Port differences?

[Job]

I've always edited with plain vanilla Doom 2. Can someone tell me what the differences are between JDoom, ZDoom, Boom, etc? I'm considering editing with a port, but I should try to understand what they are first.

[Enjay]

Most of your mapping skills will be transferrable. In general, port mapping is the same as Vanilla mapping, just with more options. Boom is the best, and really the first example of that. You map in the same way, but have hods of extra line types to play with. The only thing I found conceptually a little difficult with it was the use of control sectors to get the deep water effect, and the fact you end up with potentially lots of different lines tagged to a sector, or even other lines, for some of the visual effects.

Most ports have simply built on the Boom format and so offer the Boom options and a few of their own too.

If you want to get the full benefit from Zdoom (which can be editied for as if it were a Boom style map) you gonna want to learn Hexen style editing. This alternative format still allows you to transfer a lot of your mapping skills, but certain things are quite different and there is a bit of a learning curve. Once you have conquered it, though, you will have far more options at your fingertips than before.

The basic rule is if you can make a vanilla map, you can make a source port map. It's a question of looking at the source port features, deciding which you prefer and then learning the additional steps required to make them do what you want. My preference is Zdoom, but that's no reason yours should be.