What frontend loader do you prefer?

[Midway64]

AceCorp Launcher.

[prfunky]

Still using Hypnotoad's Rocket Launcher 2.0.

I spent years just cd'ing into whatever Doom engine directory I wanted to use and then issuing

a command line; doomengine -iwad MyDoomWadDirectory/doom2.wad -file MyDoomWadDirectory/flavaOfTheWeek.wad

Sometimes I'd simplify the process by writing a batch file to launch, say alienvendetta.bat or something like that.

 

RL 2.0 has been good for me since having my own work I want to test. Dropping down the box on the left side to

switch Doom engines on the fly has been time-saving and beneficial. That being said, it's not the easiest front end to

set up. I don't ever use some of the default engine entries in its stock form. Being the Linux-y moron I am, that means

finding the engines.ini and settings.ini files wrapped up in the .config/RocketLauncher2 directory and modifying them

according to my nit-picky wishes as well as importing some new custom graphics and mis-naming them to other engine's

names I know I'll never use because I couldn't ever get those to run on my system(s).
 

Spoiler

 

 

[Plerb]

I just use a terminal.

[Lizardcommando]

ZDL. It's easy to use and looks simplistic.

[Async Unicorn]

ZDL, simplistic in all beauty.

Doom Explorer is a good variant, but it was buggy sometimes, I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was related to saving settings (I don't use cyrillic symbols in any of my pathes in system, I learned that lesson a way ago, so it's just some bizarre shit on my side as usual, :D), though not that I need it that much, ZDL does its job perfectly for many years.

In the past I used .bats or drag-and-drop, but it's kinda tedious to do and drag-and-drop is not trustful at all.

[CyberDreams]

I've always used ZDL. I just like how basic it is.

[Mystic 256]

I like Doom Launcher from Realm 667

Its the one the works the best from my experience

[CacoKnight]

You guys keep talking about ZDL and how simplistic it is but it's really not, it's kind of confusing actually also it creates files all over the system, even in the registry IIRC, not a big deal but not simplistic/fully portable.

 

Doom Runner saves all the settings in ONE json file, thats' it, you create three folders: IWADs, PWADs and Mods and everything is checked automatically, select the port, iwad, pwad and load. The other tabs have all the command line options as GUI options but you don't have to check them at all because the command line box is there as well in the first tab. ..PLUS the presets you can save with all your configs.

 

I don't know man, you guys do you but I tried all of them, even all the ZDL versions and Doom Runner blows them all out. Doom Launcher is a cool one too but too much for what I need.

[CyberosLeopard]

Back when I used Windows exclusively: batch scripts. I would normally create one in the root directory of a given source port and then point to the wads and-or mods that I wanted to play with. These days as I mostly use Linux, I just write a simple bash script doing basically the same.

 

With that said, I have tried more conventional GUI and CLI launchers in recent years (I even started writing a simple CLI Python3 one myself), but I've often found them to be a little too inflexible.

[A Handsome Fridge]

I'll load your front

I don't use any cause drag and dropping works fine

[BigBoy91]

I like ZDL. I've been using it since I got back into Doom in 2018.

[act]

MY OWN PERSONAL HOMEMADE HAND-CRAFTED C & NCURSES BASED TUI LAUNCHER FOR DOOM :DDD

(https://gitlab.com/actsoftware/sldl)

[whybmonotacrab]

I use @SoBad's launcher. It's simple, elegant, and gets the job done.

[Bubonic]

Doom Launcher for the majority and then Doom Runner for anything zdoom based. 

 

Doom Launcher satisfies my need to mindlessly collect wads en masse and keep them organized with txt files intact, at 818 files in DL right now and I've only started collecting again in October (lost everything to a HDD crash a few years ago and backups were not all there).

 

Doom Runner is great for zdoom wads because it makes it easy to keep seperate g/zdoom configs for each wad keeping the crazier wads from messing up my keybinds, comp settings, and such.

[yakfak]

i'm too lazy to learn anything except the command line :))) maybe I'll make a batch file for the wad i'm currently working on but that's it

[JoJo_BadDoom]

Doom Runner for me. Works just how I like it to. Used to use ZDL, but as I started to get more and more wads, it started to get a little unwieldy

[EraserheadBaby]

Caterpillar

On 12/22/2023 at 4:27 PM, LoatharMDPhD said:

Kyocera

I just type everything into the BASH terminal..

loatharmd@bivalve:~$ gzdoom -file EXMAS.WAD Isabelle.pk3 -skill 2

beat me to it.

[Arrowhead]

DoomLauncher - love how it looks. Love the stats and GUI mostly. Great program.

I also occasionally use ZDL - which used to be my main launcher until recently.

 

 

 

[Doom-X-Machina]

ZDL

[HLRaven]

On 12/23/2023 at 10:44 AM, CacoKnight said:

You guys keep talking about ZDL and how simplistic it is but it's really not, it's kind of confusing actually also it creates files all over the system, even in the registry IIRC, not a big deal but not simplistic/fully portable.

 

Doom Runner saves all the settings in ONE json file, thats' it, you create three folders: IWADs, PWADs and Mods and everything is checked automatically, select the port, iwad, pwad and load. The other tabs have all the command line options as GUI options but you don't have to check them at all because the command line box is there as well in the first tab. ..PLUS the presets you can save with all your configs.

 

I don't know man, you guys do you but I tried all of them, even all the ZDL versions and Doom Runner blows them all out. Doom Launcher is a cool one too but too much for what I need.

THIS, i've been a drifter with frontend loaders but I've never found one that had all the pro's from the ones i have used like this one, Selecting multiple files in one go, drag and dropping, presets, nice looking and quick to set-up!

[irukanjji]

I use Arachnotron Doom Launcher

and in the most cases bat files

[Dr. DiegO]

Right now I'm with AceCorp Launcher, I'm too lazy to make batch files. 

[Stupid Bunny]

I mostly use Doom Launcher, as indicated in this lovely pool thread ;33333

[Lila Feuer]

ZDL for being no nonsense and because I'm stubborn. If you think I'll like something better then recommend it to me.

[EvilSqueegee]

I haven't experimented with anything other than Doom Explorer.

[Fireseth]

[Trigsy]

On 1/14/2024 at 8:48 AM, JoJo_BadDoom said:

Doom Runner for me. Works just how I like it to. Used to use ZDL, but as I started to get more and more wads, it started to get a little unwieldy

 

On 3/25/2024 at 12:17 AM, Arrowhead said:

DoomLauncher - love how it looks. Love the stats and GUI mostly. Great program.

I also occasionally use ZDL - which used to be my main launcher until recently.

 

Same! Although going off of a few other responses, it sounds like I should give Doom Runner a try, as well.

[kalensar]

ZDL 3-1.1

 

I run all my ports through it. GZD 4.82 thru GZD 4.12.2; PrBoom+, Crispy, Zandronum, LZDoom, ZDoom, Odamex. 

 

I make mods for all different source ports I use so its nice to just pick Im in the mood for.