Iwad does is not recognized as Iwad

[Sodaholic]

I am working on a game that I use a batch file to load, and I am using the -iwad parameter, but it asks me which iwad I want to load. What are the possible causes of this, so that I can narrow it down?

It used to work, but it does not now, and I must load it as a pwad. Could it be that I included a gameinfo lump?

[Xaser]

Sounds like the wad is missing a lump that's required for -iwad startup. Check to make sure you didn't accidentally delete/replace something important, like COLORMAP/PLAYPAL.

[Sodaholic]

Nope. Both of those are there.

[Sodaholic]

Bump. Where can I find a list of every resource needed to have ZDoom recognize it as an Iwad?

[plausiblesarge]

This is slightly offtopic, but I get the same problem with HexDD.wad. In ZDoom, it recognises as an iwad and automatically loads HEXEN.wad, however in ZDL it tries to load HAXDX asna IWad and fails miserably.

Anyway, I am by no means an expert on this sort of thing. I have no experience creating IWADs, but from what I remember, traditionally the file header is what determines if the file is an iwad, not the content itself. Then again, I could be completely wrong. According to this thread (http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=27585), as long as your wad has a MAP01 it will be recognised as doom2.wad if you use the -iwad parameter.

[Enjay]

traditionally the file header is what determines if the file is an iwad, not the content itself. Then again, I could be completely wrong.

The file header will say either IWAD or PWAD. However, as far as this particular situation is concerned, that's irrelevant. Zdoom can load a file with a PWAD header as an IWAD (provided it contains what it needs to) and, equally, you can load an IWAD as a PWAD.

[edit] In fact, interestingly, the original doom2.exe can load a doom2.wad with a PWAD header. I just tried it and all that happened was that I got the message that you normally get when starting the game with the -file parameter but, otherwise, the game worked normally as far as I can tell. [/edit]

[Sodaholic]

Actually, in my case I am using a PK3, it is a Doom 2 replacement, and all the maps are in a seperate PWAD. The fact that it is not recognized as an IWAD was an issue even before I converted it from wad to pk3. I know it worked as an IWAD at one point, and I'm not sure what I did to break it.

[AFADoomer]

Just put an empty text file called "MAP01" into the .pk3 file somewhere... Also, make sure that you include valid PLAYPAL and COLORMAP lumps.

I have a 4.5KB .pk3 with just those three files in it that loads fine as an iwad.

[Sodaholic]

That worked perfectly, thanks!

[Kappes Buur]

This is slightly offtopic, but I get the same problem with HexDD.wad. In ZDoom, it recognises as an iwad and automatically loads HEXEN.wad, however in ZDL it tries to load HAXDX asna IWad and fails miserably. ....

That is not quite true.

When you start ZDoom / GZDoom and select HEXDD, it will start HEXDD and not HEXEN.

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With ZDL it is slightly different. You have to setup HEXEN as the Iwad and HEXDD as the Pwad.

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[Xaser]

That's really weird, though. Just launching ZDoom via "zdoom -iwad hexdd.wad" works just fine. Why would it work any different with ZDL?

[NeuralStunner]

Why would it work any different with ZDL?

I believe I found out why. It's not specifically ZDL's fault, but something about ZDoom and paths.