Monday, October 1, 2007

BLADE Data Rescource Management

Just something I thought of while I was idle. It's a bit techical, I know, but I think this is a good way for mods to be made.

--------------------
All of BLADE's rescources are put into .pak files. (.zip renamed, or whatever compression method suits the game best.) Textures are stored in textures.pak, models are stored in models.pak, etc.
The BLADE editor will allow you to compile your map into an install file. (.bri [Blade Rescource Installer]) Executing the installer will ask you for BLADE's file directory. Once you supply this, the installer will add the mod's files into their respective .paks, and add a .brl (BLADE Rescource Library) file. This file simply lists the location of the maps needed for the mod, which in turn list the location for the textures and other things needed for the map.
To uninstall a mod, you can do this from inside the game, or by executing a program in the BLADE directory. (Uninstalling the mod from within the game will also activate this program). Uninstalling a game will only remove the files needed for that mod that are not requested by any other mods. Since a lot of mods will be using the base models and other things, you'd damn well better not delete them!
--------------------

~Joel

No comments: