Group File Studio - Release 1.0
Help Contents

Authored by: Gary and Jonah Bishop
Copyright © 1999. All Rights Reserved.

• Introduction

• Main Window
• Menu Commands
• The Toolbar
• Program Options

• Error Listing

• Contact Information
• Revision History
• Acknowledgements

Introduction

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Group File Studio makes it easy to extract files or filetypes from any existing Duke Nukem 3D or Shadow Warrior group file (other games using the group file format are also supported). Below is a screenshot of the Group File Studio window. Click on any part of the screenshot to get a description of what that item does.

Main Window

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The main window of Group File Studio shows the user some information about the current group file. The items shown in the main window are as follows:

Group File Contents - Tree View

The contents of the current group file are shown in the tree view on the left hand side of the window. This view shows the different filetypes that exist in the group file, and the individual files that exist under each filetype.

Selected File Information

The only data available under this section (on the right hand side of the window) is the selected file size. When an individual file is selected, its size is displayed (in bytes) in the size display box.

Selected Filetype Information

A filetype is simply a set of files that all have the same extension (for example: *.map). When a filetype is selected (by selecting the parent heading in the tree view) two items of information are displayed. The total number of files under the selected filetype is displayed, as well as the total size of all the files under the selected filetype.

Extraction Progress

This section of the screen shows the progress of extracting either a file or a filetype. This is useful when extracting a large filetype or file (such as the .art files).

Menu Commands

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File Menu

• New - Release 1.0 does not include support for creating new group files, but support for this will appear in future versions.
• Open - Open a group file for viewing and file extraction.
• Exit - Exits Group File Studio

View Menu

• Toolbar - Toggles whether the toolbar is shown or not.
• Status Bar - Toggles whether the status bar is shown or not.

Tools Menu

• Extract Selected File - When a single file is selected, this command will extract the selected file from the group file.
• Extract Selected Filetype - When a filetype heading is selected, this command will extract all the files under the selected filetype (for example: all map files (*.map)).
• File Viewing Options - Opens the dialog box for setting default file viewer programs and other options. This feature is not yet available in Release 1.0.
• Options - Opens the dialog box for setting general program options.

Help Menu

• Contents - Opens up this help file in the default internet browser.
• Program Errors List - Opens the program error listing help file.
• Report a Bug - Opens the default e-mail client to send mail reporting a program bug found.
• Submit a Suggestion - Opens the default e-mail client to send mail submitting an idea or suggestion.
• About This Program - Shows a dialog box with some information on Group File Studio.

The Toolbar

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The toolbar (like in most programs) is a quick way to do the exact same thing that you can do in the pulldown menus. The items are (in order from left to right):

• New - Release 1.0 does not include support for creating new group files, but support for this will appear in future versions.
• Open - Open a group file for viewing and file extraction.
• Extract Selected File - When a single file is selected, this command will extract the selected file from the group file.
• Extract Selected Filetype - When a filetype heading is selected, this command will extract all the files under the selected filetype (for example: all map files (*.map)).
• Report a Bug - Opens the default e-mail client to send mail reporting a program bug found.
• Submit a Suggestion - Opens the default e-mail client to send mail submitting an idea or suggestion.
• Program Errors List - Opens the program error listing help file.
• About This Program - Shows a dialog box with some information on Group File Studio.

Program Options

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General Options - The following options are applied upon selecting the OK button of the general options dialog box.

• Open last group file on startup - Does exactly what it says. Upon startup, the last open group file is opened for editing.
• Start in default directory - Starts all extract file dialogs in the default directory specified in the edit box below this option. If this option is not checked, the extract file dialogs will start at the desktop (highest) level.

File Editing Options - This option is not yet available in release 1.0. Future versions will support file editing.

Miscellaneous Settings - The following settings are remembered by the program, but are not set in a dialog box.

• Window Size - The window size of this program is remembered, so you only have to set the window size once.

Contact Information

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If you have a comment, question, suggestion, or a bug to report, please send e-mail to:

• jonahb@3dportal.com

Also, visit the home for Group File Studio at Map FAQ Central.

• http://mapfaq.3dportal.com

Revision History

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Version 1.0

• First release of the program. Everything is new.

Acknowledgements

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I would like to thank the following people for their help and support:

• Gary Bishop - My dad, co-author of the program (I'm learning to program...), and all around cool dude.
• Ken Silverman - For sending me the specs on the group file format and other items of interest.
• 3D Portal - For being the cool site and host that they are.
• 3D Realms - For creating Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior in the first place.