Best source port for just wads?

[Arch-Vile NL]

hey guys,

 

what is the best source port to use these days? 

i was using just gzdoom but i found out that in like huge wads or slaughtermaps it can get quite laggy even on a ryzen pc..

i was told that if i dont use mods and if i only play wads that i should use other ports like prboom? maybe dsda doom?

since they run a lot better and it has all i need, (dont use freelook+crosshair either)..

so basiclly i like my doom classic mostly but ofcourse i want to still play wads that are being made,

my question is what do you guys use for something like this?

Edited June 17, 2021 by Arch-Vile NL

[forgettable pyromaniac]

if you're planning on playing huge maps with lots of monsters, PrBoom or one of its forks such as the UMAPINFO port (By Graf, lead for GZDoom, which... well, allows for the use of the UMAPINFO lump. I dunno much more about it-), DSDA-Doom (Mostly for speedrunning, but has some quality of life things that PrBoom/+ doesn't), or PrBoom+ (Which is basically a continuation of PrBoom). These run all Boom-Compatible wads, which is basically every major wad that isn't specifically made for GZDoom.

Eternity Engine is like an in-between of PrBoom+ and ZDoom (In my opinion, at least. Dunno if it's like that internally) where it has a lot of really cool things you can do (see Heartland), but it feels pretty vanilla in most other respects.

[Arch-Vile NL]

1 minute ago, forgettablepyromaniac said:

if you're planning on playing huge maps with lots of monsters, PrBoom or one of its forks such as the UMAPINFO port (By Graf, lead for GZDoom, which... well, allows for the use of the UMAPINFO lump. I dunno much more about it-), DSDA-Doom (Mostly for speedrunning, but has some quality of life things that PrBoom/+ doesn't), or PrBoom+ (Which is basically a continuation of PrBoom). These run all Boom-Compatible wads, which is basically every major wad that isn't specifically made for GZDoom.

Eternity Engine is like an in-between of PrBoom+ and ZDoom (In my opinion, at least. Dunno if it's like that internally) where it has a lot of really cool things you can do (see Heartland), but it feels pretty vanilla in most other respects.

alright thanks that clears it up pretty well :), if im not into speedrunning and or recording pretty much avoid dsda? i seen people use it on twitch but i dont really record so..

[Shepardus]

dsda-doom is targeted toward speedrunners, but it's not like you shouldn't use it if you're not planning on recording demos.

 

In addition to dsda-doom and the UMAPINFO fork of PrBoom+, some others you can consider are Woof! (a continuation of WinMBF, will run Boom-compatible wads) and Crispy Doom (fork of Chocolate Doom, will only run vanilla/limit-removing wads).

[forgettable pyromaniac]

9 minutes ago, Arch-Vile NL said:

alright thanks that clears it up pretty well :), if im not into speedrunning and or recording pretty much avoid dsda? i seen people use it on twitch but i dont really record so..

if you're not planning on using it to record, it basically acts like PrBoom, so It's mostly a personal preference type thing.

I don't record that often myself, so I use PrBoom+ myself.

If you don't know for sure, download them all and try them out, see which one feels the best to you.

[TheMightyHeracross]

The old PrBoom+ is pretty much dead, you should choose between the UMAPINFO fork or DSDA Doom.

 

It should be noted that DSDA-Doom can be used for casual play as well as speedrunning, despite the name. It has UMAPINFO and DEHEXTRA like the other fork, plus it also has Heretic support and the new MBF21 complevel. If we're being honest I don't know why these two ports are being developed separately in the first place. It seems inevitable that if one adds a new feature the other will absorb it anyway.

Edited June 17, 2021 by TheMightyHeracross

[Arch-Vile NL]

2 minutes ago, TheMightyHeracross said:

The old PrBoom+ is pretty much dead, you should choose between the UMAPINFO fork or DSDA Doom.

 

It should be noted that DSDA-Doom can be used for casual play as well as speedrunning, despite the name. It has UMAPINFO and DEHEXTRA like the other fork, plus it also has Heretic support and the new MBF21 complevel. If we're being honest I don't know why these two ports are being developed separately in the first place. It seems inevitable that if one adds a new feature the other will absorb it anyway.

hmm i thought prboom+ still get updated? i see here last update was 4months ago in 2021 thats pretty recent isnt it? 

if thats the case if its dead ill use dsda instead then.. for my wads

[Arch-Vile NL]

6 minutes ago, forgettablepyromaniac said:

if you're not planning on using it to record, it basically acts like PrBoom, so It's mostly a personal preference type thing.

