[Update: been playing a bit now] Old Doom veteran returning - help me with wads and sourceports

[Old-Doomguy]

Update March 30: Been trying out Plutonia! Checl out my latest reply if you care

Update: been playing - check out my latest reply if you care about my results

 

Hello everyone.

 

I haven't really played Doom since 1995-96 or so. (Duke3d and Quake took over my mind) but I've been wanting to play it again since 2005. Well yesterday I finally bought it again, for the PC (All of the classic Dooms). I've actually had it on Xbox and PS3 since several years, but it's just not the same.

 

So I'm looking for some advice into coming back to the game. The most recent sourceport I played was Doom95 so you can guess that I've been missing out. Well, I'm 33 now and ready for action again. I also intend to introduce this to my son (6 year old) and I would want som help with that as well. Here goes:

 

*I've completed Doom1-2 several times, and intend on doing it again - but what megawads are must have?

*What is the "best" sourceport for someone walking down memory-lane but still wants a more refined experience? (I just tried booting it with GZDoom just do make sure it works)

*What mods are essential (if any) that are action-packed but still true to the Doom gameplay?

*Best way to record gameplay? In game demos or screen capture?

*Fast monsters, on or off? And how does it work?

*Do I "need" several sourceports or is there one port to rule them all?

*Is there anyway to make Doom less gory for when it's my son's turn to play?

*Any other tips and tricks for someone who hasn't really played for 20+ years?

Edited March 30, 2020 by Old-Doomguy

[Doomkid]

GZDoom has the widest mod compatibility, but if you came from Doom95 and are looking for something that might feel “at home”, look no further than Crispy Doom, or if you want even wider mod compatibility and the best demo support, try PrBoom+

 

There are loads of must-play megawads IMO. Memento Mori, Scythe, Alien Vendetta, and the Final Doom episodes of course are all great. For more modern stuff you might want to try Ancient Aliens or Eviternity. I could list a huge pile of wads, but these are all “chart toppers” and give a good taste for both the old and the new. Finding them is easy, just google “ancient aliens Doom wad” for example. Reputable sites to download from are /idgames and wad-archive.

 

Screen recording works well on real time, I usually use OBS Studio or Fraps. If you have weak hardware and want to avoid jitter having any impact on your gameplay, you can use PrBoom+ to record demos, then play them back and use OBS to record the playback.

 

Fast monsters are just there for high-skill players who need something even harder than UV, but not quite as nail-biting as Nightmare. Using it is all a matter of personal choice, just boot your source port with the -fast command (works for most of them, anyway)

 

There is no one port to rule them all. For some I guess GZDoom is that, but you’ll never get the exact feel that the more classic-style source ports have. There’s no reason not to have a few different ones anyway, they’re all quite small!

 

If you want non-gory gameplay, I urge you to check out Chex Quest, Adventures of Square, or maybe the Wool Ball wads (all can be found with a little google-fu, I’d give links but it’s a pain in the ass on mobile)

 

Other than that I’d say just mess around and have fun! If you have questions or need help you can always ask here. Doomwiki.org has a ton of info too if you’re curious to learn more about what ports there are and just about anything else.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Doomkid

[Old-Doomguy]

Thanks alot, man. I did play Final Doom back in the days but not so much that I remember the content. Maybe I'd just start there :D

 

I'm always up to a challenge so I'd definatly check out Fast monsters :D

 

Yeah, I was looking for a regular Doom-game, just with less blood, if there is such a thing :)

[Doom_Dude]

For the no gore option there is a Doom 2 mod that turns gore into sparkles and confetti. I have never tried it, so dunno much about it.

 

It's called No Ultra-Violence and can be found on ModDB ---> right here.

Edited January 27, 2020 by Doom_Dude

[ReaperAA]

Hi Old-Doomguy. Glad see another old Doomer return to Doom. I'll try to answer some of the questions as best as I can.

 

1 hour ago, Old-Doomguy said:

*I've completed Doom1-2 several times, and intend on doing it again - but what megawads are must have?

 

There are loads of great megawads out there. My personal favourites are Eviternity, Back to Saturn X Episodes 1 and 2, Doom-Zero, Doom The Way id Did (DTWID and D2TWID), Scythe, Valiant, Ancient Aliens.

 

1 hour ago, Old-Doomguy said:

What is the "best" sourceport for someone walking down memory-lane but still wants a more refined experience? (I just tried booting it with GZDoom just do make sure it works)

 

For going down the memory-lane, I recommend Crispy Doom. There is also Chocolate Doom, but that port is meant to emulate the Vanilla Doom to a T which means that it also has mapping limits and most custom wads will not work in Chocolate Doom. Crispy Doom supports a maximum of 640x480 resolution (as of this date) while Choco only supports 320x200.

