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<br>Yadex 1.5.2 (2001-06-30)
<h1>Yadex game definition files</h1>
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<br>
<br>
<br>
<h2>Introduction</h2>
<p>Yadex game definition files (conventional extension
<code>.ygd</code>) are designed to contain all the information
relative to a particular game. The syntax and the semantics are
very simple ; it's more like a database than a real script
language. For normal use, you don't ever need to read, much less
modify, ygd files.
<h2>General syntax</h2>
<p>A file is a valid Yadex game definition file if its first
line contains exactly the following magic string :
"<code># Yadex game definition file version 4</code>"
(without the double quotes).
<p>The rest of the file is split in lines, each line separated
from the following by a newline. White space at the beginning
and end of a line is stripped. Each line is then split in
tokens, separated by one or more white space characters. A
double quote removes the special meaning of subsequent
white space characters until the next double quote. A token
formed of just two consecutive double quotes is an empty
token : its value is the empty string. Double quotes are
stripped from the token after the token splitting is done. There
is no way to include a double quote in the contents of a token.
<p>A hash mark ("<code>#</code>") at the beginning of a token
marks the beginning of a comment. Everything from the hash to
the end of the line is stripped. If no tokens remain, the line
is ignored. If at least one token remains, the first token must
be the name of a valid directive and the following form its
arguments. If the first token is not the name of a valid
directive or the number of arguments is wrong, the whole file is
rejected.
<p>Note that the following common features are <em>not</em>
supported : breaking lines with "<code>;</code>", joining
lines with "<code>\</code>" at the end of the first line,
quoting with "<code>'</code>" or "<code>\</code>".
<p>The following lines are equivalent :
<pre>foo bar baz
foo bar baz # You too can wear a nose mitten
foo bar baz
foo "bar" baz
foo bar "b""a""z"""
foo bar ba""z
foo bar baz</pre>
<p>The following lines are <em>not</em> equivalent to the above :
<pre>foo bar baz ""
foo bar "baz "
</pre>
<h2>Directives</h2>
<dl>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>ldt</strong>
<var>type</var>
<var>group</var>
<var>shortdesc</var>
<var>longdesc</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Defines a linedef type. Takes exactly 4 arguments.</p>
<p><table>
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>type</var></code>
<td>
<td>The linedef type. Must be a decimal integer.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>group</var></code>
<td>
<td>The linedef type group this linedef type belongs to.
This field is silently truncated to 1 character. The
group must have been prealably defined by an
<code>ldtgroup</code> directive.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>shortdesc</var></code>
<td>
<td>Description that will be displayed in the object info
window. There is no limit on the length of this field
but only the first 16 characters of it are shown in the
object info window.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>longdesc</var></code>
<td>
<td>Description that will be displayed everywhere else.
There is no precise limit on the length of this field
but it's recommended to keep it within reasonable
limits.
</table></p>
<p>There should be at least one linedef type for each group
defined. There is no precise upper limit but defining more
than 30 in the same group will cause problems. You should
not define the same linedef type more than once.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>ldtgroup</strong>
<var>group</var>
<var>desc</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Defines a group of linedef types. Takes exactly 2
arguments.</p>
<p><table>
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>group</var></code>
<td>
<td>The identifier of the linedef types group. It is
silenty truncated to 1 character.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>desc</var></code>
<td>
<td>Description. There is no precise limit on the length
of the this field but it's recommended to keep it within
reasonable limits.
</table></p>
<p>There is no upper or lower limit on the number of groups
but defining more than 20 will cause problems. You should
not define the same group more than once.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>level_format</strong>
<var>level_format</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Indicates the format in which levels are stored in the
wad. There is only one argument. It can have the following
values :</p>
<p><table border>
<tr>
<th>Value
<th>Meaning
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>alpha</code>
<td>Doom alpha format, 7 directory entries per level (label,
<code>FLATNAME</code>, <code>POINTS</code>,
<code>LINES</code>, <code>SECTORS</code> and
<code>THINGS</code>).
