1. Description

GetWAD is a library and a sample program to locate, download, unpack and install WAD files automatically. Its primary purpose is to simplify the WAD handling for Doom players.

On a first level, the sample program (getwad.exe) can be used by end users to fetch the desired WADs. Even though this is not perfectly automatic (the user has to specify the WAD name), it is still the easiest way that I know to find and install WADs.

On a second and more important level, the library (getwad.dll, zlib.dll and libcurl.dll) can be used directly by other Doom-related programs (eg., launchers) to automate the procedure even more (eg., they would simply ask for permission to find the file and the user would not have to specify anything else). For this reason, the DLL interface is fully documented; any interested developer can download the developer's documentation and source code of the program from the GetWAD home page. I've tried to simplify the usage of the library from the main application's perspective; as far as I can tell, it should be almost trivial to embed the library in any Doom-related program.

2. Usage

The sample program can be invoked in two ways:

• The "Setup" mode: it displays a configuration dialog where you can modify the various searching parameters (eg., which pages and search engines it should consult, where to deposit the WAD files, etc.). You have to use this mode first in order to specify the location of the WAD directory; ideally, you will not have to use it after that. You can enter this mode by clicking on the "GetWAD Setup" entry in the GetWad program group.

• The "Search" mode: it simply asks for the name of the WAD file (with or without the .wad extension), searches for it on the Web, downloads it, unpacks it and installs it in the WAD directory. You enter this mode by clicking on the "GetWAD" entry in the GetWAD program group.

  Another way to invoke the search mode would be to run the program from the command line using the following syntax:

  getwad [-d "wad_directory"] wad_name_1 [wad_name_2 ...]

  The "-d" option specifies the directory where the WAD files will be deposited, and "wad_name_1", "wad_name_2", etc. specify the desired WAD files. This mode can be useful when GetWAD is called from another program or script.

3. Other Characteristics

• It can use the HTTP, HTTPS and FTP protocols.
• The program uses the passive mode of the FTP protocol; you can optionally disable FTP for some special cases (eg., if you are behind a misconfigured firewall).
• The program works fine behind properly configured firewalls.
• The program obeys the HTTP proxy settings specified in the Internet Explorer options.
• You can specify up to 100 pages containing links to WAD files; these pages will be searched first.
• At the beginning of a search, the program contacts one of the "master" GetWAD servers to obtain an updated search list of URLs to be searched for WAD files; this eliminates any maintainance required by the end users, as the master search list will get updated as the various web pages change. There are currently 2 such servers in operation for redundancy purposes (one at getwad.keystone.gr and another at zdaemon.org). If for some reason the program cannot contact any of them, it uses the last search list that has been downloaded; if no such list has ever been downloaded, it uses a built-in list (which will probably get outdated as time goes by).
• The program enforces a network timeout of 60 seconds; that is, if a file transfer has stopped for more than 60 seconds, then it is assumed dead and the program will cancel it and keep searching.
• The program should work on any 32-bit version of Windows provided that you have Internet Explorer 4.0 (or later) installed.
• The specification of a search page may contain the special sequence %s which will be replaced by the name of the file being searched. This is useful for specifying search engine URLs. A consequence of this capability is that you have to be careful with the percent (%) signs; if the URL actually contains a percent character (which is rather unlikely), you have to specify it twice (i.e., use %% rather than %).
• It supports WADs in PK3, PK7 or ZIP form.

4. Release History

• Version 2.9 (September 14, 2023): 64-bit support.
• Version 2.8 (March 15, 2023): Bug fixing.
• Version 2.7 (July 4, 2022): HTTPS support.
• Version 2.6 (January 29, 2016): Support for DEH and BEX files (thanks Bond).
• Version 2.5 (August 23, 2013): Bug fixing.
• Version 2.4 (April 21, 2010): Support for WADs in PK7 form (thanks Bond).
• Version 2.3 (July 11, 2009): Bug fixing (thanks Bond).
• Version 2.2 (September 3, 2007): Support for WADs in PK3/ZIP forms.
• Version 2.1 (December 7, 2003): Bug fixing.
• Version 2.0 (December 3, 2003): Automatic fetching of search list from master server, searching enhancements.
• Version 1.5 (September 18, 2003): Google searching improvements.
• Version 1.4 (August 26, 2003): Bug fixing.
• Version 1.3 (August 24, 2003): Fixed a problem with one of the predefined search pages (SUNet changed its address lately), and added support for a command line version of the program under Unix (it has been tested under Linux, but it's not very system-specific: it should work on other Unices as well).
• Version 1.2 (August 2, 2003): Extended the command line syntax to simplify the interface to other programs and allow the fetching of multiple wad files with a single call.
• Version 1.1 (July 1, 2003): Extended the specification of search pages to accomodate the %s sequence.
• Version 1.0 (June 25, 2003): First public release of the program.

5. Acknowledgements

This software uses the ZLIB library by Jean-loup Gailly and Mark Adler, the UNZIP code by Gilles Vollant, as well as the CURL library by the CURL team. Their software has contributed significantly to the development of countless projects.

I would also like to offer a big thank you to Eugene Bondarchenko (aka Bond, the creator of IDE) for precious help in improving and testing the program.

Finally, I am indebted to the kind folks who set up and maintain the various link pages and search engines that provide easy access to the WAD files and other net resources. The default link pages searched by GetWAD are the ones administered by [L@P] dA_g0dFad3R, Lyfe, Raider and Falconer; I owe them a big thank you.

6. License

Copyright (C) 2003-2023 Hippocrates Sendoukas.

This software is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied warranty. In no event will the author be held liable for any damages arising from the use of this software.

Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose, including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it freely, subject to the following restrictions:

1. The origin of this software must not be misrepresented; you must not claim that you wrote the original software. If you use this software in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be appreciated but is not required.
2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original software.
3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.