 

If 640x480 resolution is also too low, I recommend trying out PrBoom+ or Eternity Engine. They both are demo compatible while also offering hd resolutions and more quality of life options. Also Crispy Doom cannot run some megawads like Eviternity, Valiant or Ancient Aliens (which GZdoom, PrBoom+ and Eternity Engine can run)

 

1 hour ago, Old-Doomguy said:

Do I "need" several sourceports or is there one port to rule them all?

 

There is no one ring port that truly rules them all. Though if you don't care about slight physics changes then GZDoom is the one that most closely fits that bill. Just make sure to set the compatibility to "Doom(strict)" available in the options menu of GZdoom. Also do disable jumping, crouching and vertical freelook.

 

1 hour ago, Old-Doomguy said:

Any other tips and tricks for someone who hasn't really played for 20+ years

 

Some basic beginner tips:

1) When you pick up the berserk fist powerup, the screen gets a red tint. Newcomers think that the berserk fists last only for the duration of the red tint effect. This is not true. The berserk fists last for the entire level.

2) You can get 100% accuracy from the chaingun when tap-firing. This is because the first 2 shots of a chaingun are 100% accurate when firing continuously.

3) Cyberdemons and Spidermasterminds have about 50% damage immunity from rockets. They don't take any splash damage from the rockets. They only take damage from the direct hit of the rocket. Thus they require more rockets to die.

4) A lone revenant or pain elemental can be stunlocked by continuous fire from either the chaingun or the plasmagun.

5) A pain elemental can be stopped from spawning lost souls by getting infront of his face (hugging his face). This happens because the lost soul's spawn is blocked by the player's hitbox.

7) Unlike popular opinion, BFG is not technically like a rocket launcher. The video below shows how BFG really works and how to best use it.

 

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by ReaperAA

[Redneckerz]

2 hours ago, Old-Doomguy said:

*I've completed Doom1-2 several times, and intend on doing it again - but what megawads are must have?

Welcome Old-DoomGuy! Let me help you out, and ill answer most of your questions. (Looks at Megawad list)

EDIT: Why on God's green hell does it spoiler the whole thing when i specifically only spoilered one section. And now i can't fix that either. :/

 

• Ancient Aliens
• Alien Vendetta
• A.L.T
• Base Ganymede
• Back To Saturn X, Episode 1 and 2
• Cleimos 2
• Community Chest 1, 2, 3, 4
• Cyberdreams
• Daedalus
• Demon Defense
• Demonfear
• Doom Core
• Doom The Way Id Did (DWTID)
• Doom 2 The Way Id Did (DW2TID)
• Dimensions of Time
• Epic 2
• Eternal Doom
• Eviternity
• Eviltech
• Hell Revealed 1 and 2
• Hell To Pay
• Icarus
• Interception
• Jenesis
• Kama Sutra
• Memento Mori 1 and 2
• NJDoom
• Requiem
• Reverie
• Revolution
• Scythe 1 and 2
• Strain
• Sunlust
• The Rebirth
• Vile Flesh

There is a lot more (Like Slaughterfest, NewDoom Community Project, Japanese Community Project) but this is a good mix of old and new megawad stuff.

 

To run these, id suggest a launcher so you can have them nicely tidied up - There is ZDL, or Doom Launcher.

1 hour ago, Old-Doomguy said:

*What is the "best" sourceport for someone walking down memory-lane but still wants a more refined experience? (I just tried booting it with GZDoom just do make sure it works)

Crispy. Or LZDoom if you want OpenGL but also more broad hardware rendering support.

 

1 hour ago, Old-Doomguy said:

*Best way to record gameplay? In game demos or screen capture?

PrBoom+ (Also check out Graf's fork as PrBoom+ itself is not developed anymore, Graf is working on adding UMAPINFO into the source.)

 

1 hour ago, Old-Doomguy said:

*Do I "need" several sourceports or is there one port to rule them all?

There is not one definitive port. Chocolate is great for the OG experience, PrBoom+ is great for emulating different behaviors. GZ and LZDoom are great because a lot of mods target ZDoom (ZDoom has been discontinued, Graf's GZDoom is now current). Then there is also other offspring ports: Zandronum/Odamex/ZDaemon for multiplayer, Woof! for the WinMBF continuation, and so on. There is a lot out there.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by Redneckerz

[Old-Doomguy]

Okay, thanks man!

