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Archives (*.wad)

The Bullfrog WAD file format contains compressed (or uncompressed) data for rides, textures, UI elements, and more.

The data within these files is typically compressed using RefPack (see below).

File Format

File header

SizeDescription
4 bytesMagic number - “DWFB”
4 bytesVersion
64 bytesPadding
4 bytesFile count
4 bytesFile list offset
4 bytesFile list length
4 bytesPadding

For each file

SizeDescription
4 bytesUnknown
4 bytesFilename offset
4 bytesFilename length
4 bytesData offset
4 bytesFile length
4 bytesCompression type - “4” for RefPack, “0” for uncompressed
4 bytesDecompressed size
12 bytesPadding

Directories

Occasionally, a file’s filename may begin with the name of a directory separated using the \ character. This should be treated as entering a directory, meaning that file and any further files all belong to that folder.

For example:

File #Filename
0hello.sam
1hello.RSE
2textures\hello.wct
3hello2.wct
4stexture\hello.wct
5hello2.wct

Here:

  • Files 0 and 1 both belong to the root of the archive
  • Files 2 and 3 exist in the textures directory
  • Files 4 and 5 belong to the stexture directory.

Despite file 3 and file 5 both being called hello2.wct, they do not overlap - they belong in different directories - and therefore they do not conflict.