Guide Revision 3.1
Made by Laurent Rousseau, April 24th, 2004
Introduction
WadUpdater's main goal is to afford an easy way to handle Grand Prix 4™ wad files and files stored in them.
Here is a quick guide to main WadUpdater features :
BEFORE ALL : Make a backup of all your wad files first, you'll never regreat it, believe me :)
Index
1. Choose the right GP4 folder
1. Choose the right GP4 folder
Many users have installed more than once Grand Prix 4™ on their computer.
By default, WadUpdater provide instant access to the last Grand Prix 4™
installation but you might need to specify another GP4 folder.
To do this, just check the actual GP4 folder used by Wadupdater, clicking
on the little right icon of the 2nd browsing field.
It will open the actual GP4 folder used by Wadupdater. If it isn't the
one you wish to modify, just close the browsing window and click on the
button. You will see
a tree-style windows. Just choose the GP4 folder you wish to use by default
and click on the "OK" button.
From now, wad browsing windows will be open from that folder.
Note that the 
button is no more based on the 2nd browsing field but on the GP4 path
chose with the
button.
2. Extract files from a Wad
Wads are storing most of Grand Prix 4™ files in an easy to access form.
So to edit those files, we have first to extract files from wads, here is
how :
First select a wad in the 2nd browsing field : 
Then click on the 
button.
Choose the place and folder's name wich will store all extracted files
and click on the "Save" button.
All files are now extracted and ready to be edited.
3. Create a Wad from a folder
First select a folder using 
button. This folder might have been created using the Extract Wad function.
Then click on the 
button. Choose place and wad's name and click on the "Save"
button.
Your new wad is ready to use, if you don't saved it in GP4's main folder,
just displace it in the GP4's main folder in order the game will use it.
4. Update One Wad
The main idea behind WadUpdater is giving the ability to update only one
file easily without needing to replace the whole wad.
This way, mod makers can release only files they edited, making slighter
download packages.
You can update a wad using two options : updating only 1 file or updating
a folder of files.
To update 1 file, just click on the 1st browsing field and choose the
file to update : 
To update many files, just gather them in a folder, click on the
button and choose this folder.
Then you need to select the Wad you will update, clicking in the 2nd browsing
field :
Once you selected source file or folder and destination wad, you just
have to click on the 
button to do the job.
Important notes about using files in a folder as source files :
Files gathered in a folder don't need to respect original wad's arborescence.
Here are two examples using files gathered in a folder:
Example 1:
folder's content used to update every track wad :
- iconspage2.tex (originaly in track's Resources folder)
- english.uni (originaly in track's fonts folder)
- visorlower.tex (originaly in track's visor folder)
Example 2:
folder's content used to update cars.wad :
- bar_1.tex (originally in cars' cars folder)
- new_steering_wheel_displays.tex (originally in cars' cockpits folder)
- wheel_mclaren_1.tex (originally in cars' tyres folder)
- Anim.wad is storing twice the same files, for qualifying and for race
events. To avoid any trouble with this wad, just put files in "qualifying"
or "race" named folder(s).
Example:
folder's content used to update anim.wad:
- a1ring2001.anm (originaly in anim's animationdata folder)
- flags.bmp in a "Qualifying" folder (originaly in anim\animationdata\qualifying\proptextures)
- marshall.tex in a "race" folder (originaly in anim\animationdata\race\skins)
- An exception : the file michelin_tread_0_right_0.tex in cars.wad is stored twice, once in maps folder and second in tyres one. To avoid any trouble when updating this file, just recreate wads arborescence for these two files or extract the full cars.wad and update them manually before recreating the wad.
Important notes about adding new files to a wad (files that wasn't
present in original wads) :
- Due to specific structure of Anim.wad, updating those wad with new files
can corrupt it. So the only good way to do it if you need so is to extract
the wad, adding manually the new files in the correct folders and recreate
the wad.
New files havn't any path by default, so here are those that Wadupdater
will use automatically:
- \maps\track2001\filename with track2001 replaced by the name of the
track when updating a track wad.
- \cars\filename when updating the cars.wad
5. Update All Track Wads
The second main idea was to have the ability to patch every track wads
at once because Grand Prix 4™ use redundant datas in every track wads
and updating every wad with the same file is quite painfull.
As for Updating one Wad, you can update 1 file or many files gathered
in a folder.
So just use the
button or browse the needed file with the 1st browsing field.
With WadUpdater 2.9, you don't need anymore to choose a wad because wadupdater
will use current GP4 path. So if you want to update track wads from another
location, just change GP4 path first as described upper.
Then just click on the
button and wait for the update. As WadUpdater needs to open and patch
17 track wads, this operation needs time, one minute or more are common
times.
6. Batch Scripting
Some modders asked me to add options to be able to make auto-installations with WadUpdater.
That's why Wadupdater is now supporting command lines options.
This way, modders can easily build batch (.bat) files to automatically update many files in many wads.
!!! Beware : Wadupdater command lines are case sensitive !!!
3 cases are supported :
- Update a single wad with the whole content of a folder
In that case, you have to put all the files to update in a folder named UpdateFolder, placed in the same directory as WadUpdater 3.1 and use a similar line as the following line :
WadUpdater3.1.exe \1wad a1ring2001.wad
This line ask Wadupdater to update the a1ring2001.wad with the whole content of the Updatefolder folder
- Update a single wad with a single file
In that case, you have to put the file to update in a folder named UpdateFolder, placed in the same directory as WadUpdater 3.1 and use a similar line as the following line :
WadUpdater3.1.exe \1wad a1ring2001.wad a1ring2001_page_001.TEX
This Line will update the a1ring2001_page_001.TEX file from the Updatefolder folder in the a1ring2001.wad
- Update many files in many wads
In that case, you have to put all the files to update in a folder named UpdateFolder (and not in any sub-directory), placed in the same directory as WadUpdater 3.1 and use a similar line as the following line :
WadUpdater3.1.exe \1wad a1ring2001.wad a1ring2001_page_001.TEX \Start
WadUpdater3.1.exe \1wad barcelona2001.wad barcelona2001_page_550.TEX \Run
WadUpdater3.1.exe \1wad monza2001.wad monza2001_page_330.TEX \Run
WadUpdater3.1.exe \1wad hockenheim2001.wad hockenheim2001_page_081.TEX \End
Here we use a fifth parameter to avoid/display messages and also to avoid to close wadupdater at each line.
\Start must be used with first line. It displays the init message and open wadupdater in background
\Run is used for any other line apart the last.
\End must be used for the last line. It displays the ending message and close Wadupdater
Here is the end of this guide, i hope it will help you starting with WadUpdater.
And never forget : have a good time editing GP4 and have a good time playing it :)