I don't record that often myself, so I use PrBoom+ myself.

If you don't know for sure, download them all and try them out, see which one feels the best to you.

alright so its between prboom+ and dsda doom for me then too but the guy below me says prboom+ is dead? not sure if this is true if so i might go with dsda as my main port cause of future updates..

[1Destro3456]

If you're planning on getting to PrBoom+ with UMAPINFO and/or DSDA-Doom, check this video out

 

 

[1Destro3456]

1 minute ago, Arch-Vile NL said:

alright so its between prboom+ and dsda doom for me then too but the guy below me says prboom+ is dead? not sure if this is true if so i might go with dsda as my main port cause of future updates..

He meant PrBoom without UMAPINFO

[Arch-Vile NL]

Just now, 1Destro3456 said:

If you're planning on getting to PrBoom+ with UMAPINFO and/or DSDA-Doom, check this video out

 

 

alright let me see

[Arch-Vile NL]

1 minute ago, 1Destro3456 said:

He meant PrBoom without UMAPINFO

so the regular prboom then? the non +? 

also what even is umapinfo lol ill just watch the video :P 

[Shepardus]

To clarify the chain of PrBoom variants:

 

The original PrBoom was discontinued over a decade ago, and there's no real reason to use it today.

 

PrBoom+ is the continuation of PrBoom.

 

The UMAPINFO fork of PrBoom+ is the continuation of PrBoom+.

 

dsda-doom is forked from the UMAPINFO fork.

 

The PrBoom+ UMAPINFO fork and dsda-doom still see active development, while the others do not. The PrBoom+ SourceForge page even links to the GitHub repos for the UMAPINFO fork and dsda-doom as the center of development, so these should be seen as the "current" versions of the PrBoom family of source ports.

Edited June 17, 2021 by Shepardus

[TheMightyHeracross]

7 minutes ago, Arch-Vile NL said:

hmm i thought prboom+ still get updated? i see here last update was 4months ago in 2021 thats pretty recent isnt it?

 

Is this from the Wiki page? If so, the version of the update listed there, "2.6um", is the UMAPINFO port, not PrBoom+. I don't know who put that on the wiki because it's making this discussion very confusing.

[Jacek Bourne]

I use glboom+ for everything that doesn't require zdoom. I use gzdoom for zdoom required wads. I plan on learning eternity however I have not yet.

[Astronomical]

Eternity engine. PRBoom+ hated my computer for a while so I switched and all of it's features were really nice and Heartland was such a good bonus on top of that.

[QuaketallicA]

Honestly I just use a (slightly) outdated version of GZDoom (around 3.7.x or 3.8.x). Just because the engine is powerful enough to do handle things like ambient occlusion and true 3D, etc. doesn't mean it still can't be quite easily customized for a very vanilla experience.

 

And if I want to go for the authentic feel, I might run a wad in DOSBox, but this likely isn't an option for most wads made after the 90s because of the limits of the original engine.

 

I suppose this isn't the most helpful reply, but I've never really had any issue with GZDoom. Only other source port I use is Zandronum for multiplayer.

[TheMightyHeracross]

1 hour ago, QuaketallicA said:

Honestly I just use a (slightly) outdated version of GZDoom (around 3.7.x or 3.8.x). Just because the engine is powerful enough to do handle things like ambient occlusion and true 3D, etc. doesn't mean it still can't be quite easily customized for a very vanilla experience.

 

This is generally more true than most people like to admit, however, in the OP he specifically mentioned that GZDoom was giving performance issues for him on large WADs, which can't really be fixed by customization.

Also, GZDoom 3.7 came out in late 2018, so that's a bit more than "slightly" outdated. :P

[Doomkid]

For my money ($0) DSDA-Doom is the best if you’re just playing vanilla and boom wads. Probably the best feeling port ever, imo.

 

Zandronum is substantially outdated, but it might make for a nice “lighter” alternative to GZDoom that still runs most ZDoom-Family wads and mods.

 

EDIT: ugh, you can’t add quotes to edited posts on mobile 

Edited June 17, 2021 by Doomkid

[Doomkid]

5 hours ago, TheMightyHeracross said:

The old PrBoom+ is pretty much dead, you should choose between the UMAPINFO fork or DSDA Doom.

 

It should be noted that DSDA-Doom can be used for casual play as well as speedrunning, despite the name. It has UMAPINFO and DEHEXTRA like the other fork, plus it also has Heretic support and the new MBF21 complevel. If we're being honest I don't know why these two ports are being developed separately in the first place. It seems inevitable that if one adds a new feature the other will absorb it anyway.