 

I actually already knew about 1, 2, 3 and 7 despite having been very young when playing Doom!

 

Yeah I won't mind higer resolution and higher FPS, but I want a real gameplay without full mouselook, jumping and crouching - so it seems that GZDoom will suffice.

 

And no other way to lower the gore without using the above mentioned glitter-mod? :D

 

Once again, thanks!

[Redneckerz]

4 minutes ago, Old-Doomguy said:

Okay, thanks man!

 

I actually already knew about 1, 2, 3 and 7 despite having been very young when playing Doom!

 

Yeah I won't mind higer resolution and higher FPS, but I want a real gameplay without full mouselook, jumping and crouching - so it seems that GZDoom will suffice.

 

And no other way to lower the gore without using the above mentioned glitter-mod? :D

 

Once again, thanks!

Not as far as i can see. In GZ you can turn mouselook off aswell.

[NiGHTMARE]

IIRC the "sparkles" in the Non Ultra-Violence mod can be disabled, so that monsters simply disappear.

 

There are a few mods out there which bring over graphics from the SNES version of Doom (which featured less gore), though I'm not sure how these mods have dealt with as SNES Doom's lack of sprite rotations. Unfortunately I couldn't easily find one of these mods with a quick Google search.

 

 

Edited January 27, 2020 by NiGHTMARE

[ReaperAA]

Also I forgot to mention that if you want to see the best wads/mods out there, checking out the Cacowards is a good start.

[P41R47]

Doom Retro, my friend, vanilla experience enhanced a little to be more refined and whats best is that all the little changes made are toggleable in the config file to taste that vanilla flavor. It has a launcher that let you select iwads or pwads and it one of the sourceports that is constantly updated with new possibilities to make it even better.

And for taking the first step into the modding community, here are a list of some excellent pwads that don't deviate much from the original Doom experience:
Demonfear (load it with this MIDI pack for an amazing experience).
Doom 2: The way Id Did
Doom 2 Reloaded

Icarus: Alien Vanguard

Revolution! (with MIDI pack is even better)

2002: A Doom Odyssey (needs doom.wad)

Crimson Canyon

Congestion 1024

Wonderful Doom (needs doom.wad)

Whispers of Satan
Reverie
No End in Sight (needs doom.wad)

And when you tasted all of the vanilla flavor, just try this ones, as they are enhanced and meant for experienced players (hence, they are pretty hard, but are some of the best out there):

 

Hell Revealed

ETERNAL DooM

Alien Vendetta

Scythe
Vile Flesh
Kama Sutra
Plutonia Revisited (needs Plutonia.WAD)
Back to Saturn X EP.1
TNT: Revilution (needs TNT.wad

STRUGGLE: Antaresian Legacy

Eviternity

Also, if you don't know about this project, take a look at this megawads. Its an ongoing project to make some free IWADS for everyone:
FreeDoom I & II & DM

With Doom Retro you can play all of this from the get go.
So don't waste more time searching around.
Go and play! 
Rip and Tear!

Edited January 27, 2020 by P41R47

[fbjim]

5 hours ago, Old-Doomguy said:

*What is the "best" sourceport for someone walking down memory-lane but still wants a more refined experience? (I just tried booting it with GZDoom just do make sure it works)

*Do I "need" several sourceports or is there one port to rule them all?

The most "standard" setup is (and I mean no harm to other ports here) something like prboom+ for "normal" maps, and GZDoom for mods/GZDoom-specific maps. That setup will get you through like 95%* of the notable wads ever made. 

 

5 hours ago, Old-Doomguy said:

*I've completed Doom1-2 several times, and intend on doing it again - but what megawads are must have?

*Any other tips and tricks for someone who hasn't really played for 20+ years?

 

Scythe.wad is usually what I recommend for people getting into megawads, it starts out easy and gradually eases into difficulty that resembles modern-day play. Plutonia.wad (i.e. Final Doom) is it's own set of gameplay conventions which were hugely influential, and since it's a "real" Doom release, you might find it appealing as a followup to Doom2. 

 

As far as wads newer than Scythe which do a good job at recreating the Doom feel, DTWiD (for Ultimate Doom)/ D2TWiD (for Doom 2) are explicitly made to do this - Jenesis and Reverie  are also "newer" projects which I thought gave a great "Classic Doom gameplay" feel without explicitly being tributes to the original games. 

 

As far as tricks go? Just keep playing! 

 

 

*exceptions are: old maps you might find in the Cacowads section designed for once-popular sourceports like Eternity/EDGE, or were designed around old-ass versions of zDoom which modern versions break. You're generally safe when playing old Boom/Vanilla levels, though. 

