How do you launch your favorite source port?

[Valboom]

ZDL and DoomRunner.

[Bauul]

I'm a psychopath who tends to run everything through Slade or UDB.

[PeterMoro]

ZDL

[BedrockCastle]

I am a big ol' nerd, so I make batch files to load WADs in PrBoom+.

[BedrockCastle]

29 minutes ago, Bauul said:

I'm a psychopath who tends to run everything through Slade or UDB.

That's... a lot of things, "vile" being one of them.

[Nefelibeta]

UDB is ironically a easy way to run wads with external texture packs, especially when you don't want to mess with all those launchers and stuff.

[famicommander]

I use GZDoom on Linux.

 

I have the .wad and .pk3 file types set to automatically open GZDoom when I double click on them, so I just click whatever I feel like playing. Then the GZDoom menu asks what IWAD I want to use with whatever I clicked on, I select the right one, and it launches.

Edited November 23, 2022 by famicommander

[thelamp]

DOOM EXPLORERER FREAKIN OWNSSSS

 

 

edit: forgot to mention, if you use gameplay mods that require specific load orders, this make it sooooo much easier to get things setup correctly. as you can see in the video, I've got like a dozen different add-ons I use with HDest and without some kind of launcher it would be a massive pain in the ass to use them!

Edited November 23, 2022 by thelamp

[LateToDOOM2020]

On 11/21/2022 at 6:16 PM, Nixx said:

Personally, I made myself a very quick and user friendly script to launch any source port and allowing me to choose a wad quickly (in a folder where they are all stored).

Like you I made a script to simplify the process of running the source port I want while loading the mods and wad files I want to load. I did not realize at the time that there are tools for launching doom.

Edited November 23, 2022 by LateToDOOM2020

[DuckReconMajor]

shift right-click into the source port folder (usually a dsda-doom release these days) in Windows Explorer and click "open powershell window here"

then start typing or press up to do command line commands

[MrJohnReviews]

I use ZDL

[XoltronMaster]

I would usually play wads using batch files, but when i heard about doom runner it made things way easier for me. Making multiple batch files and having to type in the command line was kind of tedious.

[MFG38]

On 11/22/2022 at 8:32 AM, CyberDreams said:

I just found out that the version that I've been using is outdated so if you want to try it out definitely check out the newer versions as I'm sure those are more feature rich.

 

Far as I've been able to tell, the only noteworthy feature in 3-1.1 over 3.2.2.2 is it automatically names the IWADs and source ports that you add. In 3.2.2.2, you had to type the names in manually.

 

Anyway, I use either ZDL or the command line.

Edited November 23, 2022 by MFG38

[Shepardus]

22 minutes ago, MFG38 said:

 

Far as I've been able to tell, the only noteworthy feature in 3-1.1 over 3.2.2.2 is it automatically names the IWADs and source ports that you add. In 3.2.2.2, you had to type the names in manually.

There are a couple other additions in 3-1.1 that I can think of:

• You can enable/disable entries in the external files list without adding/removing them from the list, very useful if you want to exclude a file temporarily without having to find it later and drag it back to the correct place in the load order.
• You can edit an entry in the source ports list after adding it. This is pretty minor since you could always remove and re-add the source port anyway, or just edit the .ini file, but it's convenient if you put the version number of the source port in the directory name and then update the source port (and thus the directory name).
• There's a button to add a directory instead of a single file. I think this is for source ports that can load directories, like ZDoom, but I've never used it myself.

Anyway, I use ZDL, since it has what I want in a launcher without being cluttered with stuff I don't want. "Stuff I want" includes a drag and drop UI to save me the trouble of typing paths in the command-line or a script, easy switching between source ports, ability to save and load configs, a field to add arbitrary parameters that don't have UI elements in the launcher, and support for Linux. "Stuff I don't want" includes stats tracking, sorting/categorization of WADs, and pictures.

[nobleflame]

This one for PrBoom plus: 

 

It works flawlessly and hasn't let me down yet. It's an elegant solution and makes running custom wads easy. 

 

For GZDOOM and Eternity Engine, I use .bat files; I also make little icons to display in a folder for each wad.

 

I mainly use PrBoom plus, so I don't mind making .bat files for each GZDOOM or Eternity wad. 

 

[dasho]

Lobo's Doom P.A.L Launcher , which of course is a completely unbiased and impartial decision.

[Wyrmwood]

Good old ever trusty ZDL, I use around 8 or 9 small touch mods on almost every WAD, I'm too lazy to write batch files.

[Gougaru]

Zdl all the way. Simple. Efficient.

[Clippy]

I have two shortcuts on my desktop for gz

 

Doom one and Doom 2

 

In each are the command line to load some additional files like my clippy status bar and that pinky beta spright explosion & the dynamic lights and I'm not sure if there's anything else 

 

But since they're in the command line of the shortcut I'll have to do is drag any file I play on to the shortcut icon and it loads everything nice and easy every time

 

Back in my day we only used command lines to get things figured out so I never bothered with launchers

[Sectorslayer]

$ (crispy-doom|prboom-plus) -iwad DOOM.WAD -file aweSome.wad

[noob_killer012345678]

Ive used Doom Explorer ever since i got doom

 

[ILuvDoomguy]

I just make a link on my desktop to gzdoom, then I make copies of that and change the target to something like "C:\gzdoom\gzdoom.exe PWAD.wad/PWAD.pk3"

[idbeholdME]

All wads dumped into a single folder on the desktop with a GZDoom shortcut in it which I drop stuff onto.

 

Minimum amount of subfolders, mostly just /COMPLETED, where I dump the WAD once finished and once a year or two, a new folder /NEW XXXX(Year).

 

Mostly just a complete mess, but it's my mess and I like it.

[Nixx]

Wow, I am impressed by the number of possible methods to launch Doom. I thought there would be one particular method used in the vast majority, but no

Edited November 24, 2022 by Nixx

[D0M0]

For DSDA I simply use a macintosh computer, since then I don’t have to go through visual studio to be able to use it properly. The GUI is already made so you can input in pwads, complevels, demos and any other personal settings. Im just lazy when it comes to setting things up.

[volleyvalley]

By pressing on the executable. I like the IWADS alot.

[Martin Howe]

Until recently, cross-platform launchers with source code were rare, so I developed a set of bash scripts and a couple of GUI hooks using Nemo Actions (this is for Linux Mint); it built upon a failed attempt at writing a GUI launcher for Windows in .NET (RL got in the way); so it uses the same internal architecture but is mostly CLI driven. By organising my files carefully, having the ability to save sessions, and having the command line parser work with plug in modules (more scripts) for each game, it makes most of the work easy. Common mods are turned on or off with commands at the terminal and the same commands can (mostly) be used as switches in a command line. This supports all the usual doom and build games, as well as wolf3d and (with a lot of messing about) quake.

[MTrop]

A command line launcher that I made myself: https://github.com/MTrop/Doomy

 

Stores presets and organizes saves and demos and screenshots. Supports any engine you can name, including via DOSBox. Not ready for primetime, though. Need to work out some kinks. Maybe add a GUI.

[IncognitoMode]

double click the exe, simple as

[Xerenogan]

Usually I use linux mimetypes to open whichever wad with the port choice through open with other. The rest of  the time, I use either a script or terminal.