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>doom</code>
<td>Normal Doom format, 11 directory entries per level (label,
<code>THINGS</code>, <code>LINEDEFS</code>,
<code>SIDEDEFS</code>, <code>VERTEXES</code>,
<code>SEGS</code>, <code>SSECTORS</code>, <code>NODES</code>,
<code>SECTORS</code>, <code>REJECT</code> and
<code>BLOCKMAP</code>).
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>hexen</code>
<td>Hexen format, 12 directory entries per level (same as for
<code>doom</code> then <code>BEHAVIOR</code>).
</table></p>
<p>Reading is supported for all formats but writing is not
supported for <code>hexen</code>. For <code>alpha</code>,
writing is done in <code>doom</code> format.</p>
<p>This directive is mandatory. If there are several
<code>level_format</code> directives, it's the last one that
counts.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>level_name</strong>
<var>level_name</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Indicates whether the level names for that game are of
the form <code>E<var>n</var>M<var>n</var></code> or of the form
<code>MAP<var>nm</var></code>. There is only one argument. It
can have the following values :</p>
<p><table border>
<tr>
<th>Value
<th>Meaning
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>e1m1</code>
<td><code>E<var>n</var>M<var>m</var></code> (Doom, Doom
press release and Heretic).
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>e1m10</code>
<td><code>E<var>n</var>M<var>m</var></code> or
<code>E<var>i</var>M<var>jk</var></code> (Doom alpha only)
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>map01</code>
<td><code>MAP<var>nm</var></code> (Doom II, Hexen and
Strife).
</table></p>
<p>The influence of this directive on the behaviour of Yadex is
in the choice of the default name for new levels and the way
shorthand arguments to the <code>edit</code> and
<code>create</code> commands are interpreted.</p>
<p>This directive is mandatory. If there are several
<code>level_name</code> directives, it's the last one that
counts.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>picture_format</strong>
<var>picture_format</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Indicates in which format the pictures are stored in the
wads. There is only one argument. It can have the following
values :</p>
<p><table border>
<tr>
<th>Value
<th>Meaning
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>alpha</code>
<td>The obsolete format used in Doom alpha 0.2, 0.4 and 0.5.
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>pr</code>
<td>The obsolete format used in the Doom press release pre-beta.
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>normal</code>
<td>The normal format used by all other iwads.
</table></p>
<p>This directive is optional. If it's missing, the default is
<code>normal</code>. If it's repeated, it's the last occurrence
that counts.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>sky_flat</strong>
<var>flat_name</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Specifies the name of the flat used for skies. This is
important to Yadex as far as upper and lower texture
checking is concerned (upper/lower textures are not rendered
if both sectors have a sky ceiling/floor). The argument is
matched against the sector's flat name in a case-insensitive
fashion where at most the 8 first characters matter. I
personally use lower case and recommend that you follow the
same convention.</p>
<p>This directive is optional. If it's missing, all flats will
be considered normal. If it's repeated, it's the last
occurrence that counts.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>st</strong>
<var>type</var>
<var>shortdesc</var>
<var>longdesc</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Defines a sector type. Takes exactly 3 arguments</p>
<p><table>
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>type</var></code>
<td>
<td>Must be a decimal integer.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>shortdesc</var></code>
<td>
<td>Short description that will be displayed in the object
info window. There is no limit on the length of the
short description but only the first 14 characters are
shown in the object info window.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>longdesc</var></code>
<td>
<td>Long description that will be displayed everywhere
else. There is no precise limit on the length of this
field but it's recommended to keep it within
reasonable limits.
</table></p>
<p>There is no lower limit on the number of <code>st</code>
directives. If there are too many of them, the menu will not
fit in the window so don't do that. You should not define the
same sector type more than once.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>texture_format</strong>
<var>texture_format</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Indicates in which format the textures are stored in the
wads. There is only one argument. It can have the following
values :</p>
<p><table border>
<tr>
<th>Value
<th>Meaning
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>nameless</code>
<td>The obsolete format used in Doom alpha 0.4 (no texture
names).