Edited January 27, 2020 by fbjim

[666shooter]

I would highly recommend checking out Perdition's Gate as well, since no has mentioned that one yet. Just finished it recently myself, and I liked it as much as Scythe and almost as much as Revolution.

[adamadam]

I recently got back into Doom too, and definitely GZDoom is great for utilizing modern graphic rendering.  All the controls are customizable, you can have freelook disabled, and most wads don't require it - there's only been one megawad of the maybe 15 i've played that requires freelook and even then it's only for one section of platform jumping.  Most levels are not built for jumping/crouching either so you're fine without those abilities if you're like me and prefer the original gameplay feel.

 

Infinite-height monsters is the other main option you can disable.  Sure it's not true to the original, but it just makes the game so much less frustrating being able to walk under high-flying cacodemons or jump of a ledge if demons are far down below.  The one surprise drawback is if you like to chainsaw enemies, if you're on stairs fighting say a demon, often get pulled forward and hop over top the demon.

 

With different megawads, there are vast differences between them and not all will be to everyone's liking.  There are gigantic exploration maps that take 1-2 hours per level, slaughter maps where I run around in a circle for long times waiting for monsters to finish in-fighting.  There are short small maps.  And there are balanced maps.  The world of Doom has expanded so much since the original games, it's absolutely amazing what people have created and shared, it's a bit overwhelming especially not experiencing the gradual build-up from where Doom maps were to where they are now.  Enjoy it, the work and the details mappers put into their levels is nothing short of stunning.

Edited January 27, 2020 by adamadam

[Redneckerz]

4 hours ago, 666shooter said:

I would highly recommend checking out Perdition's Gate as well, since no has mentioned that one yet. Just finished it recently myself, and I liked it as much as Scythe and almost as much as Revolution.

I have it in the list but obmitted it because i falsely thought it was a commercial addon.

[Gokuma]

Ya'all are missing one of the most mind blowing 32 level megawads ever...

 

 

[Asking4Id]

I like the default mouse configuration (sensitivity) in Crispy Doom but it needs a brightness setting in the menu.

[Boaby Kenobi]

Good to see someone returning to the best (in my opinion) game series ever.

 

Did you ever play PlayStation Doom? There are a couple of remasters available for PC if you don't have any way of playing on PS.

[Old-Doomguy]

Thanks guys, for all replies.

 

I'm a busy man so I haven't had the time to play anything, but I'll begin with going for GZDoom and turning of some of the so-called eye-candy.

 

I'ma begin with Final Doom as that's the one I've played the least back in those days. I never got tired of Doom, it's just that Quake blew my mind and I spent the rest of my pre-teens playing Quakeworld all days. Then when I became a teenager I started with mopeds, guitars and girls instead, hehe.

[666shooter]

On 1/28/2020 at 6:22 AM, Boaby Kenobi said:

Good to see someone returning to the best (in my opinion) game series ever.

 

Did you ever play PlayStation Doom? There are a couple of remasters available for PC if you don't have any way of playing on PS.

I actually started with Doom on Playstation, having found an old copy in a used game store and being really excited about it.

Would you recommend "revisiting" any of the TCs if I've completed the original multiple times? Do they bring anything new to the table outside of the controls?

I've seen the thread a few times but always wasn't sure if it was worth a download.

[Bauul]

On 1/27/2020 at 3:03 AM, Old-Doomguy said:

Well, I'm 33 now and ready for action again.

 

That depressing moment when someone names themselves "Old-Doomguy" and they're younger than you are.  I'm still young at heart damnit!

[Boaby Kenobi]

1 hour ago, 666shooter said:

Would you recommend "revisiting" any of the TCs if I've completed the original multiple times? Do they bring anything new to the table outside of the controls?

 

Absolutely. 100%

Not only do you get to play the unique PlayStation version with the enhanced lighting and sounds but you get higher resolutions and an improved framerate.

There's options too like being able to choose from the PSX sprites for weapons or the PC originals.

[SilverMiner]

Try pirate doom, plutonia 2, eternal doom and tnt - revilution

[666shooter]

2 hours ago, Boaby Kenobi said:

 

Absolutely. 100%

Not only do you get to play the unique PlayStation version with the enhanced lighting and sounds but you get higher resolutions and an improved framerate.

There's options too like being able to choose from the PSX sprites for weapons or the PC originals.

Okay, sounds promising. I'll give it a further look in that case. Thanks.

