.wad

WAD (short for Where's All the Data) is the file extension for Half-Life texture packages. WAD files first originated in id Software's Doom as a general purpose file archive to help facilitate game mods. A format of the same name was later used in id Software's Quake engine as a texture package, then consequentially adapted by Half-Life 1's GoldSrc engine, which was based off the heavily modified version of Quake engine. GoldSrc specifically uses version 3 of the format, referred to in its header as WAD3. WAD files typically contain standard texture sets, custom texture sets for individual levels, and sprays. HUD elements typically use SPR, and fonts typically use TTF.

Technical specifications

WAD3 can store 3 types of data (the WAD format itself allows up to 256 types, but GoldSrc uses only 3).

Note:Qlumpy supports other types as well. Despite it being possible to add these types, you should not use them.

The following types are supported:

miptex (0x43)

Multiple-of-16-sized world textures with 4 mipmaps.

qpic (0x42)

Simple image with any size.

typedef struct
{
    int width, height;
    char data[height][width]; //Image is stored as 8-bit numbers of colors in palette
    short colors_used; //Number of colors in palette (can't be more than 256)
    char lbmpalette[numcolors][3]; //8-bit RGB palette data
} qpic_t;

font (0x45)

Fixed-height font. Contains an image and font data (row, X offset and width of a character) for 256 ASCII characters.

typedef struct
{
    short startoffset; //Offset to the character in data
    short charwidth;
} charinfo;
typedef struct
{
    int width, height; //Width is always 256 pixels
    int rowcount; //Number of fixed-height character rows
    int rowheight; //Height of a row
    charinfo fontinfo[256]; //Info about each character
    char data[height][width]; //Same as in qpic_t
    short colors_used; //Same as in qpic_t
    char lbmpalette[numcolors][3]; //Same as in qpic_t
}

All numbers in WAD files are unsigned and little-endian.

Links

CStrike Planet

A collection of official and custom Counter-Strike WAD files.

The Wadfather

A large collection of WAD files.

Utilities

GCFScape

Views and extracts WAD files as BMP files.

Half-Life Texture Tools

Modern GUI tool for creating, viewing and extracting WAD files and sprites.

Download

HLExtract from HLLib

command-line utility written in C that can browse, extract, validate and defragment all supported packages...

Qlumpy

Half-Life SDK tool for compiling WAD files.

VTFEdit

3rd party tool for converting WAD files to Source materials.

WadMaker and SpriteMaker

Modern CLI tool for creating, updating and extracting WAD files and sprites.

Download

Wally

The de facto WAD editing suite (supports only miptex).

Download

Xwad

Source SDK tool for converting WAD files to Source materials.

XBLAH's Modding Tool

Can view, edit and create WAD files.

See also

• WAD to VMT conversion in Hammer
• User:SirYodaJedi/GoldSrc WAD Lists for some games...