Load a whole folder for mods with .pk3 files inside on GZDoom

Howdy.

I'm trying to create a batch file to automatize my GZDoom experience (I don't like a lot of GUIs, so I will try to automatize anything I can) and I've faced that I cannot run .pk3 files when trying to load a folder via command line.

Here's what I've tried to do:

start files/gzdoom -iwad dir/doom2 -file dir/doom_complete_midi.pk3 mods

The files folder is where I keep everything aside from my batch file (soon to be .exe), the dir folder is where I store all my "main" files to make everything run with the minimum stuff (Wadsmoosh'd Doom as a pwad and Doom 2 as an iwad, since for some reason when loading Wadsmoosh as an iwad the launch text defaults to "Doom: Complete: Wadsmoosh" while I've edited in GAMEINFO.txt), and mods is where I would like to just add my mods directly. As a matter of fact, it actually works with wads, but doesn't with .pk3 files; while GZDoom logs that it finds them (shows "adding [insert directories]/mods, 3 lumps"), it doesn't automatically load them.

As an example of what I mean, here's part of the log:

• With Lt. Typhon v6 as a mod:

GZDoom version g4.11.3
W_Init: Init WADfiles.
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/gzdoom.pk3, 672 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/game_support.pk3, 3307 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/dir/doom2.wad, 2919 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/game_widescreen_gfx.pk3, 214 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/dir/doom_complete_midi.pk3, 3341 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/mods, 4 lumps
C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/mods:typhon_v6.wad: V_END marker without corresponding V_START found.
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/mods:typhon_v6.wad, 1229 lumps

• With Metadoom v7.1 as a mod:

GZDoom version g4.11.3
W_Init: Init WADfiles.
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/gzdoom.pk3, 672 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/game_support.pk3, 3307 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/dir/doom2.wad, 2919 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/game_widescreen_gfx.pk3, 214 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/dir/doom_complete_midi.pk3, 3341 lumps
adding C:/Users/ghrv_/Desktop/DOOM Classic - Complete/files/mods, 2 lumps

Is making a folder that reads .pk3 files automatically possible? Or my only way is to add them to my autoload each time or create shortcuts for each one of those?

My guess is that when you load a folder, GZDoom interprets it as a PK3 (since a PK3 is just a compressed zip folder anyway). WADs inside PK3 is a common practice, so it loads, but AFAIK PK3 inside another PK3 isn't supported.

Does changing "mods" to "mods/*" in your batch file work? This should be like passing each of the mods in the folder to GZDoom manually, but with the batch file doing all the work.

20 minutes ago, tomas7777 said:

My guess is that when you load a folder, GZDoom interprets it as a PK3 (since a PK3 is just a compressed zip folder anyway). WADs inside PK3 is a common practice, so it loads, but AFAIK PK3 inside another PK3 isn't supported.

 

Does changing "mods" to "mods/*" in your batch file work? This should be like passing each of the mods in the folder to GZDoom manually, but with the batch file doing all the work.

No. Actually GZDoom stops recognizing the folder when I change it to "mods/*", and not even wad mods work anymore.

EDIT: Interesting. So according a decade old post on the ZDoom forums, a nested .pk3 will load but only reading it as a lump, not as a compressed file. Since it tries to load all .pk3 files as a lump, it doesn't know what to do with them.

EDIT 2: So your response gave me an idea. Instead of loading it off from the batch, "Path=$PROGDIR/mods/*" works perfectly when added to the configuration file for GZDoom. For some reason, it actually recognize .pk3 files as compressed files and not as lumps. So now my executable runs just this code:

start files/gzdoom -iwad dir/doom2 -file dir/doom_complete_midi.pk3

And the portable .ini is configurated to autoload all files from the mods folder.

Your idea worked via this method. Thank you so much bud.

I create folders with all the mods for any given thing and load them in one whack with a wildcard statement. For example:

START "..." "%~dp0files\gzdoom.exe" -iwad "%~dp0files\dir\doom2.wad" -file "%~dp0files\mods\WHATEVER\*"

Any and all files under .\files\mods\WHATEVER will be loaded, assuming they don't conflict with each other which isn't really an engine issue, rather a mod issue.

21 hours ago, Sliver-X said:

I create folders with all the mods for any given thing and load them in one whack with a wildcard statement. For example:

 

START "..." "%~dp0files\gzdoom.exe" -iwad "%~dp0files\dir\doom2.wad" -file "%~dp0files\mods\WHATEVER\*"

 

Any and all files under .\files\mods\WHATEVER will be loaded, assuming they don't conflict with each other which isn't really an engine issue, rather a mod issue.

Did this work properly with .pk3 files?

According to the GZDoom documentation and people on the ZDoom forums, it shouldn't work since nested files other than wads aren't capable of being loaded without specifing the extension. That's why when using the -file parameter you need to add the file extension when it's not a wad.

Yes, it loads any PK3 (Or PK7) files in the folder passed (The * wildcard feeds the engine the full file name, including the extension).

I guess the one problem would be for mods that require a specific load order: You'd have to rename the files to be parsed in a specific order, like numbers, or define each via separate -file switches anyway.