Are both ports being developed? I thought DSDA-Doom was the final

incarnation.. Guess I better look into it but that seems odd.

 

3 hours ago, QuaketallicA said:

Honestly I just use a (slightly) outdated version of GZDoom (around 3.7.x or 3.8.x). Just because the engine is powerful enough to do handle things like ambient occlusion and true 3D, etc. doesn't mean it still can't be quite easily customized for a very vanilla experience.

 

And if I want to go for the authentic feel, I might run a wad in DOSBox, but this likely isn't an option for most wads made after the 90s because of the limits of the original engine.

 

I suppose this isn't the most helpful reply, but I've never really had any issue with GZDoom. Only other source port I use is Zandronum for multiplayer.

If you’re a weirdo who loves using DOSBox often like me, looking into Doom+ and Doom32.exe (the Doom2 version basically). These are the exact vanilla EXEs just with the limits all about 8x higher, meaning they run the vast majority of limit removing wads as well as vanilla. Really useful for DOS players!

[VanaheimRanger]

4 hours ago, Doomkid said:

For my money ($0) DSDA-Doom is the best if you’re just playing vanilla and boom wads. Probably the best feeling port ever, imo.

It has become my primary port, and is extremely easy and fun to make TA demos with thanks to the keyframe and rewind functions.  I doubt I will use anything else in the future unless I am playing an Eternity or Zdoom specific WAD.

[MajorRawne]

Maybe it's your settings. I'm using an MSI laptop with in i-7700HQ processor, 16gb RAM and an SSD, and I only ever get lag in Doom when my GZDoom settings are set to classic Doom style. My GPU is a 1060 3GB, so I'd expect the graphics card to be the bottleneck on this system. I do get lag on the Total Warhammer 2 campaign map for mortal empires on max settings. EDIT: It really struggles with Football Manager 21 too, although like a tard I have most leagues available.

 

Wonder if it's possible to replace the 3GB GPU with the 6GB version?

Edited June 17, 2021 by MajorRawne

[xX_Lol6_Xx]

I'd say any prboom-plus fork, I personally use DSDA-Doom mostly because of the Heretic support. If you don't want any fancy boom stuff, I'd say crispy-doom. 

[BigBoy91]

DSDA-Doom is the only source port I use now for anything except ZDoom related content.

[Taw Tu'lki]

I prefer to use PrBoom+

[Redneckerz]

On 6/17/2021 at 3:07 AM, TheMightyHeracross said:

Is this from the Wiki page? If so, the version of the update listed there, "2.6um", is the UMAPINFO port, not PrBoom+. I don't know who put that on the wiki because it's making this discussion very confusing.

A random IP did that because it probably assumed its part of PrBoom+ and not its own thing.

Honestly UM needs a subsection or a separate article, and DSDA-Doom needs one anyway. Ill make one come next week if i have some time. The latter port has quickly being a fan favorite either way.

 

On 6/17/2021 at 8:25 AM, Doomkid said:

Zandronum is substantially outdated, but it might make for a nice “lighter” alternative to GZDoom that still runs most ZDoom-Family wads and mods.

There is Q-Zandronum. It implements Quake style movement, it is made for Quake Champions: Doom Edition, but it also has tons of QoL fixes and it runs Zandronum content. Ofcourse, THAT has a page... ;)

On 6/17/2021 at 8:25 AM, Doomkid said:

 

EDIT: ugh, you can’t add quotes to edited posts on mobile 

Its annoying, right. I feel like i am in shitbird country every time i dare to add a quote on mobile. Can't remove it either.

[snapshot]

Just get them all and use Doom Explorer to switch to the one you need whenever you want, what I do.

[BedrockCastle]

PrBoom+ is the one I prefer, although you'll need to do some more setting up than is required with GZDoom. This includes making (simple) batch files or learning how to use the command line.

[dei_eldren]

On 6/17/2021 at 9:33 AM, Doomkid said:

If you’re a weirdo who loves using DOSBox often like me, looking into Doom+ and Doom32.exe (the Doom2 version basically). These are the exact vanilla EXEs just with the limits all about 8x higher, meaning they run the vast majority of limit removing wads as well as vanilla. Really useful for DOS players!

 

This sounds really interesting - maybe this is a stupid question and the answer is obvious, but can you tell me the difference to MBF (which i use in MSDOS)?

[Gez]

Well they don't support any Boom or MBF feature, obviously.