[Gez]

On lundi 27 janvier 2020 at 12:03 PM, Old-Doomguy said:

*I've completed Doom1-2 several times, and intend on doing it again - but what megawads are must have?

ALL OF THEM

 

A good starting point would be https://www.doomworld.com/10years/bestwads/ though the 2019 collection has not been added yet.

On lundi 27 janvier 2020 at 12:03 PM, Old-Doomguy said:

*What is the "best" sourceport for someone walking down memory-lane but still wants a more refined experience? (I just tried booting it with GZDoom just do make sure it works)

GZDoom is fine for that, you can also try Doom Retro or Eternity for different takes on the same basic principle.

On lundi 27 janvier 2020 at 12:03 PM, Old-Doomguy said:

*What mods are essential (if any) that are action-packed but still true to the Doom gameplay?

By mods, you mean maps (other than megawads) or gameplay mods? If the latter, I suppose I could mention Final Doomer, which is about offering variant player classes for several megawads. They don't change the monsters or gore or even the formula too much, but the guns do behave differently.

On lundi 27 janvier 2020 at 12:03 PM, Old-Doomguy said:

*Best way to record gameplay? In game demos or screen capture?

Depends what you want to do with them. For stuff like "let's play" you can use direct screen captures, but if you want to join the speedrun community here on Doomworld, demos are the way to go. And you'll want PrBoom+ for that.

On lundi 27 janvier 2020 at 12:03 PM, Old-Doomguy said:

*Fast monsters, on or off? And how does it work?

Fast monsters make the game harder by making monsters more aggressive (they tend to shoot a lot more often), their projectiles faster, and the pinky and spectres become doped up on unhealthy amounts of caffeine. It's fun if you want a challenge, but you can perfectly well keep them off, at least while you familiarize yourself back with Doom's gameplay.

On lundi 27 janvier 2020 at 12:03 PM, Old-Doomguy said:

*Do I "need" several sourceports or is there one port to rule them all?

There isn't one port to rule them all, since different ports tend to have different focuses. Like, use Zandronum for multiplayer, PrBoom+ for demo recording, GZDoom for trying weird mods, etc.

On lundi 27 janvier 2020 at 12:03 PM, Old-Doomguy said:

*Is there anyway to make Doom less gory for when it's my son's turn to play?

I'd really recommend getting Chex Quest 3 and the Adventures of Square.

On lundi 27 janvier 2020 at 12:03 PM, Old-Doomguy said:

*Any other tips and tricks for someone who hasn't really played for 20+ years?

I'm glad you asked:

 

(The best Doom video of all times)

[Old-Doomguy]

14 hours ago, Bauul said:

 

That depressing moment when someone names themselves "Old-Doomguy" and they're younger than you are.  I'm still young at heart damnit!

 

 

Hey, I've NEVER been this old before, so I believe it's justified to call myself "old-doomguy". But the reference was in fact due to me playing Doom 20+ years ago, not my age :D

[DemilinX]

My name is Doomguy and this is my story of being Knee Deep in the Dead: I was there. <g>

[VGA]

Wow, noone mentioned Hellbound and UAC Ultra?

 

Tsk tsk tsk...

[Old-Doomguy]

Hell again, thanks for all help.

 

So, I've finally been able to play awhile and killing.

 

What I did was I downloaded GZDoom as it seemed to be easy to fire up and be ready to go. I changed some settings in it, and chose Boom compability (whas that a good choice?) and turned of and turned on some settings. It was more fun than I remembered because last time I actually played Doom (for more than a few moments) was 20+ years ago. I'll admit that I mostly played Doom with keyboard only and tons of cheats :D

So I fired up Ultimate Doom and played a few levels. It struck me how satisfying it is compared to most modern single player FPS games. I felt abit drunk without free-look but I got used to it pretty quickly. I got lost and fell in pits (I recalled most all pits in early levels was escapable but it must've been IDCLIP that made them escapable, hehe)

I bareley rememberd any secrets, couldn't fint the way to the chainsaw. But I had a blast and I recorded it.

 

Sadly it was recorded at 480p rather than 720 which I choose (I used geforce experience)

 

Here's the link

Thanks everyone

[idbeholdME]

I recommend enabling HUD scaling. It is somewhere in the display options IIRC (can't look where exactly right now). It will make the HUD scale with resolution so it won't be so small.

 

Same with the pick-up messages in the top left. There is an option to make them scale somewhere in the options.

 

If you can't find it, I will post where exactly it is later today.

 

Also - 16:31: OUCH!!!

Edited February 24, 2020 by idbeholdME