific content is using a PK3 file.

A PK3 file is just an uncompressed ZIP file. Although you can just keep the ZIP extension, it’s better to use PK3 and associate PK3 with WinZip. Upon distribution, you then use WinZip or whatever archive application you would like to use, to compress the PK3 file.

JDOOM requires things to be in certain folders. If you didn’t use the PK3 file, then here’s where things go:

The MAP PWAD resides here:
/data/jdoom/auto

The TEXTURE PWAD resides here:
/data/jdoom/auto

(Yes, they can be merged into one PWAD if you so desire.)

The PNG files reside here:
 /data/jdoom/textures

The point of PK3 files is so that you can release the file with a virtual folder structure so you don’t require the end user to have all these files all over the place. As long as your PK3 file (zip file renamed to PK3, basically) uses no compression (also known as “store”), then JDOOM will handle it correctly and interpret the virtual folder structure.

Although you can use WinZip to build your PK3 file, it does not allow you to dynamically create folders within the archive. That’s why I recommend PakScape. Version 0.11 is the most recent (final?) version of this great program.

NOTE: When saving as a PK3 file from PakScape, make sure you click the Options button and move the compression slider all the way to the left to set no compression!

(Click on image for full-screen view.)

I won’t burden you with too many screenshots, but here are the steps.

1. Launch PakScape
2. Immediately save the file (even though it’s empty right now). For our example, let’s use texture_example.pk3.
3. Don’t forget to make sure that no compression is used.
4. Create 4 folders using Object | New Directory from the File Menu; or you can right-click in the right pane and select Object | New Directory. The directory names are: Data, Jdoom, Auto, and Textures.