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>strife11</code>
<td>The format used by Strife 1.1 and later. Note that
Strife 1.0 uses the regular format (<code>normal</code>).
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>normal</code>
<td>The normal format used by all other iwads.
</table></p>
<p>This directive is optional. If it's missing, the default is
<code>normal</code>. If it's repeated, it's the last
occurrence that counts.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>texture_lumps</strong>
<var>texture_lumps</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Indicates in which lump(s) is the list of textures for
that game. There is only one argument. It can have the
following values :</p>
<p><table border>
<tr>
<th>Value
<th>Meaning
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>textures</code>
<td>There is only one lump and it's called
<code>TEXTURES</code> (Doom alpha 0.4 and 0.5).
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>none</code>
<td>There is no textures lump (Doom alpha 0.2)
<tr>
<td valign="top"><code>normal</code>
<td>There is <code>TEXTURE1</code> and optionally
<code>TEXTURE2</code> (all other iwads).
</table></p>
<p>This directive is optional. If it's missing, the default is
<code>normal</code>. If it's repeated, it's the last
occurrence that counts.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>thing</strong>
<var>type</var>
<var>group</var>
<var>flags</var>
<var>radius</var>
<var>desc</var>
</code>[<code><var>sprite</var></code>]</h3></p>
<p><dd>Defines a thing type. Takes 5 or 6 arguments.</p>
<p><table>
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>type</var></code>
<td>
<td>Must be a decimal integer.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>group</var></code>
<td>
<td>The thing type group this thing type belongs to. This
field is silently truncated to 1 character. The group
must have been prealably defined by a
<code>thinggroup</code> directive.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>flags</var></code>
<td>
<td>Should be either "<code>s</code>" for things that have
a spectral or translucent look (like Doom's spectres and
Heretic's ghosts) or "<code>-</code>" for the others.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>radius</var></code>
<td>
<td>Radius. Must be a strictly positive integer.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>desc</var></code>
<td>
<td>Description. There is not
limit on the length of this field but only the first 19
characters of it are shown in the object info window.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>sprite</var></code>
<td>
<td>The root of the name of the sprite associated with
the thing type. Yadex will display the first (in
alphabetical order) sprite whose name begins with those
characters. For example, if the root is
<code>CEYE</code> and the iwad contains sprites
<code>CEYEA0</code>, <code>CEYEB0</code> and
<code>CEYEC0</code>, the sprite displayed will be
<code>CEYEA0</code>. If this field is omitted, Yadex
will show no sprite for this thing type. This is
appropriate for things that have no visual
representation, like sound sources. The present
convention is to use upper case (and I've not tested
whether lower case works).
</table></p>
<p>There should be at least one thing type for each thing type
group defined. There is no precise upper limit but defining
more than 30 thing types in the same group will cause
problems. You should not define the same thing type more
than once.</p>
<br>
<p><dt><h3><code><strong>thinggroup</strong>
<var>group</var>
<var>colour</var>
<var>desc</var></code></h3></p>
<p><dd>Defines a group of thing types. Takes exactly 4 arguments.</p>
<p><table>
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>group</var></code>
<td>
<td>The identifier of the thing types group. It is silenty
truncated to 1 character.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>colour</var></code>
<td>
<td>The colour in which things pertaining to this group
will be displayed the editing window. It's an X11-style
colour specification. The syntax is
"<code>rgb:<var>r</var>/<var>g</var>/<var>b</var></code>"
where <code><var>r</var></code>,
<code><var>g</var></code> and <code><var>b</var></code>
are each one or more hexadecimal digits.
<tr valign="top">
<td><code><var>desc</var></code>
<td>
<td>Description. There is no precise limit on the length
of the this field but it's recommended to keep it within
reasonable limits.
</table></p>
<p>There is no upper or lower limit on the number of groups
but defining more than 20 will cause problems. You should
not define the same group more than once.</p>
</dl>
<p><hr>AYM 2000-06-03
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